The Old Manse of Bourtie

The OId Manse of Bourtie is remarkable and should be a Scottish national treasure...The place is such an accurate step back in time. It was built in the 1890’s and on the remaining 5 acres there is still a complete walled garden, a wild bluebell field, wild pheasants roaming the yard like chickens, ancient trees, beautiful sculptures hidden throughout... and so much old earth magic.

Marion Youngblood and Kiji own and live in the Victorian home which they have preserved. They heat with the multiple fireplaces, cook on a wood stove which also heats water in pipes which lead to both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. This piping system is amazingly ingenious as it gives additional warmth to the house while providing warm water where it is needed. The staircases, the stone walls, the windows, the floors, the doors are all authentic and very beautiful.  Read More

Easter Aquhorities, Inverurie, Scotland

Easter Aquhorthies was the second recumbent stone circle we saw in Scotland.  We visited it on our drive from Inverurie to Stirling.  Like every other historical monument it was in a field outside of somewhere. 

Here are the directions I found on line as I wrote this article - I laughed out loud when I read them and was really glad we had our GPS to navigate, as we still needed additional guidance once we got to the “good farm track” :-)


“How to Find Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.... Easter Aquhorthies stands about 18 miles west of Aberdeen and about two miles west of the town of Inverurie. Coming from Aberdeen, it can be reached by a road which goes off to the left from the main A96 opposite the second entrance to Inverurie and Morrison's supermarket.
 
This narrow unclassified road goes up a gentle hill and ends in a Historic Scotland car park. From here it's an easy 5-10 minute walk through fenced fields to the stone circle, firstly along a narrow tarmac road and then along a good farm track.”   Read More

Kirkton of Bourtie

When we stayed with Marion and Kiji in Inverurie, a small village in a small hamlet in Aberdeenshire we were first introduced to Stone Circles.

Not having the foggiest idea of what a stone circle really was, we were not prepared for the magic, the history or wonderment we would feel as we wandered throughout the countryside seeking out these amazing treasures.

Our first encounter was a glimpse of a 5000 year old Pictish stone circle through the windows of their 17th century stone home. At that moment we were filled with magical wonderment... and through Marion's passion, stories and love we were hooked on stone circles.

The Kirkton of Bourtie it turns out is a massive recumbent stone circle. When I first heard these words I had no idea of what this meant. Read More

United Kingdom travels 2010

Today I made a link to articles I published about our travels in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland.

We traveled for 6 weeks ... May 1st - June 17th 2010.

So far I have written about 10 articles about this trip and 20 more about Spain, France and Portugal ... And still have 20,000 plus photos and many more hours of travels!

I am trying to figure an efficient way to create a travelogue accessible to those of you who may be interested in experiencing our adventures.

So perhaps someone could give me tips on how to effectively use and integrate a blog, a website and a writer's posting site. At this moment I can't seem to get a handle on where I should write; how to link things so that it makes sense; and how to catalog, store, and up load photos. All help will be greatly appreciated!

Below is a link to the last article I published on hubpages.

If interested in reading more adventures, click the profile box which will bring up a listing of the articles or you can just scroll to the end of the article. At the end is a box which has arrows to other connecting stories. Just click on the arrow and it should take you to another posting.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Scotlands-Cairns-and-Stone-Circles