Sunday 28 August 2011

Hunterston House


Photo: Hunterston House - the ancestral home of the Hunter clan.

Day 9: Chester to Tarbet via Hunterston

An early start with breakfast on the road to get to Scotland. Rather than heading directly north we decided to detour via Ayeshire in the southwest of Scotland to check out Hunterston, the ancestral home of the Hunter’s. Hunterston consists of a sea port, a nuclear power station and ‘Hunterston House’ – or should I say ‘Our House’. Pretty impressive. Makes me want to trace a bit more family history to find out if it could be ‘Our House’. A few things suggest it probably is. Firstly, there was a yacht marina just up the road. Maybe sailing really is in my blood? Secondly, in nearby Largs, they served ‘chips with cheese’ – very Hunterish.
We then continued on to the Viking town of Largs and visited ‘Vikingar’, an information centre dedicated to the Battle of Largs, fought here in 1263 between the Scots and the Norwegian Vikings. The Scots won and the Vikings never troubled them again. We found out here about the Hunterson Broach, an 8th century Celtic broach that had Norse inscriptions on it, suggesting  intermarriage between Vikings and Celts. It was found in the grounds of Hunterston House in the 19th century. It is now housed in Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh. That’s something to watch out for once we get there.
We ended the day at Tarbet, on the shore of Loch Lomond, in an old hotel with its maze of rooms.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well done Hunters'. If that's your house, can we have our own room when we visit? You really are making the absolute most of your trip. It's lovely to read of your adventures. Dad.
Now a word from Mum: "I am so proud of you Colin, when we travelled to different places in the world I always thought that you thought it was a bit "ho-hum". Now you are proving to be areal Hunter. All these new places are awesome - are'nt they !" Luv Mum.