Scone Palace And The Glenturret Distillery: Day 14 – Scotland 2017

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19 April 2017

We broke camp early, had a cheap breakfast, and excitedly made our way to stop number one of the day. We were headed to one of the most historic places in Scotland.

Scone Palace

Scone Palace was near the top of Billy’s list of places to visit. It has some incredible history that he couldn’t pass up. The castle is also known as the ‘Crowning Place of Scottish Kings’ and held the Stone of Destiny. The stone itself has a long and complex history, but in short, the story goes something like this.

The stone was brought from Ireland to Argyle and was used in Scottish coronations up until the 1200s. In 1296, the stone was captured in war and taken to Westminster, where it was fitted into a chair. The stone and chair were then used in English coronations from that point onward. Jump to 1950. A group of Scottish students stole the stone to reclaim it for Scotland, but in the process, they broke it into two pieces. After many shenanigans and a repair, the stone was left on the altar of Arbroath Abbey in 1951, and the stone was returned to Westminster. The stone was last used when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. It returned home to Scotland in 1996 and now resides in Edinburgh Castle.

Scone Palace is rich in history. If you’re interested in learning more, you can read all about it HERE.

Our Visit

A quote directly from my journal: “I’m so glad we weren’t pressed for time today. We stayed for 4 hours, exploring the palace and grounds.”

There is so much to see at Scone Palace, but unfortunately, photographs weren’t allowed inside. I don’t remember much about the inside of the palace, but looking at photos online has jogged my memory a little. Billy and I both remember the replica of the coronation chair and stone, and Billy remembers the kitchen. I wish we could have taken photos!

We do, however, have a billion photos of the grounds of Scone Palace. The things I remember the most are all outside as well. There was a gorgeous white peacock that so willingly posed for photos, as well as an entire flock of peacocks that roamed the area. We explored a cemetery and a maze that led to one of the most beautiful statues I have ever seen. It was such a beautiful day that day. The sun was out, the temperature was warming, and we could have stayed in that moment of bliss forever.

Did I mention you can stay here? If you’ve got the money, you can rent rooms in the Balvaird Wing. Three rooms sleep 6 people total, and they look STUNNING. They also have an incredible gift shop. Of course, I added another book to my growing hoard. It is based on the true story of Dido Belle. Check it out! –>

The Glenturret Distillery

After a 40 minute drive from Scone Palace, we arrived at our second location of the day. When we visited the Glenturret Distillery, it was also under the name of The Famous Grouse Experience (hence the giant grouse statue). They didn’t allow photography, so the grouse is the only photo I have, but we had a splendid time during our visit. It seems that there have been a few changes since our visit in 2017. After doing a little digging, it looks like the distillery sold in December 2018, and the Famous Grouse Experience was dropped, and it is simply now The Glenturret Distillery. I also can’t find any information on the new website about the whiskeys that were named to honor Ewan McGregor and Gerard Butler, both from Scotland. Ewan grew up in Crieff, and Gerard was born in Paisley.

This was the only distillery tour that we went on, and we chose it because it is claimed to be Scotland’s oldest working distillery that still does the work by hand. My favorite story that we heard during our visit was about making whiskey when it was illegal. The story goes that one man would be posted up on the hill as a lookout. If he saw authorities coming, he would start playing his bagpipes as a warning to those below to pack it in and get a move on. How cool is that?

Our tour was great, and from reading current reviews on TripAdvisor, that hasn’t changed. Our guide was very knowledgeable and answered every question we had. We got to see first-hand each step of the whiskey-making process. When the tour was over, we got to taste some whiskey and peruse the gift shop. It was a relaxing and fun stop for the end of our day!

Crieff

Minutes down the road from the Glenturret Distillery is the town of Crieff. We stayed here for the night in a lovely place called The Victoria House. It seems that it is closed now, which is such a shame. It was a beautiful house with an incredibly nice host that I got on smashingly well with. So well, in fact, that our chatting put us behind schedule the next morning! Either way, it was a beautiful house with a beautiful room. We chose to splurge and stay here because Billy’s birthday was the next day, and we wanted to celebrate a little. Since we’d be in a tent for his actual birthday, a fancy room was just what we needed for the night before! In the photo above, we stayed in the third-floor room on the corner above the door and the Victoria Hotel sign.
Cheers,
Lydia and Billy