Inside the dirleton castle
Butterfly in Dirleton
Purple flowers in Dirleton gardens
Lonely flowers in gardens
Dirleton castle
Dirleton castle Gardens
Patio from Dirleton castle
Dirleton tower
Pink flowers
Bass Rock in Tantallon
Stairs in Tantallon
Bass Rock from Tantallon
Coast of Tantallon
Sea views from Tantallon
Tantallon Stairs
Visiting castles near the Capital /
discovering Scotland
That weekend we started the journey from Edinburgh, because we were visiting Crammond Island, so after that we took the road to Dirleton Castle. 50 minutes later, we arrived to our destination, and first of all, lunch! I think that you have in every castle at least one or two tables witch you can use for eating something, and if it’s not raining or snowing, could be nice :)
I highly recommend buying the Explorer Pass or even the Annual Membership of Historic Scotland, it’s very useful! And these two castles are both inside the HS properties so, we bought the Annual Membership and it’s worth it! So Dirleton Castle, this one is very nice not very big one, but is a magnificent fortress with splendid gardens. Maybe the best part of this castle were the gardens, that seemed unreal, but in a good way.
And the last one! But maybe the most impressive, Tantallon Castle. I must confess that at first sight I thought: Wow, this is not what I was expecting! Because it seems a ruined castle, in the middle of nowhere and not very nice, BUT then, when you go through the door, everything changes! It was amazing, the views of the Bass Rock, and the coast, much better than I thought at the end. And, ok, the castle is mostly in ruins, but you can go upstairs maybe 4 or 5 floors, so very high! The views from the highest point were astonishing, really nice.
Some tips:
-As I say before: Historic Scotland passes: http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk
-Use the picnic area that you have in the castles!
-Have fun! and take the camera!