A quiet, cheap castle to visit with plenty of history

Okay, we've just parked up at Yellow Craigs Beach. We're just going to have a quick walk down to the water to show you what's here and then we're off to Dalton Castle for the main video. So this is just a little add-on really, they're right next to each other so it's silly not to come here. Okay, so if you're coming there are toilets facilities, however they're not right by the beach, they're by the car park and there's kids playing parks as well, that's good. And right by the play park there's this bit here, hours of fun for kids in here as you can imagine. Okay, this way to the beach, we'll have a quick walk down here, show you the view and then we'll head to the castle. There we go, that's probably not doing it justice on the screen. Okay, so this is the beach, it's actually surprising to see it so empty to be honest, you usually come here, you might usually come on a gloriously sunny day but there's the view. I'll just show you the beach as well, lovely lovely sand, good space, you do get quite a lot of people here. Let's just have a zoom in on the islands and the lighthouse, there you go, that's Yellow Craigs Beach. Okay, on to the castle. I am at Delton Castle and Gardens today, described online as a ruined medieval fortified house with the world's longest herbaceous border in 19th century gardens, so let's go and see what it's all about. Okay, so here we are, we're inside now, it's actually half price at the moment, for the three of us it was less than 12 quid. The reason it's half price is because some of it is closed but they said there's still quite a lot to see, so let's crack on. Some of the gardens already, it's looking pretty good, I don't know if this is the longest border, it might be, I guess I'll find out. Let's see what is up here as well, into the tower we go. Okay, let's have a quick look inside the tower. Number one, there we go, Delton Castle was a damaged it. There we go, some relics here as well, what's around here? Oh, we can get on the roof, that's tempting. Ah, it's a padlock, no, I wouldn't anyway, wouldn't anyway. Okay, yeah, so this is the entrance just here, opposite the castle inn, if you're coming, and the car park is just up there, so here we go. Right, here's a view of the gardens from above, let's go explore. It has this lovely wall that goes all the way around the outside, and if I just zoom in here, and there's doorways and everything as well. Get it in the middle of the shot, there you go, there's a doorway. But there's our first glimpse of the castle, and this massive rock, so we're going to look at it first. Dovecot, for those who sat that way. It's a beehive, Dovecot, I can see why they call it that. Can you go inside it? I'm not sure. It looks like it's, oh you can, you can go inside it, so we're going to do that. I don't expect to see very much, but you never know. Near the streets of the world. Oh, I can hear the change in my voice though. Oh wow, I have to say that it's quite impressive. You can see where they all used to nest. I'm so glad they don't anymore. Brilliant. Well that held up to 2,000 fidgets and dubs when it was full. Impressive. Here we go, there's a shot of one of the sides. As you can see, very damaged. Pretty windy here as well. Just off in the distance, opposite, that's Berwick Law I believe. I'd find that, it's a pretty good view from up there, I must say. I'll have to do that again. Yeah, so this is why some of it is fenced off. After inspection they found some of it needs conservation work to keep this all safe and to preserve the building of course. There you go, if I just put the camera through the fence a little bit. This is one of the entrances, currently not open, but very grand indeed. This is what it would look like, and that would have been the entrance. It's right in front of us right now. Yeah, so we're missing kind of the, we're missing this bit here by the looks of it. It's still impressive though. Yeah, I must say the wall isn't particularly high for fortified. If I just put my hand on the top, I'm not even reaching up that high, and I'm touching the top of the wall. There's no wonder it got attacked. We've got a golden green as well. Looks as though they still use this. I wonder how old that is. Right, let's go in, into the castle. Yeah, I should probably look further into Cromwell and all that kind of stuff, because I know there's stuff in Edinburgh itself as well to do with him. Down a leaf, there's quite a few bits, pieces, which I do plan to video at some point. Let's get another board to look at. Did you know ale was the most common drink in the castle? Though it was much weaker than ale is today. You go to the remnants of the castle's brew house, up to your left. Oh dear, not much left of the brew house. That is a shame. Okay, let's look inside. Let's see what we can see inside. Get out of the wind or anything, that's better. There we go, out of the wind. To the brew house. Okay, what is this? I can't really see what this is. Do we end up in there? I think we might end up in there, in the cellar. Possibly. There is writing on the wall, I cannot read it from here. I guess it's possible that that's blocked off. I think we want to go down there. Can we go down there? What's through here? Let's see. Yes, I think we can go down. Right, before we do that, let's have a quick look over here. I really want to see a view. It's from somewhere. We've got quite a view here, all the trees. Oh, this wind is doing my head in. I mean, I can hear it here, but it's something far worse than I can on my video playback. Yeah, it's quite wooded around here, I suppose. Not a lot of wind. Okay, let's head inside, and down into the deep depths, maybe. This is the chapel. And through here we have the priest's chamber. It had its own fireplace and latrine closet. Right, let's see if we can find out what was the fireplace. And that would have been the chimney. Excellent. Okay, where's the latrine? I'm not seeing it. Maybe that's a good thing. To the cellars and bait house only. Ooh, let's do that. Dangerous stairs here. That would have been cool to go down at one point. Right, let's keep going down. Yes, watch your step. Maybe you're not fit while you're doing it. Yeah, I'm an expert at this. Here we go, should be able to read this sign now. No, I'm down here. I wasn't there before. Okay, what's this say? Poston Gate, a side entrance into the original castle. This lock with book holsters locked up in the late 14th century, and then it's just used as a brazier stump to smoke venting through the former slot. You can't really see it on camera, but it's there. Let's see. Okay, you can see some daylight. Okay, this would have been the bait house. Huge fires for cooking on and stuff. Let's see what we've got in the chimney. There is some daylight. Okay. I'm liking this place. We've got some steps going up to another bit that is unfortunately closed, but we can look through it at least. There we go. Oh, I wish that was open. Right, let's go and get up on the roof next, I think, if we can. Oh, actually, it's saying that we need to go this way. We'll go this way now. Let's see what this is. The prison and the pit. Oh, I think we found the toilet, potentially. Okay, let's go down to the pit. So this is the prison and pit. So the chapel was actually above the room that I'm in, and then the pit, which is below us, is just over here. Down this... Oh, it's quite steep. Down this ladder. I don't think the ladder is original, I have to say. And it looks pretty bleak down there. I mean, it wouldn't have been this up at the time. Yeah, here we go. So let's move up a bit. Yeah. Oh, harsh place to be. All right, let's go to the roof now. Right, up these steps. Oh, if I can do it without tripping over. Oh, geez. Too concerning. Okay, let's go upstairs. Hopefully there's a nice view. There is. We'll get to that. No, let's just do the view now. Come on, let's do it. Okay, place your bets. Can we see the sea? I think we can see the sea. Yeah, that's cool. Okay, I'm even higher up now. What does this say? This would have been the day's chamber. Looking back at the grand hall with the fireplace. There you go, fireplace. It would have been quite something in its day, a big place. Right, take a look at this view. I'm not going to see much of the trees anyway. You can lean out a bit, you can see some stuff. Right, we've got to go in there and I think we're pretty much done to be honest. Okay, let's head inside again. Again, some of it's not open, unfortunately. Right, this is the Survery Lincoln Kitchen and Great Hall. Places of food pass through the serving hatch right and placed on this stone bench before being carried into the hall. Now, I guess that's, I'm guessing that's the bench and this was the hatch. Yes, that's the kitchen, isn't it? Okay, and again, another bit that's closed, unfortunately. But maybe we'll put bracing in it, so that's probably why. Jesus, the foliage just blown across the floor. I thought it was something else. Oh, this is a big kitchen. I have to say, this could have been the fireplace, surely. I think it was. Oh, the heat that would have been coming up in here certainly would have kept you warm. Probably given you a sun tan, to be honest. And there's another one there. That's two massive fireplaces in here. Oh, I don't know if that's coming up on camera. Let's get a bit closer. Unexpected things to see from a castle window. A wind farm and you can probably hear the wind. Another oven, maybe. Here's a board here, it says about the heat of the kitchen. Pungent cooking smells, billowing smoke, and many people filled this impressive kitchen. Spankets were prepared. I think I've still got the gardeners to look out to, to be honest. So actually, we are the only people here right now. It's about 40 minutes from where we're in the car, which is not too bad. I'm still in the age of postcode. Not that there are sat-nav recognised debts, but we found the place. OK, we've got some nice gardens just here. A little on the small side, but it's still very nice. They certainly look after it. Got a bit of topiary going on as well. That's good. OK, a little bit more information about the bowling green. It actually says that the club was founded in 1882. It doesn't mean that this wasn't here before that, but yeah, who knows. There's a castle in the background. Oh, there's another couple. Not that anyone's here. Ah, look at all the birds. How good is that? Well, this tree, it says was planted in 1911 for the coronation of George V. It's massive. So I'm guessing this is the longest herbaceous border in the world, in a 19th century garden, depending how you want to read your online description. It's quite specific. It is impressive, I have to say, but for the world's longest, I would have thought it would be a bit bigger, but I guess the description is quite specific. It is nice though, I have to say that. It is nice. Certainly a good variety of plants, etc. as well. I like these little guys. Blue balls are fun. And a lovely little side gate just here. Easy for Cromwell to get through. OK, there's a grander shot of the tree. This one here is looking a little bit bigger in this shot. Well, that's been Dalton Castle and Gardens. Pretty good, I have to say. Definitely worth the money. I mean, it was cheap anyway before they made it half price. So unfortunately, we couldn't get into everything because I think there would be some cracking things to see inside the bits that were closed off. But nevertheless, if you're looking to do a castle and you're around Edinburgh Way, but you want to do one that's a little bit quieter, this is definitely an option for you. OK, bye.