The Castle of Mey and Dunnet Head

I'll admit to not knowing about this place, which the Queen Mother purchased in 1952, whilst mourning the death of her beloved Husband. She heard it was to be abandoned and decided to save it. I can relate to that, not only was she mourning George's death, her world, yet again had been turned around, as her daughter was now Queen and she was to take a back seat in official duties. The peace and quiet would be a bolt-hole for her, to recharge her batteries and the restoration of the ancient castle would give her something to focus on, her own project.

As Prince Charles still takes an annual holiday there, we are not allowed to take photos inside, that is a security issue. It's a lovely, almost cosy, castle not at all grand and not too much in the way of mod cons. I was, unlike Queen Victoria, amused to hear that Princess Margaret would go to visit her Mother there but would never stay the night, preferring to return to the Royal Yacht, as she considered it not up to her standards!

Queen Mum's personal possessions and clothes are still around the house and it was the most delightful insight into that feisty, little lady's, big personality.

After the Castle, we drove around the coast, to Dunnet Head, famous for nesting seabirds and also the most Northerly Point of mainland Britain. Wherever we went in this area, it was impossible to not notice the deserted Crofts, a sad sign of the times.

On the way we stopped off in another cove, with a disused fishing quay, there we saw a Seal, sunbathing, who appeared to be waving at us!

Dunnet Head was, for us, a bit like the Holy Grail, we'd been looking for weeks for a sight of a Puffin and we were thinking that Dunnet Head was going to be our, Now or Never, place.

It was windy! And Mike doesn't like heights, which meant both of us were on the floor to get a view of the nesting birds. Puffins are burrowers and there were some holes in the grass and there was some bird activity, which we watched but we'd forgotten the binoculars and couldn't be quite sure what we were seeing, although I was quietly confident they were puffins.

When we got back to camp, I downloaded the photos from the camera and I was right!! Wish we could have seen them clearer but at last we had seen our Puffins.

This though was my favourite photo of the nesting birds.

One of the beauties of the area is the amazing array of wild flowers, especially Orchids.

Back at the campsite, we spent a second evening, having a drink and chat with a delightful couple in their 80s from the Scilly Isles. The Husband, John, was originally from my home patch, The Black Country and had lived in our present home town of Worcester, so many coincidences in our lives, we couldn't help feeling we were 'meant' to meet them.