Cawdor Castle (Guest writer)

There is really no shortages of castles in England or Scotland. All you have to do is search around your destination and voila there’s a castle or palace. Cawdor Castle was a little gem we found on the way from Culloden to Loch Ness. The original structure dates back to the 1300’s, and is the first castle we’ve seen that still has a drawbridge, pretty neat! The Dowager Countess Cawdor still lives there in the wintertime, but during the summer months she opens it up to tourists. We overheard one of the tour guides talking about her being away in the summer, but back in the winter and we asked about her husband. The 6th Earl Cawdor, Hugh Campbell, died in 1993 and left behind 5 children from his first marriage as well as his 2nd wife Angelica Campbell, Countess Cawdor. If we’ve learned anything from our time in the UK, it’s that they take their peerage system seriously. Something about the way the tour guide hesitated when asked about the 7th Earl stuck out so we googled it when we got to our next stop. Glad we did, there was a bit of a scandal! Once the 6th Earl Cawdor dies, the Countess becomes a Dowager Countess (widow), and his eldest son becomes the 7th Earl Cawdor. Nothing unusual here except when he passed, 6th Earl Cawdor caused controversy by leaving the ancestral home to the Dowager Countess vs his heir, 7th Earl Cawdor, Colin Campbell- WOW! She’s been living in the castle since 1993, and in the summer of 2002 while the Dowager Countess was on holiday in the US, 7th Earl Cawdor up and moved his wife and 4 children into the castle. A lawsuit ensued and a court ordered that the earl and his family had to move back to their mansion, also on the castles property. Talk about awkward.
The castle is very, very old with a legit dungeon, tons of cool places for kids to hide and amazing gardens and grounds. Only thing that wasn’t impressive was the “new” kitchen, only recently upgraded in 1938. When the cook was told she was getting the expensive upgrade, she quit on the spot!

Yet another off the beaten path place we all got to experience this trip.Read more