Part III, Scotland: Mother & Son Trip

May 18- May 20, 2022

The Witchery, Glamis Castle, and Sailing on the Firth of Forth

Hello Friends,

Ryan and I spent the day back up on the Royal Mile to do a bit of souvenir shopping and I wanted to find a dress to wear to dinner that night. I was taking him to my favorite restaurant in Edinburgh. Yes, the Ivy on the Square was one of my favorite restaurants in the city, but not the favorite. My favorite is called, The Witchery, and it is on the Royal Mile and located at the Castle Gates leading into Edinburgh Castle.

On the way there I found a long woman’s kilt skirt and it just happened to be the tartan of the Lyons family- the ancestral Scottish line that I will be focused on later on this trip. The Lyons family lived at Glamis Castle which we will be visiting the next day. I changed there at the store and Ryan and I continued our shopping and our walk along the Royal Mile to the restaurant.

The building that The Witchery is in is full of history, stories, and atmosphere. The actual building, known as, “Boswell’s Court”, dates to the sixteenth century and it was named after a former resident, James Boswell. The elaborately painted doors and carved panels tell the story of Edinburgh’s profitable wine trade with France that was established long ago. The restaurant’s cellar still holds the tradition of carrying several types of rare wine from around the world.

The name of the restaurant comes from the fact that about 2000 men and women (mostly women) were burned at the stake on Castle Hill, within a short distance of the restaurant after being tried as witches. This happened mostly during the reign of King James VI, but also during the years before under other monarchs. These burnings were horrible and many innocent people died just because they perhaps believed different, or had red hair, or a mark of sort on their bodies, or because someone more powerful than them wanted them removed. This happened to my thirteenth great-grandmother, Janet Douglas. She was said to be very beautiful and she was the wealthy widow of Lord John Lyons VI of Glamis. Her parents were George Douglas and Elizabeth Drummand. Now, the king at that time, King James V, disliked women who had wealth and power and who could challenge male dominance. He also hated the Douglas family because Janet’s brother, Archibald Douglas, was his stepfather. There is a good reason for this because Archibald had imprisoned the young King James when he was a child. When James became free, he lashed out at the whole Douglas family and the easiest target was the widow, Janet. She was summed for “treason”, along with others for being supporters of her brother, Archibald. However, after some consideration, King James V did let her go, supposedly so she could go on a pilgrimage. Historians differ on the reasons why she was set free because she had several accusations against her and setting her free seemed an odd thing for King James to do.

She had some respite then and married her second husband, Archibald Campbell. Soon after her marriage, King James V brought up new charges against her saying she had tried to murder him using witchcraft. He had her imprisoned in the dungeon of Edinburgh Castle. This step, for King James, was the easy part. Convicting her of witchcraft was another matter. No one would testify against her because everyone knew she was innocent. So, in order to get the result that he wanted, King James V had members of her household tortured, including Janet’s son, my twelfth great grandfather, Lord John Lyons VII of Glamis. He was only sixteen years old. After this King James V had the “evidence” he was looking for. On July 17, 1537, Janet was burned at the stake on Castle Hill with her son being forced to watch.

Janet Douglas and the Lyons family are the reason we are visiting Glamis Castle the next day.

The Witchery is not built on the site of these horrific executions. However, it brings to notice these events did happen close by. How glad I am we live in a world that is more tolerant of each other and where our government cannot just act upon injustice because they have the power to do so.

As you walk into The Witchery, you walk into a small room paneled with dark wood that is elaborately carved in great detail. It is hard to see the exact scenes because the lighting is by candlelight and the scenes on the wood seem to change in the flickering light. The tables are covered in white linen and the place is quiet. Everyone seems to talk in whispers. There is a feeling of Mystery.

This would be my third time coming here. I came here twice before with my daughter, Roxanne, and my sister, Julie. Once we ate here in the dining room and the second time, we ate in the adjoining area which is a garden courtyard that used to be the courtyard of a school. Both times the food was exceptional. This time with Ryan we each ordered the Seafood Platter that was served on ice. The seafood included stone crab, mussels, clams, and lobster. It was a delicious feast.

Besides being a restaurant, The Witchery is also a small romantic hotel with nine very opulent bedrooms to choose from. The Witchery is considered to be one of the top hotel getaways in the world. Some of the rooms even have roll-top baths for two. I have never stayed here, but it is on my “to-do” list for someday.
The next day was “my day”, as Ryan called it, because we were going to Glamis Castle and I was going to be able to show him some of his family history. John picked us up after breakfast and we drove northeast for about 3 hours to an area called Angus. Here we drove up to this fairy tale castle that I had seen in photos, but it was more beautiful than the pictures showed. Something told me though that the castle I was looking at did not look the same as when my ancestors lived there. Indeed, I found out the fairytale coned towers had been added sometime in the 17th century by Patrick Lyons, 3rd Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, about the same time my line branched off from Glamis.

There have been Lyons at Glamis Castle since 1372, when The Thanage of Glamis was granted to Sir John Lyons by King Robert II. This was in honor of Sir John’s service to King Robert II and the king’s family. Now the family is known as Lyons-Bowes because in 1767 John Lyon, 9th Earl of Strathmore, married an English heiress named, Mary Eleanor Bowes. This was because Mary Eleanor’s father insisted his daughter’s maiden name be added to the Lyon’s name in his will. Queen Elizabeth II is descended from this line because the late Dowager Elizabeth Lyons-Bowes is her mother and she grew up here. Because this was their mother’s childhood home, Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, Princess Margaret, spent many happy days here and in the castle gardens when they were children.

Going back to Janet Douglas who had been married to Lord John Lyons VI of Glamis, you may be wondering how the castle stayed with the Lyons family after her execution. It was in fact forfeited to the Crown after her death but then restored once again to her son, John Lyons VII of Glamis in 1542. This would have been five years after his mother’s death.

When we arrived, our guide John, purchased our entrance tickets for us and we walked around on a self-guided tour. Almost everything now on the property is centered around the Royal family because they still use the castle from time to time. There is evidence of this everywhere. The children’s chairs that were used by Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret in front of the huge gaping fireplace. The cradle Queen Elizabeth II was rocked in as a baby. The billiards room that was used by the men in the Royal family. Also, there are signs stating that the area behind certain doors are private living quarters. I found all this very fascinating, but I was trying to look deeper to find the connections to the Lyons family I came from.

Finally, in the old chapel at the center of the castle, I found some connection. It still looks much as it would have in the sixteenth century and there is a story that the ghost of Janet Douglas sits in there from time to time in a certain chair in the corner near the Altar.

We made it to the gardens just before the property was ready to close, but we had time to walk around the walled garden and to see the monument Queen Elizabeth II dedicated to her late sister, Princess Margaret who died in 2002. The garden was beautifully manicured with sculpted-looking hedges and colorful flowers in blues, purples, and yellows. Along a path outside the walled garden was a row of ancient trees on one side and a brook on the other. It was easy to imagine Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret as children walking along here and playing. We found a small pet cemetery as well. I wondered if they had been the girls’ pets?

On the way back from Glamis, John stopped at a Tesco so we could purchase a picnic lunch for the next day. We were going sailing and we needed to bring our own lunch. We chose a nice red wine, grapes, and crackers. Because we thought it might be chilly on the water, we also bought some Japanese-style Ramen in cups that we could add hot water to. We knew they would have an electric kettle onboard. Everyone in Britain has an electric kettle.

The next morning, we took a taxi to Port Edgar Marina where we were meeting the crew from Edinburgh Boat Charters. We arrived early, so we had a coffee at the café at the dock.

Precisely at 9:15, we found the crew on board the boat which I was surprised to see was a catamaran. I was expecting a sailboat- but it was similar enough. I wanted Ryan to experience sailing because I used to sail and in fact took the 4-month intensive Yacht-Master Course in Southampton back in 2010. Ron had had me go through the course because we were going to sail around the world after he retired from the military. However, instead of purchasing a sailboat, we purchased a farm in Missouri- so after the 4 months of living on a sailboat, I never again went sailing. Now my sailing knowledge was buried deep in the past, and I was glad to have an experienced crew to sail the boat for us.

The crew of two, a captain and a crew member, were very accommodating and had tea and coffee made for us when we arrived. As we left the dock, we sailed down the Firth of Forth and under the Queensferry Crossing Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge.

These two bridges are like art sculptures in metal and I snapped several pictures as we sailed beneath them. Our destination was an island not far from the Inchcolm Abbey. The plan was to dock there and have a picnic on the island, but it depended on how cold it remained. It was a chilly day! The captain also wanted to show us an old wreck near the island that pieces could still be seen sticking up out of the water. As we got closer to the wreck, we could make out the bow pointing up and pieces like the backbone of a skeleton protruding up. It was weird to look at.

After taking pictures of the shipwreck, we turned back around and we could see puffins flying clumsily in the air, then paddling through the water. They don’t call these funny little birds “clowns of the sky” for nothing! Surprisingly we were able to get quite close to some of them and I was able to get some pictures. This was one of the highlights for me on this day of sailing because puffins have always been my favorite bird.

After the excitement of seeing puffins, we laid out lunch on the table on the back deck of the boat. We made our soup and Ryan poured our wine. It was chilly sitting there but at least the cabin of the boat shielded us somewhat from the wind. After lunch, Ryan tried his hand at the helm.

All too soon we were passing back under the bridges and turning into the marina. It was late afternoon and we had a taxi booked to pick us up to take us back to the B&B to change for dinner. We were going to a Michelin Star restaurant called, Aizle; which is a very unique style restaurant. One in which you don’t choose for yourself what you would like to eat, but rather the chef decides by having a set menu. The menu is a six-course tasting menu using local and seasonal ingredients that are constantly changing. The type of food is described as “modern European”. We were excited to try this new experience.

The restaurant sits in the middle of the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel on the ground floor. It is open and airy, simply decorated with plants hanging from the white gazebo-like ceiling and simple modern furniture. We had no idea what to expect. Each course was small and intricate- but with six courses it was plenty to fill us up. The presentation was beautiful and so different I have never experienced food served in this way. One course was served in what looked like a bird’s nest made out of twigs with different types of dried moss for effect. Laying inside the nest were small delicate wafers each one with beef tartare on them. Now, I do not eat beef, so Ryan ate all four of these little treasures. Another dish was a stone plate with a perfect asparagus stem beautifully wrapped in a green leaf and next to it a wreath made out of a delicate mouse and decorated with fresh pansies.

I will say I had a hard time with some of the ingredients. Some of these items were from the heart, stomach, and glands from various creatures and caviar. You do need to be adventurous with food to thoroughly enjoy this highly recommended restaurant. Ryan really enjoyed the food but I struggled. However, the staff and the presentation of the food were spectacular. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who is open to new experiences.

Please note here that children must be at least three years old to come to this restaurant.

Ryan and I’s trip together is nearly over; which is sad for us both. We only have one day left and it will be spent going through COVID PCR testing and finding a place to print off travel documents. Ryan will be flying home to the states after that, but I am flying to Israel, which will be the next section of this trip. That is why I have so many documents to print because it is still required to fill out COVID forms to enter Israel. However, the day after I get there, they will no longer require them. Crazy. So, yes, I am headed to the Holy Land. I will let you know how the entry into Israel goes and the first couple of days there next week. It will be my first time in that part of the world!

God Bless- Jody