Cadzow Castle

 We're just back from a week back home in Glasgow which, thanks to a horrendous gastric bug, turned out to be the week from hell!  We're all recovered now but it was a tough few days, especially for my elderly mum.  Just before we all succumbed to the lurgy, we'd taken the dogs off for a long walk at ended up at Chatelherault which is a large wooded park near Hamilton in Lanarkshire.  It was the site of a ridiculously over the top 'hunting lodge' for one of the Dukes of Hamilton

I've been there quite a few times but hadn't realised until this trip that it is also the location of the ruins of Cadzow Castle.  This is what's left of a 16thC castle, built on the site of an older Fort, dating back to David I.  This was probably also a hunting lodge but was visited by lots of Scottish Kings and eventually ended up with the Comyns who were embroiled in the Wars of Independence but picked the wrong side.

The later castle was built in around 1530 and Mary Queen of Scots stayed there after escaping from Lochleven (because of course she did..  there isn't a castle in Scotland that MQoS hasn't stayed in!).  As a result of this it was later demolished by the Earl of Mar, leaving the ruins that are visible today. Its in a pretty poor state and you can't actually get I to the ruins as they're a bit precarious but it's worth a visit if you're in the area.

As the sites were all hunting lodges, here is a pic of our hound hunting for big game (or possibly mice) and the rabbit he completely failed to spot!