Bloody Good Staff

What started out as a bit of a gloomy day with a very brisk wind, turned into another lovely day, with lots of sunshine and intermittent rain showers, much like Grandma K used to call, 
"a gentle kiss from heaven". 

On recommendations from some of the fellow guests at our hotel, we decided to check out the House of Bruar today. It's a very modern (of course it's all relative) shopping complex, in a small little town with a very unique selection. It's almost like a department store but with a very different layout and a separate store (all owned by the same company) for Country Living, Fishing Tackle, Mens Wear, Women's Wear, Wedding Gifts, Childrens Wear, and even a gallery. It was absolutely delightful and Meg managed to find a few goodies to bring home that were relatively small to pack. Our first and likely our last little shopping venture on this holiday. 

While we were at the store Meg managed to nick her finger that really started to bleed and fearful that she would drip blood onto some of their lovely products for sale, she proactively went to ask one of the staff for a bandaid. Well my goodness, you would have thought she was having a heart attack. All of the staff went into their safety training mode and there must have been five staff members all hovering around, "Are you okay? I'm so sorry we have nowhere for you to sit." They actually opened the alcohol wipe for me, opened the bandaid and clumsily put it on me, oh my goodness, it was so embarrassing. Even one of the staff members afterwards apologized and said, "We've all been through very intensive training for a major incident so we just fell into that mode."  The host at our hotel indicated they were all probably afraid we were going to sue them or something. 

Right behind the shopping centre there was a path to hike up to Bruar Falls. We worked pretty much every muscle to get to the peak and got some nice photos of the waterfalls. The steep climb should help ensure we sleep well tonight. 

Bruar Falls 

Then we headed off to Blair Castle. Beautiful grounds and a huge estate on a working farm, we also got a chance to tour the castle. This one had a lot more windows so it wasn't quite as dark and dank as the one we went through yesterday. Walking the grounds and gardens certainly makes one appreciate how dreadfully expensive it must be to be responsible for the care and upkeep of these historical buildings and estates. No wonder they almost all have their places open to the public for an admission fee. 

The Farm at Blair Castle - lots of sheep, lambs and horses

We also took some time to visit the little town of Pitlochry and to drive up to the local whisky distillery.