King James V

It's been a great day today.
Managed to get up in time to sort out dogs and car tax and before driving up to Stirling to meet my gran. She lives in Broughty Ferry and we've found that Stirling or Perth (which has to involve a trip to Newburgh to Twist Fibre Craft) is a good mid-way point to meet up.
I actually amazed myself as I got to Stirling half an hour before her bus was due to arrive so dived into Marks and Spencer and nailed the school uniform shop in less than 15 minutes.
Thom and I then met her off the bus and we then got a bus up to Stirling Castle. This included a free commentary (although thinking about it the ticket was a bit pricey) on the way up the hill about the history of the buildings.
We then spent a great afternoon wandering around the Stirling Castle. This place is stunning, and is even more so if you manage to go on one of the sunniest days of this summer. This was accidental planning.
I used to live in Menstrie (at the foot of the Ochil Hills a couple of miles from Stirling) when I was a lass for a few years and I think I did visit the castle once with the Brownies. The difference from then and now is huge.
The roof of the cafe has amazing views out to the Ochils and over to the East Coast. You could see Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh it was that great today. The East Coast girl in me was pining for Fife and Edinburgh and I may have to head over there soon.
The main reason I wanted to go to the castle was to see the Tapestry Studio where they are recreating the Seven Unicorn Tapestries. The weavers were not there today (typical) but the guide in the studio was really informative and my gran and I had a good chat with him. My gran is a knitter, embroiderer, sewer, and dabbles in anything else crafty. She's the main reason I got into knitting as I inherited her huge stash. Plus she's great at enabling too. She loved it as well and I may get her to do some tapestry weaving one day.
We also saw some of the finished tapestries hanging in the Queens Chambers and the work is amazing. I have vast respect for tapestry weavers as the detail is so precise and to be able to keep going over such a long period of time is inspiring.
I spent a big chunk of time snapping pictures of the views which are stunning, or pointing my camera up at the buildings to catch their different angles.
My blip is of King James V looking down on the visitors to his 16th Century Palace with the newly renovated Great Hall shining behind. The combination of the old and new works very well and I think he'd be happy with what they've done.