Beauty and the beast

"The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice." 
From Dracula by Bram Stoker.

New Slains Castle overlooks the North Sea from the very edge of the dramatic cliffs, a mile north of Cruden Bay. Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, built the castle after James VI destroyed his old castle following the rebellion of 1594. The Hays occupied the castle for over 300 years but sold it in 1916, after which it rapidly fell into disrepair.
It is said that Bram Stoker was inspired to write his novel Dracula after visiting Slains Castle whilst holidaying at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in Cruden Bay. 

Extra. On a much lighter note, at my feet as I took the photograph was one of my favourite flowers, The Grass of Parnassus Parnassia palustris.  Also known as bog-stars, they occur across the Northern Hemisphere in Arctic and Alpine habitats, as well as on dune slacks and fens, heaths, swamps and moist woodlands. 
They are not, of course, grasses; the name is said to come from ancient Greece where the cattle on Mount Parnassus developed a taste for the plant and hence it was regarded as an 'honorary grass'.