October 25, 2024 • 38 mins
BREAKFAST - BRODIE COUNTRYFARE
Website - https://www.brodiecountryfare.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brodiecf
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brodiecf/
Address - Brodie, By Forres IV36 2TD
BRODIE CASTLE TOUR
Website - https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/brodie-castle
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BrodieCastleNTS
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brodiecastlents/
Address - Brodie, Forres IV36 2TE
LUNCH – The Café at LOGIE STEADING
@thecafeatlogiesteading
RIVER TUBING AND CLIFF JUMPING - ACE ADVENTURES
Website - https://aceadventures.co.uk/
Facebook - https://www.instagram.com/aceadventure/
Instagram - https://www.facebook.com/AceAdventure
Address - Auchnagairn, Forres, IV36 2QL
DINNER - OLD MILL INN
Website - https://oldmillinnspeyside.co.uk/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/oldmillinnspeyside/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theoldmillinnbrodie/
Address - 7 Brodie, Forres IV36 2TD, UK
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Alexa and Rory
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thi Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Romies, we are married.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To each other.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Right, we are a touring musical duo.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Welcome to part two of ouradventures in Muddy Speyside.
(00:59):
Scotland.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And part two.
So that means if you missedpart one, make sure you go back
and listen to it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Check out part one.
We got to share in our previousepisode about our adventures,
our first day and a half inMuddy Spaceside, scotland, and
now we are going to be sharingwith you day three of our
action-packed itinerary that wasput together for us by our
wonderful friend, david at VisitMuddy Spaceside.
(01:29):
So if you haven't been to theirwebsite yet, you want to make
sure to visit.
It'sM-O-R-A-Y-S-P-E-Y-S-I-D-Ecom.
That link will be in the shownotes as well as links to all of
the things that we'll betalking about and the places and
the experiences we'll betalking about in today's episode
(01:50):
.
We will put links to all ofthose things in our show notes,
so make sure to check those out.
Visit those sites, visit thoseplaces.
You're going to book your ownadventure and have an amazing
time.
We hope that our itinerary thatwe're going to share with you
today will inspire you to comecreate your own itinerary.
But before we dive into daythree, we're going to give a few
(02:12):
little tidbits about MurraySpaceside from the experts
themselves.
Gemma and David with VisitMurray Spaceside.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, we kind of say that it's like it is off the
beaten track, you know.
So it's something different.
It's a different region.
You can probably tell that it'snot a huge tourist place.
Our tourism is growing and ithas grown quite significantly
over the last kind of three,four years, which is great
because we work in tourism.
But it is kind of up and coming, as we say, people like it when
they come here because we'venot got the infrastructure.
(02:42):
You know, you do need a car todrive around people like that.
As something different, we arequite rural and it's quite a
spread out region, but then whenyou come here the locals that
you'll meet are, like, veryfriendly, they're very different
and you'll also just find thatit is a lot of locals that live
here.
We do have a lot of people thatcome in from england, come and
live up here.
We do have, obviously, like,the raf base at loss ofouth as
(03:03):
well, which is really popularand that helps the economy
hugely.
So that's really quiteinteresting that we've got that
there.
We've also got the armybarracks as well at Kinloss, so
we've got the two kind ofstationed here, which is great.
It brings in a lot of people.
A lot of people retire here.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I think.
Well, I've always liked thefact that we are a bit of like a
smaller place.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
We're between.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Aberdeenshire and Highlands.
So we're sort of like a littlebaby brother, sort of in the
middle.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Does anybody talk about this area?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah, exactly, it's the two.
But then within that smalllittle bit we have got so much
stuff, so we sort of describeourselves as like a mini
Scotland all in one place.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So let's dive into part two of Visit Muddy
Spaceside, scotland, to part twoof Visit.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Muddy Spaceside, scotland.
After a peaceful night's sleep,the next morning we made our
way over to Brody Country Fair.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I'm actually drinking some Brody's tea as we are
recording this.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Wow, yeah, okay, this will be a very special segment.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, absolutely Don't.
Y'all feel the specialness.
You can just feel the effectsof tea just oozing out.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
It's almost as though I can smell it on your breath
when you speak.
It's a very real sense.
With the name Brody CountryFair, I was just expecting like
a restaurant, but it was waymore.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It felt like a shopper's wonderland.
You walk in and all around thisgiant building you have one
shop after another, and so thereit's just sectioned off so you
might have a little section ofcool vibey dishware.
And then you go a little bitfurther and you're gonna find
(04:45):
knit caps.
And then you're gonna go alittle bit further and you're
going to find knit caps.
And then you're going to go alittle further and find a
women's boutique area yeah, andthey all just flow right into
the next one so it's like thesegift shop type places and or
like boutique type shops, all inone place and so uh, but very
segmented as well and it's justsuch a neat feel.
(05:07):
It's a bright, open, happy feelyeah, very happy so you can
walk in and do all of this funshopping, and then you keep
making your way to the back atthe delicious restaurant where
we had breakfast.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
A huge restaurant.
Now, when we walked in, I knewwe were going to have breakfast
there, so so I was thinkingwhere's the restaurant in all of
these stores?
And so I walked to the veryback of the first store I came
to because I saw there was abakery and I was like, oh,
that's cool, a bakery.
So I guess we're gonna havesome bread for breakfast.
Yeah, okay, well, scottishbread, nice.
But then I kept looking aroundand walked to the other end of
the building, through all theshops and there was this giant
(05:43):
restaurant area Really cool.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
With everything you could want.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Even some things you didn't know you wanted.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right or that I needed.
You know we've been talkingabout Rory doing the whole
haggis thing.
Do I really need to eat thevegan haggis?
So I am sort of somewhatScottish.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I guess.
So I mean, the haggis isobviously your standard, but
obviously you're vegan so youcan't have that.
So obviously the meat's alsoreplaced with a lot more oats
and barley and things like that.
Obviously, spices will still bethe same, but you know it's
going to fill it up.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So would a Highland Scot curse her for ordering a
vegan haggis?
I wouldn't share that.
I'd keep it quiet, okay.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Keep it quiet.
Keep it quiet, all right.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's what I wanted to hear.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Okay, Really really good.
I was so glad I tried it.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
The haggis.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, and there were no mystery ingredients, just
like all goodness that you knowyou're going to feel good after
you eat it and your body's goingto feel good all day.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
My haggis was a mystery, but it was still really
good.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So I had that, I had the vegan sausage and I
basically got like the veganScottish breakfast that they had
.
I gave you the mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Again is there such a thing as saying vegan before
Scottish or.
British breakfast.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
They are very accommodating there.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I like the English breakfast vegan A lot of places
we went, they accommodated usweird people.
They did yeah, very much so.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So I also got a green smoothie, which was delicious
and we had.
The potato scone was also onthere, so the potato scones.
We went to England the nextweek and we had the whole
Cornish scone thing.
But in Scotland we learnedabout the potato scones and
they're very flat and just kindof a different thing.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, melt butter on them.
Oh, good stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So Brody's Country Fair was a really fun experience
.
We kept the Brody theme goingand headed on to get our private
tour at the Brodie Castle.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
With our new friend.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Jamies.
The Brodie clan have alwaysbeen quite a small clan, so
really only of any particularsignificance in the local area,
just immediately in this area,rather than on the page of
Scottish history more generally,if you know what I mean.
So that's why the name doesn'tcome up as often as some other
ones do.
And they've been on this sitesince the 12th century for
(08:06):
certain, because that's when wehave records that tell us that
they were here, not really anyfurther details than that, just
they were here.
But because the place name andthe family name are both Brodie,
that tells us that it's quitelikely on hold, that they've
been here much longer than thatand probably nobody else has
been on this site ever, becausewhen the two grew up in tandem,
(08:29):
like that, the name and theplace usually means that Not
always.
But so it's difficult to sayfor certain when they first
started being here and we reallydon't know what kind of
building they were in at thattime because we don't have any
sort of physical records.
But it's likely to be a kind ofwhat would be a bit like a
Motten Bailey kind of castle,principally wood for defence,
(08:49):
but not really leaving any tracebehind it.
So the first physical evidencethat we have of them being here
is this tower here, and thismight date back as far as the
1430s.
It's really difficult to beabsolutely certain about that
because we don't have anarchaeological date, but 1430s
is a guess within the familyhistory and it's quite likely on
(09:12):
the whole it's either thistower or the other one which
I'll tell you about, whereyou've got just one chamber per
floor with really thick walls,probably five, six feet in
places, and it would have justhad the arrow slits, the lancet
windows, like you can see downhere on the ground floor.
The windows up above are latereditions and this would have
(09:34):
just been by itself surroundedby lots of other wooden
buildings.
So these would have constructedmost of the estate, things like
kitchens, stables, livingquarters.
For most people they're inseparate wooden buildings dotted
around, because at this timemost buildings are made out of
wood.
The fire risk is enormousbecause you've only got fire for
(09:55):
heating and light.
So if any one building,especially the kitchen, burns
down, it doesn't burn everythingelse down as well.
That's why it's not onebuilding, there's lots of
separate things.
Probably see how the tree lineis kind of a circle from here.
It's all pretty much clear.
Apart from up to there, that'svery roughly the slate of where
the ditch was, so we never gotas good as a moat with water.
(10:19):
But the next grade down is adry ditch which creates that dip
, with a palisade fence on theinside and we're not talking
like a little garden fence,we're talking big, solid posts.
So it would have beensubstantial.
Yeah, so between those twothings within it's almost like a
compound and like a littlevillage really, and you would
(10:41):
have felt quite well protectedin this area on a day-to-day
basis from like wild animals orjust, you know, annoying
neighbors or what have you.
Yeah, but then when themarauders come really properly,
that's when you probably get outof those wooden buildings and
pile into the stone tower at thecenter of everything for
protection.
Yeah, so that's how it wouldhave looked for about 100 years
(11:03):
or so, until this central ring.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
This is gorgeous.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
So if you imagine, this kind of rectangle here with
the pillars in the middle.
This is the 1567 section Okay.
Added onto that corner of thetower there and this, for
hundreds of years, was thekitchen of the house.
So all the way through from the1560s and to the 1860s, pretty
much this was the kitchen.
(11:33):
It was a completely differentsort of room.
It would have been busy, noisy,bustling.
You would have had lots ofsmells of all the herbs and the
meat and the bacon.
These are much later so.
When this was made into theentrance hall in the 19th
century, these pillars werecarved by a mason called Mr
Square.
I think that's a fantastic namefor Stone Mason, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Really sweet name.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Look at the ragged carving there on the stone and
there where that door is, that'swhere the big Inglemoor
fireplace would have been, so itwould have been that height.
Here in this window, we've gotthe Brodie coat of arms.
So if you're a family that isarmigolous, that's able to bear
arms, you have to officiallyapply for the licence to be able
(12:18):
to bear a coat of arms, andthen you're granted it by Lord
Lion, king of Arms, who's theperson responsible for the
Scottish heraldry, and then youcan whack it on everything you
like Windows cushions.
You'll see it everywhere aroundthe castle, so that's why it's
nice to pause here and have alook at it.
Underneath is the family motto,which is Unite, which is nice
(12:40):
and straightforward, and eitherside, the naked guys are there
to demonstrate the antiquity ofthe family.
So they're to demonstrate thatit might have pickedish or
celtic roots from timeforeclosed.
That's what they're there todemonstrate, and they're called
supporters around it.
Dutch there.
Yeah, we've got a lot of dutch.
Well, that was what they weredoing later.
(13:04):
On.
Yeah, exactly, I'm just sayingthe collection is probably much
smaller than it was originally.
Yeah, it's very impressive.
So this takes us into the 19thcentury drawing room, and the
term drawing room comes from thecustom in this country where in
the 18th and 19th century themen at the end of dinner would
stay seated at the dining tableand the ladies would withdraw to
(13:28):
the comfy seats in thewithdrawing room, which over
time gets shortened to drawingroom.
Otherwise, it's a very odd term.
By now.
This is in the 19th century, soyou can see that we can go in
here, yeah the engineering iscompletely different by now.
So you've got the technology tomake a much higher ceiling
(13:48):
without pillars supporting it,and you don't need to worry
about defence anymore.
You can have these huge windows.
And you've also got thetechnology to make much harder
panes of glass which then meansthat the windows are strong
enough to be able to supportthemselves is is the piano in
(14:13):
tune it is.
We had a piano and recital justjust a couple weeks ago.
It's really lovely when you seethe rooms being used for the
sorts of things they wereintended for.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Right.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
Yeah, I agree it's really lovely and the acoustics
are quite good in here.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Which is maybe surprising.
Yeah, it's not bouncing at all.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Can Rory play a song or not?
Yeah, yeah if you can play thepiano.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
go for it.
Yeah, yeah, Please do.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
It's in tune and it's always better for the musical
instruments to be played.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
It keeps them in good condition.
You can't feel the rain.
Sometimes, when you burn away,all you know is pain, and I know
the road to walking.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And I know your hope is dying, so you better go to
the keep.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Come running to me.
Come running to me you bettergo to the keep.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
Ain't nobody who cares?
Ain't nobody who?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
loves you like me.
What this room is made for,that's a German piano made by
the Blüthner company about 1890.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
This was made in 1890 ?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yes, and it sounds like that, yes.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You're like Take care of something at last.
Right, Absolutely.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
It's beautiful.
It's a semi-concert band, butLuton is one of the principal.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
European piano makers .
Speaker 6 (16:26):
I knew what they were doing Absolutely when we came
from before to get to the stairs.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, it wasn't the same room, was it?
No, I've all turned around, wow.
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Yeah, we're in the 19th century again here.
19th century, of course, tookup a lot of space.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
The Sk in the 19th century again here.
The 19th century, of course,took up a lot of space because
Scar Zahara had huge skirts.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
They were pretty big and of course they were really
complicated to go on and off aswell.
So therefore, to have aseparate room to be able to do
that in comfort and privacy isreally important, because they
often get changed several timesa day.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Wow for different meals or times.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Yeah, for different occasions.
If you were going out for lunch, if you were drinking tea, if
you were going riding, if youwere going walking, if you were
dressing for dinner.
These things require differentoutfits, men and women, more
women than men, but, yes, tosome extent for men as well,
absolutely so.
A lot of changes and clothesthat are at the back for rich
(17:23):
women, so you need a maid to beon hand to help you with that,
whereas poor women's clothes didup at the front because you
could do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
So those would be one of those really subtle signs to
people back in the day Right,you have money, you don't.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Yeah, you just know just by looking One of those.
I like things like that thattotally wouldn't have cared to
us but of course it meant a lotto them at that time.
Yeah, there's nothing holding itup in the middle, no posts or
anything.
(17:58):
That's because it's acantilever staircase where each
step is one piece of stone andit's built into the wall and so
that's what holds the wholething up, that and the tension
between the steps.
So that's why you get thislovely sense of light and space
through the whole middle of thesection, and it was cripplingly
(18:20):
expensive for 1732.
Ian had two main interests inhis life, and one was his career
in the army.
You can see he was a soldier andhe first saw service with the
Second Boer War in South Africaabout 1900.
And that's where he won thecolours.
World War in South Africa inabout 1900.
(18:42):
And that's where he won thecolours that are displayed on
his chest there.
That's the DSO, theDistinguished Service Order, and
it tells us that he wasn't justbrave but also kind and decent.
And he last saw service withthe First World War and that's
where he won the Military Cross,which is again another very
high honour in the UK to showdecency as well as bravery.
And his other main interest wasgardening.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
He was a very keen gardener and focused all of his
efforts on the daffodil.
So over decades of his life hecrossbred existing varieties of
daffodil to create over 400 newvarieties 400 new varieties
daffodil.
Wow, we've got about 200 ofthose here today, so around.
Easter time it looks so lovelyand cheerful here on the ground.
(19:24):
That's fun and it's in 1601 thatthey move the front door and so
every time you come in thefront door you see travel for
eternal life, for it is full ofjoy.
It's a really nice sentiment asyou come in from outside.
But what I really like is whenthe 17th led has it repaired in
the 18th century.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
He puts george brody loves emilia, which I think is
really cute, especially for 1714it's really cool to get a
private tour of a castle.
It feels totally different.
There's so much moreinformation, You're kind of
allowed more things.
I think he took us in a placewhere the big tours don't go, so
(20:08):
that was kind of cool.
You even get to see some thingsthat the normal people the
normal people that everyonedoesn't get to see on a bigger
tour.
So, anyway, really cool gettinga private tour of the castle
there.
After that it was lunchtime.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So where do we go?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
We headed on to Logie Stedding.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's right, logie Stedding.
For those of you who don't know, a Stedding is like a farm or
the outbuildings of a farmhouse,not to be confused with the
outhouse, the outbuildings, orit's a farmstead, that kind of a
thing.
So, logie Stedding, beautifulsetting.
I didn't mean to rhyme, but Iam a songwriter, so it just
happened.
Logie Stedding has a beautifulsetting.
(20:49):
As we were driving out thesebeautiful fields we're driving
through and these little feltlike a country estate road and
really, really nice.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
And we pulled up to this structure or infrastructure
that had different shops.
So these were kind of like, ifyou compared it, to maybe an
outdoor mall in the States but,like you know, a cool Scottish
vibe with, like the old schoolbrick and the history Right,
(21:19):
right so nothing like anAmerican outdoor mall.
But, like you know, yeah, itmakes me think that the Logie
Connected outdoor stores.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, it makes me think Logie Stedding, since it's
also the outbuildings of afarmstead or a farm.
It makes me think that that'swhat they once were and they've
now created these really coolshops.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
And we got to talk to a shop owner.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
You're never hemmed in.
Even when this place isabsolutely busy in the summer,
you're never crowded and youknow we really work hard to add
to it with our businesses.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, I love the feeling because it's just what
you said.
It feels like it's, we wouldsay, in the States, mom-and-pop
shops, yeah, but they're verynice and so it makes me it's
very homey feeling.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
I really like that yeah, and you find things in
Loughy that you won't findelsewhere that's why.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
I want to my job later on.
Yeah, no, but I mean it is.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
I mean this shop.
For example, my partner,christine, has the lady shop.
It was established first andher philosophy is it's kind of
sustainable fashion.
Yeah, we start with those shopsbrands you can't find anywhere
else in Scotland.
So people come here anddiscover it.
I mean, obviously I take ityou're from the States or Canada
.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, the States.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
We start things over here that appear to be good for
us and come from the States,because we have as many
different made inin-Scotlandthings as we possibly can.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I love it as well as things from all over Europe.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
So, whether you live here or whether you come and
visit, you're going to findsomething unique in Logie and to
help you fit in, yeah,Absolutely, or in our case,
stand out.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
That's right, absolutely.
This is what I'm saying.
You're going to have somethingdifferent.
Like we said earlier, the wholereason we went there was to
have lunch at the cafe at LogieStedding, and boy did we have
lunch.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
We got the hook up there.
Woo, we got everything.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
The lady serving has told us that the chef wanted to
send us some samples of all thedifferent kinds of foods.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And we got to try so many dishes and everything.
The plates were beautiful.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, the presentation was awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
The food was awesome, salad was great.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
They had several vegan options, and so I got a
couple vegan dishes and, ofcourse, rory did all his meat
dishes.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, but what was really funny is true to Scottish
fashion the portions were hugeand the food was really good.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
And also in true Scottish fashion.
Rory, of course, was offeredhaggis.
Yes haggis bonbons yeah so hegot the haggis bonbons.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
But that's not all.
Also got a big, huge doubleburger with, you know, fries
chips of course Right.
I also got mac and cheese withscallops and black pudding.
It's an interesting combo.
Really, truly, it was goodstuff.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I had a beautiful Buddha bowl with a wonderful mix
of different grains and veggiesand herbs and it was just super
unique and special.
And then there were all theselike desserts that they had.
There's just such a hugevariety and it's all just
gorgeous, colorful, fresh,delicious, etc.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Including red velvet cake.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Including red velvet cake.
Hard to go wrong there yep, andeveryone was so nice.
The servers are great.
So while you're on the logiestudying campus and you're
enjoying the cafe, keep in mindthat they also have some events
that are throughout the year anddifferent experiences that you
can take part in.
There is the Logie House Garden.
(24:57):
They have woodworking courses,river walks.
Check out their website to seewhat is going on and enjoy your
stop at the cafe at LogieStudding.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
They got us totally fueled up for our next big
adventure, and it was a bigadventure for us.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yes, Ace Adventures.
So Ace offers everything fromcanoeing to high ropes,
canyoning, paintball, splat,master, disc, golf, bungee
jumping, what yeah?
Whitewater rafting, tumblerafting.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Camping and glampinging, high ropes and zip
line and, of course, our bigadventure our big adventure,
which was river tubing and cliffjumping what we had never done
either in this capacity ever not, not in a river where they have
(25:55):
level five rapids, yeah.
Okay.
So y'all, we wanted to dosomething where we would be able
to kind of push the limits alittle bit but also just be able
to enjoy the scenery, and soPush the comfortable limits.
We this was a little beyond whatwe are used to, you know, in
(26:18):
our adventure-ness, but it wasreally that's not a word, but I
just made it one but we reallyreally loved the experience and
I think more.
I wasn't really likenecessarily afraid that's not
the best word but apprehensiveabout the tubing but the whole
cliff jumping thing.
(26:39):
That was never.
That's never been on my bucketlist.
But I think I was moreapprehensive about the cold.
I think you and I both were alittle bit more apprehensive
about being cold than we were,like having to jump off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, the air.
The air was cold, it was likefoggy, a great atmosphere.
But then when you think aboutjumping in a river, in that
climate.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
We were so at least I was so paranoid about the cold.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I prepared myself.
I tried mentally to preparemyself.
Yes, we just tried to.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And so you get there, and what's really great is they
clothe you, they gear you upwith wetsuit, wet shoes, like
the whole.
Get up and y'all, we were notfreezing.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Not cold, no, it was comfortable.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
One time we got cold.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
No, I never got cold.
You didn't.
No, not in my wetsuit.
That's because you're a bigmanly man, yeah One time.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I was just like a little cold, like a little bit,
and it was no big deal, right.
So that was really reallyawesome.
So all of that was out of theway and now we could just focus
on the adventure and survivingthese rapids.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And survive them.
We did.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So first we, so it was kind of a combination.
We tubed a little bit bit,cliff jumped a little bit and
they got back on the tubing, andso it was kind of like tube
cliff jump, tube is sort of howthe tour went yeah, they had
some challenges for us along theway yes, david and cameron were
our guides.
They were amazing.
Cameron just knows his stuff.
(28:12):
He's so fun to talk to.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
He's been there for a number of years.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
He's super, super great.
So ask for Cameron, if you, if,when you go.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yes, when you go.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yes, to have your adventure with Ace Adventures.
What do you think about yourtubing experience, Rory?
Just talk about the tubing partof it.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, it was super cool.
We love waterfalls and riversgoing across these big rocks and
boulders and stuff.
But I've always wondered whatit would be like you see the
water sluice through theselittle narrow areas and shoot
out the other end and I thought,oh, it'd be so fun to like a
water slide, whoop, like, shootthrough that.
That's what we did.
It was so cool.
It's things I've thought about.
(28:48):
But growing up, where I grew up, there were no big boulders and
rocks and rapids.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
There were no cliffs to jump off of right and, as
you're there, it is so beautifuljust the scenery and the
setting and you wouldn't be ableto experience all of that from
a hike.
Now you can hike around thatarea, but seeing it from the
river's point of view gettinginto the river being in the
(29:13):
river is an amazing way toexperience the area and this
beautiful scenery that was goingon and Rory really loved the
fact that it was kind of hazy.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah, it was like going back in time.
I was expecting guys in kiltsto come out of the woods with
swords and it was some kind ofclan.
It was really, really cool.
Yeah, like stepping back intime, and I gotta say, the cliff
jumping it was a challenge forme again.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You know earlier we've talked about rory's uh
love with heights.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, my love hey relationship with heights uh,
certain heights kind of freak mestanding on the cliff was no
big deal.
Jumping off the cliff the firstone, okay it was, you know it
was low.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
They start you off smaller yeah and so you, you
know, try.
They try to just get you morecomfortable yeah, and so the
second one for me.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It took me a long time to get the guts to jump off
.
Finally he said okay, I'm gonnaask you a question Jump or no?
Jump, yes or no?
He was fed up.
He was patient, though reallypatient.
So finally I got up the nerveand I jumped off the cliff.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
He did so good.
I was so proud of him.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Oh yeah.
So they're in between the areaswhere the rapids are, where
you're riding your tube through,there are these cliffs where
the water settles and there aredeep pools, so you got plenty of
deep water to jump off thecliff into, and those are the
places we would tube.
And they would climb up on topof this thing and he would
challenge us to jump off and, ofcourse, and we, we've never
(30:48):
jumped any cliffs no and soacross them or off of them or
anything, and I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
I think it was fun.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I'm trying to think what was it like?
It was fun and I'm just glad wedid it.
We made ourselves do somethingout of our comfort zone.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Something totally new .
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Something totally new and it was a cool, fun
experience.
It was an adventure.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
It was an ace adventure.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah, it was a cool, fun experience.
It was an adventure I meantruly ace adventure.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah, it was an ace adventure.
One really cool thing, too is,after our most excellent
adventure that we went on, yougo back and they have showers,
so you strip off all your gearthat they gave you, that they
suited you up in, you shower andyou're ready to go.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And I got to say adventuring works up quite an
appetite.
Yes, we had a pretty awesomefood day that day, didn't we
rory?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
it was my favorite food day.
Yeah, it was like every mealwas.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
All the food was good , right that we had, but like
this day especially, just hadsome magic to it.
I think, yeah.
And to top it off with yourvery, very, very favorite, the
Old Mill Inn.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, my favorite meal it was the Old Mill Inn had
really good food.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
They care highly about their food and the
Scottish would think that theyhad smaller portions, but we
kind of felt like they were justright.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
It was plenty.
Yeah, it was was plenty.
I got the venison steak.
Amazing, they get their ownvenison, they prepare it their
own way, they age it and allthis kind of stuff all right
there in house.
It was fabulous.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Just I mean, you could cut it with a fork almost
and I had this really uniquedish and they were so
accommodating.
It was already kind of avegetarian dish, but they still
also, like, tailored it to someof my weird taste and left, you
know, customized it and it wasso, so good.
Everything was just pristineand, um, I want to say like
(32:49):
fancy.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
And it was a little bit more of a fancy restaurant
than the other ones we had beento.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Right, it still kind of has like a pub vibe, but like
an elegant pub.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
It's not uptight yeah it's not uptight, you go in and
it's a little more of anelegant atmosphere and you have
great food.
So if you're looking for aquiet night, right, and they put
it into an old pub.
So if you're looking for aquiet night in a more of an
elegant pub atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Right, oh, and we had dessert.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Y'all like we were Scottish again, Apparently, you
know.
There was no haggis involvedwith the dessert there was no
haggis with the dessert, butapparently it's super Scottish
to have this sticky toffee, Ithink is what they called it
yeah, sticky toffee pudding orsomething they do, a gluten-free
version which generally makesit more moist, depending on your
approach to gluten-free cooking, which theirs is spot on.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Man, they've thought about everything they do.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I even liked it better than the chocolate that
we also tried, and I lovechocolate, and the chocolate was
amazing, and so the stickytoffee was even, in our opinion,
both even better, and we justfelt so proud that, again, we
were so scottish yeah, they worktheir recipes until they have
them exactly like.
Yes, they take a lot of pride intheir menu.
(34:09):
Yeah, for sure.
And that was such a greatending to have such a nice meal
on a very last night in MuddySpace Side.
We had to catch a train toEngland.
The next morning we stayedagain at the Bergey Woodland
Lodges and enjoyed the hot tubone more time.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, it's great it's out in the countryside, it's
quiet, such peaceful sleep.
Plus, you know, like you said,they got the hot tub.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
So we hope you enjoyed hearing about our
itinerary as much as we enjoyedexperiencing it.
And when you book your nexttrip to.
Scotland.
You must visit Muddy Spaceside,and so we are going to have all
of the contact info that youneed on our show notes for all
(34:55):
of these things that we talkedabout, but you definitely want
to visit muddyspacesidecom, soit is
M-O-R-A-Y-S-P-E-Y-S-I-D-Ecom.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
For us Americans it looks like wwwmorayspacesidecom.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And again, we will have all of that in the show
notes.
So please visit the show notesso that you can go to all of the
social links for each of theplaces we visited.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Okay, now, through the magic of the online internet
, which no one reallyunderstands, we are going to ask
David and Gemma to ask this toanswer the second trivia
question that we asked way backthe beginning of episode one
part one yes, part one, episodetwo, two, eight okay yeah, we
(35:46):
threw out the second triviaquestion to you and now David
and Gemma are going to ask it.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
What is the question?
Speaker 6 (35:52):
do you?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
know they're going to answer it.
Do you know what city is thehost of the Fringe, the world's
largest arts?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
The Fringe Festival is held in the city of Edinburgh
.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Edinburgh is where they host the Fringe.
That's Edinburgh.
I used to live in Edinburgh andI used to go to the Fringe
quite a lot when it was on.
It is a brilliant festival.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Now, David, is that like a good road trip to go from
Murray Spaceside to?
Speaker 4 (36:18):
Edinburgh.
It isn't too long of a drive.
For me personally it probablyis a long drive as a Scots
person.
It's about three hours fromForest to Edinburgh, so it is
quite a long drive, but I don'tthink it would be that long a
drive for Americans.
That's like nothing for youguys.
So it's a brilliant trip out.
There's free festivals, there'ssome really big celebrity names
(36:41):
that go along to every singleyear and it's just a brilliant,
brilliant, like day out.
You can go to get up in themorning at nine o'clock, go to a
free show, you get handedmillions of leaflets, so you
have a pick of a bunch.
You can pop into the NationalMuseum, which was one of our
favorite things to do, or theBotanical Gardens in between
(37:02):
shows and then you can stay out,go for lunch and then in the
evening go to another show andyou can sort of really make your
day your own, depending on whatyou're into.
So yeah, it's a brilliant day.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
We hope that we have inspired you to go visit
Scotland.
Experience something brand new,go off the beaten path.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You will not regret it.
And, like we said, there is somuch we didn't get to do, so
much more to see and experienceand do there.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
We got our bucket list for next time.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Make sure you book your trip.
As a matter of fact, right nowyou should go to
MuddySpacesidecom and getstarted planning and booking
your adventure in MuddySpaceside.
Muddy Spaceside, muddySpaceside.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
We hope we've inspired you this episode, so
join us next time.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies, that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website atwwwtheromyscom, that's right,
that's D-H-E-R-O-A-M.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
I-E-S dot com.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Bye you, you, you, you.
Thi Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Romies, we are married.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To each other.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Right, we are a touring musical duo.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places
all around the world and keepsus always on the go.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.
Welcome to part two of ouradventures in Muddy Speyside.
(00:59):
Scotland.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And part two.
So that means if you missedpart one, make sure you go back
and listen to it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Check out part one.
We got to share in our previousepisode about our adventures,
our first day and a half inMuddy Spaceside, scotland, and
now we are going to be sharingwith you day three of our
action-packed itinerary that wasput together for us by our
wonderful friend, david at VisitMuddy Spaceside.
(01:29):
So if you haven't been to theirwebsite yet, you want to make
sure to visit.
It'sM-O-R-A-Y-S-P-E-Y-S-I-D-Ecom.
That link will be in the shownotes as well as links to all of
the things that we'll betalking about and the places and
the experiences we'll betalking about in today's episode
(01:50):
.
We will put links to all ofthose things in our show notes,
so make sure to check those out.
Visit those sites, visit thoseplaces.
You're going to book your ownadventure and have an amazing
time.
We hope that our itinerary thatwe're going to share with you
today will inspire you to comecreate your own itinerary.
But before we dive into daythree, we're going to give a few
(02:12):
little tidbits about MurraySpaceside from the experts
themselves.
Gemma and David with VisitMurray Spaceside.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, we kind of say that it's like it is off the
beaten track, you know.
So it's something different.
It's a different region.
You can probably tell that it'snot a huge tourist place.
Our tourism is growing and ithas grown quite significantly
over the last kind of three,four years, which is great
because we work in tourism.
But it is kind of up and coming, as we say, people like it when
they come here because we'venot got the infrastructure.
(02:42):
You know, you do need a car todrive around people like that.
As something different, we arequite rural and it's quite a
spread out region, but then whenyou come here the locals that
you'll meet are, like, veryfriendly, they're very different
and you'll also just find thatit is a lot of locals that live
here.
We do have a lot of people thatcome in from england, come and
live up here.
We do have, obviously, like,the raf base at loss ofouth as
(03:03):
well, which is really popularand that helps the economy
hugely.
So that's really quiteinteresting that we've got that
there.
We've also got the armybarracks as well at Kinloss, so
we've got the two kind ofstationed here, which is great.
It brings in a lot of people.
A lot of people retire here.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I think.
Well, I've always liked thefact that we are a bit of like a
smaller place.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
We're between.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Aberdeenshire and Highlands.
So we're sort of like a littlebaby brother, sort of in the
middle.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Does anybody talk about this area?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah, exactly, it's the two.
But then within that smalllittle bit we have got so much
stuff, so we sort of describeourselves as like a mini
Scotland all in one place.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So let's dive into part two of Visit Muddy
Spaceside, scotland, to part twoof Visit.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Muddy Spaceside, scotland.
After a peaceful night's sleep,the next morning we made our
way over to Brody Country Fair.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I'm actually drinking some Brody's tea as we are
recording this.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Wow, yeah, okay, this will be a very special segment.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, absolutely Don't.
Y'all feel the specialness.
You can just feel the effectsof tea just oozing out.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
It's almost as though I can smell it on your breath
when you speak.
It's a very real sense.
With the name Brody CountryFair, I was just expecting like
a restaurant, but it was waymore.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It felt like a shopper's wonderland.
You walk in and all around thisgiant building you have one
shop after another, and so thereit's just sectioned off so you
might have a little section ofcool vibey dishware.
And then you go a little bitfurther and you're gonna find
(04:45):
knit caps.
And then you're gonna go alittle bit further and you're
going to find knit caps.
And then you're going to go alittle further and find a
women's boutique area yeah, andthey all just flow right into
the next one so it's like thesegift shop type places and or
like boutique type shops, all inone place and so uh, but very
segmented as well and it's justsuch a neat feel.
(05:07):
It's a bright, open, happy feelyeah, very happy so you can
walk in and do all of this funshopping, and then you keep
making your way to the back atthe delicious restaurant where
we had breakfast.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
A huge restaurant.
Now, when we walked in, I knewwe were going to have breakfast
there, so so I was thinkingwhere's the restaurant in all of
these stores?
And so I walked to the veryback of the first store I came
to because I saw there was abakery and I was like, oh,
that's cool, a bakery.
So I guess we're gonna havesome bread for breakfast.
Yeah, okay, well, scottishbread, nice.
But then I kept looking aroundand walked to the other end of
the building, through all theshops and there was this giant
(05:43):
restaurant area Really cool.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
With everything you could want.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Even some things you didn't know you wanted.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right or that I needed.
You know we've been talkingabout Rory doing the whole
haggis thing.
Do I really need to eat thevegan haggis?
So I am sort of somewhatScottish.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I guess.
So I mean, the haggis isobviously your standard, but
obviously you're vegan so youcan't have that.
So obviously the meat's alsoreplaced with a lot more oats
and barley and things like that.
Obviously, spices will still bethe same, but you know it's
going to fill it up.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So would a Highland Scot curse her for ordering a
vegan haggis?
I wouldn't share that.
I'd keep it quiet, okay.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Keep it quiet.
Keep it quiet, all right.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's what I wanted to hear.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Okay, Really really good.
I was so glad I tried it.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
The haggis.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, and there were no mystery ingredients, just
like all goodness that you knowyou're going to feel good after
you eat it and your body's goingto feel good all day.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
My haggis was a mystery, but it was still really
good.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So I had that, I had the vegan sausage and I
basically got like the veganScottish breakfast that they had
.
I gave you the mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Again is there such a thing as saying vegan before
Scottish or.
British breakfast.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
They are very accommodating there.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I like the English breakfast vegan A lot of places
we went, they accommodated usweird people.
They did yeah, very much so.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So I also got a green smoothie, which was delicious
and we had.
The potato scone was also onthere, so the potato scones.
We went to England the nextweek and we had the whole
Cornish scone thing.
But in Scotland we learnedabout the potato scones and
they're very flat and just kindof a different thing.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, melt butter on them.
Oh, good stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So Brody's Country Fair was a really fun experience
.
We kept the Brody theme goingand headed on to get our private
tour at the Brodie Castle.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
With our new friend.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Jamies.
The Brodie clan have alwaysbeen quite a small clan, so
really only of any particularsignificance in the local area,
just immediately in this area,rather than on the page of
Scottish history more generally,if you know what I mean.
So that's why the name doesn'tcome up as often as some other
ones do.
And they've been on this sitesince the 12th century for
(08:06):
certain, because that's when wehave records that tell us that
they were here, not really anyfurther details than that, just
they were here.
But because the place name andthe family name are both Brodie,
that tells us that it's quitelikely on hold, that they've
been here much longer than thatand probably nobody else has
been on this site ever, becausewhen the two grew up in tandem,
(08:29):
like that, the name and theplace usually means that Not
always.
But so it's difficult to sayfor certain when they first
started being here and we reallydon't know what kind of
building they were in at thattime because we don't have any
sort of physical records.
But it's likely to be a kind ofwhat would be a bit like a
Motten Bailey kind of castle,principally wood for defence,
(08:49):
but not really leaving any tracebehind it.
So the first physical evidencethat we have of them being here
is this tower here, and thismight date back as far as the
1430s.
It's really difficult to beabsolutely certain about that
because we don't have anarchaeological date, but 1430s
is a guess within the familyhistory and it's quite likely on
(09:12):
the whole it's either thistower or the other one which
I'll tell you about, whereyou've got just one chamber per
floor with really thick walls,probably five, six feet in
places, and it would have justhad the arrow slits, the lancet
windows, like you can see downhere on the ground floor.
The windows up above are latereditions and this would have
(09:34):
just been by itself surroundedby lots of other wooden
buildings.
So these would have constructedmost of the estate, things like
kitchens, stables, livingquarters.
For most people they're inseparate wooden buildings dotted
around, because at this timemost buildings are made out of
wood.
The fire risk is enormousbecause you've only got fire for
(09:55):
heating and light.
So if any one building,especially the kitchen, burns
down, it doesn't burn everythingelse down as well.
That's why it's not onebuilding, there's lots of
separate things.
Probably see how the tree lineis kind of a circle from here.
It's all pretty much clear.
Apart from up to there, that'svery roughly the slate of where
the ditch was, so we never gotas good as a moat with water.
(10:19):
But the next grade down is adry ditch which creates that dip
, with a palisade fence on theinside and we're not talking
like a little garden fence,we're talking big, solid posts.
So it would have beensubstantial.
Yeah, so between those twothings within it's almost like a
compound and like a littlevillage really, and you would
(10:41):
have felt quite well protectedin this area on a day-to-day
basis from like wild animals orjust, you know, annoying
neighbors or what have you.
Yeah, but then when themarauders come really properly,
that's when you probably get outof those wooden buildings and
pile into the stone tower at thecenter of everything for
protection.
Yeah, so that's how it wouldhave looked for about 100 years
(11:03):
or so, until this central ring.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
This is gorgeous.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
So if you imagine, this kind of rectangle here with
the pillars in the middle.
This is the 1567 section Okay.
Added onto that corner of thetower there and this, for
hundreds of years, was thekitchen of the house.
So all the way through from the1560s and to the 1860s, pretty
much this was the kitchen.
(11:33):
It was a completely differentsort of room.
It would have been busy, noisy,bustling.
You would have had lots ofsmells of all the herbs and the
meat and the bacon.
These are much later so.
When this was made into theentrance hall in the 19th
century, these pillars werecarved by a mason called Mr
Square.
I think that's a fantastic namefor Stone Mason, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Really sweet name.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
Look at the ragged carving there on the stone and
there where that door is, that'swhere the big Inglemoor
fireplace would have been, so itwould have been that height.
Here in this window, we've gotthe Brodie coat of arms.
So if you're a family that isarmigolous, that's able to bear
arms, you have to officiallyapply for the licence to be able
(12:18):
to bear a coat of arms, andthen you're granted it by Lord
Lion, king of Arms, who's theperson responsible for the
Scottish heraldry, and then youcan whack it on everything you
like Windows cushions.
You'll see it everywhere aroundthe castle, so that's why it's
nice to pause here and have alook at it.
Underneath is the family motto,which is Unite, which is nice
(12:40):
and straightforward, and eitherside, the naked guys are there
to demonstrate the antiquity ofthe family.
So they're to demonstrate thatit might have pickedish or
celtic roots from timeforeclosed.
That's what they're there todemonstrate, and they're called
supporters around it.
Dutch there.
Yeah, we've got a lot of dutch.
Well, that was what they weredoing later.
(13:04):
On.
Yeah, exactly, I'm just sayingthe collection is probably much
smaller than it was originally.
Yeah, it's very impressive.
So this takes us into the 19thcentury drawing room, and the
term drawing room comes from thecustom in this country where in
the 18th and 19th century themen at the end of dinner would
stay seated at the dining tableand the ladies would withdraw to
(13:28):
the comfy seats in thewithdrawing room, which over
time gets shortened to drawingroom.
Otherwise, it's a very odd term.
By now.
This is in the 19th century, soyou can see that we can go in
here, yeah the engineering iscompletely different by now.
So you've got the technology tomake a much higher ceiling
(13:48):
without pillars supporting it,and you don't need to worry
about defence anymore.
You can have these huge windows.
And you've also got thetechnology to make much harder
panes of glass which then meansthat the windows are strong
enough to be able to supportthemselves is is the piano in
(14:13):
tune it is.
We had a piano and recital justjust a couple weeks ago.
It's really lovely when you seethe rooms being used for the
sorts of things they wereintended for.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Right.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
Yeah, I agree it's really lovely and the acoustics
are quite good in here.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Which is maybe surprising.
Yeah, it's not bouncing at all.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Can Rory play a song or not?
Yeah, yeah if you can play thepiano.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
go for it.
Yeah, yeah, Please do.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
It's in tune and it's always better for the musical
instruments to be played.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
It keeps them in good condition.
You can't feel the rain.
Sometimes, when you burn away,all you know is pain, and I know
the road to walking.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And I know your hope is dying, so you better go to
the keep.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Come running to me.
Come running to me you bettergo to the keep.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
Ain't nobody who cares?
Ain't nobody who?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
loves you like me.
What this room is made for,that's a German piano made by
the Blüthner company about 1890.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
This was made in 1890 ?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yes, and it sounds like that, yes.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You're like Take care of something at last.
Right, Absolutely.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
It's beautiful.
It's a semi-concert band, butLuton is one of the principal.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
European piano makers .
Speaker 6 (16:26):
I knew what they were doing Absolutely when we came
from before to get to the stairs.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, it wasn't the same room, was it?
No, I've all turned around, wow.
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Yeah, we're in the 19th century again here.
19th century, of course, tookup a lot of space.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
The Sk in the 19th century again here.
The 19th century, of course,took up a lot of space because
Scar Zahara had huge skirts.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
They were pretty big and of course they were really
complicated to go on and off aswell.
So therefore, to have aseparate room to be able to do
that in comfort and privacy isreally important, because they
often get changed several timesa day.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Wow for different meals or times.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Yeah, for different occasions.
If you were going out for lunch, if you were drinking tea, if
you were going riding, if youwere going walking, if you were
dressing for dinner.
These things require differentoutfits, men and women, more
women than men, but, yes, tosome extent for men as well,
absolutely so.
A lot of changes and clothesthat are at the back for rich
(17:23):
women, so you need a maid to beon hand to help you with that,
whereas poor women's clothes didup at the front because you
could do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
So those would be one of those really subtle signs to
people back in the day Right,you have money, you don't.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Yeah, you just know just by looking One of those.
I like things like that thattotally wouldn't have cared to
us but of course it meant a lotto them at that time.
Yeah, there's nothing holding itup in the middle, no posts or
anything.
(17:58):
That's because it's acantilever staircase where each
step is one piece of stone andit's built into the wall and so
that's what holds the wholething up, that and the tension
between the steps.
So that's why you get thislovely sense of light and space
through the whole middle of thesection, and it was cripplingly
(18:20):
expensive for 1732.
Ian had two main interests inhis life, and one was his career
in the army.
You can see he was a soldier andhe first saw service with the
Second Boer War in South Africaabout 1900.
And that's where he won thecolours.
World War in South Africa inabout 1900.
(18:42):
And that's where he won thecolours that are displayed on
his chest there.
That's the DSO, theDistinguished Service Order, and
it tells us that he wasn't justbrave but also kind and decent.
And he last saw service withthe First World War and that's
where he won the Military Cross,which is again another very
high honour in the UK to showdecency as well as bravery.
And his other main interest wasgardening.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
He was a very keen gardener and focused all of his
efforts on the daffodil.
So over decades of his life hecrossbred existing varieties of
daffodil to create over 400 newvarieties 400 new varieties
daffodil.
Wow, we've got about 200 ofthose here today, so around.
Easter time it looks so lovelyand cheerful here on the ground.
(19:24):
That's fun and it's in 1601 thatthey move the front door and so
every time you come in thefront door you see travel for
eternal life, for it is full ofjoy.
It's a really nice sentiment asyou come in from outside.
But what I really like is whenthe 17th led has it repaired in
the 18th century.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
He puts george brody loves emilia, which I think is
really cute, especially for 1714it's really cool to get a
private tour of a castle.
It feels totally different.
There's so much moreinformation, You're kind of
allowed more things.
I think he took us in a placewhere the big tours don't go, so
(20:08):
that was kind of cool.
You even get to see some thingsthat the normal people the
normal people that everyonedoesn't get to see on a bigger
tour.
So, anyway, really cool gettinga private tour of the castle
there.
After that it was lunchtime.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So where do we go?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
We headed on to Logie Stedding.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's right, logie Stedding.
For those of you who don't know, a Stedding is like a farm or
the outbuildings of a farmhouse,not to be confused with the
outhouse, the outbuildings, orit's a farmstead, that kind of a
thing.
So, logie Stedding, beautifulsetting.
I didn't mean to rhyme, but Iam a songwriter, so it just
happened.
Logie Stedding has a beautifulsetting.
(20:49):
As we were driving out thesebeautiful fields we're driving
through and these little feltlike a country estate road and
really, really nice.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
And we pulled up to this structure or infrastructure
that had different shops.
So these were kind of like, ifyou compared it, to maybe an
outdoor mall in the States but,like you know, a cool Scottish
vibe with, like the old schoolbrick and the history Right,
(21:19):
right so nothing like anAmerican outdoor mall.
But, like you know, yeah, itmakes me think that the Logie
Connected outdoor stores.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, it makes me think Logie Stedding, since it's
also the outbuildings of afarmstead or a farm.
It makes me think that that'swhat they once were and they've
now created these really coolshops.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
And we got to talk to a shop owner.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
You're never hemmed in.
Even when this place isabsolutely busy in the summer,
you're never crowded and youknow we really work hard to add
to it with our businesses.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, I love the feeling because it's just what
you said.
It feels like it's, we wouldsay, in the States, mom-and-pop
shops, yeah, but they're verynice and so it makes me it's
very homey feeling.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
I really like that yeah, and you find things in
Loughy that you won't findelsewhere that's why.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
I want to my job later on.
Yeah, no, but I mean it is.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
I mean this shop.
For example, my partner,christine, has the lady shop.
It was established first andher philosophy is it's kind of
sustainable fashion.
Yeah, we start with those shopsbrands you can't find anywhere
else in Scotland.
So people come here anddiscover it.
I mean, obviously I take ityou're from the States or Canada
.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, the States.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
We start things over here that appear to be good for
us and come from the States,because we have as many
different made inin-Scotlandthings as we possibly can.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I love it as well as things from all over Europe.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
So, whether you live here or whether you come and
visit, you're going to findsomething unique in Logie and to
help you fit in, yeah,Absolutely, or in our case,
stand out.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
That's right, absolutely.
This is what I'm saying.
You're going to have somethingdifferent.
Like we said earlier, the wholereason we went there was to
have lunch at the cafe at LogieStedding, and boy did we have
lunch.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
We got the hook up there.
Woo, we got everything.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
The lady serving has told us that the chef wanted to
send us some samples of all thedifferent kinds of foods.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And we got to try so many dishes and everything.
The plates were beautiful.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, the presentation was awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
The food was awesome, salad was great.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
They had several vegan options, and so I got a
couple vegan dishes and, ofcourse, rory did all his meat
dishes.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, but what was really funny is true to Scottish
fashion the portions were hugeand the food was really good.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
And also in true Scottish fashion.
Rory, of course, was offeredhaggis.
Yes haggis bonbons yeah so hegot the haggis bonbons.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
But that's not all.
Also got a big, huge doubleburger with, you know, fries
chips of course Right.
I also got mac and cheese withscallops and black pudding.
It's an interesting combo.
Really, truly, it was goodstuff.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I had a beautiful Buddha bowl with a wonderful mix
of different grains and veggiesand herbs and it was just super
unique and special.
And then there were all theselike desserts that they had.
There's just such a hugevariety and it's all just
gorgeous, colorful, fresh,delicious, etc.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Including red velvet cake.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Including red velvet cake.
Hard to go wrong there yep, andeveryone was so nice.
The servers are great.
So while you're on the logiestudying campus and you're
enjoying the cafe, keep in mindthat they also have some events
that are throughout the year anddifferent experiences that you
can take part in.
There is the Logie House Garden.
(24:57):
They have woodworking courses,river walks.
Check out their website to seewhat is going on and enjoy your
stop at the cafe at LogieStudding.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
They got us totally fueled up for our next big
adventure, and it was a bigadventure for us.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yes, Ace Adventures.
So Ace offers everything fromcanoeing to high ropes,
canyoning, paintball, splat,master, disc, golf, bungee
jumping, what yeah?
Whitewater rafting, tumblerafting.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Camping and glampinging, high ropes and zip
line and, of course, our bigadventure our big adventure,
which was river tubing and cliffjumping what we had never done
either in this capacity ever not, not in a river where they have
(25:55):
level five rapids, yeah.
Okay.
So y'all, we wanted to dosomething where we would be able
to kind of push the limits alittle bit but also just be able
to enjoy the scenery, and soPush the comfortable limits.
We this was a little beyond whatwe are used to, you know, in
(26:18):
our adventure-ness, but it wasreally that's not a word, but I
just made it one but we reallyreally loved the experience and
I think more.
I wasn't really likenecessarily afraid that's not
the best word but apprehensiveabout the tubing but the whole
cliff jumping thing.
(26:39):
That was never.
That's never been on my bucketlist.
But I think I was moreapprehensive about the cold.
I think you and I both were alittle bit more apprehensive
about being cold than we were,like having to jump off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, the air.
The air was cold, it was likefoggy, a great atmosphere.
But then when you think aboutjumping in a river, in that
climate.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
We were so at least I was so paranoid about the cold.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I prepared myself.
I tried mentally to preparemyself.
Yes, we just tried to.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And so you get there, and what's really great is they
clothe you, they gear you upwith wetsuit, wet shoes, like
the whole.
Get up and y'all, we were notfreezing.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Not cold, no, it was comfortable.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
One time we got cold.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
No, I never got cold.
You didn't.
No, not in my wetsuit.
That's because you're a bigmanly man, yeah One time.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I was just like a little cold, like a little bit,
and it was no big deal, right.
So that was really reallyawesome.
So all of that was out of theway and now we could just focus
on the adventure and survivingthese rapids.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And survive them.
We did.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So first we, so it was kind of a combination.
We tubed a little bit bit,cliff jumped a little bit and
they got back on the tubing, andso it was kind of like tube
cliff jump, tube is sort of howthe tour went yeah, they had
some challenges for us along theway yes, david and cameron were
our guides.
They were amazing.
Cameron just knows his stuff.
(28:12):
He's so fun to talk to.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
He's been there for a number of years.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
He's super, super great.
So ask for Cameron, if you, if,when you go.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yes, when you go.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yes, to have your adventure with Ace Adventures.
What do you think about yourtubing experience, Rory?
Just talk about the tubing partof it.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, it was super cool.
We love waterfalls and riversgoing across these big rocks and
boulders and stuff.
But I've always wondered whatit would be like you see the
water sluice through theselittle narrow areas and shoot
out the other end and I thought,oh, it'd be so fun to like a
water slide, whoop, like, shootthrough that.
That's what we did.
It was so cool.
It's things I've thought about.
(28:48):
But growing up, where I grew up, there were no big boulders and
rocks and rapids.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
There were no cliffs to jump off of right and, as
you're there, it is so beautifuljust the scenery and the
setting and you wouldn't be ableto experience all of that from
a hike.
Now you can hike around thatarea, but seeing it from the
river's point of view gettinginto the river being in the
(29:13):
river is an amazing way toexperience the area and this
beautiful scenery that was goingon and Rory really loved the
fact that it was kind of hazy.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah, it was like going back in time.
I was expecting guys in kiltsto come out of the woods with
swords and it was some kind ofclan.
It was really, really cool.
Yeah, like stepping back intime, and I gotta say, the cliff
jumping it was a challenge forme again.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You know earlier we've talked about rory's uh
love with heights.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, my love hey relationship with heights uh,
certain heights kind of freak mestanding on the cliff was no
big deal.
Jumping off the cliff the firstone, okay it was, you know it
was low.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
They start you off smaller yeah and so you, you
know, try.
They try to just get you morecomfortable yeah, and so the
second one for me.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It took me a long time to get the guts to jump off
.
Finally he said okay, I'm gonnaask you a question Jump or no?
Jump, yes or no?
He was fed up.
He was patient, though reallypatient.
So finally I got up the nerveand I jumped off the cliff.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
He did so good.
I was so proud of him.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Oh yeah.
So they're in between the areaswhere the rapids are, where
you're riding your tube through,there are these cliffs where
the water settles and there aredeep pools, so you got plenty of
deep water to jump off thecliff into, and those are the
places we would tube.
And they would climb up on topof this thing and he would
challenge us to jump off and, ofcourse, and we, we've never
(30:48):
jumped any cliffs no and soacross them or off of them or
anything, and I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
I think it was fun.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I'm trying to think what was it like?
It was fun and I'm just glad wedid it.
We made ourselves do somethingout of our comfort zone.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Something totally new .
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Something totally new and it was a cool, fun
experience.
It was an adventure.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
It was an ace adventure.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah, it was a cool, fun experience.
It was an adventure I meantruly ace adventure.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah, it was an ace adventure.
One really cool thing, too is,after our most excellent
adventure that we went on, yougo back and they have showers,
so you strip off all your gearthat they gave you, that they
suited you up in, you shower andyou're ready to go.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And I got to say adventuring works up quite an
appetite.
Yes, we had a pretty awesomefood day that day, didn't we
rory?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
it was my favorite food day.
Yeah, it was like every mealwas.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
All the food was good , right that we had, but like
this day especially, just hadsome magic to it.
I think, yeah.
And to top it off with yourvery, very, very favorite, the
Old Mill Inn.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, my favorite meal it was the Old Mill Inn had
really good food.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
They care highly about their food and the
Scottish would think that theyhad smaller portions, but we
kind of felt like they were justright.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
It was plenty.
Yeah, it was was plenty.
I got the venison steak.
Amazing, they get their ownvenison, they prepare it their
own way, they age it and allthis kind of stuff all right
there in house.
It was fabulous.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Just I mean, you could cut it with a fork almost
and I had this really uniquedish and they were so
accommodating.
It was already kind of avegetarian dish, but they still
also, like, tailored it to someof my weird taste and left, you
know, customized it and it wasso, so good.
Everything was just pristineand, um, I want to say like
(32:49):
fancy.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
And it was a little bit more of a fancy restaurant
than the other ones we had beento.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Right, it still kind of has like a pub vibe, but like
an elegant pub.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
It's not uptight yeah it's not uptight, you go in and
it's a little more of anelegant atmosphere and you have
great food.
So if you're looking for aquiet night, right, and they put
it into an old pub.
So if you're looking for aquiet night in a more of an
elegant pub atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Right, oh, and we had dessert.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Y'all like we were Scottish again, Apparently, you
know.
There was no haggis involvedwith the dessert there was no
haggis with the dessert, butapparently it's super Scottish
to have this sticky toffee, Ithink is what they called it
yeah, sticky toffee pudding orsomething they do, a gluten-free
version which generally makesit more moist, depending on your
approach to gluten-free cooking, which theirs is spot on.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Man, they've thought about everything they do.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I even liked it better than the chocolate that
we also tried, and I lovechocolate, and the chocolate was
amazing, and so the stickytoffee was even, in our opinion,
both even better, and we justfelt so proud that, again, we
were so scottish yeah, they worktheir recipes until they have
them exactly like.
Yes, they take a lot of pride intheir menu.
(34:09):
Yeah, for sure.
And that was such a greatending to have such a nice meal
on a very last night in MuddySpace Side.
We had to catch a train toEngland.
The next morning we stayedagain at the Bergey Woodland
Lodges and enjoyed the hot tubone more time.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, it's great it's out in the countryside, it's
quiet, such peaceful sleep.
Plus, you know, like you said,they got the hot tub.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
So we hope you enjoyed hearing about our
itinerary as much as we enjoyedexperiencing it.
And when you book your nexttrip to.
Scotland.
You must visit Muddy Spaceside,and so we are going to have all
of the contact info that youneed on our show notes for all
(34:55):
of these things that we talkedabout, but you definitely want
to visit muddyspacesidecom, soit is
M-O-R-A-Y-S-P-E-Y-S-I-D-Ecom.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
For us Americans it looks like wwwmorayspacesidecom.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And again, we will have all of that in the show
notes.
So please visit the show notesso that you can go to all of the
social links for each of theplaces we visited.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Okay, now, through the magic of the online internet
, which no one reallyunderstands, we are going to ask
David and Gemma to ask this toanswer the second trivia
question that we asked way backthe beginning of episode one
part one yes, part one, episodetwo, two, eight okay yeah, we
(35:46):
threw out the second triviaquestion to you and now David
and Gemma are going to ask it.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
What is the question?
Speaker 6 (35:52):
do you?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
know they're going to answer it.
Do you know what city is thehost of the Fringe, the world's
largest arts?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
The Fringe Festival is held in the city of Edinburgh
.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Edinburgh is where they host the Fringe.
That's Edinburgh.
I used to live in Edinburgh andI used to go to the Fringe
quite a lot when it was on.
It is a brilliant festival.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Now, David, is that like a good road trip to go from
Murray Spaceside to?
Speaker 4 (36:18):
Edinburgh.
It isn't too long of a drive.
For me personally it probablyis a long drive as a Scots
person.
It's about three hours fromForest to Edinburgh, so it is
quite a long drive, but I don'tthink it would be that long a
drive for Americans.
That's like nothing for youguys.
So it's a brilliant trip out.
There's free festivals, there'ssome really big celebrity names
(36:41):
that go along to every singleyear and it's just a brilliant,
brilliant, like day out.
You can go to get up in themorning at nine o'clock, go to a
free show, you get handedmillions of leaflets, so you
have a pick of a bunch.
You can pop into the NationalMuseum, which was one of our
favorite things to do, or theBotanical Gardens in between
(37:02):
shows and then you can stay out,go for lunch and then in the
evening go to another show andyou can sort of really make your
day your own, depending on whatyou're into.
So yeah, it's a brilliant day.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
We hope that we have inspired you to go visit
Scotland.
Experience something brand new,go off the beaten path.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You will not regret it.
And, like we said, there is somuch we didn't get to do, so
much more to see and experienceand do there.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
We got our bucket list for next time.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Make sure you book your trip.
As a matter of fact, right nowyou should go to
MuddySpacesidecom and getstarted planning and booking
your adventure in MuddySpaceside.
Muddy Spaceside, muddySpaceside.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
We hope we've inspired you this episode, so
join us next time.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies, that'sT-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our
main hub is our website atwwwtheromyscom, that's right,
that's D-H-E-R-O-A-M.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
I-E-S dot com.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Bye you, you, you, you.
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