Glorious Day!

What a glorious day!  The sun was out full force and not a cloud in the sky.  Early morning found enough frost on the ground to build a snowman! Brrrrrrrrrr!

Can you see the frost?

Today we decided to head to Jedburgh, a place we've talked about going but have never been.  BUT, more importantly, we wanted to have Sunday Roast at Burt's in Melrose.  We ate there last year with Charli and the food was delicious so we hopped in our little wee car and headed out.

You have to go up the Selkirk Road out of town.  It's my favorite road, and, Gordon says, the most dangerous road in Scotland.  It's my favorite road because it cuts through a very narrow and incredibly scenic valley on our way northeast of Moffat.  I took some pictures through the windscreen because it's impossible to pull off the road with it being so narrow.  Sorry for the poor quality.

 It is so green and lush here it's hard to tear your eyes away from the endless pastures and towering hills.  Until you come to the Gray Mare's Tail.  This is the most water we've seen spilling over the falls.  The camera is zoomed in as far as it will go.  There were quite a few hikers making their way up the falls yesterday.  We hope that will be us next Sunday/Monday weather permitting.

 Looking back from this little rise toward our car and the narrow valley.  The shaded ground is completely frosted in.

Lake O' the Lowes.

In Melrose about to go into Burt's

Scenic Melrose

The Sunday Roast of two slices of rare roast beast, caramelized mixed veggies of carrot, parsnip and turnip, roasted potatoes, broccoli and green beans and Yorkshire pudding, WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME!  A pot of tea and a pot of coffee later we started up the road for Jedburgh Abbey a mere 15 minutes away.  

Jefburgh Abbey from the parking lot originally started construction in the 1100's

Behind the parking lot was a beautiful old Church of Scotland

My new friend ......a black Canon

 Here's an add for a cellarer (wine/sherry maker) for the cloisters at Jedburgh.

 I  can't think of one person who might be able to even apply for that job much less get it!

As with most structures in Scotland, this abbey is crumbling away.

Gothic architecture

Not as grand as Melrose Abbey but still very beautiful

We climbed an incredibly skinny circular stairway hanging on to a rope for these views.

After our visit to Jedburgh, the town was a bust as nothing was open and no one was  in the square, we drove to Roxburgh to see the Roxburgh estate or Floors Castle.  This is an area I have wanted to see for ages and we've just never taken the time.  Floors Castle is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh and is just outside a beautiful little town called Kelso.  All of these towns are in a district called The Borders.  Moffat is in Dumfries and Galloway.

We had to cross this scarey little bridge.  Even though our car is teeny-tiny it was still a bit nerve-wracking as the river it crossed was wide enough, raging and looked deep!

We arrived at the Estate about 3:45pm and decided NOT to buy tickets to go in since it closed at 4:30.  Our plan is to come back later in the week.  AND my camera battery died after the weak bridge picture so the following pictures are taken with my IPhone and of poor quality.

Needless to say, Floors Castle floored us!

Can you say Downton Abbey X 3!

The front of Floors taken from just outside the walled garden

Em, don't know what kind of car this is or who's - obviously someone who resides at Floors, but it looked like a James Bond car!

Is that turbo-powered?

And here's a Lotus just begging for a little attention!

What is this?  Anyone?

Part of the grounds toward the back of the "house"

The view from the rear of the property extends down to the Tweed River and across the verdant plains.  It's absolutely gorgeous!

Can't get over this car!

 There was a HUGE walled garden with many, many greenhouses.  That's an endless row of the same color Dahlia's that went along a very long row of greenhouses.  Beautiful!

Peeking into the walled garden.

We'll take better pictures when we go back later in the week and pictures of the town of Kelso too which has a very large, European style square in the center of town.

All in all it was a lovely day and funny when we got home we were able to watch two episodes of the new season of Downton Abbey.  A perfect ending to the day.

I made a quick dinner of fresh salmon fillets and brussel sprouts, took a bath and imported these pictures.  Just too tired to write.  It's cold and crisp again this morning so we'll wait a bit for the sun to warm up but we're planning a long hike into the Beef Tub today and finishing off the yard work.

Happy Monday!