Tha Beg Hoose

Today dawned sunny and calm in lovely Rothesay, so we decided to follow yesterday's advice from the berthing master when he told us "you really ought to visit the nearby stately home: Mount Stuart House". 

We were a bit surprised when the bus veered from the public road and set off up the drive to deliver us to the Visitors' Centre.  Drawing to a halt, the bus driver called out "Mount Stuart House" and then added "tha beg hoose" at the top of his voice.

"Tha Beg Hoose"

We found ourselves on a tour around this peculiar house that was built in red sandstone for the Third Marquess of Bute in the 19th Century.  He was a very rich man (his personal income was said to be as much as a third of the entire earnings of the UK at one time) and he spared no expense to have it built exactly as he wanted. The house was started in 1879 and was mostly finished in 1900.  However, the craftsmen continued working on up until the First World War when they were taken away to fight.  As a result, some stone carvings were never finished and have been left as blank spaces. 
The architectural style is known as Gothic Revival and it has rather a spooky look in my opinion.


The Marble Hall

Doug Admiring a Painting by Titian

A Tapestry Showing Highland Games

Our guide described one of the Highland Games depicted on the tapestry.  This was a very Scottish version of "pin the tail on the donkey" where the men were competing to to pull the leg off a cow...  Luckily the cow although a real one, was already dead and they were apparently just showing how strong they were!

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