Saturday, 8 December 2018

2018 - Walk 13 - Fettercairn - Fasque

The dire forecasts of damaging winds and rain came to nought yesterday. In the end, just four of us made the trip over the hill to Fettercairn for a short, flat afternoon walk - Dave drove Nigel, John and I, parking up next to the Mercat Cross in the village, which cut a little off the planned route.

We walked westwards past the school and the distillery and then took a right along a minor road which led us to a sign saying "Stankeye - West Lodge", which was our entrance to the Fasque estate. Who knew there was a small loch there, or that it was called Stankeye? Not us.

Traversing the loch anti-clockwise (just as well Colin wasn't with us!) on a barely discernible trail, we eventually met up with an estate road again which took us to the impressive Fasque House, in front of which there must have been 20-30 deer of differing types, plus a few random llamas:


Setting the camera up on the sun dial, we took the team photo in front of Fasque House:


The house is now mostly used as a wedding venue and conveniently there is a cute little church just a short stroll away:


Behind the church there is a tiny graveyard and one of the headstones gives clues to the history of the place and the well-known family that used to live there:


We left Fasque estate via the long entrance driveway and crossed the road to enter the Fettercairn estate. Who knew there was a Fettercairn House? Another impressive structure:


The loop walk finished back in the village where we had tea/coffee/soup and scones in The Arch. A very pleasant afternoon stroll and a bit of a voyage of discovery for us. Here's the (very modest) stats: