Hi, The winners of the Sept. contest...
Cheryl Ann Smith, whose answer for what's worn under a kilt was... "If Gerard Butler is in the kilt, I'll be under it!"
LOL! I thought that was a creative answer.
The winner drawn at random from my mailing list was
Jody Allen
Congratulations, ladies!!!
Now for the October contest, please answer this question... What is your favorite place in Scotland and why? It doesn't matter if you've visited or not. Maybe it's the place you dream of visiting one day. What do you love about it. Post your answer under comments. I'll pick a winner on Nov. 1. Alternately you can join my newsletter group mailing list and also be entered separately.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nicolenorthnewsletter/
Cheryl Ann Smith, whose answer for what's worn under a kilt was... "If Gerard Butler is in the kilt, I'll be under it!"
LOL! I thought that was a creative answer.
The winner drawn at random from my mailing list was
Jody Allen
Congratulations, ladies!!!
Now for the October contest, please answer this question... What is your favorite place in Scotland and why? It doesn't matter if you've visited or not. Maybe it's the place you dream of visiting one day. What do you love about it. Post your answer under comments. I'll pick a winner on Nov. 1. Alternately you can join my newsletter group mailing list and also be entered separately.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nicolenorthnewsletter/
Since I asked you this question, I suppose I should answer it myself. I have several favorite places in Scotland. One of the most memorable is the Isle of Orkney and Ring of Brodgar. This is a standing stone circle created during Neolithic times. It’s truly an amazing, beautiful and awe-inspiring place. I felt very peaceful and good while I was there. I tried to imagine what the site looked like 5000 years ago when it was built and in use. Orkney is a fascinating place in every way.
Winners will receive 2 books from my TBR stack.
Thanks!!
22 comments:
I have never been to Scotland but I would love to visit Edinburgh, Inverness and St. Andrews. I would love to see the castles.
Well, i'm sure you knew I'D find this contest! My absolute favorite place is the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel in the Highlands. This is my happy place because it is so beautiful, peaceful, and the people are amazing. (Well, actually, most of the people I've met in Scotland have been amazing, but of course I could be biased.)
crystalg, thank you for commenting. I definitely hope you get to take a trip to Scotland in the near future. It's an amazing place, even better than I imagined.
Lexi, thanks for playing along! I would love to go to your favorite place, Glenfinnan. I enjoyed reading about your trip and your visit there. It was very inspiring!
Nicole
My favourite place in Scotland is a small town called Hawick near the Scottish/English border. It has a special place in my heart because it's my home town, it's where my family is, and where I learned to love history and my ancestry.
I would like to visit Glasgow were my ancestors were born there in the 1700's.I have a Family book of places and things I would like to visit.What is funny is my Great Great Great Grandmothers name was Elizabeth Ann Patty
Ullapool-definitely my favorite. A pretty little seaside/lochside village over by Ullapool. Breathtaking hydrangeas decorate the little cottages with a whole range of splashes of color. The green hills in tbe background with their patches of purple heather and the clear blue skies with litte spots of clouds here and there, it just makes me want to move there, just to be a part of it. And I would, tomorrow, but my husband refuses to leave the states.They have a little pottery shop where you can watch the artists work then buy pieces from the showroom and a cultural festival call Loopallu that attracts people from around the world. Cute little pubs, great music, a busy harbor and the smell of the sea just around the bend give this place a sense of coming home and being glad for it. Pretty good considering I was born and raised in Iowa.
JoElla
Oops, sorry it should have read over by Inverness. A wonderful place to visit on the way from Inverness to Ullapool is Strathpeffer. A victorian spa village, lots of gingerbread houses and a huge hotel, all built up around a hot spring there, during the time when they thought they had healing powers.
My favorite place in Scotland is Loch Lomond. I was there recently on a beautiful clear day.The sun danced off the water. In the distance the highlands loomed up, free of snow, with the last of the bloom of the hearther. The area is deep in history of the MacGregor clan, and is Rob Roy's old stomping grounds. It really is a must see of Scotland.
Margery, I can see why you love Hawick. I wish I could call a Scottish town my hometown. How cool!
Katy, I hope you do get to visit Glasgow. How neat to have traced your ancestors back to there! I was in Glasgow only a brief time as a returned home. Mostly I was in the airport.
Joella, Oooh I visited Ullapool! Absolutely gorgeous. It is so peaceful and serene there. I loved the harbor area where the boats were docked. What a view. We walked around the town and spent one night there. The midges were very pesky. :-)
Lee, yes Loch Lomond is fantastic! Really beautiful!
Thanks for playing along and telling me about your favorite Scottish places! Makes me "homesick" for Scotland even though it isn't my real physical home.
Darnit Lexi, you stole my answer! Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel... Okay so I'm a huge fan of Duncan MacLeod (That was where he was born) :)
Anyhow, since I've never been there, anywhere in Scotland, especially Edinburgh or Glasgow, would be cool.
The place I would love to visit is the stately home that was the star, in my opinion, of the BBC show "Monarch of the Glen". The scenery in that show took my breath away. My maiden name is Stewart, and my paternal grandmother traced our family back to a small island off the west coast of Scotland, I'd love to return to my distant roots. I LOVE bagpipes, hearing them always brings a thrill to my heart. I make a point of catching "the Battlefield Band" whenever they are in town, foot tapping madness!! And when I'm back home in Nova Scotia (New Scotland) I visit the Halifax Citadel to see the 'trooping of the colour', always accompanied by the pipes.
This is really tough. I loved every single second of my stay in Scotland, and really can't find a non-favorite place. Ullapool was great, was that with the Smoo Caves?(And they had serioiusly yummy food!) Loch Ness was beautiful, and the drive anywhere was worth mentioning, but I'm going with Shetland Island. It was so beautiful and when I was still awake at 11 pm it was light enough to enjoy the scenery. Plus they had puffins!
Well having just spent 21 glorious days in Scotland I would be hard pressed to choose just one. But here goes... my all time favorite place is Rosslyn Chapel/Roslyn Glen ( this love affair started long before all the Da Vinci hype), then next would have to be the area of the Borders/ Dumfries and Galloway. The scenery in the SW and Borders is just as magnificent as you will find anywhere in the Highlands and there is so much history there be it the "rough wooing" the border reiving and all the church history ( Monastasim and the Covenenters). In the highlands I would have to choose the area of Wester Ross for its wildness but this trip the city of Inverness and all around Loch Ness it has become to built up and very impersonal.
Jody
I've never been to Scotland, but I have been in love it since I was a preteenager. I once had a pen pal from Edinburgh in my early teens.
I don't know the name of a particular place, but I would love to visit the old castles and their ruins. I would love to visit the rocky crags. I would love to visit to see if the sense of a Scottish heritage could be physically felt there, in addition to the feeling of heritage I feel in my heart already,.
We just returned this week from a 21 day whirlwind tour of Scotland - 1324 miles on the rental car. I found this a magical place and left part of my heart and soul there. My favorite spot is a small town in the Troussach National Forest. Callander is in Rob Roy country and was so vivid with the Fall colors that the forest looked on fire. The best way I can describe it is: it's so close to heaven that you can almost hear the flutter of angel wings. Marlene Urso
I haven't been to Scotland yet, but I'd want to visit Perth and surrounding areas, because that's where my GGGrandmother came from. But I'd love to visit the borders, the Highlands, the islands. All of it, I guess.
My favorite place is absolutely Inverness! Though I've never been there, it's on my to-do list. The history, the legends. the battles... sigh...
I know it's weird, but the first place that came to my mind was Glen Coe. When we were there it was easy to imagine the vistors center not there. The wild and harsh valley made it easy for this history major to a see the Campbells murdering the MacDonalds. Now, of course, for the rest of the day the song will run through my mind -- oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glen Coe and covers the grave o' Donald . . . .
Sindee, thanks for playing along! Glenfinnan must be extremely beautiful for both of you to be in love with it. I hope to visit it someday! May you have a wonderful trip to Scotland soon! (And take me with you! :-))
Luanna, I would love to watch Monarch of the Glen. But I never know when/where it comes on. Must do research! The islands off the west coast of Scotland...sigh!... some of the most beautiful areas of Scotland. I would love to visit them all. I'd also like to visit Nova Scotia. Thanks for playing along!
Christine, Shetland Island... wow, now I'm jealous. I haven't been there. Orkney was as far north as I went but Shetland is definitely on my list to visit next time! I'd love to see puffins too! I was in Ullapool and drove near Smoo Caves but didn't get to visit. :( I wanted to though.
Jody, 21 days in Scotland? Sigh! Yep, I'm jealous again! ;) I haven't been to Rosslyn Chapel but would love to! I have a feeling several of my ancestors are from the Borders area. I have to agree with you about Wester Ross... wow... it's breathtaking!!! That is definitely one of the places that haunts me.
Betty, I felt the same as you before I visited Scotland, some sort of kinship, even though I don't trace my ancestors to the Highlands (that I know about). Once I did visit, that sense of kinship or "coming home" was even stronger. It was far better than I imagined.
Marlene, ohmigosh, you too with the 21 day trip to Scotland?? I wish I was in Scotland now for 21 days! :) Yes, that must be what I did, left part of my heart and soul there. I need to go retrieve it. :) What a beautiful description you gave of Callander!! Wow!
Gerri, definitely visit it all! I was only there 12 days (well 10 really) and only got to see a drop. A month is definitely necessary, maybe 3 months and I would get to see everything I want to. :)
Carole, Absolutely Inverness is a wonderful place!! I hope you get to visit soon!
Terry, I know what you mean... Glen Coe is definitely memorable. When I was there the sun was shining brightly (for the first time in a week) and the grass glowed rich, bright green all over the glen and mountains. It was such a vivid green it almost hurt my eyes. It's such a beautiful place it's hard for me to imagine the massacre that took place there. Very sad! But that's how I found many places in Scotland, beautiful but also sad to imagine the terrible, violent things happening there. Maybe that's why Scotland is so haunting and stays in your soul.
Thanks to everyone who played along and told me about your favorite places in Scotland! It's like visiting again in my mind to read your descriptions and memories from your trips. I will choose and announce winners asap. Please check for a new blog entry about winners. If I can contact the winner directly I will, but if I have no email or website link, I'll announce your name on the blog and in my newsletter.
Thanks again!!
Since everyone's responses above were so great and I was unable to pick a favorite based on reading them, I decided to pick not one but TWO names at random. So the winners of this part of the contest are Sindee and Luanna Nau. Congratulations!! I'll contact you privately with the list of books you can choose 2 from.
Thanks for playing along everyone!!
Nicole
Congratulations Sindee and Luanna Nau!
Betty
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