A few weeks back I had decided I wanted to go visit Stirling, a city about an hour away from Edinburgh known for it's castle (apparently one of the best in Scotland) and defeating the English (both William Wallace/Braveheart and Robert the Bruce won key military victories here). Sounded pretty good. What I didn't know is that it's close to Doune, a small town of 3000 about 30 minutes outside the city with quite a "silly" claim to fame: its castle served as the principle set for almost all of the castle scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
I still remember the first I saw the movie (I was 9) and I've been a big Python fan ever since. Well, not big enough to know this castle was only a day-trip away from Edinburgh, but still, enough to make the pilgrimage to the Silly Land as soon as I found out it existed. It might not be my favourite of their films (that honour goes to Life of Brian), but it's undoubtedly their best-known and probably most important.
A train, bus, and walk later and we arrived.
Getting closer...
Almost there...
Doune Castle!
Needless to say, I was pretty excited, and there was much rejoicing. What was really great about the castle is that its being so rural and out of the way meant we basically had the entire place to ourselves. The audio guide was narrated by Terry Jones (a Python) and there were many interesting historical insights as well as lots of tidbits about the movie. It was pretty much awesome but the unfortunate thing was you had to get through the history before you could hear about Python, which sometimes took a little bit too much time. I'm pretty sure Python fans give them most of their business, so it might be a wise business decision to cater to their unique needs. After all, if Don Draper has taught us anything it's that it's important to know your market... and you can be a successful ad-man and be drunk all of the time.
Here are some photos and their corresponding scenes.
The following photos (east wall)...
The same wall was also used for this:
The turrets have gradually fallen away, hence the fence keeping visitors from getting too close and the scaffolding on the inside.
The top of the wall where the actors stood.
"Fetchez la vache."
These photos of the courtyard...
... are from this:
Geeking out.
And again.
Prince Herbert's room:
He climbs out of the left window. The door where the guards stand is actually the middle window.
"One day lad, all this will be yours."
"What, the curtains?"
Some tempting photos from the Castle Anthrax (kitchen):
Zander in front of the bread oven, where Galahad's bed was.
"It's not a very good name, is it?"
... was filmed in the Main Hall:
A true Knight of the Round Table.
Having read about it in the guide book, I was particularly looking forward to sampling this:
It didn't seem right to NOT drink it in the castle, so we did. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Just chilling in the Castle Anthrax.
All told, we were there for about 3 hours and did pretty much everything you could do. It was a stupid amount of fun replaying the movie in my head as I walked around and easily the highlight of my travels on exchange so far.
All delighted people raise their hands.
The view from the top:
Mountains.
Doune skyline.
Wall used for sharpening knives in the kitchen.
Arrow slit in the wall in the main entrance to the castle.
Doune:
Mercat Cross.
Seems like pretty good mileage to me.
Stirling:
Wallace Monument. Very LOTR.
Stirling Castle. The ugly, out of place orange bit is the new weather-proof restoration.
View from the castle. Wallace Monument on the right.
Another view.
Robert the Bruce.
Nice old bridge.
Day-trip team.
Street view.
Some quotes from the Scottish boyscouts.
I am!
You too!
Not quite sure.
Another Wallace monument.
I am very envious.
ReplyDeleteThis is incredible!
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