Last time I wrote about my trip to Inverclyde, but since then I’ve had trips to Fife and Aberdeen, met up with lots of old friends, watched a World Cup Final and a Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, witnessed the appointment of the seventh PM in 10 years and finally, I am watching in disbelief, as our local Cairngorms National Park has a fire burning out of control, and villages are being evacuated.
As for a topic to write about, the less said about that World Cup Final the better (a horrible, dirty match with a ridiculous “pop concert” in the middle) and as I’ve written about trips to Fife and Aberdeen before I won’t go there either. I’ve given up on writing about politics (how long will the latest incumbent last?) and I can only hope the wind dies down and the fires south of us can be extinguished soon.
Something new we did do when away, was make full use of our National Trust for Scotland membership cards, a thoughtful Christmas present from DD that last a whole year. This week we managed to take in three castles not far from Aberdeen, an area known as Castle Country, and last week we visited Falkland in Fife, a gorgeous little village with a whopping big 16th century “palace” at it’s centre. It was built by James V of Scotland as a hunting lodge but still has a chapel that is used every Sunday and boasts the oldest tennis court in the world. It is more like a squash court however with walls, from back in the days before lawn tennis became more popular.
But once you’ve been on one tour of a 16th century castle you’ve pretty much seen them all so at Crathes Castle we concentrated on the beautiful gardens and at Craigievar we just had a coffee in the grounds, and admired the castle’s Disneyesque pink render.
There are lots of songs with the word castle in the title but hardly any of them refer to actual castles and use the term as a metaphor for something else. A hauntingly beautiful song that I’ve not listened to for a long time is this one, Castles In The Air by Don McLean. Don actually wrote this song in 1970 for his first album but re-released it in 1981 as a single, this time a slower ballad version. I’m pretty sure my memory of the song is from first time around after which he went on to have many hit records such as American Pie and Vincent.
In this instance the castles represent the high-rise living experienced by people in big cities. The narrator is weary of his urban lifestyle and is desperate to live a life in the country despite the fact he must say farewell to his love interest. He wants to realise his dream and look for a more like-minded country woman.
Castles In The Air Lyrics
Song by Don McLean
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I’m tired of castles in the air
I’ve got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky
A dream come true, I’ll live there ’til I die
I’m asking you to say my last goodbye
The love we knew ain’t worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I’m weak, but I can’t face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can’t remain
Perhaps she’ll understand if you tell it to her plain
But how can words express the feel of sunlight in the morning?
In the hills, away from city strife
I need a country woman for my wife
I’m city born, but I love the country life
For I will not be part of her cocktail generation
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I’m bowing out, I need a second chance
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I’m weak but I can’t face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can’t remain
Perhaps she’ll understand if you tell it to her plain
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I’m tired of castles in the air
I’ve got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair
Unusually for me I’m going to include the lyrics for two songs today as on the way home from our Aberdeen trip we had to go cross country and I passed through the village where I grew up. I got really nostalgic as we drove along streets I still know like the back of my hand despite the fact most of the shops are different and some new buildings have popped up. I had another trip planned for August when I was going to head down to the village and visit some old school friends. Sadly that is now on hold, as unbelievably, one of them has just lost her husband and another has a husband undergoing treatment for cancer. Both have parents who are still alive. I’m really starting to notice that unlike our parents generation we’re just not living as long, not a week goes by without some ex-colleague or acquaintance passing away. Don’t know if it’s the food we’ve eaten or the lifestyles we’ve led, but a sobering thought.
My childhood “castle” – a stubbier version of Glastonbury Tor?
But back to the village, we were lucky to have a castle on a hill overlooking us, so we always knew when we were nearly home. As teens it was not unusual for a group of us to climb to the summit of the hill and hangout amongst the ruins of the 13th century fortress that once stood there. Ed Sheeran wrote a song about a castle on a hill, an unlikely subject matter for a boy from Suffolk I thought, but it always reminded me of our castle and the times I spent there. Here is Castle On The Hill. The castle mentioned in Ed’s song is Framlingham Castle, and in 2017, he was invited to perform there. The song has been described as a love letter to Suffolk.
So, “What’s It All About?” – My quest to fit as much into the summer as possible is a tad exhausting, especially on top of all the other things I do in a week, but very enjoyable all the same. No more overnight stays now until September although a few day trips I’ll be writing about – first one is on Friday so watch this space, as it definitely involves music!
As for my friends in far-flung places, please stay fit and well. I don’t know what’s going on at the moment but we’re losing far too many people prematurely. I’ve just about caught up with all the friends I hadn’t seen for a long time now, but still a few to go. Will be later in the year now, but I will do it.
Until next time…
Castle On The Hill Lyrics
(Song by Ed Sheeran/Benny Blanco)
When I was six years old, I broke my leg
When I was running from my brother and his friends
And tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass I rolled down
Well, I was younger then, take me back to when
I found my heart and broke it here
Made friends and lost them through the years
And I’ve not seen the roaring fields in so long, I know I’ve grown
But I can’t wait to go home
I’m on my way
Driving at 90 down those country lanes
Singing to “Tiny Dancer”
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it’s real
And we watched the sunset over the castle on the hill
15 years old and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes
Running from the law through the backfields
And getting drunk with my friends
Had my first kiss on a Friday night
I don’t reckon that I did it right
But I was younger then, take me back to when
We found weekend jobs, when we got paid
We’d buy cheap spirits and drink them straight
Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long, oh, how we’ve grown
But I can’t wait to go home
I’m on my way (hoo-hoo)
Driving at 90 down those country lanes (hoo-hoo)
Singing to “Tiny Dancer”
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it’s real
And we watched the sunset (hoo-hoo), over the castle on the hill
Hoo-hoo, over the castle on the hill
Hoo-hoo, over the castle on the hill
One friend left to sell clothes, one works down by the coast
One had two kids but lives alone, one’s brother overdosed
One’s already on his second wife, one’s just barely getting by
But these people raised me and I can’t wait to go home
And I’m on my way
I still remember these old country lanes
When we did not know the answers
And I miss the way (hoo-hoo) you make me feel, it’s real
When we watched the sunset (hoo-hoo) over the castle on the hill
Hoo-hoo, over the castle on the hill
Hoo-hoo, over the castle on the hill
What's It All About? 
I hadn’t heard the McLean castles song in ages. It’s a good one. I took a look at his website, and was glad to see he is still a very active musician. He has lots of concert dates scheduled between now and the end of the year.
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It really is a beautiful song isn’t it and timeless too. Our TV screens are awash with programmes about people wanting to move to the country.
I didn’t check but glad to hear Don is still with us. Many of these troubadours from the 60s are still plying their trade which is good to know.
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My cousin used to play so-called ‘real tennis’ using the sort of courts you describe. He was a UK junior champion in his age group if I remember correctly, admittedly probably against limited competition. Gave it all up to become a professional cricketer. The fool!
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Yes, it was called a Real Tennis court but I thought I might confuse people with that. Good for your cousin but there can’t be many of these courts around or are they newer ones just for people that prefer this kind of tennis I wonder.
There were people playing on the court when we were at Falkland Palace and there is a seating area with a viewing panel through which you can watch (with netting in case of stray balls!). Lovely gardens there too.
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I’m so sorry to hear about your friends’ husbands. It is a shocker, isn’t it, becoming more and more aware of ailments and loss within our social circles, and just having to come to terms with that being the way it’s likely to be from now on. Ohh! Time to lighten the subject – I can’t even read the news at the moment as it’s too depressing – so really enjoyed hearing about the castles and your travel back through your old village. Great photos and I love that hilltop fortress. We too had some castle ruins in the Hertfordshire market town where I grew up – very appealing as a teenager as you could climb up and have a little puff of something out of sight behind the remains of its ancient stone walls. No appreciation of history then – ah I would view it so differently now!
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I was very shocked and it was only in April that I mooted the idea of coming down in August. So much change since then and ironically the reason I was in touch in April was because my old friend’s mum (a good friend of my own mum) had passed away. Now it’s her husband. What’s going on? His mum is still with us.
Yes, having that NTS card has forced our hand and we’ve ended up visiting many sites so far this year but Aberdeenshire has many of them so glad we spent that day at the various castles. There were another two nearby but it was late afternoon by that time so for another day.
To be quite honest I don’t think I was even a teen when we started to head up that hill as back in the 60s/early 70s you just headed off for the day during the school holiday and came back for meal times. Our parents never knew where we were but trusted we would be ok. We were but I suppose there were the odd few who slipped through the net and nowadays parents just think of the few (understandable I suppose as so well publicised nowadays) so don’t let their children go anywhere unsupervised – really sad in a way and the life skills we learnt are replaced by dexterity in the digital world. Not the same really.
I still find it odd to think of hills in Suffolk but I suppose you must have the odd few?
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Yes, we have the odd few hills here – mostly of the rolling variety, I therefore get very excited at ‘proper’ hills and, as for mountains, positively exhilarated! Like you, my friends and I in our pre-teens used to head out into the wilds (well we’d take the bridlepaths through fields, farmland and copses) all day in the Summertime and just return in time for tea and no-one seemed to worry. I’m very grateful for those experiences and we developed natural navigational skills too – I don’t ever remember getting lost and we never had maps. We were lucky, weren’t we, to have enjoyed such freedom!
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And there was I thinking it was all flat. I really want to get you up to The Highlands at some point so you get to experience some proper mountains!
I’m grateful too for that freedom and you are right, we never got lost. I now panic if I can’t get a signal on my mobile as I depend on the maps to get me to a new place. I suppose in the past we just got quite detailed instructions on how to find somewhere, but I honestly can’t remember. We did have a few mishaps though – whilst coming down my “hill” one afternoon I stupidly started to run. Once you start running down a hill you can’t slow down just speed up until your legs can’t carry you any more and you roll head over tail all the way down. My new trousers were ruined but thankfully I survived to tell the tale.
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