We took a day trip over to Ayrshire a couple of weeks ago as we had never before been to Culzean Castle.

The castle is very imposing as you cross over a bridge on the walk from the car park.

This is not how it was originally. It was built as a square tower – typical of the defensive arrangements needed for such buildings in the Middle Ages and to the right here – and has been added to over the years.

The interiors are very impressive. Robert Adam was given the commission to design them in the late 18^th century. He had a passion for symmetry.

Like most National Trust properties no photos are allowed inside. We took the guided tour.

I was surprised the guide expressed puzzlement as to the origin of the unusual pronunciation of Culzean (Cull-ain.) I suggested to him it was most likely due to the old Scottish letter yogh, which looked a bit like the number 3 and fell out of use when printing arrived as the English alphabet didn’t have it; z was used as the nearest approximation, hence Culzean, McFadzean, Menzies, Dalziel etc. The surname MacKenzie would have been pronounced MacKen-yie way back then; the town of Lenzie similarly.

General (later President) Dwight D Eisenhower was given a suite of rooms in Culzean for his lifetime as a gift from a grateful UK government. He visited once when President of the US, so Culzean became a temporary White House. These rooms are not on the tour. They’re now used as a hotel.

This clocktower building is directly opposite the entrance to the Castle proper. It’s substantial enough on its own.

Culzean’s grounds are enormous. We had a long walk to the Swan Pond (there were no swans) came back by a different route and barely touched the acres available.

This building in the grounds close to the castle had a sort of deco look; especially to the windows.