We went out exploring early today and made our way to South Ayrshire on the other side of Scotland. The first stop was Dundonald Castle, which we've never been to before.

Unusually for us we joined a tour to go around this castle. We usually whizz round them ourselves and just read the info boards, but instead we joined the organised tour for this one which gave us a lot more info.

The castle is built atop a hill for defensive purposes, and there are actually remains of an iron age fort or settlement underneath it dating back to atleast 500 BC, meaning that the site has been in use for atleast 2500 years - and the tour guide expected that it was actually older than that !

The remains of the castle that we see today is actually the third one to have been on the site and dates from the 14th century putting it at around 650 years old.

The site has very strong links to the Scottish royal family dating back to the time of Robert the Bruce, and was owned by some of the royal family members, and also stewards of the royal family.

The guide explained that its a very important ruin, because unlike many other ruins from its time, it didnt actually fall into disrepair. Instead it was actually dismantled, with the best stonework, stairs, etc, being taken out to build another more modern castle quite close to this position. As such, on the inside it is better preserved than many other castles.

Here you can see the great vaulted hall in the lower part, with its beautiful structurally supporting arches for the windows and chimneys. In many other castles, this would have all fallen in by now, but it has reamined due to the careful dismantling !

The info board showed what it would have been like - the pics above are from the main room at the bottom.

You can also get up to the next grand chamber above, but its roof has been removed - that is one of the parts they took to the other castle ! You can see the lovely arch work here clearly which would have supported a rather ornate vaulted ceiling.

The pic above gives an idea of the view that the castle commanded over the area, noting that when intact, the top viewing posts would have been much higher than this. The hill its on provides a near 360 degree view all around - so it would be been pretty excellent from a defensive perspective.

This castle was mostly used as a hunting lodge and for entertaining important guests. The earlier castles were actually built primarily to defend against the Vikings !

The pic above shows some of the other views looking North-west. You can see for miles and we could even see the mountains on the Isle of Arran. The guide said that on a clear day you can see the Paps of Jura, which are on one of the far outer islands - which is quite incredible.

Of course it has an obligatory castle well. They are pretty useless without one !

We were pretty lucky with the weather - everything always looks so much better in the sunshine. Above you can see some more of the lovely stonework from the vaulted ceiling at the top of the castle.

We enjoyed the visit and the history. Our teenage daughter absolutely loves history, so she was really impressed with the royal links.

It was great to see another great castle, and learn more about our country. From this site we then made our way towards Alloway, to visit some places linked to Robert Burns - Scotland's most famous poet and writer, which I'll share another day !