I. Read and translate the following sentimental story.

Nicholas Courtney takes a sentimental

journey back to his native Scotland

for a grand weekend as king of the castle

I have a passion for 18th-century architecture and was brought up on the southwestern coast of Scotland. This combination of devotion and nostalgia inspired me to book into Culzean Castle for two nights. We stayed in the suite that had once been given to General Eisenhower as a token of Scotland's gratitude for his role as supreme allied commander at the end of World War II.

The other guests, two golfers and their wives from Chicago and a couple on honeymoon from Bath, joined us in front of a blazing log fire for tea. Soon we all had the feeling that we were guests at a grand house party, whose hosts had left a note saying that they'd been called away but we were to make ourselves at home.

There can be few more dramatic settings than Culzean and its policies (the Scottish term for surrounding park and gardens). The castle rises above a sheer cliff top overlooking the Firth of Clyde, with Arran and the Mull of Kintyre beyond and the sea pounding the rocks below.

Robert Adam was commissioned in 1777 by the tenth Earl of Cassillis to remodel the original feudal castle. The result is probably the finest and most complete example of Adam's work - an Italianate castle with a clock tower and a courtyard that you approach by a zigzag viaduct. Inside the castle there is an oval staircase, a circular saloon and some very fine plasterwork and chimneypieces.

We took a private tour around the armoury hall, the beautifully proportioned blue drawing room and the picture room, which features a wonderful pair of landscapes depicting Culzean that were painted in around 1800 by Alexander Nasmyth.

Before dinner, we took a stroll through the gardens. As with most Scottish houses, the main gar­dens are set a little distance away from the house and are walled to protect them from deer. The pleasure garden overflows with herbaceous borders, rare trees and shrubs, while in the herb garden the scent of a curry plant wafts in the air»

Back inside, the dinner table was set with a white damask cloth, some candelabra and other pieces of the family silver. Somehow it seemed perfectly natural to dine with virtual strangers.

The food was unpretentious -good wholesome fare, much of it home-produced - and was served with house wine.

A large breakfast the following morning set us up for the day. We strolled along the wooded coastal path in the dappled sunlight, returning through Happy Valley, a woodland ride planted with exotic palms and myrtles -botanical reminders that Culzean is warmed by the Gulf Stream,

The next day we tried our luck fishing on the River Girvan at Blairquhan, though we failed to catch a sal­mon, the intense beauty of the river (and two brown trout from the loch) more than made up for it.

As we gazed for the last time over Culzean and the Firth of Clyde beyond reality struck. You don't have to be Scottish to yearn for such a romantic place as this»

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 977