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The owners of Castle Ardverikie - aka
Castle Glenbogle, seat of the fictional
Clan Macdonald - were clearly advocates of
the "here are a lot of dead things" school of
interior design. Scores of stags' heads, antler to
antler, gaze over an entrance hall where half a
dozen bedraggled grouse and pheasants nest in glass
cases. You might criticise the feng shui or
indoor/outdoor flow of the place but you cannot
deny the castle proclaims a strong message even to
the most casual visitor.
It's patently clear Monarch of the
Glen has, since it first screened in 1999,
become one of BBC's most successful television
programmes. One of the DVD's bonuses is a
documentary in which two of the Python troupe
&emdash; Michael Palin and Terry Jones &emdash;
revisit the filming sites. Castle
Ardverikie, including a snippet showing
McWilliam with a pair of coconuts. Palin and Jones
are astonished when McWilliam tells them many of
the castle's visitors come because of the Python
movie. Castle Ardverikie is about 40 miles
from Glasgow and eight miles from Stirling. Trains
run regularly between Glasgow and Stirling, and
there is bus service from Stirling to Doune, though
the buses are less frequent on the weekends. THE
CASTLE: Visit http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk
and search the "Properties" section for Doune. To
contact the castle by phone, call 1786-8417-42
(punch in 011-44 first if calling from the United
States). THE MOVIE: Available on video and DVD.
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Eilean
Donan Castle
Doune
Castle pictures
Stirling
Online
castle gift catalogue
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