Our Castle in the Clouds

Brad and I spent last week at Smithmore Castle in Spruce Pine, NC. We had originally planned to travel to Scotland for our 20th anniversary, but with Covid and schedules it just wasn't in the cards. Instead, we settled on this castle with Scottish connections. This is the view that greeted us:

When we arrived, we took a champagne tour that ended in our room. We stayed in the Royal Tower Suite, which has a Victorian swan theme:

The chandelier had golden swans:

This big soaking tub was delightful:

And here is the room's other namesake:

We had our own balcony with this glorious view:

And the food was incredible. Our first dinner was this salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, and lemon pearls:

Truffled chicken with saffron rice and oyster mushrooms:

And strawberry shortcake:

And we ended the first day with this gorgeous sunset from our balcony:

We had our breakfasts on this gorgeous balcony:

Things like deviled eggs:

Cottage cheese with fresh fruits and nuts:

It was all delicious, but I won't post every plate, although I have photos of every plate. Brad was thrilled by that process:

Tuesday morning we explored the castle and grounds. The entry way is quite a statement:

We walked down to the event space and found a lovely swinging bench with a view of the valley:

I loved this courtyard:

And all the gargoyles lurking about:

But mostly I loved exploring it all with this guy:

I also very much loved our charcuterie lunches:

And learning to shoot a Mongolian long bow. This is my target:

Brad looked much shooting:

Most of the week we just spent relaxing, reading, talking. Our days were planned around meals--that's it. It was exactly what we needed, and I'm looking forward to another twenty years: