01/13/2026
Take the family photos and take the damn trips.
I have to praise like I should. I’ll be honest, going to Europe right after the holidays with only 24 hours of planning really wasn’t on my to-do list. My energy was drained and I had a mound of client work for my business.
But James said he would handle absolutely every last detail as long as I packed everything in a carry-on. So I packed my bag and followed the itinerary.
Boy, am I glad I did.
I almost missed out on visiting our family’s castle. 🤯 Yep, that’s right.
My Scottish clan’s ancestral home, Hunterston Castle. It is over 900 years old and recognized as the oldest castle in Scotland still held by the same family line!!
This place has been part of our family story for generations. My great-grandmother, Mabel Louis Hunter, passed down the Hunter family history book along with a lineage tree connecting our family directly back to this land. Carrying the family name as my middle name and then passing it on to my eldest made standing there with my family feel especially full circle.
We are so grateful to Madame Pauline, Head of the Clan, for allowing us access to the grounds during the winter season when the castle is closed. It was a generous gift and one we did not take lightly.
Our family was granted this land in the 12th century and has remained connected to it ever since. One of the most incredible discoveries on the estate is the Hunterston Brooch, dating back to around 700 AD, now housed at the National Museum of Scotland.
Not to get too weird, but honestly, if you can’t be weird as a 40-year-old posting your vacation on insta, what is the point of this thing? What struck me most was how familiar the land felt. The energy, the trees, the land all carried the same feel as our Hunter family farm in Missouri. So much so that without me even mentioning it, when I sent photos to my family they all said it looked exactly like the farm. If only they could’ve been there. I swear it was the same place, just minus the castle. 😅
