Culzean Castle and Country Park (remember, the "z" in Culzean is silent and the second syllable sounds like lane) is situated on the cliffs above the sea about 20km (12 miles) southwest of Ayr. The attraction provides one of the more scenic and soothing stops in Ayrshire. The "castle" is of relatively recent vintage: Robert Adam designed much of the pile between 1777 and 1792. Adam had a hand in quite a few stately houses of the period, displaying no end of Georgian symmetry and elegance. The country park (Scotland's first) stretches for more than 200 hectares (500 acres). Thanks to the influences of the mild Gulf Stream, the grounds have some exotic plants that one might not expect to find in Scotland.
