Month: June 2022

Our first major trip since Covid has passed all too quickly and we’re very relieved  that everything has gone so smoothly.  We continued to be blessed with very usable weather, having only had one wet day in our visit – as one friend put it “you’ve had unseasonably good weather for Scotland!”

On leaving Inverness we headed along the Moray Firth through Nairn and Elgin, stopping in Peterhead.  The old prison there has been converted to a museum with the cells pretty much in their original condition.  We saw several different areas in a visit that took over an hour, accompanied by an excellent audio commentary.  It was amazing that the cat o’nine tails had been used as recently as the 1950s and that the focus of the prison was punishment, not rehabilitation.  We spent the night in Stonehaven, a small fishing town a little south of Aberdeen.  We were again somewhat surprised at the lushness of the countryside we drove through which looked as though it supported thriving agricultural businesses.

The next three nights were spent in Coupar Angus where Alimay’s sister Trisha’s partner owns a large mansion.  We had a warm welcome from Trish and David there and were able to visit several places of interest in Fife and Perthshire.  The latter is famous for its soft fruit and we were amazed at the flavour of the strawberries.   One of the highlights of our time there was a visit to Falkland Palace, the site of the oldest tennis court in Europe.

Next stop was Edinburgh – familiar stomping grounds for both of us and probably our favourite city in Europe.  We had an AirBnB next to the Meadows in Morningside, right in the heart of our old haunts within easy reach of shops and buses.  The accommodation was very pleasant – a small self-contained building with all amenities in the garden of a larger house .  We visited old friends Alastair and Rhona Chalmers who date back to University days in the early 60s and spent some time with Alimay’s cousin’s cousin, Liz Black who came up from the Lake District to see us.  We also saw Linda Bauld, whom we have known since her childhood in Victoria.  She is now a Professor in Edinburgh University and a senior advisor on health to the Scottish govt.

This time the focus of  our trip was not gardens but we could not resist  seeing as many as possible as June is prime.  Undoubtably the high spot was our revisit to Branklyn.  This time we were fortunate to meet the head gardener, who was happy to spend time with us and answer our questions.  He had visited  Victoria just prior to Covid and planned to return with his wife.  Another high spot was Kailzie Gardens, which had a huge walled garden, with a laburnum allee, which was in full bloom.  The huge property was maintained by one gardener who had been there for thirty years.  Unlike several other properties we had visited this one was very well maintained and the herbaceous borders were at their best.  In the grounds was an ancient larch, the oldest in Scotland.  We also visited Dawyck Garden, another offshoot of the Edinburgh Botanical Garden, one which featured trees and rhododendrons which had been sourced by the early plant hunters in  China.

Leaving Edinburgh to come back to Glasgow  we took the country roads and arrived in Glasgow  to a warm welcome from Maida.  she certainly kept us busy for the last 3 days with a visit with a personal shopper at John Lewis where we were greeted with a glass of Prosecco to enhance our experience, a dinner at the Buttery with the family and a personal guide for a tour of the famous Glasgow Necropolis.

It was really hard to say goodbye as we  had such a lovely time.

 

On the road again after an interval of three years.  We decided that we just had to learn to live with Covid and I really wanted to see my sister, Maida.  Then we decided that we both would like to see some more of Scotland and the gardens.  I had a week with Maida before Robin joined me.  When I arrived,  incidentally bringing lovely weather with me, all the news was of how grim next winter was going to be with power cuts, lack of food security and galloping inflation.  There was also the understandable dismay about asylum seekers being sent to Rwanda.  Then, quite suddenly, it all changed due to excitement about the platinum jubilee.  Pageantry is something the Brits do really well, and, even though the Queen had to curtail some of her activities, it was a very moving, spectacular event.  The video of the Queen having tea with Paddington Bear was brilliant.  I was very surprised at how much excitement there was in Glasgow, not generally known for its monarchist sympathies, but there was a Jubilee picnic in Maida’s local park attended by about 500 people with a band playing and lots of activities.

I had a lovely week with Maida, being feted by her and her friends – it was just as if I had never left.  Robin joined me and we set off for all points North.  Our first stop was Barra, a place we had always wanted to visit as it is the home of the McNeils and Castle Kisimuil features on R’s wine label.  We had glorious weather for our 5 hour ferry ride there, sighting dolphins and a whale on the way.  Our only disappointment was the castle has been closed for renovations for over three years.  We took the local bus, which circumnavigates the island, and saw the white shingle beaches and the turquoise sea.  To get back to Glasgow, we decided to fly – Barra is the only airport where the timetable states “tides permitting” as the runway is along the sandy beach.  It was a smooth journey.

On arrival in Glasgow we hired a car and set off for Fort William.  It was a beautiful evening and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs were at their scenic best.  We had two nights there, driving to Mallaig, the road to the Isles, and seeing off the Harry Potter steam train.  What a gold mine that must be with a First Class seat costing £80 and a carriage £300.

Inverness was next and we had a beautiful AirB&B within minutes of downtown.  Although we must have visited this area in 1999 we had forgotten how pastoral much of the landscape is around the Black Isle – not at all rugged.  The weather let us down for our visit to Inverewe Gardens, but also gave us an insight into the kind of conditions  the gardens often experience – high winds and torrential rain.  The gardens, on the same latitude as Moscow, certainly lived up to expectations.  There were lots of succulents,  olearias in full bloom and masses of colour.  We visited a second private garden situated on the former estate of the chief of the clan McKenzie.  It was a huge walled garden, featuring a 2000 year old yew and a huge holly.  There were numerous garden rooms, a huge greenhouse for propagation and a vegetable garden.  There were also beautiful sculptures and a pool with a fountain.  I would have loved to have had a conducted tour but the only person there denied all knowledge of the garden and obviously thought we were nuts as the rain was pelting down.  It was well worth getting soaked to the skin for.  We visited Dunrobin Castle, the home of the Sutherlands.  It has a commanding situation high above the sea with the formal gardens, modelled on Versailles.  Unfortunately much of the garden had not been maintained and looked very sad, especially as the bones were all there.  The inside of the castle was truly magnificent and I especially admired the huge flower arrangements, with alliums, lupins, peonies and hosta leaves.

Today we visited Cawder Castle, expecting it to be the grim, forbidding place described by Shakespeare, only to discover that it was built 300+ years after Macbeth’s time!  Again, the inside of the castle was most interesting with two floors furnished to 18th century times with lots of original tapestries.  It is still owned by the Cawder family.  Nearby was the Culloden Battlefield which is now run by the Scottish National Trust – pretty sad stuff for the Scots!