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.