Sunday, 28/7
As you can see, we're back in England. We had a great time in Scotland, mostly staying with Mary and Mike in their fantastic new home outside Comrie. Our time with them is characterised by fantastic meals with plenty of wine, conversations until well past midnight, long morning sleep-ins and days filled with walks in the local area, trips further afield and a few jobs around their property.
On one trip to Aberfeldy, Mike took us to the eastern end of Loch Tay, where an enthusiastic group of underwater archeologists has re-created a crannog, an ancient iron-age settlement built out in the loch on piles about 2,500 years ago . They discovered the underwater remains of many such buildings in the surrounding area (and there are many others further afield). We visited their reconstruction and were fascinated by the fire-making and other skills they have reconstructed and now demonstrate.
When Mike and Mary left for Ireland for a short break and a Bruce Springsteen concert, we headed the few miles back to Stirling. We visited the Castle there in '08 and again in '10 but on both of these occasions we were unable to enter the royal apartments, which were undergoing some serious refurbishment. Now they are finished and we had a good look, enjoying and being interested in what they had done. The tapestries which have been recreated by copying the remains of the original ones are now hanging in the royal apartments for which they were initially made.
After Stirling we came a little further to Edinburgh. The caravan park there is about three miles from the city centre, with a good bus service. Our one day in Edinburgh allowed us visits to a few favourites, like Wellington's Coffee, The Dome (which is fabulous, ask us about it!) and the Portrait Gallery. This gallery is a similar story to the royal apartments at Stirling -- we loved it in 2008 and were disappointed to find it closed (for a very long time) in 2010. But it is open again and better than ever. We were fortunate that they even had a visiting exhibition of Man Ray portraits, which we enjoyed even though some of Rob's favourites weren't included. Here's one of the big light, open spaces in the beautiful gallery..
After Edinburgh, we called in for a brief visit to Frank, who we met in Applecross in 2010. He has a beautiful and well-known woodland garden, Humbie Dean, a short drive south from Edinburgh and we were amazed at what he has achieved in a short time. A beautiful garden with a magnificent house as well.
And today was another lucky day for us. We'd stayed near Scotch Corner last night, but were aware that we were close to Richmond, a medieval market town (actually an English version of a French bastide, we were told today). So we detoured by a couple of miles for coffee and a brief look. And then stayed most of the day. The town is beautiful and really interesting. The coffee was good. English Heritage was doing re-enactments and generally having a great deal of fun in the grounds of the castle. And there was a really good photographic exhibition (Best Shots, maybe you could google it) at The Station. In fact we were mighty impressed at how Richmond has used its former railway station, creating two cinemas, an exhibition space, a cafe, and more. And it's being well used!
All this time in Richmond has meant a quicker trip south, but we finally arrived and tomorrow we plan to tour (hopefully) the house and gardens of Chatsworth House.
Best wishes to all.
Judy and Rob
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