Gentle Travels in Britain: The Beginning

Every trip begins with a dream: a kernel of desire, hope, mystery, excitement. My summer trip to Great Britain began as a dream: just two friends, sipping tea, and wistfully imagining what it would be like to travel to England and Scotland together. We sat with the dream for years. But there comes a time when a dream either needs to grow old and retire, or it needs to be acted upon.

Of course there were obstacles. Plenty of obstacles to work out: the needs of my family, the cost of the trip, timing, etc. Obstacles are like beautiful but heavy doors -- they take some pushing on to gain admittance. And sometimes pushing on the obstacles proves to show the dream was not meant to be, or not meant to be in its present form. But sometimes pushing on the obstacles opens the door for a dream to come true.

 Being in my early forties, and having fairly recently lost a life-long friend to cancer, I've begun asking myself, "Why put this off?" to some dreams I have. For some of us there may not be as far distant of a future as we imagine. That's not to create an anxious sense of urgency, rather, I think it should foster a profound gratefulness for each experience, for every dream we are privileged to realize. But each realized dream comes from a decision that was made. A decision to take the risks a dream entails and make it a reality.

At some point, a decision was made. We stopped dreaming and starting planning. And that is the part that I find so fun. I like having 9-12 months to prepare. That gives me enough time to research and plan, to read a hefty amount of books on the subject, and to enjoy the experience of looking forward to something. It is almost (but not quite) possible that I drew more joy from planning this trip through a very difficult winter than in actually living it out. I'm beginning to think the best way to get through a winter is to have something waiting on the other side!

Here are some practical ways I plan for trips:
-- buy an atlas of the country I'm going
-- check out tourist guides from the library
-- scan the library system for novels set in the area I'm visiting, biographies of famous people who lived in that area, movie set in that countryside, etc.
-- find a few hashtags on Instagram pertinent to where I'll be traveling. I get some seriously good ideas for places to eat and visit from random Instagram posts.
-- set up a Pinterest board if I'm in a Pinterest mood
-- read reviews of restaurants and overnight stays on TripAdvisor
-- create a document where I post information pertinent to each day of the trip

Having our airline tickets locked in the dates for us, and gave us the border pieces to the puzzle that was our trip. Carefully we turned the puzzle pieces this way and that until we managed to work each piece into a way that fit the whole. We would start in Glasgow, drive to the Lake District, spend a few days in Oxford, make our way slowly north to the Cairngorms in Scotland, and then end our trip in Airdrie, my old "home town." We would stay in rented houses, bed and breakfasts, and homes of friends. I would paint, my friend, Janet, would knit. I would drive, Janet would photograph. I would suggest daring, Janet would urge sensibility, and every time I took a wrong turn Janet would say, "It's just a long cut, and long cuts are good."

We left on our journey at the insane hour of 3:45am, in order to catch our 6am flight to New York City. One of the ways I overcame the obstacles of this dream was to use frequent flyer miles, and frequent flier miles often require crazy flight times. (Better at the beginning of the journey than the end!) So we had a day to spend in New York City, no matter that we had to drag our carry-ons and shoulder luggage, a camera, and purses with us. We tramped our way from Newark, NJ, to central Manhattan and then way up to the very top of Manhattan to see my NYC friend Christy, and spend the day in her happy places.

I think this was my seventh trip to NYC to see Christy. Ten years ago I would never have imagined myself being able to say I'd been to NYC to visit a friend seven times. I distinctly remember when I made the decision to go for the first time. It would have been very easy to have never made that decision. It was riskier to take it: to invest time and money in myself and in a friendship. The investment brought returns (no pun intended) far greater than I could have imagined. I'm quite sure it also led to me having the courage to attempt the kind of trip I took this summer.

So there we were -- two of my friendships melding as we sat in the place we always go when I visit: the New Leaf restaurant at the Cloisters, tucked into the trees and whispering of Europe. Janet to my right and Christy to my left -- the funny thing is all three of us grew up
in the same square mile in Indianapolis (okay, I only spent a few of my teen years there), the streets and building names so familiar to all three of us. We walked in the Heather Garden which is a pilgrimage we always take, and introduced Janet to the beauties of the Cloister grounds.

A few quick hugs for Christy's boys as they got out of school and then Janet and I were off on our journey back to Newark and the night flight to Glasgow.

As we sat in the United lounge sipping our soda water and eating the free dinner our little passes allotted us, our smiles could hardly have been bigger. Just a few more hours and we would be back in Scotland!

Scotland: Aberfeldy & Drummond Castle Gardens

It's time for another pictorial visit to Scotland, this time to Aberfeldy and the Drummond Castle Gardens.

A friend and I had the chance to head out on our own for this trip. We passed some lovely scenery as we headed directly north from Aidrie and Cumbernauld.

Our first destination was the Watermill Bookshop in Aberfeldy which we read about in a little book from Lorna's Tearoom Delights. 

It was just the kind of place we could (and did) spend hours! There were amazing teas and coffees, decadent baked goods, and hearty lunch menus. But there were also books!!! Well-curated books at that!



Look at the beautiful, loose-leaf teas! We started with Darjeeling and a Mango Flower tea.



After our "morning cuppa" we walked around and drooled at books for a long time in order to work up an appetite for lunch, which was accompanied by Apple Loves Mint tea and Orange and Cinnamon Spiced coffee.

As for food, we had leek and roasted yellow pepper soup, parsnip and apple soup, and a cheese sandwich on focaccia.

Eventually we did have to leave in order to drive south again for our next stop.

Drummond Castle Gardens!

Oh yes! They were amazing! Just look at all that:

It was September 12, and still there were many lovely flowers in bloom.

Rosehips:

During the six weeks we were in Scotland I believe I only managed to visit two proper gardens -- this one and the garden at Abbotsford.

The castle makes a beautiful backdrop for the garden:

I loved this mushroom shrub! And the older couple walking away together far off down the lawn:

A close-up of the lichen that covers the trees. I am told this makes for amazingly clean air.

There was even a vegetable garden down by the potting shed.

With some mammoth zucchinis (or, we should say, courgettes -- although perhaps these might be called marrows?):

Sweet peas in bloom!

And look at the dahlias!

We can't look at dahlias without thinking about our old friend, Jimmy, who grew prize-winning varieties in his Airdrie garden.

The beauty was hard to capture on camera.

And there were a few roses:

The castle is still privately inhabited.

A few more views from the garden:

I'm sure the garden is just lovely in each season -- a few more weeks and the fall leaves would have been stunning:

Our cameras were going click, click, click.

Look at that beautiful flower!

Eventually it was time to make the long drive down home. It certainly was a lovely day out. I came home with lots of photos and a list of books to add to my reading list. :)

Scotland: At Home on the Farm

Farms have always held a very large place in my heart. I'm guessing it's because I was born in rural Vermont in the midst of so many historic family farms. I am drawn to the countryside, the barns, the animals, the kitchens, etc. I suppose I probably wouldn't be able to handle the physical stress of it all, but I like to dream that I would enjoy it.

So, of course, it was an added bonus that the house we rented in Scotland (Melville Lodge) was right next to a working farm! Even better, the farmers were so very friendly to us!

Soon the kids knew these sheep by name: Spike (a Jacob), Clive (a Texel), (a Zwartble), Demetri (a Romanov), Rupert (a Riland Brown), and Golden (a Texel).

I can never resist cows. In fact, I once carried around an antique wooden cow my mom had and pretended it was a doll. I guess there is something to that saying "big brown eyes."

 I think I could be quite happy mucking about the farmyard in wellies and jeans as my daily uniform. Of course, real farmers would just laugh reading this -- real farm work is hard!

 

In Scotland walkers are free to roam anywhere -- isn't that nice? But the farmers were happy for us to explore even without that law. 

One Saturday we were invited to help move the sheep from the lower fields to the barnyard. Best fun ever!

Apparently, this moving procedure can take a whole lot of time. In the end, because there were so many of us, it took longer to explain what we were going to do than to actually do it!

And here they are up in the barnyard!

A happy shepherd in training:

A moment of satisfaction that everything went well!

When the sun shines, this land is just beautiful!

It was pheasant season and we saw them everywhere, including the garden of our rented house!

I think everyone's favorite sheep turned out to be Spike. The farmer brought him over to say goodbye before we left. I couldn't leave the farmer out of the picture!!

Some of the sheep stayed up by the house and were fun to feed by hand:

Oh yes, you can't resist digging your fingers deep into that woolly coat!

Look at their sweet faces:

One day the kids decided to catch chickens:

 Learning something from the farmer:

Feeding the chickens:

I liked this one with his feathery feet!

A fresh egg to take home and eat!

Caught one!

Below the house where we stayed was this large pasture filled with curious sheep:

And one more close up of Spike:

I had to include a few videos to give you not only the sight but also the sounds:

In case you are interested to know more about this farm, you can check out their Facebook Page: Clive The-Tup or their other page Bluestone Rare Breeds.

I've just finished a wonderful book on shepherding in the English Lake District which I highly recommend:

The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks is written by a man who is currently living in the Lake District and shepherding flocks of Herdwick sheep (sheep native to that area and the kind that Beatrix Potter raised as well). I love reading about his family history of generation after generation shepherding this land as well as what the day to day struggles and joys are like. (Please be aware that this book does contain a fair amount of language.)

Rebanks title is a throw-back to a book written nearly 100 years ago by an English shepherd:


A Shepherd's Life: Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs by W. H. Hudson. I've just started this, and it is not as easy reading as Rebanks but no doubt it will be good in its own way. Rebooks said it was such an inspiration to him.

That's all for now about farms and sheep!

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