A Wee Scottish Holiday with our bairns
Trip Start
Feb 28, 2012
1
13
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Trip End
Jul 10, 2012
Where I stayed
Kirnan Estate
What I did
Lochgilphead, Scotland, United Kingdom
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
We took many unchartered adventure drives around the Argyll peninsulas from our rural farm. On the first Saturday we discovered a dead end road that took us to the very end of a peninsula past small stone and whitewashed houses overlooking the loch and past millions of grazing sheep. For a dead end road there were still a lot of houses along its length, some in complete isolation but others clustered together in tiny villages. In one there was an old church that looked like an old square house but best of all there was a waterfall. In that village we found our perfect home. It was made of stone and fronted onto its own creek that flowed from the water fall behind it and not only that it had views through to the loch ...and it was surrounded by masses of daffodils! It had 2 big balconies to make the most of its water views. It was as close to my dream home as I think I've ever seen!
Many of the roads we took were single lane roads, which means that you have to pull over into a marked passing space to allow vehicles to pass you in the other direction. Fortunately there's not a lot of traffic on the roads so it's really not bothersome. We could even stop in the middle of the road sometimes to take scenic photos! On one of our photo opportunity stops (and there were millions - the place is a photographer's paradise) we noticed splashing ahead in the loch. Getting up closer we discovered it was two seals having a 'fight'. They stopped when they saw us pull up and were very curious to know about us, especially when Carielle went down to the foreshore to try and get some close up shots of them. It was really special to see seals in the wild and to see their interest in us! Carielle said it was the best part of the day's outing.
On the UK Mother's day (March 18) we were recommended to the "Kilberry Inn" which is a tiny inn in the tiny village of Kilberry, which is in a remote location on a single lane road. Yet this inn had made it into the "Michelin Good Food Guide for 2012"... It was amazing that any judges even found it! They were certainly expecting us though 'cause when we walked in we were greeted with a rousing "The Campbells are coming!" Everybody in the inn (which was only 2 other family groups) knew who we were! The food was very good & definitely in a class above average inn food. I tried roasted banana ice cream there!
We had lots of 'at-home' days in Scotland. Misty rain & heavy grey cloud cover is conducive to indoor activities. I spent some time baking, even making a quiche from scratch - pastry & all, with the free freshly laid eggs available and cooking it on the Aga in our farm house kitchen. I just love the Aga cooking it cooks food so well & without burning parts of it. I've resolved I want a farmhouse kitchen with a big table and an Aga in it!
We felt very 'at home' in Scotland as Campbells, but never quite so much as when we visited Inverary where the head of Clan Campbell reigns (Duke of Argyll) and lives in grand style in the Inverary Castle. Unfortunately we were visiting before the Castle was open for the season (a problem we encountered in many locations - don't expect to see major tourist attractions until April at the earliest) however we could walk around the grounds. It is a beautiful fairytale castle where you could imagine Rapunzel stuck up in one of the towers! "Our" distant royal Campbell relatives have a very beautiful spot to live.
Another of our outings (just Allan & I - the kids are very happy to be home bodies!) took us to the little village of Kilmartin not farm from Kirnan Estate. It has a big Norman church with old gravestones dating back to the 1300s. We enjoyed reading many of the gravestones of the 18 & 1900s. The older ones are either illegible from weathering or never had any words to start with. Lots of Campbells were resident in the graveyard and lots of other Mcs and Macs of one clan or another. Sadly there were lots of children & young people buried there too! We wouldn't pay to go into the museum there (although it is highly recommended) as we find the entry costs too high and they all just add up... We're just happy to look at the outside of buildings and learn what we can from signs posted around or from the advertising brochures! (Very Scottish of us!) Instead of paying entry fees we treated ourselves to a cuppa in the beautiful barn restoration next door.
Comments
Loved this little trip in Scotland and I agree - your dream house is beautiful. You will find it hard to come back. Enjoy it all. Love to you all. JOY
Scotland was beautiful. It was a very late addition to our itinerary but I'm so glad we did it. I could have stayed there a lot longer. Like I said I did feel very 'at home' there although with some strong accents we had trouble understanding each other! Where ever we went it was so peaceful it was very ref refreshing. I'm glad you're enjoying the trip too!