Inspiration

I’ve been on a northern progress – many sights and beautiful things.  I drove up to Northumberland on Sunday – to a dreamy, romantic place, where we are being asked to design a new house to replace one long since lost, torn down in the 1950s. What a magical place, waiting for new breath to be breathed into old bones.  This was the glasshouse…

This is the walled garden…. The dream.

And from there, north via the Borders, and a passing visit for the first time ever to Perth – which I have been to only on the train before, passing through on my way north. Heaven – like a painting by Algernon Newton. 

I was staying for the night at the fabled Fife Arms in Braemar; beautifully restored, if a little strange, like staying in a nether-nether world perhaps? 

And then over to our castle project, in Royal Deeside – where Rupert Cunningham, our senior director in the office,  has worked tirelessly over the last two years adding this beautiful new wing – on the left of the photograph below, to an ancient tower house which was itself restored from a ruin in the 1970s. The castle looks huge but is deceptive; it really has just one or two rooms on each floor, and the plan was to add a fine new family kitchen – as well as things like utilities, boots rooms and the like.  At last it was finished and time to take some record photographs.  Then, over the bothy. I met Charlie at a quiet spot, Geilston Garden near Helensburgh – where we had a wander through the empty gardens on the brink of being put to bed for winter. 

A magical spot although the house was forlorn, near derelict, and we wondered about its future.  And then we arrived on the west coast that afternoon. We went for a walk down to the Sound of Jura; the clouds and light was magical. 

Storm clouds rolled over the Paps of Jura, but luckily not in our direction.

Home to the bothy – lights glowing in the dusk. Friday was amazingly bright and clear – those magical west coast days which we seem to get so many of us, whether by luck or accident I’m not sure.
We are finally re-roofing the little cottage – we didn’t quite do it right at the start of the job, because we weren’t sure if we were going to build an extension on the back, or not. Now we’ve decided not to – we’re leaving it exactly as is at the moment, the little original two roomed house.  So it’s time to mend the roof. So good that it’s happening at long last! 

We went for a long walk out on the peninsula…

Storm kettle picnic at half way time.

We got up and just at that moment caught a glimpse of a huge school of dolphin, chasing our neighbour Ewan’s boat, out in the Sound of Jura – magical to see. 10 minutes later and they were gone, lost in the distance. And we headed home.  Supper in the pub that night with our neighbours Ross & Mo. Such a happy hilarious night.

Saturday was soft and grey, the air completely still.  We went for a walk in the woods… 

Filled with a magical fungi kingdom…

And later that afternoon we went for another walk down to the stone jetty. 

You can’t see it, really, but what looks like a rock sticking out of the water on the right foreground is actually a seal. 

Sunday was even more still. I’m not sure we’d ever seen the water so mirror-like.  Mist rolled in.  Nothing really happened at all – we stayed still, and we didn’t go anywhere. A very good way to recharge the batteries.