A thrill to be back in Scotland

As I sit in the sun on the plane, on route to Fiumicino Airport - Rome .I can look back on the past week in the Scottish Borders and St Andrews . The sun set at 10pm last night and was just rising at 4.15 a.m. when we had to get up to catch this flight.  Scotland maybe dark in the winter but the daylight goes on forever at this time of the year.

Philip had never been to the borders. Each day we were surrounded by the stunning countryside. It was a  monochromatic green with every shade you can imagine. Extensive fields of lush spring growth from oats, barley, grass, the flush roadside verges with wild natural plants, roses and flowers, mile after mile of Hawthorn and hornbeam hedges . But, always the beautiful huge trees of the UK like Oaks and Beech.  This country does rock walls well and they are so beautiful, dividing the countryside up into a massive geometric pattern. Along with the rows of little houses lining the sides of  the road in each town and the huge farmhouse rocks create the basis of the landscape.

I was bought up in Lanark St – Mosgiel. Surrounded by Ayr st, Berwick st, Montrose st, Forfar st and Argyle st. Names so familiar in my childhood are now all the towns and regions we are visiting in the borders. On a very wet afternoon after arriving in Glasgow, we basically did a drive through the town of Ayr and past the huge beautiful beach . It was also a drive by through Dumfies  and Hawick , they looked brutal on this wet day. Sadly, very unappealing, dirty and decidedly unkept.

Philip found a rather cruel but almost true article on Dumfreis that started with :

Does no-one care about the statre of Dumfries. Its an appalling sight for visitors to come here and experience run-down streest, filled with short-term lets that appear and dissappear over night

In contrast, Trigony house was a sanctuary after our long flights and an afternoon of driving. Consequently, it was an early bedtime after a quite lovely dinner.

Kelso was our base for the next 3 nights and our Airbnb, set above a hairdressers, was a little sanctuary and very beautiful. We found the best restaurant in town called ‘Scott’s of Kelso’ and after an appalling pub dinner at the “Queens Head ‘ it was a no brainer to go to Scotts for the next two nights.

 I have always wanted to go to Alnwick castle gardens to see the poisonous plant garden and I was surprised how many common plants we have in our gardens that are poisonous, - hollyhocks, hellebores, blue bells, daffodils, laburnum, laurel and so many more. But, we were also staggered by the huge numbers of tourists here to visit the gardens and the castle. It was a beautiful day and families enjoyed picnicking on the grass  or lined up at the rather basic café.  The rather beautiful potager was lovely, which you arrived at after walking up through a perfect hornbeam archway.  But our surprise for the day after driving up the coast was - Berwick on the Tweed. It’s history as a Military town is well known along with the many battles here against the English. The rampart walls are intact and our walk around the old town was a treat especillay peeking our heads over the rock wall to view the local allotments which were positively inspiring.

History has provided the borders with many derelict abbeys like Jedburgh, Melrose, Kelso, Dryburg and many more. The life of monks and abbots in the 11th and 12th centuries was spent in these extensive, once fabulous buildings and today views for tourists – they are serene and you can only be in awe of building such vast structures.

Sir Walter Scott is a famous and well known name in these regions . He spent much of his childhood with his grandparents and eventually built the handsome, attractive house called ‘Abbotsford’ where he did the majority of his writings.   The visit to the house is only through his extensive libraries and living areas and then onto the gardens which he loved so much.

We crossed the river tweed many times in our few days and it is obviously an important river for fly fishermen / woman. Our route to St Andrews to visit our old neighbours from St Clair - Charles and Lissa took us through the Tweed valley which was amazingly  beautiful. We did stop at a garden called Kielzie which was rather underwhelming and passed through another border town called Peebles. But, before arriving in St Andrews Philip wanted to see the Faulkirk wheel. It is certainly an engineering feat, that eventually enabled canal boats to be transported from a lock high up a hill to a lock  lower down. I had been a few times before and it is always an incredible sight to see the wheel swing around with a barge sitting in water .

We have had a wonderful week back In Scotland and it culminated with two nights in St Andrews. After a debilitating stroke Lissa is wheelchair bound and visiting our dear friend was incredibly special. Charles cooked the biggest delicous scallops I have ever seen. Lunch at local pubs is always a favourote in the UK and Scoltand is no different. .Consequently, Charles organised a long lunch , along with their daughter Louisa and two grandsons at an icinaic traditional local pub called Kingsbarn . It was such a thrill to spend time with our old Dunedin friends. But, the man of the house is definitely Bertie, who looks after Charles and Lissa with affection and obedience - what could be better.