This was the cake I made for my Mum for Mothers’ Day.  It is a simnel cake – apparently in the 18th and 19th centuries this was the traditional gift for girls who were out “in service” would take to their Mothers that day.  They would be given the day off and the cake would […]

This morning, R heard a panicked female voice calling from the attic.  He knew M was up there having an early stint sorting out boxes for their move before work.  He shot up the ladder to the loft where  M was standing staring at the far end of the long room.  “Can you hear a […]

We took my mum to the Knockderry House Hotel near Cove for afternoon tea today.  It was a lovely day; the photo is from the terrace outside the hotel. I have never been to the Cove peninsula before (many years ago we tried to go there – pre satnav and ended up taking the Dunoon […]

Getting the house ready for its Rightmove photos was quite a task. I generally keep the place reasonably clean and tidy – but for the photos this was not enough – the house had to be “staged”. The estate agent sent me 15 rules to be implemented, some of which were obvious (things like making […]

Our chainsaw sculpture coo “Heather” has acquired an extra element of authenticity, courtesy of the sheep which have now been in our garden for over a week. We are hoping they will stay.

Well R and I have lived here for eleven and a half, mostly very happy years, but the time has now come for us to say goodbye to Lochgoilhead and the banks of the Donich. We have been thinking about this for a while now, with several drivers behind it. Firstly, I’ve taken on a […]

Lucky just vanished off for more than 2 days, and then came home without a care in the world and (very suspiciously) not a bit hungry. Ever since the weather improved he is back to what he did last summer – here for a while, then gone for a while (sometimes several days) and then […]

We have been joined by a new Mum and her baby. A little later just baby was having a rest in the hole where we took the old plum tree out. I noticed Mum was having a munch on some brambles I cut back the other day – so I hope she stays.

I think the ladies like the new bed I bought the other day, and which R managed to repair after I broke it trying to build it. J and I were actually doing the building, and all went very well. We had it perfectly built and ready to go when we came to putting the […]

I showed J the very back of our garden (he had only been there once and that was 11 years ago when we first moved in). There is more to Donich Lodge than just the house and the cultivated garden – there is actually another 2 acres of uncultivated woodland behind the house, running all […]