Jul 8th, 2025

New Blog

I have finally managed to get the new Castlebank blog up and running. Here it is https://castlebank.org  

Jun 14th, 2025

Some photos of the new house

Strictly WIP at the moment…   Drawing Room Silver collection Victorian ladies A stair ornament China cabinet Guest bedroom with no bed as yet! Rory’s room with bed under construction My room and inherited real mink coat Dining room chaos The cats of Castlebank – we have named the statues Tora and Schrodi More photos […]

Jun 2nd, 2025

In which we say goodbye to the banks of the Donich

Nearly twelve years ago, R and I arrived in Lochgoilhead determined to build a better life in the country.  Well readers, we did. All lives have their ups and downs, but broadly I can say that we have enjoyed living here.  Walking, wildlife, peace and quiet and probably more than anything else, the ability to […]

May 31st, 2025

New House

Finally got the keys for our new home “Castlebank House” – built in 1854 for the Procurator Fiscal of Fife and 4000 square feet of Victorian grandeur.  As ever with these things, it took forever for the lawyers to do their stuff so we weren’t in until 4pm. With it having been so long since […]

May 29th, 2025

Some last views of Lochgoilhead

I went for a final walk around the area – unfortunately not as thoroughly as I would have liked as critically busy trying to get everything finished off. J was with me and had a little sit on Jack’s bench in the community garden.  

May 28th, 2025

It is a far, far better thing…

I love all cats.  I love our girls Saphy and Amber a great deal.  Tora and Schrodi were my very dear boys until their deaths a few years ago, and they are still in my heart. But at the moment, I have to admit that my favourite and most beloved cat is our ex-stray Lucky.  […]

May 27th, 2025

Busy, busy, busy

Coming down to the wire here on the house move and not getting a lot of time to write, which is sad as I will be saying good bye to this blog when I leave here.  I did think about keeping this URL and just carrying on with the same WordPress theme – but nice […]

May 22nd, 2025

Strawberries

I was in Glasgow yesterday doing what is hopefully the final stint on clearing out J’s flat.  It is hard to believe that a two bedroom flat could contain so much stuff, though I suppose that as one way or another our family have owned it for over thirty years it should be no great […]

May 20th, 2025

Saphy the Huntress

The picture is of Saphy lurking in the grass near the bird table ready to pounce. She also had a mouse overnight and left it artistically posed on the kitchen floor.  In this respect she is better than Lucky who consumes parts of them and leaves the other parts in strategic parts of the lounge […]

May 17th, 2025

In which the deer return

We’ve not seen much of the deer in the garden over the last few years – I think they must have had a huge cull and reduced numbers so much that the population has taken a while to recover. But they are back to some degree now.  First R saw a female out of his […]