Monday 28 June 2010

The clematis outside the workshop has excelled this year; however the star event of the week was not my clematis, or the Village Hall EGM, but Alen down at the pier setting the hillside on fire. We have a marvellous and dedicated retained fire crew and the other day they went hurtling past the wondow in their wee fire engine. Alen had thrown out some hot ashes and the next thing the hill behind the shop was ablaze. Not surprisingly the large house behind called the fire brigade , but Alen would have none of it.'Controlled burn', he said, 'my land, no access' he said. So the fire brigade went and put it out anyway.

Friday 25 June 2010

Tuesday was the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Village Hall and there was an amazing turn out of about 80 people of all shapes and sizes.

The Hall Committee were fed up because no one came to the AGM, nobody supported their activities, and we didn't deserve a Hall so they were going to close it if we didn't do a bit better.

Elizabeth , the Chairwoman, started off by saying that nobody would stand for the committee, whereupon about 20 people raised their hands who were all longing to go on the Committee, be Treasurer, Secretary, Youth Club Organiser etc.

So they were all voted on and then we all went home.

Monday 21 June 2010

Another lovely week-end and perfect for cutting silage. Here's Gus from Saddell in his huge tractor cutting the fields in front of Mhairi's. It always seems a shame when these lovely swaying buttercuppy fields turn into these neat rows of grass, but they'll soon grow up again. At the back is Carradale point, purple with rhododendrons, and in between is the bay.

Recently on Sundays a flying club from West Kilbride have taken to flying in and landing on the Bay in their planes and micro-lights which is a bit of fun, as long as they don't run you down when you're paddling.

Friday 18 June 2010

Well, another week of dry warm weather and our visitors are enjoying the beaches and walks of Kintyre. Most have the sense not to be too ambitious - the narrow roads are best taken leisurely, and not for doing huge long trips. There is always the statutory visit to Campbeltown - which can disappoint so best combined with a trip round the distillery, or a run across to Machrihanish. And Gigha is a must! But otherwise you can spend days pottering around the local forest trails, or wandering down to the Bay.

At the moment forestry operations near the village offer a fascinating view of modern timber felling. The Forestry Commission don't mind you watching, and the amazing machines that trundle up and down the hillside chopping up trees to exact lengths for precise purposes are really state of the art. The operators have GPS, computer control, and about three telephone connections and know precisely what should be felled and where.

It's always very sad to see much loved trees suddenly disappear, but at the end of the day it is a crop and it's because of this that we have such wonderful trails and paths all around us.

Wednesday 9 June 2010


Heavy rain at last so the gardener's are all delighted - and now it's going to clear up to more sunny weather. But we are in the throes of adding a room on top of our house and it's VERY noisy inside when it rains, so not much sleep.
anyway , don't worry when you arrive at the cottages to find one apparently in the throes of building; you're not in Spain, it's just Mike's folly!

Thursday 3 June 2010

Being brought up in a village 800' above Edinburgh, I always thought that anything other than leeks and lupins were totally exotic. On my first trip to the south of England I saw a passion flower and was determined that one day I would have one. So one of the joys of the west of Scotland is the wonderful things that will happily grow - even despite last winter. So I now have my passion flower, the wisteria is coming into bloom, I have 5 different species of abutilon - the star being the blue version which is found in countless estate gardens up and down Argyll, and meconopsis grown in abundance.

So if you are a keen gardener, or just love trees and flowers, you will find a wealth of beautiful gardens to visit, unusual plants to spot, and delightful untamed corners , and no one will stop you wandering anywhere.