Scotland...........

………is breathtakingly beautiful and having a little rustic cottage on the waters edge on the Firth of Solway is a lovely way to spend a few weeks. The weather in the Lake District was the worst EVER……the council recently put in flood measures to cope with ‘once in a 100 year event’ but nature has a way of thumbing her nose at such frippery and threw a once in a 1000 year event!! A month’s rain fell in 24 hours! We got a couple of days when we just had to hunker down and watch the sea raging outside. It’s astonishing what a difference a mile or two of sea can make. The Lake District will have to be visited another time by us. It was a really mellow experience, lazy days, walking over hills and dales, watching the migratory birds settling in for the winter. The land and the people have a sparseness and canniness that is legendary…..e.g at a service station it costs a quid for “free air”…..I believe one had to pay to use the machine! We visited Gretna Green, full of romantic expectation and found it to be disappointingly mediocre. Having said that, throwing back our bedroom curtains each morning and looking at the ever changing vista of sea and sky, took our breath away…….wish you were here xxxxxxxx

Autumn in England………

……..autumn in England is spectacular and autumn at The Manor is no exception. We have recently acquired “Polly” a Blue Cross rescue dog…she is very quirky and just as we think we are making headway with her she will go from being a dog who is very willing to please, to a delinquent who would rather live ‘rough’ than mind her p’s and q’s living on an idyllic estate!
We are persevering and walking a dog is a rather fun and vicarious way to enjoy the countryside. Today we came face to face with a deer, Polly was beside herself hoping for a game and was bewildered when the deer leapt over the “deer proof fence” and was gone!
Everyday the trees are becoming more sparse, the days are getting shorter, the nights longer and one feels like curling up with a good book.
We are driving up to Scotland tomorrow for two weeks to “do” the Lowlands and Lake District, we have rented a beautiful little cottage on a private estate, right on the beach in Dumphries….it’s “dog friendly”…….it isn’t Italy, but next year….when we have the hound under more control and she can be left without disgracing herself. Fortunately all our friends are doggy people (what Brit’s aren’t?)…so we are working towards “a plan”….meanwhile Scotland looks lovely, wie’ a wee dram, a pile of good books and an open fire who could ask for anything more…….wish you were here xxxxxxxxxx