It's well into August now and I haven't written a thing about..............The Edinburgh Festival!! Shocking! But as is often the case when you live somewhere special you take the special things for granted. It has been known for some Edinburghans to actually avoid all the fuss of the festival. Well, I didn't go that far, it just so happened that we'd planned a break away at my parents farm for the first week or so of August. It's a beautiful place, a little bit magical, and unchanged in a way that makes you feel history hasn't left, but is still lingering around. You can feel it in the old stone buildings and in the fields and the trees. The stone walls (dry stane dykes) make pretty green parcels across the land. But perhaps only pictures can tell its story.......
The farm house is a traditional Scottish but n ben. Small and cosy with the thickest walls and smallest attic bedrooms. There is nearly always a fire burning inside the house, even in summer, because the walls keep the rooms so cool. Only on the hottest days is it not lit.
The farm land is pretty and pastural in summer, but it's a harsh place in winter.
My Dad has an old tractor that he'll never change. It does whatever he asks of it.
We picked raspberries to make raspberry jam
Someone we know had a ball running wild in the fields
We went to the local and famous Alternative Games in New Galloway
and enjoyed the vintage cars
and the Sheep Throwing Competition
And after a busy day there are nice places back at the farm for a cosy snooze
It truly is a magical place.
