Life on the croft

31 September 2008

Nearly the end of the season on the croft and far from the doom and gloom on the television, We have had a very busy and most enjoyable time. We have been exceptionally busy for which we must thank all our guests and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting everybody from all of the world as well as the UK. We seem to be seeing more people from Scotland nowadays and I’m pleased to see people are appreciating what’s on their own doorstep.

For our holidays this year we took the grandchildren to Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides A great time was had y all and I think they enjoyed their week of very little car use, etc. Just the way Granny lived many years ago. Eriskay is very small, only 3 miles by 2 miles but with beautiful beaches and wide-open seascapes. There is a causeway now between Eriskay an Uist and an exceptionally good car ferry service between the island and Barra. No trees make for much wider vistas. We walked everywhere and spent hours on the beaches, but the greatest excitement were that they were able to roam about and go to the shop on their own. Ben, especially, thought it was better than his past holidays to exotic places but I think James still has more of a hankering for Australia and Eva is content wherever she is.

Our weather has been a bit mixed but none of the extreme in other parts of the UK. You can always get sun here just by watching the forecast in the morning and heading for the area showing the est. weather.. Everybody found plenty to do. €as usual Ben Nevis was very popular and people climbed in all weathers as you never know what its going to be like on the top.

The mountain bike track is proving very busy and we only had one accident with our guest – a doctor who managed to land in our local hospital for most of holiday after falling off his bike on one of the more difficult trails.

The steam train is also proving a winner for the area but really people never seemed to be at a loss for something t do as can tour so may places forma the area

Our cows are now back from the hill and our sheep are ready for market. It’s a very sad time for Angus as he hates to see the animals go and this year will be worse as Ben (the young highland bullock) is going for the freezer. This is our first abattoir venture but Angus is heading for Spain when the operation is being carried out. John and Sin will be in charge (luckily Sine is vegetarian). The free-range hens are doing well. I had forgotten the difference in the colour of the eggs until I had breakfast in a hotel in Glasgow and couldn’t believe how pale the scrambled eggs were. We have plenty of potatoes and vegetables this year, but the rain has spoilt the brambles and we were hoping to make some bramble wine this year but I don’ think that’s possible now.

16 May 2008

Weather has been beautiful for the whole of May, even through the Scottish 6 day trials week. The trials went exceptionally well and we had a number of riders staying with us.
There's a Scottish Downhill Mountain biking race this weekend, so Fort William is living up to its Outdoor Capital of Britain title.

14 May 2008

Heard the cuckoo for the first time this year on 28 April, a very welcome visitor, though the weather is still a bit mixed, some days very summery, others when you’d think that winter will never disappear. Bees and butterflies are prolific in the garden and the midges have still to make their appearance.
Work on the croft progresses well with the sheep and their lambs now on the hill until the end of October and the Highland cows in their favourites field where they pose for photographs all day. Eva (our first Highlander born on the croft still gets bullied a bit by the rest of her bovine family but with the private feeding given by her other family she looks the best of the lot. Hopefully she'll be in calf this year.
A busy weekend coming up with the holiday on Monday and the Scottish six day motor bike trials starting with a display along the High Street on Sunday.
The hills have looked great lately with the late snow which is now, unfortunately, receding. Skiers have had an excellent late season.
We've been very busy cutting some rotten old trees. One, which should have been taken down some twenty years ago was so done that the soil was growing through the centre of the trunk. As nothing gets wasted on the croft, we now have some beautifully different plant pots.
Bookings for the summer are very good and we look forward to seeing you all.

Bye for now Theresa