Unexpectedly in Aberdeen (and a bit of London too)

From another age and surrounded by the North Sea on three sides.
Romantic, historic Dunottar Castle near Aberdeen, Scotland

Greetings from crazy-weather Britain, where we have oscillated between record hot May temperatures (around 27-33ºC for over a week) and lower than usual spring temperatures, getting close to overnight frost on a couple of days. Deciding what to wear each day has become quite the adventure.

Prior to all this weather madness, about a month ago we found ourselves unexpectedly driving 800km to Scotland’s third largest city, Aberdeen.

Close friends visiting from Australia, who had been on Shetland for a couple of days, had a medical emergency that resulted in a trip by air ambulance to Aberdeen. Thus it was that, after a few days of waiting to see what would be most helpful, we jumped in the car and headed north to Scotland.  

Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen’s city centre
(His Majesty’s Theatre in background)

I was excited to see Aberdeen as I’d never been to that part of the country before, and naturally we were very anxious to meet up with our friends and offer any assistance that we could.

We arrived to a gorgeous, sunny afternoon in Aberdeenshire, having skirted past Birmingham and shimmied between Liverpool and Manchester, then passing through Glasgow and finally Dundee. The temperature was, as expected, a bit chillier than in Ledbury, but as regular readers will know, this could only be a positive in my books!

Spring sunshine in Aberdeen city centre

Our hotel - The Atholl, Aberdeen

Aberdeen is a reasonably affluent place, and this is mostly due to it being the UK’s hub for North Sea oil and gas (it’s twinned with Stavanger in Norway). In recent decades traditional industries such as fishing, textile mills, shipbuilding and paper-making have made way for technology in electronics design and development, research in agriculture and fishing and, of course, oil. The city sits on the rivers Dee and Don, and the area is thought to have been settled for around 6,000 years. The current population is around 230,000.

A very attractive type of grey granite was mined for several hundred years in Aberdeenshire and this is evident in the architecture of the city. This stone contains a high level of mica, which gives it a bit of sparkle. Plus, the Scots do love a turret - they are everywhere! I imagine that in the depths of a Scottish winter the abundance of grey stone might make for a gloomy atmosphere, but on a sparkling spring day it was aesthetically very pleasing.

Our hotel was in one of the nicest parts of the city fringe and we were fortunate that our visit coincided with all the cherry trees and rhododendrons being in bloom. The residents of that area appear to be house-proud, with most of the front gardens beautifully maintained.

We spent a day wandering around Aberdeen’s centre, visiting shops, cafés, bookstores, parks and monuments. Because of the oil industry there are lots of international dining options and we enjoyed a very nice meal with our friends at a Turkish restaurant one night, and at an Italian place the next.

Tollbooth Tower, part of the Aberdeen Town House municipal buildings

One of the leopards that decorate Union Bridge in Aberdeen.
They were designed by artist Sidney Boyes 

A reminder to look up occasionally, when exploring a new city!
This fabulous modernist sculpture was above the entrance to a residential complex
on South Mount Street in Aberdeen

A further day was taken up exploring beyond the city, with our first destination a 30-minute drive south of Aberdeen. 

I’d long wanted to visit Dunottar Castle in its incredibly romantic, remote position on a headland, surrounded on three sides by the North Sea. Wow! Most definitely not a disappointment, and even as ruined castles go it was very well presented in terms of its history. The structures that remain are mostly 15th and 16th century, though there have been buildings on the site since the 5th century.

We happily spent a good couple of hours ooh-ing and aah-ing over the views and imagining the discomfort of life in a medieval castle on Scotland’s northeast coast…

Azure waters viewed from one of the ruins at Dunottar Castle, Aberdeenshire

Dunottar Castle near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire,
somewhat dwarfed by the rocky headland on which it was built

Section of ruins at Dunottar Castle, Aberdeenshire

A more extensive view of the ruins at Dunottar Castle on Scotland’s northeast coast

The afternoon was spent at Fyvie Castle, 45-minutes northwest of Aberdeen. Not really a proper ‘castle’, though some parts of the building date back to the 13th century. We were lucky enough to be in time for a one-hour tour of the interior, with a guide who clearly *loves* her job - she made the story of the Preston, Seton and Gordon families fascinating and entertaining.

Fyvie also has extensive grounds, including a huge walled garden that is currently a work-in-progress restoration; it’s laid out in a pattern to mirror the plaster ceiling in the castle's Dining Room. The garden was a little bare still, in the chilly temperatures of Scotland in mid-spring, but it was clear to see the vision and I’d love to return in a year or two when the garden is more established.

We can recommend the small on-site café at Fyvie Castle, which is super cosy and offers delicious food and drink. We all warmed up with a fabulous lentil soup.

The entrance to Fyvie Castle, near Turriff in Aberdeenshire

Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire

Fyvie Castle had so many beautiful objets throughout the house

The Great Hall at Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire

A gorgeous still life in the kitchens of Fyvie Castle

Frames in Fyvie Castle’s walled garden - should look amazing in a year or two!

Stone building inside the walled garden at Fyvie Castle

A rear entrance to Fyvie Castle

The following day we packed up and made the nine-hour drive back to Ledbury, with our friends along to be house guests for a few days, albeit slightly later than originally planned. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, an impromptu 1,000-mile (1,600km) round trip turned into a real highlight of the spring, made most enjoyable of course by being able to spend time with dear friends whom we only see every few years. They left us to spend a week in the nearby Cotswolds, and one evening we scooted over there to join them for dinner at a very nice pub.

Not something you usually see, hurtling along an English motorway!
I think this was somewhere between Penrith and Kendall

Aside from our unanticipated jaunt to Aberdeen, it has been a busy spring, with Kevin continuing to work down at Frensham until mid May. As noted in a previous post, I’ve loved the opportunity to regularly see friends in Surrey and also nip into London for the day on several occasions.

Over the past few years Kevin and I have been fortunate enough to see Norwegian pop trio KEiiNO perform several times at London’s most famous gay nightclub, The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. KEiiNO came close to winning Eurovision in 2019 (they won the public vote) and they’ve continued to record and perform together ever since. For several years they participated in the annual Eurovision tour, wherein former competition acts perform in a group concert across many European and UK venues. This year KEiiNO quietly distanced themselves from Eurovision, without actually making any statement about the reason - which must surely be the EBU’s decision to allow Israel to continue to participate despite being perpetrators of genocide in Gaza. Some of you wlll be aware that we, too, decided this year to boycott Eurovision, which was a very painful decision to make. 

I have not missed a Eurovision since Australia first started broadcasting the show in 1983. Eurovision has always been one of the social highlights of my year, usually joining friends to celebrate. Since moving to the UK 11 years ago we have hosted many Eurovision parties at our place.

We considered boycotting the competition last year, due to the conflict in Israel. On the night, we sort of wished we had. The flagrant vote-fixing in favour of Israel was horrifying. Israel’s song entry was - at best - inoffensive. There is NO WAY the purported public vote represented the actual popularity of the song and you could see the shock on people’s faces as Israel’s entry was somehow placed second. Do YOU know anybody who voted for ‘New Day Will Rise’ by Yuval Raphael? No, of course you don’t.

All this rhetoric about Eurovision being ‘non political’ is rubbish. Russia was booted out in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine. Yet the EBU argues that Israel - a state internationally acknowledged to be committing ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people - should be allowed to compete. 

I’m not sure the competition will ever fully recover from this debacle, even if they do end up banning Israel from future participation. One of the most appealing aspects of Eurovision has been its very European-ness, represented by acts sometimes endearingly kitschy, sometimes gloriously representative of European folk traditions. I understand why Australia was granted special permission to participate in the special 60th anniversary competition. That was a nice gesture, and a reward for decades of loyal viewership by Australians. However I never agreed with my home country being permitted to actually compete. It’s EUROvision, after all. And having cracked open the door to Australia, a couple of years ago the EBU made the baffling decision to allow non-participating countries to vote in a ‘rest of the world’ category for the public vote.

So that’s it - until such time as Israel goes, I’m out. It’s the end of an era for me.

I made my feelings clear on social media platforms last year, after the EBU handed down
its decision to allow Israel to continue participating in Eurovision 😡

Anyway, we planned our jaunt into London so that for once we’d have time to explore the area around Vauxhall and Pimlico before the KEiiNO gig, as well as squeezing in a cheeky drink in The Rose, followed by a quick supper at another pub, The Black Dog (recently in the spotlight due to it being referenced on a Taylor Swift album, though we’ve been going there for years). It was a lovely spring evening and we did a walking loop from Vauxhall Bridge up to Lambeth Bridge and then back to Vauxhall.

As always, it was a really fun night and it only took us about 50 minutes to drive back to Frensham.

Waiting for KEiiNO to go on-stage, at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern

Fred, Alexandra and Tom, collectively known as Norwegian pop sensation KEiiNO
- at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London

An avenue of graceful plane tree boughs along Victoria Tower Gardens South,
heading towards Lambeth Bridge

View of Vauxhall Bridge from Pimlico
(MI6 building on the left - headquarters of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service)

For the well-heeled, Riverwalk Apartments in Pimlico - right on the Thames, next to Vauxhall Bridge

Front (above) and back (see photo below) views of a Henry Moore sculpture in Pimlico,
next to Vauxhall Bridge - Locking Piece (1963-4)

I mentioned briefly in an earlier post that in mid March I had nipped into London for the latest Wes Anderson exhibition at the London Design Centre. That day also gave me an opportunity to explore the Chelsea and Pimlico areas a little more thoroughly than previously. Truly, some of the boutiques and restaurants in that part of London are sooooooo incredibly opulent. It’s another world.

Please excuse the numbers in the top right-hand corner of a few of the shots below; I somehow managed to permanently delete those photos from my library, and had to take screenshots from an Instagram post back in March!

Poster for the Wes Anderson exhibition at London’s Design Museum

Just a couple of kids, with their first film Bottle Rocket being shown at the Sundance Film Festival, in 1993:
Owen Wilson (left) and Wes Anderson (right).

Photo of the director and his muse, on the set of Asteroid City (2023):
On the left, the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson. On the right, Wes Anderson

:

Costumes and props from Wes Anderson’s second film Rushmore (1998)

*swoon*
Candid Polaroid of Adrien Brody on the set of 2007's The Darjeeling Limited,
one of my favourite Wes Anderson films

Springtime in London’s exclusive Chelsea.
A whole avenue of magnolias!

Imagine being able to afford one of these gorgeous townhouses in Dove Place,
just near the Chelsea Barracks 

The superb art deco building that houses Arket, a Nordic design and lifestyle hub
- on The King's Road in Chelsea

Chelsea Old Town Hall, with confetti remnants from a marriage ceremony!
An endless list of celebrities have tied the knot here, including Mick Jagger & Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias, Judy Garland & Micky Deans, Pierce Brosnan & Cassandra Harris, Hugh Grant & Anna Eberstein, Wallis & Ernest Simpson (!), Sharon Tate & Roman Polanski and, very recently, Dua Lipa & Callum Turner

Newson's Yard, a former 19th century timber yard, recently transformed into a glam shopping arcade on London’s Pimlico Road

Window display of one of the swanky interiors stores in the Pimlico / Chelsea neighbourhood

Bronze sculpture The Head of Oscar Wilde on The King’s Road in Chelsea - Eduardo Paolozzi (1998).
It’s been criticised in some circles for emphasising Wilde’s social downfall, rather than his creative genius

We’re off to Norway for a family wedding shortly, which we are very much looking forward to, not least because I have checked the forecast and we are guaranteed cooler temperatures than here!

Not long after our return, Lesley arrives for her (usually) annual petsitting tour of the UK and as always I am so excited to be able to spend time with her over the summer. We already have open gardens, churches and a fancy afternoon tea at a historic house in Gloucestershire lined up!

Until next time,

- Maree  xo

A wee trip up to Scotland

The spectacular view from our hotel room, across the Firth of Clyde
- sunrise on the Isle of Arran, Western Scotland

Greetings from a very wet and blustery England, where Ledbury is currently feeling the edge of Storm Amy. We're only getting a small taste of it, fortunately, unlike Northern Ireland and Western Scotland which are battening down the hatches against gale force winds. Of course, just yesterday morning I had our exterior windows cleaned (grrrrrr....) but I'm not complaining too loudly in the circumstances.

We are not long back from a quick trip to Scotland, the primary purpose of which was to meet up with an old friend whom I had not seen since 1988. But prior to that we decided to head to the Isle of Arran for a few days. We love the western isles of Scotland and I was keen to visit another one. Kevin had made a brief exploration of Arran back in 2017 while we were cat-sitting in Ayrshire; one fine day he took himself off on the ferry, cycled around the island, and got the ferry back.

En route from Ledbury we stopped at a National Trust property just outside Omskirk in Lancashire - Rufford Old Hall, a timber-framed Tudor manor house built in the late 15th / early 16th century, of which only the great hall remains. A brick, Jacobean-style wing was later added in 1661, and then a further wing during the Victorian era. This was just a quick, but most welcome, break for lunch in the roughly six-hour drive to Troon on Scotland's west coast, where we would take the ferry across to Arran.

The Tudor section of National Trust property Rufford Old Hall, not far from Omskirk.
It was built in in the late 15th / early 16th century

The Great Hall inside the Tudor section of Rufford Old Hall, near Omskirk

Eeek... this suit of armour well and truly triggered my claustrophobia!
- in the Great Hall at National Trust property, Rufford Old Hall

View of the Jacobean brick part of Rufford Old Hall, at the rear of the house

Arran is a gorgeous place. It's also large enough that if Scotland does its usual weather thing, there are a few sheltered sights to see as well as enough hotels, pubs, restaurants and galleries to fill the wet hours. At 432 square kms it's Scotland's seventh-largest island, with a permanent population of about 4,600. People do describe it as being 'Scotland in miniature' as its landscape is quite varied, from rugged and soaring peaks to beautiful sandy beaches, lochs and forests, and with a good dose of history thrown in. 

Our ferry journeys from Troon to Brodick and back were a treat, with the boat being accompanied by pods of dolphins cavorting alongside for some considerable time. On Arran we stayed at The Corrie Hotel, about 15 minutes drive north of the ferry terminal town of Brodick, and our room afforded us a gorgeous view across the Firth of Clyde. Built in 1850 from local red sandstone, this is a TV-free small hotel which offers very comfortable rooms and good quality food, as well as a dedicated whisky bar, which Kevin appreciated. It's also dog-friendly - not only is there a supply of dog toys to borrow, and towels for cleaning up muddy paws, there is a dedicated dog menu by gourmet dog food company Sir Woofchester 😀

The ferry port at Brodick on the Isle of Arran

Pods of cavorting dolphins accompanied our ferry journeys to and from Arran

A magical ferry trip from Troon to the Isle of Arran, across the Firth of Clyde
- early evening, late September

Sunrise viewed from our bedroom window in Corrie, Isle of Arran

Our accommodation on Arran - The Corrie Hotel

Weather-wise we were fortunate; it did bucket down on one of the days but the rest of the time it was pleasantly sunny / slightly overcast with perfect temperatures for walking (about 14-15ºC). On the one rainy day we took the opportunity of visiting Brodick Castle which was handed over to the National Trust For Scotland in 1958 in lieu of death duties. There's been a fortress on this site since at least the 5th century, though most of the current building was constructed in 1844, increasing the size of the castle threefold. The site has been controlled or occupied by Norse kings and English and Scots royalty throughout the centuries. 

Not only did we tour the house, which is beautifully furnished and has an exceptional art collection, we stoically braved the rain and walked a reasonable percentage of the gardens. We almost gave up trying to find the squirrel hide which is in steep woodland but thankfully persevered, as it was well worth it. Since the introduction of grey squirrels from North America in the 19th century, Britain's native red squirrels have all but disappeared, with small colonies found in only a few areas of the UK. In England there are only two - on the Isle of Wight, and in the Lake District. Thankfully Scotland fares a little better and we were thrilled to sit in the hide and be entertained by two tiny red creatures feeding on nuts (see photo below). I do also have video of the squirrels' antics but unfortunately I've hit my limit on this cost-free blogging platform; over the past 11 years I've posted a number of short videos and apparently the limit is cumulative ☹️ 

Yours truly braving the rain with rain jacket and brolly
- at Brodick Castle, Isle of Arran

Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran, Western Scotland

A sea of fuchsias at Brodick Castle, Isle of Arran

Red squirrel lifting the lid of a feeding box, seeking out nuts
- at Brodick Castle's squirrel hide

 

Kevin emerging from the squirrel hide in the grounds of Brodick Castle, Isle of Arran

Coincidentally, my friend Lynn's daughter Tayler was visiting Arran at the same time of us, with a couple of Norwegian friends, what's more! We ran into them at the castle - I knew they were planning to visit that day and I heard an Aussie accent from a young woman accompanied by two tall-ish creatures with blond hair and unblemished porcelain skin... didn't take too much effort to join the dots. All three were friendly, interesting women and we ended up meeting them for dinner that evening at The Kinloch Hotel in Blackwaterfoot on the western side of the island. The following day we bumped into them again as we all made the most of the gorgeous weather to explore some of Arran's best-known attractions, the standing stones at Machrie Moor and King's Caves near Blackwaterfoot, the latter being a roughly two-hour loop hike from the car parking area with some steep climbing. The caves were formed around 10,000 to 6,000 years ago during an ice age and there is a legend that Robert the Bruce sheltered there just prior to the Battle of Bannockburn, but this is unproven. 

How nice it was to meet and spend time with Tayler, who hadn't yet been born the last time I saw her mother in 1988.

The truly lovely walk through fields to reach the standing stones at Machrie, on Arran's west coast.
It takes about an hour to walk out there and back again

A slightly awkward shot of several of the Machrie standing stones.
Some wally and two of his friends were hogging the site for ages, taking endless selfies just on the other side of the stone in the foreground - totally oblivious to others hoping to view the stones from that side

View over Machrie Bay on the 4.7km loop hike from the car park to the King's Caves and back, near Blackwaterfoot on Arran's west coast

Obviously I didn't go inside any of the caves because of my claustrophobia!
- King's Caves, near Blackwaterfoot, Isle of Arran

We spent our last couple of hours on Arran driving the coast road around the southern part of the island, heading back towards the Brodick ferry port. Truly, what a beautiful place and we'd happily return.

Here are some further shots of this gorgeous, scenic island...

Cioch na h-Oighe (the pointy peak) and the Devil’s Punchbowl (Coire na Ciche),
from a viewpoint between North Sannox and Lochranza, Isle of Arran

View towards Lochranza Castle on Arran's north-west coast

16th century Lochranza Castle, Isle of Arran

View of the bay in front of Lochranza Castle, Isle of Arran

Rippling waves on the Isle of Arran's west coast

And so, after three days on Arran, we took the ferry back to the Scottish mainland and did the short drive into the centre of Glasgow (less than an hour), a city we've visited multiple times. 

Glasgow is not a photographer's dream; this city has quite a hard edge to it, there are numerous buildings that have seen better days and quite a few homeless people. But we've always enjoyed the edgy character of Scotland's largest city.

Upon walking to our hotel we were somewhat taken aback to pass a long queue of perhaps 200 people, all dressed in Victorian attire, and period carriages parked along several streets and squares. Turns out the area right near our hotel had for some days been transformed into the 19th century for an upcoming Joel Coen film Jack of Spades. It's a gothic mystery film set in 1880s Scotland, featuring a cast that includes Josh O'Connor, Frances McDormand, Lesley Manville and Damian Lewis. Sadly the evening we arrived was the final day of filming there so we didn't have the opportunity to spot any of the stars or observe scenes being shot.

The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow

Pride rainbow on Wilson Street in Glasgow, with two of the city's many murals in the background
- Keeper of Light (left) and Bow Down, Honour the Roots (right)

A closer shot of Keeper of Light, one of Glasgow's murals

Gritty Glasgow.
The old City of Glasgow College building (the Met Tower) has been vacant for 10 years.
Redevelopment plans were shelved in 2024, with economic woes cited as the reason

Clearing up after the area near our Glasgow hotel was transformed into a Victorian-era streetscape,
as part of filming for a new Joel Coen film, Jack of Spades

There were a LOT of carriages!
Just around the corner from our hotel in Glasgow - filming for the new Joel Coen film Jack of Spades

The next day we finally met up with Lynn at one of Glasgow's quirkiest bars, The Last Bookstore, on Hope Street.

Lynn and I had worked together for a while in Sydney in the early 1980s, and then Lynn continued her adventures around Australia for a few years before returning to the UK (she's from Glasgow originally). I did visit her in Bristol in 1988, when she and her husband were running a pub there, and we continued to be in touch for a number of years after that. Sadly, the combination of each of us moving cities and countries a number of times and Lynn changing her surname meant we lost contact.

Happily, Lynn found me on Facebook last year. She retrained as a teacher and has been living in a fairly remote part of Western Australia for the past decade or so. What a lucky coincidence that she also had a trip lined up back home to Scotland for a few weeks this year, and consequently I eagerly made plans for us to head up that way.

Poor Kevin suffered through lengthy reminiscences of people she and I had worked with, but we both sat in rapt fascination as Lynn regaled us with her life stories, including a 12-month trip around Australia with her husband back in 2021-22, which she blogged about. It's fascinating stuff, particularly if you have an interest in the more remote parts of Australia. You can access Lynn's blog here:

https://flannerysfootprints.wordpress.com/

The Last Bookstore in Glasgow - venue for my reunion with Lynn

Corridor in the upstairs dining area of The Last Bookstore

The bar area on the ground floor of The Last Bookstore in Hope Street, Glasgow

Unbelievably, neither Lynn nor I remembered to whip out our phones and capture the meeting for posterity - kind of amazing, given we are both accomplished bloggers and publishers on social media! Ah well, the occasion will just have to live on in our memories.

Meanwhile, Kevin and I are congratulating ourselves on having selected last week for our jaunt to western Scotland rather than this week. Most of the ferry services in Scotland have been cancelled due to Storm Amy and it would indeed have been a bit miserable - not to mention potentially dangerous - travelling about in gale force winds and rain, much as we are usually very stoic when it comes to weather.

The author and Kevin, with Cioch na h-Oighe and the Devil’s Punchbowl in the background
- Isle of Arran, Western Scotland

Bidding farewell to the Isle of Arran, on the ferry back to Troon

A post on our new house is still forthcoming... just awaiting the arrival of another rug and an armchair!

Until next time.

- Maree  xo