Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Around Rosehaugh

by admin - 22:53 on 04 June 2010

The day started well – and at a reasonable hour thanks to a lack of noisy cats and pheasants – with the news that The Man From Del Monte said Falkland oil prospects are officially good. Share prices rose; more rises are expected; my future as an oil baron looks promising.

Cancellation of my trip to Edinburgh meant I could activate Plan B: a morning's snappery with Dolphin James and Andrew. Munlochy Bay was the planned destination but poor light meant we ended up at the alternative of Rosehaugh Estate near Avoch.

Until it was demolished in 1959 this was the site of Rosehaugh House – now gone except for some grand terracing. The estate buildings remain, most of them holiday lets, plus a lochan and extensive fields and woodlands criss-crossed by paths.

There's also a Lutyens-designed grave site in the woods where the last occupants of the house were buried; they were moved around the time the house was razed by the Eagle Star Insurance Company. Why it came down I've no idea.

Red squirrels were common in the woods until recently, when forestry thinning operations began. With luck they'll be back. The foresters are decent types, though – they've left standing a pine dotted with woodpecker nesting holes from which could be heard the cries of a hungry chick. Mum was keen to reach her offspring so we moved away.

None of my landscapes survived quality control but a trio of mute swan portraits and a field of buttercups have been added to the archive. A good morning's work.

Master Marten hasn't been seen today but his Nutella disappeared between 9am, when I left The Rural Retreat, and 1pm, when I returned, so I missed a good daylight photo opportunity. He's a tease.

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