Gentle

A day of total relaxation. A took Paisley out for a walk first thing and I tried out the bath…very nice! We enjoyed breakfast looking out over the grounds to Loch Awe…..a fine gentle rain soaking everything. I chose smoked haddock with poached egg and A had French toast, bacon and maple syrup. Afterwards she had another bath whilst I started on a book I found in the room, enjoying the feeling of there being no rush and no need to do anything else (I’m always much more restless if the weather is good and then I feel a compulsion to be out and about). VickyG came by for coffee on her way to Oban, and we chatted and gossiped and jumped kangaroo like between topics for about an hour before she had to head off, but it was lovely to see her and be back in touch properly. A and I got togged up in our wellies and waterproofs and went for a tramp through the woods. Don’t think I’ve ever seen so much moss…like walking through a primeval forest. Lots of trees down and no idea where the path went we ended up scrambling over and under trunks. The rain came and went but was never really heavy, and Paisley seemed to enjoy navigating her way through all the undergrowth.
Lovely to be in wellies given how squelchy the ground was…good not to have to be careful where we put our feet given all the other challenges of the walk, and we ended by going out along the shores of the Loch before circling back to the house.
Had a bit of a rest….think we all slept for a while…then made some tea and shared a box of Maltesers. A little sun had broken through the clouds so we decided to go for another walk before supper so went through the gardens and outdoor wedding venue, into a walled garden that’s definitely seen better days but could be amazing. Having an enclosed space meant we could let Paisley off the lead to run, and she dashed about like a really mad thing for a while. Love to see her running like that…they really need a big garden but I can’t see that being possible given house prices!
We enjoyed a gin in front of the roaring fire before dinner then a delicious meal (I had scallops, venison and chocolate mousse, A had heritage tomatoes, beef and lemon meringue tart)… lovely!
We’d thought about sitting in the drawing room for a while but the fire in there wasn’t lit so ended up just coming back to the room and having an early night.
Just what we needed!