Old Master?

Or just old plaster ....

The Port House, formerly the Coop, built 1899 and empty for years, is being renovated. I can't work out exactly what the plan for it is, but it has enormous plate glass windows and would make a wonderful art gallery. I took the picture through one of them - it was very sunny so reflections were not helping. See the whole shot in the extras.

This morning the car had a flat battery (someone left the keys in the ignition, and there must have been a light on too. It wasn't me :-)). So we walked down to town for bread and the newspaper, and had an almond croissant and coffee at Naked Sourdough before tackling the alternative route up the hill. 

It turned out to be slightly less steep, very muddy (a stream bed) in parts, but with great views. We were on the last stretch, the straight bit at the top when we came to the fallen beech. TM proposed limbo-ing through the rather low arch under the trunk. I decided to clamber over the fence, make my way around the canopy and climb back over on the far side. It occurs to me now that we could have simple walked straight down that field and the next one and we'd have been home. But then we'd have missed an interesting chat to a dog walker who works for Visit Scotland, and learned a lot about the goings on in this area.

Gardening this  afternoon, tidying up the top of the drive and wondering what to do about the cypress tree by our back door. It's towering over the house and is too close for comfort. Our ideas are rather different, but we'll have to do something fairly soon.