Purgavie Farm, Nr Kirriemuir (as recommended by AHJ) wins the prize so
far for exquisitely cooked breakfasts and chintzy tranquility.
I then engaged in a little wacky races- style manoeuvring in the impacted
snow, and headed for the day that takes the biscuit so far....
Where do I begin?
As if a photo outside my ancestor JM Barrie's birthplace (sorry, still shut,
see above)) and visit to the Peter Pan statue wasn't enough (to be honest,
not as special as the Hyde Park one), I then managed to hijack the entire
day and drag the obliging Nina on a hunt for the castle of my ancestors
(now owned by an American, the Guthries having moved, bizarrely, to Liverpool).
Words do not convey the surreality of this quest:
Having made some work a few years ago about this castle (based on the only
available photos, printed in a now out of print book), I had a pretty clear
idea of its appearance, but absolutely no idea of what my real reaction
would be..
I couldn't have anticipated the completely irrational tension of our journey
up the driveway (in the car - there was a lot of pheasant shooting going
on), egged on by a local ex-gardener of the Guthries (still gets a Christmas
card). In time, it became apparent that this immaculate place was completely
devoid of human activity, so we exhaled and whipped out the Camcorder. (I
made a mental note to create a piece of work requiring a real visit soon
)
Limp with the excitement of all this we arrived in Arbroath and its puzzling
one way system, for a night in 'Jacqui's B & B', and a smokie for supper
(doesn't seem to have agreed with me, I might add).
Looking forward to a weekend online, so we can get some more links in here...
