Day 1525 a day trip to Dumfries House with mum & Dad 🏰

I woke up at 5.46am after a good nights sleep…. Still dreaming of that honeycomb cheesecake last night!

So all prepared for today to be the Summer Solstice, albeit a fairly cloudy one.

WHO KNEW SUMMER SOLSTICE WAS ACTUALLY YESTERDAY?!??!?

You learn something new everyday.

I always thought the longest day was 21st June but it would appear that, in 2024, much to my amazement, it was actually yesterday. 😂 Who’d a thunk it?!?

How did I get to 51 years of age and not know that I was a moveable feast. Upon reflection, it’s obvious.

So…. These are for yesterday!

Puppy Leesi (as she’s affectionately known, had another good night without her cone on. She’s doing so well, just not putting any weight on her leg yet, but I’m sure that will come.

We had a really lovely cuddle for a while this morning. It’s lovely to have the trust of a dog that they will cuddle into you like that. Then I captured a yawn, albeit fuzzy…. You get the fangs!!

At 8.45am, I jumped into Bertie Beetle (could I make that sound any more cheesy?!) and drove down to Cumnock in Ayrshire, to meet Mum and Dad at Dumfries House.

I got here with a half hour to spare so just writing this in the car park…. Which is fairly empty.

We went for coffee first, as we do! Had a syrup scone with jam and clotted cream. We then had a wander round the grounds, while waiting on our house tour at 12pm.

The tree is amazing!!

Mum had a good hug!

It’s such a lovely space to be in.

We came all this way and spent the first half hour with trees 😂

I then did a 10 second delay to get this shot. Luckily there was a random beer keg perfectly placed to pop the phone on.

Now I know how to do that, there will be more of them.

We wandered around the front f the house and the lovely gardens.

There were men with a van cleaning out the fountain, in front of the house, so there are no photos of it. 😆 we had a good chat to them as the swept water and mud around the base of the fountain. It will be stunning once it’s been cleaned out.

Mum and dad are in there, honest!

Waiting for the 12pm tour. The white door will open at 11.55.

So once inside the house you can’t take any photos due to the value of some of the items inside. There are so many pieces of Chippendale furniture.

I’m sure the tour guide said that one of the cabinets in the living room would sell for £20-£25 million!!

Here’s the website if you’re interested in seeing some of what I saw today.

Dumfries House

It’s really beautiful. It’s been so well preserved.

You will know by now that I am no historian and much of what I was told goes in one ear and out of the other, while I wish I could take a beautiful photo….. but King Charles saved the House from auction and all the contents being sold off, in 2007, when he got a personal loan of £20 million and then secured a further £25 million from investors etc to purchase the house and save all its contents.

It’s been lovingly restored, is the second largest employer in East Ayrshire, second only to the Council, and now trains many local people in the old skills required to keep a house like this restored and preserved for the future.

In a hour we walked through 3 public rooms, the large entrance hallway and 4 private rooms. The tour was really informative despite my retention issues. 😆

We left the house at 1pm and headed out to the Walled Garden via this lovely bridge and pond.

I made them pose. How lovely is this.

This is exactly why I want to do these trips.

We have a lovely day and make some lovely memories… Dad has to reacquaint himself with the fact I take so many photos, but once he does, he embraces it!

This water lily is on 15x zoom. I was really pleased with it!

There were tadpoles everywhere in this pond.

So back to the Walled Garden….

It costs £3 each to get in and if you have a KA postcode, which I do, you get access for one whole year!!

Here are some of the gorgeous flowers.

Mum was in flower heaven in this greenhouse!

Here I am next to the fountain.

And the view from the fountain.

The gardens are very well looked after.

I overhead one of the guides saying that you should visit the walled garden at least 4 times throughout the year to see the full beauty of it.

Stunning colours and great to play with my new phone.

By this time we were ready for lunch. We were all surprised to see it was 3pm!

The old stables hold the lovely cafe. The food is good and the prices are reasonable.

We headed back to the car park at 3.45pm.

Our days always go so quickly but it’s lovely to wander around and spend time with each other. I love that I get to visit castles and old houses and get to see them too.

Another special day full of memories. 💜💜

I’m shattered now and have a busier day tomorrow. I’m driving to Oban in the morning, to spend the day with my friends Helen and Mike, who are on holiday from Devon.

I have a huge walk planned but I have to drive 2.5 hours to get there, have the huge walk and then drive back home. It will be a lovely but LOOOOOONG day.

The blog might be short and sweet with all the details on Sunday but we’ll see.

Have a lovely weekend!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️