Author: Rachel M
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Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace is a splendid 16th century Renaissance building inhabited over the centuries by many Kings and Queens including Mary Queen of Scots. We last visited Falkland in December 2019 but the palace is shut over the winter so we only saw it from the outside. Today we returned and got to go inside. It…
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Lucy Letby: another grave miscarriage of justice
On the 27th January 1591, a woman called Agnes Sampson from East Lothian, Scotland, was garrotted and burnt for the crime of witchcraft. She was accused of raising a storm to sink the ship transporting Princess Anne of Denmark to Scotland to marry King James VI. The ship safely docked in Norway and the King…
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Why we got rid of our electric car
We sold our electric car last week. I have been thinking about it for a while now as we were frustrated with broken charging points, maps pointing to charging stations that are not available to the public, and an inability to travel long distances. The final straw was the council removing the charging stations at…
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A ramble at Crathes Castle
We had a lovely ramble on the Crathes Castle estate today and although we’ve been there many times before we somehow managed to get lost, ending up in someone’s private backyard before rejoining a path we’d never taken before. There was even a private cemetery there. Everything is lush and green here as we’ve had…
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The Secret Diary of Henry VIII at Drum Castle by The Three Inch Fools
Last night we were at Drum Castle watching The Three Inch Fools performing The Secret Diary of Henry VIII. This is an activity we’ve done almost every year since we moved here – except for the covid years – and we all love it. Last year it was Robin Hood, also produced by The Three…
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Seabirds at Fowlsheugh
We took dad to see the birds at Fowlsheugh yesterday. Over 100,000 seabirds come to the cliffs of Fowlsheugh over the spring and summer to breed turning the cliffs into a bustling King’s Cross Station of Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes as well as the odd Puffin and Fulmar. Scotland’s seabirds have had a challenging few…
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Ballater, Braemar, Linn of Quoich
We’ve had a lovely few days in Royal Deeside. Here are some photos from Ballater. We went to the Junior Highland Games in Braemar today and Daniel helped out for a bit taking children for train rides. Here he is driving the train. Dad gave caber tossing a try. Then we had a late picnic…
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Picnic at the King’s house and a smile from the Queen
We had an epic day today. Dad is a very keen e-bike tourer and has completed several cycling holidays now in multiple countries. He suggested we go for a bike ride while he’s here so we booked some e-bikes from the Bike Station in Ballater and cycled to Loch Muick. It’s my first time riding…
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Highland dance show
Elizabeth’s end of year highland dance show was this week, performed over three nights with the last performance this evening. She’s been performing in these shows for several years now and we love going to them. I went fishing through my old photos and found this one of her from the show in March 2019…
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Grandad visiting, end of school, and allotmenting
There’s lots happening at the moment but the big news is grandad is visiting which is fantastic. Daniel is keen to catch up to grandad’s height and he’s getting close! Daniel is still growing and grew almost 1cm just in the last month so he may yet make it. Yesterday was the last day of…
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Is freedom of speech worth dying for?
On January 16, 1969, Jan Palach, a 23-year-old Czech student set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square, Prague in protest against Soviet Occupation. While he was rushed to hospital he kept repeating, “Please tell everyone why I did it. Please tell everyone.” It was reported that a letter was found with him stating that he…
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The Kilt Walk, highland dancing, and visitors
Daniel participated in The Kilt Walk this weekend to raise money for Charlie House, a local charity that supports children in the north east of Scotland with life-threatening of life-limiting conditions. He raised £258 and walked from Aberdeen to Banchory which is almost 19 miles. He had blisters at the end of the day but…
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Edinburgh International Book Festival forced to cancel partnership with sponsor
The Edinburgh International Book Festival has had to end its 20-year partnership with a sponsor after being targeted by pro-Palestinian protestors who object to its investment links with fossil fuels and Israel. The festival organisers said the pressure from activists has become “intolerable“. I know a little bit about this because when I started my…
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Woods, street art, awards and more
It’s a lovely rainy day today. I’m not a summer person and at this time of the year I start to miss winter so an overcast, rainy day is always welcome. That’s not to say I don’t really enjoy a refreshing swim in the river on a hot day but we haven’t had any of…
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Local wildlife
Last week when I was topping up the bird feeders a fox appeared. We both got a bit of a fright but when he realised I was a kind human he hung around and I tossed some peanuts to him that he gobbled up. On Sunday we found the corpse of half a rat in…
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Clarkson’s Farm: a review
We’ve just finished watching all three series of Clarkson’s Farm and it was brilliant. I’ve known about the series for a while but dismissed it because I always thought Jeremy Clarkson was a motorhead who hates vegans and cyclists and indeed I think he probably does. However, I saw some headlines about him shedding tears…
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Lucy Letby: did she get a fair trial?
In 2003 a Dutch nurse called Lucia de Berk was sentenced to life imprisonment for four murders and three attempted murders of patients in her care. It turned out to be a tragic miscarriage of justice and in 2010 she was freed after the Dutch Supreme Court reopened her case and exonerated her. The case…
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When every child gets a trophy except for one
Elizabeth had a rather challenging highland dance competition yesterday. There were 7 dancers in her group and she came last which she can handle as it has happened before. But yesterday they awarded 6 trophies which meant every child got a trophy except for her. That’s a bit mean, I think, and not something I’ve…
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What happened to the Green party?
A Green party candidate won a seat in the Leeds city council elections yesterday and he and his supporters celebrated by unfurling a Palestinian flag and shouting, “Allahu Akbar”. I was curious to see what green policies he actually held because surely a Green party candidate would be championing segregated bike paths, low emission zones,…
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Elizabeth dancing the Highland Laddie
Elizabeth performed the opening dance for her school’s international festival last night. This is the Highland Laddie which is danced to the tune of the same name and is a renowned regimental march. Indeed the dance steps were apparently choreographed by soldiers in the first world war.
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