A weekend on my own and looking for something to keep me entertained, I found some nice things to do over in Dunoon, and locally, and ended up having quite a busy time. With it being the summer holidays there is a bit more going on and Dunoon were holding a food festival and maker's market which coincided with the Dunoon POP Shop holding a rhubarb themed open garden. The food festival was in a marquee in the Castle Gardens, along with a few food vans and a busker providing en

Content warning! This is a blog post like no other, and not something I thought I would ever have to experience. I'll keep it brief but this weekend has included the worst thing I've ever witnessed - and, as you guys know, that is saying something. H has been up to see me again, for a long weekend, bringing his usual suprises with him from the outset - lovely flowers again (my favourite gerberas and roses), and an extra surprise of perfume this time. Prada - and very nice too

I was curious about the monumental shift in my outlook on life since meeting H. I spent more than a year feeling like my life had imploded, there was nothing to look forward to and everything seemed hopeless. When things are dark all you can see is the darkness. You are in constant pain and the only thing you can think of is when it will end. And sometimes you sink low enough to want to end it yourself as quickly as possible. I know what it is like to stand on the edge and fe

It felt likes ages since I'd spent any real time in Leamington with the kids, and this week off had been booked since the new year (I put all my leave in for the year in January so I could space it out nicely). The plan was orignally to spend the weekends at each end of the break with the girls, a couple of days with my sister-in-law, Jenny, in London and the remainder with family and friends in Lincoln. Plans changed slightly though, as so many have in the last few months...

A few weeks ago I was lying in the hammock in the warmth of the sunshine and having an absolutely blissful moment, listening to the birds singing, the swallows were swooping overhead, the fluffy seeds of the willows were drifting in the breeze and the view of the glen and hill behind the house was stunning … but something was stopping it from being absolutely perfect. A tiny knot of something like anxiety was disturbing the heavenly vibe of a glorious summer day surrounded by

The Castle of Brecon Hotel was our treat for the next two nights, and it’s a lovely place. A slightly elevated position means it has great views over the valley and out to Pen Y Fan and it’s relaxed but beautifully done out to reflect its Norman roots. Our room was ready slightly early so we went up and unpacked our bags and then headed to the lounge bar for a pint - Guinness for H and a local dark fruit cider for me. It was busy so we asked if we could take a sofa opposite a

After two and half weeks since last seeing H, that felt much longer, I was heading away again to explore the Brecon Beacons with him. The plan was to stay in his camper van for a couple of nights of minimalist freedom in nature and then head to Brecon town for two nights in a swanky hotel. I’m getting used to flying back and forth now and know that arriving at the airport an hour before my flight is enough time when I’ve only got hand luggage. I thought travel was supposed to

One dark and damp corner of the garden which presented an opportunity for improvement was the narrow passageway between the garage and the oil tank compound. It is part of the main path around the outside of the house, so I really wanted to make it an attractive space. It was a good size for a small Japanese zen style garden, and we already had the stone fountain basin we brought with us from Leamington that had been sitting upside down on the grass for a year. So I designed

This is an old post that I haven't gotten round to posting before now as I was waiting for summer to show the project at its best! Our garden had a pond, which remains full in the wetter months, but dried out about 50% of the time so we got a local guy, Michal, who knows what he's doing with water features to make us a stream running down to the pond, make the pond bigger and add a pump to pump the water back up to the top. He's also put in a pond liner to stop the water from

Nicknamed the Trial of Eight Days because this would be the longest we have spent together so far, it really totalled almost nine days from the afternoon of Friday 8th May to lunchtime on Sunday 17th. I don't think either of us were at all worried, but it was going to be interesting to see how we got on in the more domestic setting of Clacheranmor for a few days. We had also planned a few things that would potentially test us both on our nerves, patience, endurance, honesty a

Some months ago, when I was miserable at the thought of going on any more holidays on my own, I enlisted my friend Mandy to accompany me on a break somewhere. Or maybe she enlisted me... Mandy has MS and hasn't been away for a number of years due to the difficulty of getting around or having a companion to take her. I have known her for about nine years now and she trusts me to look after her safely and kindly, so we decided on Bodelwyddan castle - a Warner Holiday hotel in N

For our third date we decided that a long weekend in Edinburgh would be nice. It was my turn to book something so I went for the Hoxton - a fairly expensive, trendy and comfortable looking place about a mile from the castle, hoping it was on a quiet side street so we had a relaxing place to get away from the noise of the city in the evenings - we are both country bumpkins at heart and used to rural tranquility. Things seem to be going really well, but over the last two and a

Having taken Amber and Mat to Madeira last year, this Easter it was time for my trip with Charlotte and Hugo. We decided to go to Italy, partly because I wanted to visit Sorrento again, but also because Charlotte couldn't remember previous trips very well, and Hugo had never been to Italy at all. So, I got it all booked and suddenly the dates arrived. Sorrento at Easter is a lovely 18-20° and sunny, plus they have incredible parades through the streets to celebrate Holy week.

Two weeks after meeting H at Country 2 Country we had a second date booked. This time I was off to Wales for a long weekend. I flew down to Bristol late Wednesday night and was picked up, with a bunch of beautiful roses, and taken to a lovely pub hotel nearby for the first night. The next morning, after breakfast, we set off to drive to West Wales, and to the coast. We stopped to wander round a little town and pick up some food from a deli for the next few days. We were bless

Following on from my last post about my new foray into the dating world... And that leaves H... H is from Wales, with a lovely accent. His dating profile describes a rugged, outdoor lifestyle, with pictures showing a happy, laid back guy with a great smile. Not used to the 'rough and ready' type, there was something about him that caught my attention. Over the last month we have texted every day and he has made me laugh a lot with dad jokes, puns and funny observations. He's

Last weekend I had a very water themed couple of days - a garden round a lake, a hotel by the Firth of Forth, and a walk with a dip in a waterfall! Oh, and I've rejoined the dating pond.... So, for those who are curious, I've been chatting to few guys - all very different. Let's call them R, M, D and H. There have been a few messages with others, but these four seemed to be the ones who have a bit a spark and were able to sustain an interesting conversation in their own style

Before my house was built in 1980 there was a small cottage, known as a but and ben, on the site called Clacheranmor Cottage. The phrase but and ben is steeped in Scottish history and culture, traditionally crofting but also rural life generally. It can evoke a poverty-stricken hardscrabble life that has at times been romanticised, as in this song by Sir Harry Lauder: Just a wee deoch an’ doris, afore ye gang awa’; There’s a wee wifie waitin’ in a wee but an’ ben. (Deoch a do

This last couple of weeks have been a bit of a slog. I've been trying to fight off a bug that is insisting on hanging around. I don't get ill very often so it's really annoying, but not bad enough to take any time off work. Despite this I had a packed weekend this week. Saturday morning was rowing as usual, but in the reduced visibility of light drizzle giving the landscape a wonderfully subdued and atmospheric look and feel. It did nothing to dampen our spirits, the conversa

As someone who is grieving I have noticed that there is a huge range of ways that people react to me and my grief. It will depend on so many factors, like their relationship to John, their relatioship to me, whether they have experienced their own grief or witnessed someone else's in the past. There are some people who have always known just the right thing to say at the right time, those who don't shy away from talking about John, or asking me how I'm doing in just the right

Dun Na Cuaiche Watchtower sits above Inveraray castle on a hill overlooking Loch Fyne. I had driven past it so many times and, over New Year, I finally decided to do the walk up there. It was a cold but clear day as I set off with my packed lunch in a rucksack and plenty of layers on. It begins with a walk skirting beautiful Inveraray Castle, across Frew's bridge and into the woods. The view of the watchtower from Frew's bridge was the last time I could see the tower until I