Long weekend in Scotland

Ivan and Helen organised an amazing weekend in Gargunnock in Scotland. It's near Stirling, and the house belongs to the Landmark Trust. I recommend it for large houseparties, possibly with an Agatha Christie theme. BYOButler!

On Saturday we walked up nearby Ben Ledi (at 800m or so). A good way to work up an appetite! This is us having lunch and contemplating the climb.

Well, some of us contemplating the climb, others just discovering the Best Skimming Stones In The World Ever.

Nearly at the top...

There were sixteen of us and we had a great black tie dinner on the Saturday night. Check out those oryx heads on the walls- there were four of them, and in a normal house you'd have to negotiate them through the door and then share the room with this massive stuffed head with scary beady eyes. In that dining room you hardly noticed them!


Other great things about the weekend:

The weather was amazing

The drawing room with a grand piano which Chopin may have played (along with all the other grand pianos in that part of Scotland, in the space of two week's holiday or something.)

The smoking room and the library

Having an open fire and an old boy in the gatehouse who just waved us at the log pile and told us to help ourselves

The row of bells in the servants quarters, and the bell pulls in all the big rooms

Ria and Jake cooked up this amazing array of curries on Sunday afternoon for an inpromtu feast in the evening

Visiting Doune Castle which is just down the road, which is where they filmed most of the castle scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Chatting to lots of new people about what they do. Mainly they have PhDs in molecular biology, and play a mean Dirty Word Scrabble

Elliot let me drive his Lotus Elise. *:)

Thanks Ivan and Helen for a great weekend!