Empty places

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Although I love visiting historic houses and castles full of textiles, and all of the possessions the owners have accumulated over the centuries, there is something really powerful about visiting those places that are ruined, either though the ravages of time, or single events that destroy the place.

I have visited a few of these in the last few years, and what strikes me about them is the ability to give a glimpse into how these places must have looked as they were being constructed. Bare walls, no roof, the stone or bricks the most important feature, without the distraction of tapestry hangings and wallpaper.

There is also the way that the light works in these buildings, often without windows and curtains to filter it, and the blinds to preserve the delicate fabrics from decay. There is a magical quality to the way the light illustrates the bare bones, the way that you see shadows, rather than wallpaper.

I recently visited somewhere that has been on my wishlist for a very long time. The birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, Linlithgow Palace, is just one of the many places that I have yet to go to, on my quest to know more about this fascinating woman. If you have been here for a while you may know that I have visited many of the places that Mary stayed, either by plan, or suddenly finding myself there. I have been interested in Mary for so many years, sparked by seeing her needlework at Hardwick Hall.

My first novel, which I am hoping to complete sometime this year, is centred around Hardwick, and I have really enjoyed the research for this, including reading more about Mary and her stitching. A couple of years ago I bought this fascinating book, which delves into Mary’s relationship with textiles, both her clothes and her needlework.

This was a different type of visit, to the empty palace where it all begin. Before she became a young widow, an exiled queen, and ultimately a prisoner, stitching alongside her companion Bess of Hardwick, gradually losing hope that Elizabeth would meet with her and grant her freedom.

It was a particularly significant day to visit, although I didn’t know when I was planning the trip, but this notice was on display in the entrance of the palace.

Such a beautiful and atmospheric place to spend a morning, and I am exceptionally glad that I was able to get there on this trip, as in the gift shop I found this wonderful book.

We have often joked as a family that everywhere we went, Mary seemed to have stayed, or slept, and this is going to form a large part of my planning for other Scottish visits this year, as there are many I was not aware of.

A couple of weeks later I visited Seaton Deavel Hall, on my way back to Yorkshire to catch up with friends. The hall was destroyed by fire around 200 years ago, so what remains to visit is a scarred and empty building, with the most wonderful architectural details to see. I loved the stairwells, the way the light streamed into them, and the fact that you could see the melted railings in the upper floors, recreated to ensure that visitors could access them.

Even though it was a dull day, the light was beautiful, and so were the gardens, with their displays of blossoms in my favourite colours. A beautiful place, and I am so glad it is still cared for and accessible.

I am at the start of my last full week here, so that means lots of last meals out and events with friends. I am very lucky to have such a great social life here in Spain, and this week will be out virtually every night. My poker skills have been improving, I even won a tournament a couple of weeks ago, coming second out of eight people, so am very happy about that, and have enjoyed learning the game a lot. This week also means the all important task of sorting out my projects for the coming year, and deciding which crafting stash is coming with me, based on that.

I will have time for one more post before I leave, have just returned from a marvellous trip here in Spain but will leave that for a while as I need to finish the Scottish and Yorkshire adventures first. So will see you all here next week. Hope you all have a very happy week whatever you are doing, and thanks for visiting.

Spanish celebrations

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I had been waiting until now to write this post as I should have been able to tell you about the last of the coach trips we had been on, celebrating Spain’s final Christmas celebration, the Three Kings, which takes place on Jan 5th every year. We were due to go to Cartagena, a beautiful city south of us, that I have visited many times. Sadly due to a very bad storm, the fiesta was cancelled, so we didn’t get to go. Global warming is certainly changing the weather here, with much wetter autumns and winters and very high summer temperatures.

Thankfully all our other trips went off very well. The first was to the Benidorm Fiesta in late November. I have been before, but this was Mum’s first trip. Last time I wore the tablecloth jacket that I mentioned in my last post and my purple top hat, but they are in England at the moment.

Mum and I decided that we would do a modified version of my steampunk Seamstress Squadron outfit, which has the top hat decorated with sewing themed items. So we bought a couple of posh hats from one of our local charity shops and had a very productive afternoon decorating them. I knew all those orphan patchwork blocks would come in handy one day! I also pinned some blocks to my top, and Mum had some crochet motifs stitched to hers.

We had a brilliant day, it was really hot, around 27 degrees, so we really felt for those who had chosen very furry costumes, like these people. The Artic Explorer costume was so good, and he was constantly being stopped for photos.

Although a lot of people buy costumes from fancy dress shops, (there were hundreds of Fred and Wilma Flintstones), many people create the most gorgeous and elaborate unique costumes. We particularly loved these beautiful mermaids and fairy godmothers.

It is a really fun day out, the culmination of which is a parade, organised by all the bars, restaurants and shows that Benidorm is famous for. So many brilliant floats and dancers, especially the amazing sea themed dancers.

We also had two trips to nearby cities to see the Christmas lights, and the belen nativities that are in every Spanish town and city. The first was to Elche, famous for its palm gardens. As well as a beautifully decorated Christmas market in the square near the town hall there was a stunning, Three Kings themed display next to the cathedral, featuring their crowns, and a small belen.

The second trip was to Orihuela, a small city near my favourite mountains, famous for its many churches and the cathedral. This trip was on a little Christmas train, around the city to see all the lights, and stopping off at two churches to see their belens. It was brilliant and everyone waved at us as we drove around through the narrow backstreets.

I love the detail in these extended nativity dioramas, they are so wonderful in their attention to the tiniest little reproductions of life in the towns and villages of biblical times. The first one was about 20 by 8 feet in length and we walked around it.

The second one was much bigger, it took up two rooms at the back of the church. Not only is it the largest one I have ever seen, the detail and craftsmanship was amazing. I loved the depictions of the textile crafts, and the one of the three kings studying the stars in the library. Look at the detail of all of the scrolls!

As well as some lovely, and unique scenes from the story of Jesus’s birth, there was a separate section detailing the flight to Egypt, with the most amazing modelling that I have ever seen. The tiny little sections, such as the temple carvers, and the embalming and mummification displays were incredible.

We are off on another longer trip tomorrow, so will post about that at some point. I am still playing catch up on my Scottish adventures, so hopefully will get those finished before I leave Spain in a couple of weeks. Although I will be sad to leave family and friends here, I am so looking forward to getting back to Scotland, and to the new camping season starting!

Hope you are all having fun, take care and thanks for visiting.

A different kind of textile heritage

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Although I love visiting historic houses such as the many castles in Scotland, I also really enjoy industrial textile heritage as well. I have posted before about some of the textile heritage that is represented in the Great Tapestry of Scotland, and mentioned Dundee in particular, celebrating the city’s nickname of, ‘Juteopolis’.

I have friends from Yorkshire who have lived near Dundee for many years, and on my second visit to them this summer I took the chance to see some more of the things that they had been telling me about. Dundee was famous for three Js, Jam, Journalism and Jute, and on my last visit we went to Arbroath and saw the many strawberry greenhouses there, that go to make the famous jams. This time it was the turn of the jute production.

The Verdant Works is a fascinating museum, in the heart of the city, it is housed in an old jute factory. The name suggests greenery, somewhere lush and beautiful, and this is anything but. A beautifully restored building, but you can only imagine how dirty and dusty it was when production was at its peak.

What I love about textile heritage, is that it permeates every aspect of our lives. You’ve probably never thought about jute, but it was once one of the most important materials for making the bags that transported everything. At its height in the late 1800s the industry employed 50,000 people, and brought many migrant workers to live in the city.

What was particularly interesting about the museum was the focus on the engineering. A lot of the displays are video based, so I don’t have much in the way of photos, but it was fascinating seeing all of the stages of jute production, and thinking about the many engineers that were needed to build and maintain these machines. The main hall is given over to reproductions of some of the earliest engines that helped shape the Industrial Revolution.

As with most industrialised textile production, it was a female dominated workforce in terms of the labour handling the many bobbins and weaving machines needed to produce the jute, and male dominated for the engineering and foremen. This led to Dundee having a reputation for being led by strong women, with lots of links to early equality campaigns.

I loved the many pictures of the women who worked there, in their jute aprons and flowered overalls. Just sobering to think about the very hard lives that they had, a world away from the women embroidering the gorgeous needlepoint cushions at Fyvie Castle!

There were also links with the Empire, as the jute was imported from India, and you may remember this beautiful panel from The Great Tapestry celebrating those links as well. A really fascinating museum for anyone interested in social history, and I would really recommend a visit.

While looking for background information for this post I came across another tapestry, this time just concentrating on the history of Dundee, the exhibition was at the V and A in the city, and has sadly finished, however there is another fantastic representation of the industry in stitches here.

Being the first post of 2026, and having missed my blogaversary in December, and my all important 1,000 post celebration as well, I thought I would end with a little reflection on Stitches of Time. This is post number 1,024, over the last just over 18 years. My 1,000 post was actually one about travels in Spain, published in Feb 2025. The very first post, as I think I have mentioned before, was about Christmas ornaments, published in Dec 2007.

My most viewed post every month is usually the one about my tablecloth jacket, which is lovely as it is one of my all time favourite makes, and has been worn so many times.

It is difficult to gives stats for how many people have visited my blog since it started, as there was a change in the way the figures were collected in 2021, but since then I have had 89,100 visitors, which is absolutely amazing! My top three countries that visitors come from are the USA, UK and Australia, but I actually have had visitors in that time from 165 countries, which is incredible :-0

So a huge thank you to all of you for your visits, likes, comments, and general appreciation of my sharing my life and loves. Hope that you have a very good 2026 and that you and your loved ones are safe, well and happy.

Until next time, thanks for visiting, each and every one of you lovely people!

Christmas crafting catch up

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As promised here is all of the things I made over this year for the festive season. I do these posts as much for myself, to keep a track of all the ornaments I have made over the years for friends and family, but hope you enjoy them as well.

I have recently gone through every single ornament tagged post since I began the blog in 2007, to make a list of what I have given people, so that they don’t get the same one twice! I am now working on the ornaments for 2026, to get ahead of myself before I start work again, and have an idea for 2027, more on that later.

First up is the fundraiser for the local food bank charity here in La Marina. I actually started this in May, before I left Spain, as I knew that I wouldn’t have much time when I got back at the end of October. Also I already had a couple of dresses made, and knew that I could do the knitted ones over the summer. This year’s choice was a Luna Lapin, I think that this is my fourth ever Luna, only the second one for a fund raiser.

The fabric dresses all come from the various Luna pattern books, I have tried to use as much recycled fabric as possible from my charity shop stash, and was very pleased with my use of this beautiful edged soft denim fabric for the tie shoulder dress.

The French knickers were another use of fabric from the reuse stash, I managed to cut the edging lace from an old sun top. I am very pleased with the fit of these, much better than my first pair.

The broderie anglaise fabric was gifted to me, and I layered that with some pink cotton. All other fabric was new, from some of mine and Ellen’s many shopping trips over the years.

All of the knitted items come from the Little Cotton Rabbits patterns, all from the Textured Dresses pattern. I just knitted them on slightly bigger needles, and lengthened the dresses. the lace edged design is one of my favourite patterns to knit.

I am really pleased with the little cardigan, as I wasn’t sure about the sizing, but it fits perfectly.

The fundraiser did well, another 60 euros for the pot, and was won by one of our newest craft group members, which was nice. My craft groups are always very supportive, and buy most of the, ‘guess the name squares’, so they quite often win.

I completely forgot to take photos of my finished ornaments for this year, as I was in a rush to get them all packed up for postage, so you will have to make do with just the stitched part.

These are a mixture of designs, the snowflake and flower come from some of my ages old Quaker designs, and the rest are all JBW designs. I love the mittens, and have done so many of them. These went to the six friends in Yorkshire, plus my cousins and aunt in the UK.

I chose to go back to a lovely set of designs for my Mum, unfortunately I can’t find them listed anywhere now. They are by a designer called Helga Mandl and they are a series of trees that when turned sideways spell out Christmas words. I stitched a Joy one in three different colours of red for my little tree, and did Merry in green variegated thread for her.

I also stitched a version of one I have done many times, another JBW design, for another friend here in Spain, and I am currently doing one for me as well. This is from Christmas Keepsakes II by JBW Designs.

As well as the last few ornaments I have been improving my crochet skills with some hats for my Mum. She wears a lot of these little soft beanie hats since she lost some of her hair due to skin cancer, and had asked me to make her one in grey.

It was very successful as you can see, so I made her three more for Christmas. The first two, the grey and variegated wool one below were using this Drops Design pattern.

The others are adaptations of a Summer Cloche Hat that I found on Ravelry. As I can only do a few limited stitched at the moment, I varied the design by doing some rows of treble, then double rows for the border and the brim on the beige one.

I am going to make some more of these to donate as well, as they are very quick and easy to do. I have ordered some crochet books which are waiting for me in the UK, so 2026 will be the year that I hopefully get really good at crochet.

I am also planning to learn tatting. I keep seeing the most wonderful Christmas designs like these on Pinterest. Look at this beautiful snowflake, photo from here.

I tried tatting last weekend and it went well, I do need some thinner needles, which I shall order when I am back in the UK, but thought that some trees and snowflakes, beaded and backed with nice silk or satin would make a change from the cross stitched ones. Watch this space!

I hope that you have all had a good festive season, I am enjoying a quiet week after lots of socialising over the last few, and work is progressing on my little cross stitch Christmas tree. I might have it finished before it is time to put all of the ornaments away on the 5th Jan!

Hope everything looks good for you for the start of 2026, and that it is a very good year for you all going forward. Thanks so much for visiting and for all the likes and comments, it is much appreciated.

A pink palace with painted ceilings

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Technically Crathes is a castle, not a palace, however it reminded me so much of all the amazing painted ceilings that I have seen in palaces in Europe, that I definitely think it deserves palatial status. I was lucky enough to visit on a gloriously sunny day as well, which was brilliant as they also have gorgeous gardens and grounds.

This is such a beautiful part of Scotland, a lot quieter than others, but Deeside is just lovely, and the drive to Crathes was beautiful as well. I hope that I get to return sometime soon.

The painted ceilings are amazing, they are themed and there is very good interpretation to tell you about the symbolism, and also some very interesting, for me anyway, textile interpretation.

The Nine Nobles ceiling is self explanatory, representing kings and nobles from different times in history.

The Muses and Virtues ceiling was of particular interest to me, as at Hardwick Hall there are a number of hangings that Bess had commissioned with same themes, and they would have been created at around the same time.

There was a cushion on one of the seats that had used elements from the ceiling as its inspiration, clearly a modern one, and on enquiry at the main desk I found out that it had been stitched by some of the castle volunteers. Just beautiful, and what a great way to add to the furnishings in the castle.

The historic needlework was also in abundance, with a lot of crewel work.

It was very good to see some written interpretation about its date and conservation.

There were also some later dated things of interest, including these lovely Victorian crazy patchwork nursery chairs. I love imagining the gowns that these bits of fabric were offcuts from.

The main living area also had some interesting soft furnishings, and this beautiful manuscript inspired lamp.

I mentioned in the last post that I was getting very inspired by all of the needlepoint I have seen this summer. I didn’t find a suitable kit, but I did remember that I used to have some great needlepoint books and managed to find this one on Amazon. This is Needlepoint Cats, by Julie Hasler, and I have a copy waiting for me in the UK!

I am almost certain that I used to own this book, but due to having small children never got around to making anything from it. I am planning a cushion for the caravan as a summer season project, but will have a hard time choosing as there are so many lovely designs. I am aiming to have specific UK and Spain projects, to stop me having to transfer stash and tools from one country to another all the time!

I have completed the very busy week of Christmas trips and dos, and done all of my Christmas gift making, will post about that after Christmas for obvious reasons! I am now working on a couple of projects just for me, versions of cross stitched ornaments that I have given others in the past, to fill up my tiny tree here, and a kit which has been languishing in my stash for more than 10 years.

I started it yesterday, and immediately remembered the joys of stitching on dark fabric, luckily I have a good spotlight, as we lose the light here about 4pm. However today is the start of lighter and brighter days, not that it is bad in Spain compared to the UK, but I am looking forward to my very long summer evenings in Scotland.

I hope that you are all having a good pre-Christmas week if you celebrate, and have a lovely time ahead. I will see you all on the other side, hopefully there will be time for a last post before 2026! Take care and thanks for visiting.

Castles old and new

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Google informs me that Scotland has over 2,000 castles, of which 1,500 are still standing, or there are significant remains. Therefore I was never going to do more than scratch the surface on my quest to visit more of them after I left Speyside. I had naively thought that at least I could do most of the ones in the area around the Tarland campsite, there is actually a castle trail in the area as there are so many, but only managed a few in the week I was there. Lots to do when I go back!

Scottish castles are really unique, as many of them have a very distinctive architectural style, and lots are pink, or greyish pink in hue. They really do have a Disney castle feel, and none more so than the beautiful Craigievar Castle Sadly this was one of the ones that I didn’t get a chance to see inside, as most of them only allow guided tours, and by the time I got there, all were booked up for theafternoon before I had to head to the campsite.

It was a beautiful day for a wander though, and the grounds and surrounding area is just stunning. Not that there are many parts of Scotland that aren’t, except perhaps the motorways around Glasgow, which confused me a lot!

After leaving Tarland I headed back to the coast, to Stonehaven. I mentioned in a previous post that it had been too windy to walk along the coast to Slains Castle, but this was an absolutely gorgeous day, perfect for a walk along the coastal path to see the dramatic ruins of Dunnottar.

I am collecting photos that I particularly love to be printed onto canvas eventually, and I think this will have to be added to that collection. Such an amazing landscape, and I was so lucky to see it in such beautiful weather.

As well as the castles there are so many beautiful baronial houses, and after leaving the Grampian Aire I went to Leith Hall Dating from the mid 1600s, it has been extensively remodelled and is now mainly Georgian inside. Again I had an excellent guided tour of the house, memorable for several curiosities as well as the wealth of textile treasure.

If you visit any heritage house you will come across taxidermy, a favourite pastime of the Victorian collectors, but Leith has a very special display, of boxing squirrels!

This has to rate as the most unusual piece of taxidermy that I have ever seen. No clear idea of the provenance, but I can only assume they were specially commissioned.

Sometimes there are just little things that really catch your eye as well, not only for their beauty, but imagining how they were acquired, and the recipient using them. I like to imagine that this beautiful desk set was a very special gift, and that happy hours were spent here writing letters and journals.

Another really interesting find was this gift of a photo montage of all of the tenants of the estate, given to General Leith Hay in 1902. A fascinating piece of social history, and one that is great for anyone tracing family history in the area, as many of these people wouldn’t have necessarily have had other photos taken of themselves.

One of the members of the Leith Hay family was a very keen needlewoman, and one of the corridors was lined with needlepoint pictures, all from kits popular in Victorian times. There musty have been at least twenty of these, along with all the fire screens and chairs. I know I have marvelled at this before, but how many hours of work does this represent!

I have been thinking about doing some needlepoint again, not that I need another crafting project ! However I used to love it, so am on the hunt for a nice kit that I can do for the caravan.

Someone was clearly a keen collector of embroidery as well, as there was this display case. Sorry for the poor picture, but there is a Georgian waistcoat, as well as shoes and bags.

There were also some beautiful bedspreads, in crochet and lace work.

I have been spending some time here working on my crochet skills, and have successfully made my first hat! After so many years of struggling crochet seems to have just clicked in my brain, which I am very happy about. Pictures of that and other recent makes soon. I have also been doing some writing, so feel like I’ve had a very productive week.

It is a balmy 23 degrees this weekend, and I am looking forward to another lovely week of social activities. We have a packed programme of coach trips to visit Christmas lights, and Christmas celebrations starting this Friday, and I had better finish making the Christmas gifts as there are only 18 days to go! My poker skills are coming along nicely as well, I won 9 hands last night and came 4th out of 8 players, so very happy with that.

Until next time, take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

From castles to car parks

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During the couple of weeks I spent in Scotland before leaving for Northumberland I stopped at some really great aires and park ups, so this post is devoted to those. I know that some people who follow my blog also travel, and I have got lots of useful information from others’ Instagram and Facebook posts, so thought people might find this useful. I have put links in to the Park4Nite information, but I also use the Facebook CAMPRA group a lot, they have extensive information and links to each aire.

There is something very poetic about spending the day wandering round beautiful castles filled with expensive antiques, and then ending up spending the night in my tiny camper in a car park! Not all of the park up were just car parks, however the majority were on this trip. I specifically try and support the small businesses and community run aires on my trips, and have found some real gems of places to stay.

The first one after leaving Speyside was at Lossiemouth, in one of their seafront car parks. There are a few park ups in Lossiemouth, I chose this one as it was near a toilet. I do have a little folding toilet in Katy for overnight use, but access to a flushing toilet and sinks is an added bonus 😉 There is no charge for parking overnight, but there is a donation box near the toilets so I was very happy to use that.

I have just got an upgrade for next year, as I have now got a portoloo as well! This is very exciting for me, most of the places that I stayed at this year have toilet emptying facilities, and it was something that I was thinking about as a next step. While at my sister’s recently, I reorganised things in Katy, got rid of the months supply of soup, and some of the 25 books that I have been carrying around with me, and freed up some space. I had a test run while camping with my sister in Wales, and it works perfectly, so very happy!

No pictures of the park up as it was raining when I got there, but the sunsets the next morning more than made up for that. It was a gorgeous morning, with lots of people out surfing or dog walking, and stunning views across the bay.

The plan for the following day was to drive along the coast, and I ended up at the Glenbuchty Aire, near Fraserburgh. Although it had been a gorgeous day, and I had visited all of the coastal delights that I have previously posted about, when I got there it was a bit wet and blustery, so didn’t take advantage of the beach access. It was a very warm welcome from the hosts, I was parked in the garden bit of the aire, but they have five hardstandings as well. This was a lovely peaceful spot, and a real bargain at £5 a night, with another £5 charge to use the black waste disposal. You can contact them to pre-book, which I did.

I then made my way down the coast, to a park up at a little village called Port Erroll. I had seen this on a previous Instagram post and thought like it would be a good place to stay. The £10 per night donation is also helping restore the harbour. It was a gorgeous place to sit and watch the sunset, and marvel at the very large waves the next morning. Unfortunately very high winds meant I didn’t get to do the walk to Slains Castle from the port. They also have lovely toilets there, open all night. There is only space for about 6 vans, so it is first come, first parked!

My next stop was inland, as I was making my way to a campsite for a few nights. This was an aire I had read so much about, the Grampian Aire. This is definitely a very luxurious aire, and such good value for money. For £10 a night you get a lovely pitch with fantastic views, and access to a little kitchen, but for a further £5 you can use the very gorgeous toilet and shower block. I completely forgot to take any pictures of the facilities, but you can see them on their Facebook page where they also have a video. Such a beautiful place to stay, and a very warm welcome from the owner, Meike. This one I pre-booked online as they only have 5 pitches.

I will post about the Tarland campsite separately, but after six nights there I was back on the road, and back to the coast. I ended a beautiful sunny day at the St Cyrus Nature Reserve, near Montrose. Their car park is part of their Stay the Night scheme, and the Forestry Commission car parks in Scotland has a similar offer at many of their car parks, and you can make the £10 donation either online, or at the site. They also have toilets, and the beach is just stunning. I had a very lovely peaceful night there. I did pay online before I got there, but not pre-book, however there are plenty of spaces available.

The following day I went back inland to the Cairngorms. Due to a slightly grey and cloudy day, I didn’t do the hill walk I was planning, as I know the weather can change really quickly on the mountains, but did have a lovely couple of walks from Glen Cova, and around the Loch of Kinnordy RSPB Reserve. Here I took one of my favourite photos ever, I love reflection pictures, and this one turned out really well. Definitely one to print off and frame for the future.

I finished the day at the Knocknahushoch Farm Aire You can book this one online in advance, through Pitchup and it only cost me £8 without electric or any facilities. This is definitely one of the most unusual places that I have stayed at, as well as being a farm, it is also an airfield, and you can park right next to the plane if you want to. As it was a bit windy I stayed next to the main buildings.

After a trip to Dundee to meet up with an old friend, I was intending to stay at St Andrews, near the harbour. However it was the weekend, and with a golf event on, the place was very very crowded. So I headed back to one of my favourite park ups from last year,at the Kelpies. As last year, the weather was atrocious driving into Falkirk, which was such a pity as it was my first time driving over the Forth Bridge, and I could hardly see anything! I will have to go back one day.

No pictures of the Kelpies at night, or the park up, as it was raining all night, but it is basically just the Kelpies car park anyway. It costs £15 to stay, which includes a voucher for a hot drink, and thankfully the next morning was beautiful, so I enjoyed my coffee with a view, while catching up with my son in Japan. You don’t need to pre-book this one, as it is a very large car park and a very popular overnight stay.

The rest of the day was spent visiting my last historic properties in Scotland, including a very special place. More on that later. It was a gorgeous day, so I visited Musselburgh, and had a long walk along the seafront there.

I ended the day at the gorgeous Sitooterie, a spacious garden with great views, named for the lovely little cabin complete with cosy sofas, books and games. Luckily I didn’t need the space as it was such a nice evening I sat outside Katy, but it is a great option for us micro camper owners. It was £10 per night, with access to water and a composting toilet, and a very warm welcome as well. I pre-booked this one by ringing the owner and paid cash when I got there. The aire can accommodate up to 10 campers, depending on size.

I have really loved trying out such a range of different places to stay this year. I am also very happy to be able to support all these people who are kind enough to provide for us travellers, and really pleased that there are so many options, particularly in Scotland. I have so many lovely places pinned on Google maps for my return journey next March.

Although I am very happy being back in Spain, I have been in one place for 3 weeks now, so I am starting to get itchy feet again! However I do have lots of nice day trips coming up, and am back on my bike as well. Crafting is being slotted into the busy schedule, as well as all the other social activities, and I have also been learning to play poker! I hope you are also all having fun whatever you are doing. Thanks for visiting, and see you next time.

Scottish, and Spanish, sunshine!

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Admittedly not all of my weeks after leaving the campsite were beautifully sunny, but the majority of the time I was still blessed with amazing weather, so I was very lucky. Part of my route planning was trying to visit as many National Trust for Scotland properties as I could. There are so many in the areas around Aberdeen, so I could do the interiors of properties on the less sunny days.

Fyvie Castle visit was on a bit of a grey day, the exterior reflected this, looking very somber. Like many Scottish castles, there are a number of towers that have been added to over the years, which gives them this very distinctive look.

Most of the castles I visited you joined a tour, rather than it being a self guided visit, and while I often prefer to be alone, usually as I need more time to look at the textiles than everyone else 😉 the tour guide was really interesting and knowledgeable, and really made the place come alive.

Even though it looks fairly modern from the outside, and the beautiful plaster ceilings are reproduction, rather than original Jacobean, it has a long history. Charles 1st spent time there as a young boy, and Charles 3rd, our current king, had his 70th birthday party there.

There were some great textile treasures there. I have seen so many different interpretations of this embroidered jacket, there is an original one in the V and A museum in London, known as the Layton Jacket, after its owner. This one belonged to the daughter of James 1st of England, Elizabeth of Bohemia, so dates from the same period.

There was also a gorgeous, and very pristine, whitework bedspread featuring the Scottish thistle, no provenance, but I would imagine a member of the family.

On a more modern note there were a set of co-ordinating needlepoint cushions in one of the lounges which all used the same colourway, and which were so pretty.

There was so much needlepoint on my tours of the castles and houses, and while it is so time consuming, I am really tempted to make a cushion at some point. I gave up needlepoint for cross stitch when my children were small, due to time constraints, but am tempted to try it again!

The following day the sunshine was restored so I went to Pitmedden Garden, not only a very good example of different types of planned gardens, but also home to some very interesting sundials. The gardens date from the late 1600s, when the ‘new’ technology of sundials was very popular, and reflects both the historic layout of the parterre gardens, and more modern interpretations featuring less structured planting.

It was a very beautiful and relaxing place to spend the afternoon. I am now back in Spain, so have been enjoying the autumn sunshine here. It is a very nice 22 degrees today, I have replanted all my pots so that I have some colour on the terrace, and am back to my favourite way of spending the early evenings. The sunsets have been so gorgeous this week, such pink skies, and I have been lighting my candles and enjoying a glass or two of wine and a good book.

I have just updated the reading journal that I started when I retired, and I have read 354 books in the last 4 and a bit years, that equates to 88.5 a year, or 1.7 a week, although I read far faster in Spain than I do anywhere else. I just love it, and have so many happy hours of reading on the terrace planned for the next few months.

I will be going on a few day trips with my Mum, but the next few months are all about relaxing, crafting and writing, as well as some cycling. It is lovely to be back, especially after 6 months away. This is the longest that I have spent away from the house since I bought it 19 years ago, and I really appreciate having this lovely place to live. I am looking forward to next year so much, being back in Lotte the caravan, and Katy, but it is lovely to have my own bathroom, and my sewing machine!

Hope you are all having a lovely life, see you next time, and thanks for visiting.

A different kind of history

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As you know, I love visiting historic houses and castles, preferably with lots of lovely textiles. However I also enjoy different types of historic buildings, and though I wouldn’t consider myself particularly into military history, I do love star forts.

These were popular during the Napoleonic era, as their design makes them able to defend against attack more robustly.

I have visited quite a few in Spain, and on the way back from Rosemarkie went to Fort George, on the Moray Firth not far from Inverness. This is more of an elongated star, but still has the distinctive pointed outer ramparts.

Although it was built in 1746, after the Battle of nearby Culloden, to house troops to suppress the Jacobite Rebellion, by the time it was finished it was no longer needed for that. It9 is still a working army base, as well as being a historic tourism attraction, and the site of the Highlanders Museum.

It was quite strange seeing the modern mess, cars parked outside the barrack blocks, and groups of young recruits doing their morning runs, with backpacks, around the ramparts, in and amongst all the visitors.

It has an amazing location on the coast, directly opposite the Rosemarkie campsite, in the photo below you can just see the lighthouse I walked to when I was there. It also famous for dolphin spotting.

It was a really interesting visit, there is some interpretation in one of the barrack blocks, showing aspects of soldiers’ lives throughout the different eras.

These folding beds were really interesting,  this is from one of the rooms for single men in the early 1900s.

At one point in its early usage, wives and children used to live in the rooms with the men, four families to a room, which was also used for cooking.

There is also a beautiful Chapel, the last building to be completed, and a nearby exhibition about Scottish gardens.

Of course there were textiles as well, the modern poppy tributes in the Chapel, as well as beautiful flags and banners there and in the museum.

A really excellent place to visit, for its location, and the sheer scale of the construction, especially when you consider when it was built. It took 22 years to complete and I can only imagine how that was done in the 1700s without the mechanisation we have now. 

The exterior walls and ramparts are so impressive, and it was fantastic to see a fort in almost the same condition as when it was first built, as the restoration really helps you visualise what it was like for those early soldiers. 

Well worth a visit, if you are ever in the area, sadly no dolphins when I went, but amazing views.

I have been on the Yorkshire coast again, just a little further south than the previous site, and still enjoying the fabulous walks in the area. Such an incredible environment, which I will share in a future post.

I have also enjoyed being back in the luxury of a static caravan, which is very nice after a few nights in the tent. I have a very lovely fake fire keeping me warm! However I am now in Wales on my final camping trip of the year, with my sister.

Until next time, have fun and thanks for visiting. 

The wind and the waves

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After I left Speyside I went to the coast. There were so many beautiful places that I wanted to visit, and some park ups that I had on my list for my coastal tour. I will talk about the park ups in a later post, this one is all about the power of nature, and the importance of the wind and the waves.

I started my day with the most amazing sunset, and stood and watched as the early morning surfers took their boards out at Lossiemouth. The power of the waves was just incredible, after the stormy conditions of the previous day, but these confident surfers were out there loving it.

This part of the Scottish coast has some unique rock features, developed over time by the power of water against stone, wearing away in such minute steps, over millennia. Bow Fiddle Rick, just outside Portknockie, was my first stop on this journey.

The day I visited was very windy, but beautifully sunny, perfect for watching the waves crashing against the rocks here. Most of these small towns are also fishing ports, most now only used for leisure, rather than commercial fishing, superseded by the large Atlantic trawlers.

However the wind, and the waves, are still important here, it may not affect livelihood in the same way as when hundreds of fishermen lived here, but this area has a number of offshore wind farms, and the coastal town of Buckie is a centre for the offshore support.

The towns of Banff and Macduff, separated by the River Deveron, are still important ports, but I had come to see a lesser known area, just a bit further along from the port of Macduff.

The Needle’s Eye rock formation is another magical creation of the sea, and a little further on is somewhere I had been alerted to by one of the many van lifers I follow on Instagram.

The Tarlair Open Air Swimming Pools were built in the 1930s, and was open until the 1990s. The gorgeous Art Deco cafe has been restored and I had a very nice lunch there. The cafe is run by volunteers, has a great photo display of the pool’s history, and it is hoped that the pools will be open again at some point soon.

There are also open air pools at Gourock, a place I briefly visited last summer, and at Stonehaven, my destination a few days later when I went back to the coast. It was another gorgeous sunny day, for my cliff top walk along to Dunnottar Castle.

There is something so magical about watching the waves against the cliffs, knowing that this landscape is not permanent, that over time it will change, and that we won’t be here to see much of that change.

There is such a thrill at being at the edge of the land, just staring out at the horizon. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have never seen the sea, to never feel this wind, or watch the waves. It is such an amazing and mesmerising thing to do.

However, wind and waves can also destroy. I had a brief visit to Crovie, or to the cliffs above the village. It was too windy to walk down to the village, which was badly flooded in the 1950s, leaving it devastated as a fishing village.

It is a reminder, as we see almost daily on the news with severe storms and flooding, of the power of nature to obliterate.

I am currently at another incredible coastline, in North Yorkshire, enjoying more cliff top walks, which I will tell you about in a future post. Meanwhile enjoy life and thanks for visiting.