McMurdoston House Accommodation

06.12.14

Steve came back from a great day at a new fishing venue last week and presented me with two beautiful trout. Alderneuk Fly Fishery is a 20 minute drive away from McMurdoston, is family-run, peaceful and very welcoming. Established in 2008 it offers fish from around the 3 lb mark, with 4 lb being the average. Help and advice are always available, as are free tea and coffee, and the owners clearly love being on hand to ensure their visitors have an enjoyable experience. They’ll even help you land your fish for you if you’re a novice or if you’re lucky enough to catch one of their monsters! Have a look at their website at www.alderneukfishery.co.uk. The trout will be part of our New Year feast at McM – lucky us.

23.09.14

Once again it’s time to say goodbye to our Summer guests, the swallows and house martins and welcome the return of the likes of fieldfares, redwings and flocks of geese. The swallows nested in 7 different places around McMurdoston, but kept being turfed out by wrens which commandeered their carefully-produced mud cups. Two successful new nests were built in my bike shed, necessitating regular cleaning of my saddle/crash hat/dark glasses but also wonderful sightings of baby swallows on handlebars. The house martins built 2 new nests and must have produced at least 30 chicks in total. The swifts left on the 8^th August, meaning they were here for only 3 months, but in that time they quadrupled their numbers with 3 nests resulting in a spectacular group of 12 practising their aerobatic moves above the yard. Next year Steve is going to make a few careful holes in the barn wall in the hopes of attracting more swifts. Currently we have both pied and grey wagtails visiting the garden and several nuthatches and tree-creepers have returned after disappearing mysteriously for about 4 months.

The hedgerows are bursting with brambles as September progresses, and the apple trees are laden. Jelly- and jam-making are in full, time-consuming but satisfying swing, with welcome presents from neighbours of damsons, plums and crab-apples being gleefully processed.

It’s been an odd year in the garden, with rock-hard soil caused by lack of rain, a massive crop of wild strawberries, cowslips in flower now (!) and astonishing results from casually and rather unoptimistically planting some free gladioli bulbs. It may be officially Autumn but I suspect that there’s a lot left to bloom yet… not least on my record-breaking 10-foot-high hollyhock!

20.07.14

Last week Steve and I took up the kind offer of a couple of nights in a cottage on Easedale Island, just South of Oban. We drove up in extraordinarily heavy rain, wondering – unnecessarily as it turned out – whether the 4-hour drive would be worth it for such a short stay. As we arrived, crossing the wonderfully-named Atlantic Bridge (dramatically high but equally dramatically short!), the skies began to clear and there followed two days of glorious Inner Hebridean weather. Our host not only fed us on freshly-dived scallops and delicious Stornaway black pudding, but made it possible for us to see porpoises, gannets, black guillemots and seals at close range and even glimpses of a sea eagle and a hen harrier. We skimmed round the southern cliffs of Mull, landed briefly on Colonsay, Islay and Jura, survived the Corryvreckan whirlpool, and watched, fascinated, as boats entered the Crinan Canal, preparing to take ‘Britain’s most beautiful short-cut’ along the 9-mile stretch of inland water. Travelling at up to 30 knots in a Rib (rigid-inflatable boat) is a great way to get a hint of what’s to offer in this stunning area, although I must admit I did ask our skipper if he would drop me off on one of Colonsay’s golden beaches for a couple of nights of ‘wild camping’ next time…

By coincidence, when we got back, Steve bumped into a couple in the Auldgirth Inn who run hill walking and navigation training on Mull. Have a look at what’s on offer at www.walkmull.co.uk. They’re on holiday in Dumfries and Galloway this week, mountain biking at Ae and Mabie – www.7stanesmountainbiking.com – everyone needs a holiday!

08.06.2014

The lanes are frothing over with cow parsley, and all sorts of lovely spring flowers are peeping their delightful little faces out from amongst it. I picked a selection to try and identify them and thought it was a waste not to take a picture as well.

Wild flowers

In so far as my amateur research goes I believe these to be:- cow parsley, campion, buttercup, bistort, ribwort, stitchwort, germander speedwell, pink purslane, tufted vetch, herb robert and wood avens. Beautiful!

Next weekend, on June 14th, the 16th International World Peace Festival is being held just down the road at Allanton World Peace Sanctuary. This event celebrates the wonderful cultural diversity of humanity with a flag ceremony which all attendees are invited to join in. Allanton is the European headquarters of the World Peace Prayer Society, a non-governmental organisation which aims to heighten peace-awareness through every sector of society, transcending barriers of race, religion and political belief. Have a look at their website for further information on a fascinating and worthwhile organisation: www.worldpeace-uk.org

28.05.14

At long last the swifts are back. For a week or so now they’ve been screaming at full pitch as they swoop across the yard and glide into their nests in the eaves of the old barn. When it’s really quiet at McMurdoston you can hear their wing-beats as they dive above your head – rather like the sound of a boomerang as it slices through the air.

It’s been perfect cycling weather here this month and we have a family of four in Swallow Cottage currently who have all brought bikes with them. Steve and I cycled down to Cowhill open garden last week and were inspired to buy another couple of rhododendrons for the garden here. We were also impressed by a beautiful Pocket Handkerchief tree in full bloom, but decided we might not have the horticultural expertise to keep one perfectly laundered!

Anyone keen on cycling, whether it be mountain biking, gentle pottering on quiet routes or extreme endurance racing, should have a look at the Facebook page for Ae Forest Bike Shop and Cafe www.facebook.com/AeBikeshopandCafe. You can find out about events coming up, get your bike serviced or see what cakes they’re serving as sustenance after a long ride. Ae Forest has tracks for all grades of rider and is less than half an hour’s drive from McMurdoston. Mind you, the roads round us are also ideal for cyclists, offering as much of a challenge as you choose and with very little traffic. We also have secure bike storage if you need it.

13.05.14

Beautiful gardens all around the Dumfries and Galloway area are opening through the next couple of months under the Scotland’s Gardens scheme http://www.scotlandsgardens.org/. We had some very happy ladies staying at McMurdoston who visited Portrack, one of whom was delighted that the staff there helped her find a lift back to Edinburgh and gave her a cup of tea while she waited. I cycled to Drumpark last Friday, which has some of the most spectacular trees I’ve ever seen and which is also open for the next two Fridays in May, so you haven’t missed your chance.

The Spring Fling http://www.spring-fling.co.uk/ will be under way the weekend after next, from May 24th – 26th and is set to be the most ambitious yet. It’s a chance to pop into the studios of artists of all different kinds, from calligraphers to ceramicists and from sculptors to shoe-makers. You’ll be able to talk to the artists about their work, buy some spectacular mementos or perhaps even commission something incredible. Bus tours are available round the five different routes and there are even organised bike tours if you have the energy and want to see more of the varied and enticing countryside.

We’ve seen the odd swift in the area and are full of anticipation for the moment ours come screaming back into the yard. I’ll keep you informed…

30.04.14

Great news – the swallows returned on the 10th and have 4 nests so far. The house martins followed on the 18th and have 3 nests. This is 6 days earlier than last year for the swallows and an amazing 19 days earlier for the house martins. We are eagerly awaiting the swifts.The bats are also back at dusk and are fascinating to watch.

Anyone staying in our cottages will get grandstand views of all these birds and more, including the red squirrels who have been a bit busy recently. We’re looking forward to seeing them at the feeder with their babies.

Locally we have also seen wheatear, garden warbler, black cap, chiff chaff all back from their Winter travels. The wagtails are also back at McMurdoston and a nuthatch has visited a couple of times.

The weather was so good yesterday that we had a barbecue and had a successful first attempt at smoking the trout which Steve had caught in the morning at Jericho Loch.
http://www.jericho-fly-fishers.co.uk/

03.04.14

As you can see McMurdoston’s new website is up and running. You can check availability for the cottages and see all the prices, so have a look and please get in touch with us if you fancy a peaceful break in Dumfries and Galloway.

Spring is a great time to visit. The daffodils are in full bloom now and there are signs of primroses, tulips and a range of wild flowers such as celandine, pink purslane and campion. The nest boxes are filling rapidly and a red squirrel has been visiting the bird feeder outside the kitchen window every lunch time this week.

Locally there are many enticing events coming up. Under the ‘Scotland’s Gardens’ scheme you can visit some exceptional gardens nearby, such as Portrack (a 5-minute drive), with the astonishing land-forms designed by Charles Jencks – open on Sunday 4th May – or Newtonairds Lodge (a 10-minute drive), with its National Collection of hostas – open on Sunday 8th June.

Look out too for the ‘Spring Fling’ – Scotland’s leading visual art and craft open studio event. From 24 – 26th May you can see the work of 95 professional makers, artists and designers across the region, many of them within a short drive of McMurdoston.

Oh – and if you come soon, the calves and lambs in the surrounding fields will still be at their most endearing!

25.01.14

Please keep an eye on this website, which will be changing soon in order to make way for information on our new venture. Swift Cottage and Swallow Cottage are opening for business over the next couple of weeks and we just want to give you a few details here to whet your appetite…

Each cottage sleeps up to four, with a double and a twin bedroom, and both are independently centrally heated and double glazed. They each have a well-equipped kitchen, comfortable sitting room/dining area, a lovely bright bathroom, a second loo and a decked area to the rear where you can watch the red squirrels, enjoy the bird-life or just soak up the view over the Nith Valley.

Prices per cottage, per week are as follows:- Low season – £280; Mid season – £380; High season – £480; Peak – £580. We are open all year round and details about short breaks and Christmas/New Year will appear on the new website, along with a calendar showing availability.

There are a couple of photos on the Gallery to give you a hint of what the cottages will be like. More furniture is arriving tomorrow and we won some pictures at auction yesterday, so we really are nearly ready. More details will be shown on the new site.

Finally – happy Burns Night! We’ll be enjoying haggis for supper and supporting Dumfries’s Big Burns Supper by attending a Big Country concert in the Spiegeltent, set up specially for the town’s annual weekend of celebration. Come and join in next year? There’s plenty of room at McMurdoston!

07.01.14

We went a bit quiet (blog-wise) here at McMurdoston towards the end of the year, but only because we’ve been very busy. In August the B and B was full for most of the month and things really didn’t calm down until December. Meanwhile, the cottages are nearing completion, following which we will take photos and add a new page to this website with all the details and prices. Watch this space…

Autumn was lovely and continued to provide huge amounts of bounty from the hedgerows. However, strong wind resulted in all the apples falling during one extremely rough night, so I had some manic weeks making jellies and jams. I have stored a good many again this year after the success of last, so hope to be making preserves right into the Spring. I’ve also had some practice skinning pheasants (much easier than plucking and less messy), thanks to the seasonal shoot ending up in our garden on a regular basis and the kindness of a local land-owner. My only problem is that I find the feathers far too attractive to throw away, and am devising some rather macabre birthday cards to send to my nearest and dearest.

The red squirrels continue to entertain us (Steve saw 4 this morning in the oak tree outside the cottages) and two ravens cronked overhead yesterday on their way from the woods behind the house. The local gamekeeper has confirmed that there are ring ouzels up the hill again, though I have yet to see one for myself this year. An elegant fallow deer led me down the drive on the morning of 31st December – a lovely sight but one which made me feel a little less comfortable about the joint of venison I was marinating with which to see in the New Year…!