Inspiration

I haven't blogged for a while and the other day I had a nice message from a follower on instagram saying she was longing for an update. The truth is life has been busy!

The blog starts with the students from the University of of the Highlands and Islands Archeology department, visiting Westness for a little party half way through the fantastic and fascinating archeological dig they carry out nearby. The discoveries there are proving to be fantastic - potentially finding over the last two years the foundation of the ancient Viking hall of Sigurd of Westness. It was a really fun evening, the start of an annual tradition we hope!  As you will see, this is a blog about students.

We had my old boss and friend Charles Morris staying that weekend... and the next day he and I went off to mainland for a nice old explore.  Stromness first stop.

I love the empty streets - like a stage set, made of intersecting stage flats.

The fantastic Pier Arts Centre - a brilliant exhibition space and wonderful permanent collection.

The dream like Hall of Clestrain, the ruined Palladian masterpiece in a melancholy spot overlooking the Isle of Hoy.

We popped in to see our friend Sue, at Twatt, and then to the brilliant Kirbuster Farm Museum - which has appeared on the blog before. It's an atmospheric place to visit - and completely free!  Here's Charles looking a bit like an ancient farmer.

The old peat fire in the oldest part of the farm.

Beautiful knitting in a bedroom...

We had a lovely day. Back to Rousay that afternoon.  Charlie had laid the table for lunch the next day.

Swim time!

The next day, Sue was coming over for lunch and she, Charles and I went for a wander in the walled garden at Trumland House. A beautiful place with so much incredible potential.

We encountered this band of merry travellers from Charleston, S.C. Charles is in the white trousers, Sue on the right, and their fantastic tour guide (who is something of an internet sensation) on the left! I wonder if Charleston followers will identify this happy gang!

Home for lunch.

Charlie and I went for a walk afterwards.  The weather was coming in again.

But as is so often the way, soon passed.

And was just as soon back!

Charles was off on the Monday, and we had a few days solo before our next visit from Will and Brandon.  That morning, when I went to collect them, I called in to see Ian Richardson, boatbuilder, in Stromness.  I wanted to talk about getting a little sailing dinghy made - he showed me this one he'd done years ago. Perfect!

Here's Ian's latest beautiful creation, nearly complete.

His yard and workshop is the most magical place.

We scooped up Will and Brandon after good travels.  A long walk the next day...

The students were covering up their dig until next year.

St Mary's Chapel...

The Midhowe Broch...

Black birds and white birds! Oyster catchers in one area, seagulls in the other.

The wind was up!

Which meant the puffins were not out at sea.

Such magical little birds.

Time for a snack.

So many orchids.

News flash - for those who saw it on instagram already.... Charlie and I took receipt of our first PHYSICAL copy of the book that weekend.  It was very, very exciting and happy making to hold it in our hands.

You can pre-order the book here, and the first 500 copies sold at Pentreath & Hall will come with a signed bookplate!  Hurry if you want to be sure!! I've just spent a little while signing 500 book plates and Charlie is doing his this week. You will see why at the end of the blog.

A reward was needed for our walk.

In the afternoon we went for a tour of the island. We stopped at the Ian Hamilton Finlay.

Home, but later that afternoon we went for a walk up to the Muckle water, the loch in the middle of the island.  This is a smaller subsidiary loch.

Mavis in her happy place.

More swims the next day, then I was down south.

 

I N T E R L U D E

I had an evening in Norfolk for work - popping into beautiful Heydon...

And staying at beautiful Wolterton. The air was hot that night, and a full moon.

 

R O U S A Y

It's been so different getting back to Orkney at weekends, still completely green after a damp, cool grey summer.  Such a contrast to the successive waves of heat down south.

Green and pleasant land.

Mavis loves nothing more than basking in the sunshine.

Ever changing silver skies.

It was the Rousay Horticultural Show on Sunday 2nd - submissions the day before.  Charlie was like a madman. Not quite as mad as the days before the Melplash Show but it's always nice having that mad energy around the house.

He staged...

And then we were off, heading south for an evening... leaving wonderful Stromness...

Past the magnificent cliffs of the Isle of Hoy...

And the famous old Man of Hoy....

Into Thurso, and to the Castle of Mey for a magical evening.

The gardens have never really looked better, it's truly wonderful - and if you are visiting the north of Scotland at ALL, be sure to call in. It's incredible to see what is grown here.  It always makes me smile when people say 'but what is Charlie going to grow so far north' - but the Mey walled garden truly is a sight.

We were back up to Orkney early the next morning, passing the deserted island of Stroma, which was abandoned in the 1960s. It's so magical to see what a place looked like before the ugly bungalows started arriving. I'd love to visit Stroma one day, but it's not currently possible.

I always love the WW2 gun emplacements as well.

We were home for beautiful sunshine and blue seas.

Then to the show... to see how everyone had done!

Here was a very happy Charlie with the other prizewinners.  He'd done rather well!

Home for a balmy evening.

A lovely swim in flat calm water.

The next morning, I was heading down south.

 

I N T E R L U D E  2

A night with clients in the Scottish Borders - look at this beautiful garden, my type of planting.

And a busy week - with a lovely day in Winchester the following weekend for the wedding of George and Jane.  A beautiful day.

The next morning we had a good walk in London.

and a lunch with friends at Simpsons.  But early night - the next morning, I was up to Edinburgh early!

 

S C O T T I S H    T O W N S   T O U R

I was meeting my student cohort from the University of Notre Dame!  Here we all are. Yes, my new life for the next few months is beckoning. Our project is going to be designing the town centre of the new town of Tornagrain, which the studio has been working on for years now, in the Scottish Highlands - as regular readers of the blog will already know.

I'd persuaded the Dean that the students needed to see the site, and also to visit some key Scottish towns, if we were to get off to a flying start.. so that's how we found ourselves meeting on a beautiful summers day in Edinburgh on the first day of our intensive tour.

We marched all over the New Town... exploring all the beautiful nooks and corners of that great city....

And all over the Old Town. Edinburgh was packed with Fringe revellers, but no-one was taking in the fabric of the city as acutely as we were.

The next morning we were off early to Perth, a lovely Georgian city, in need of a bit of love these days; next stop, Dunkeld, a tiny but perfect planned town which is the gateway to the Highlands. Here I am mid flow!

And here we are in that beautiful street in Dunkeld leading down to the cathedral that's quite influential on Tornagrain new town.

That evening we arrived in Inverness and after supper we walked around some of the lovely streets around the river.

The next morning we arrived at Tornagrain and it was good to see how well it's all bedding in - I hadn't been for some little time.

Strange to think that about seven or eight years ago these streets were just fields.

Wonderful to see the latest sector newly revealed in its fresh yellow and white paint!

The first community orchard is growing beautifully...

As are the allotments, my favourite bit of all!!

Here are the newest parts of the eastern end of the first phase...

Trees and landscape will take a little while to develop, but they are there.

Looking back at the first part of the town from what will become the town Park.

And here are the students, visiting the site of the future town centre!

The next morning we were on our way to Cromarty, but called in on the way to Beauly, a bustling little town with some great signs!  MORE OF THIS PLEASE!!

And this!

We arrived in Cromarty and immediately started measuring Duke Street, much to the intrigue of several residents!

Cromarty is the perfect small Scottish Georgian town.

We visited our old colleague and friend James Moore at his beautiful house, and then found ourselves unexpectedly getting an invitation to climb the lighthouse.

John, our brilliant bus driver, took us to the great viaduct that brings the trains into Inverness, on our way to Elgin.

Elgin is a town where the twentieth century has not always been kind...

but it's fantastic and I love it.

Like Perth, it needs some love.  We arrived back in Inverness pretty exhausted and the next morning the students were off to Edinburgh to take their flights home - having seen a HUGE amount.

I had a day at Darnaway and we had a wonderful walk in the forest.

F A R E W E L L

And then to Orkney for a last weekend at home. we had our friend Jasper staying. happy times.

The new benches which I designed are home now. We'll be starting to sell these next spring in the shop but the prototypes are here - message us if you are interested!

Charlie's garden looking abundant.

last walks....

And then - and then I was down to London, for a last few days in the studio, and then I was off!

 

N O T R E   D A M E

This is home now, until Christmas. I'm here teaching the Grad Students... and it's great to be here.  Rousay seems an awful long way away but I will be seeing Charlie several times when he comes over - and I'll be back home for half term week. So all will be well. I've never taught a thing to anyone in my life before - so it's lovely to have a new challenge and it's going to be inspirational to be with such a great bunch of students for four months.

Now you can see why I've been just a bit too busy to blog these last few weeks. It's been lovely looking at these little glimpses of home again - postcards from home, and postcards from the summer.  Autumn will be heavily upon us when I'm next home; then we'll be in the depths of winter.

For now, it's the balmy Indiana late summer, I'm settling in, finding my feet, remembering how little I know, and feeling grateful for new challenges!