Letters from Argyll Scotland by Pamela MacKinnon Winter 2000

Previous letters:

September '98 - Introduction
October '98 - Half Hung Archie
November '98 - Magnus Barelegs
December '98 - Pantomime
January '99 - Storms and Gardens
February '99 - Campbells and midges
March '99 - Macleans and birdsong
April '99 - Loch Eck and Spring
May/June '99 - Dunoon and Squirrels
Summer '99 - Glasgow
Autumn '99 - Colour and Rowans

THIS SEASON'S LETTER (and links to all letters)

"Strachur is a small, sleepy, sprawling West Highland village spread along the north eastern shore of Loch Fyne - the longest sea loch in Scotland.
This is a very dramatic and beautiful part of Scotland, full of ancient history, magnificent forests and wildlife..."

Winter/Spring 2000

Siskins and Finches

Hello there and a very happy new millenium to you all. As you can see my PC did not blow up at Hogmanay...

As I write, the snow is turning to blizzard proportions and gales are to start soon today! Our red squirrels have been munching since dawn but I reckon Spring is not that far away as I spotted some greenfinches and siskins feeding yesterday. Daffodils and crocuses are peeping through the soil - they've been peeping for some weeks now - and I noticed yesterday some daffodils in a garden on the Loch side are about to flower.

January was beautiful here. Almost the whole of January was swathed in bright sunshine - very unusual for us - with lots of very frosty nights but it seemed to break the winter up for us. However February has come in with a bang and brought us back to reality.

The highland ponies paid me a visit yesterday. They look so cute in their shaggy winter coats and Tess the youngster is filling out well. They should be back in our field soon.

Siskin

The builders have finished phase 1 of our renovations to the cottage, and phase 2 starts next week. With luck and a lot of hard work we will be 100% ready for our guests when they start arriving in May.

With that in mind I'm looking forward to attacking some painting - when the storm's over, the sun is out, and the sky is blue - and I could do with the exercise!

Greenfinch

Yours aye,

Till next time...

Pamela

February 2000

THIS SEASON'S LETTER (and links to all letters)

"Where the magnificence of the scenery is matched only by the beauty of visiting wildlife."

Pamela organises the self-catering holiday rental cottages for Sir Charles Maclean on the Strachur Estate which you can see at www.aboutscotland.com/strachurestate/

For other places to stay on the Cowal Peninsular see: Self catering rental sleeping up to 11 at Acharossan House (Country house accommodation), and the Royal Hotel, Tighnabruaich.