Monty the Motorhome has been out for the day, but is now back at New England Caravan Club Site and hoping the rabbits haven’t managed to enlarge their diggings on his pitch in his absence.
We woke to another sunny day and took our time getting ready to go out, while being amused at the antics of the family on the next pitch. They had arrived yesterday in a caravan, complete with three kids. Then stuff began to be turfed out of the caravan and piled up ready to be put away when the awning had been erected. Out came bikes (x5), multiple windbreaks, bodyboards, some sort of large metal rigid shelving system (x2), large Alsatian dog in a cage, small black cat in a cage, airbeds, rotary washing line and probably other sundry items we couldn’t see. Obviously this sounds like we were being really nosy, but to be honest we couldn’t really avoid seeing all this action as our sitting position just looked straight out at the ever increasing pile.
So that was yesterday. This morning the windbreaks have been erected and almost doubled the area they are occupying; however it is no inconvenience to us.
Our trip out today was to Castle Kennedy gardens near Stranraer. This 75 acre garden is billed as one of finest in Scotland. It is set between two lochs and laid out with a series of walks and avenues with plantings of trees and shrubs that date back to 19th Century. We started in the walled garden, where the herbaceous borders were a riot of colour. The sun beamed down and it felt positively tropical sitting there.
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| This huge water lily pond was just crammed with plants, so much so that it was mostly leaf with very little flower. Still it was an impressive sight |
Lunch was taken at the garden tearooms, with very generous portions of quiche, brie and cranberry baguette, salad and cakes.
This gave us energy to wander off onto the estate and take in some of the stunning views, and it was so quiet that at times it seemed we had the place to ourselves.
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| The original Castle Kennedy around which the gardens were constructed. Now a ruin following a disastrous fire in 1716, after which it was never rebuilt |
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| The Black Loch. On the other side of the gardens is The White Loch |
We had intended just to return to the site and have our evening meal there. However we’d spotted a picnic site on the outward morning journey which was right by the coast. On arrival there was one other motorhome, obviously parked up for the night, together with a group of men who were camping. There were no signs up prohibiting overnight stopping/camping unlike other similar places we have seen in this area and the place itself was well kept, tidy, with grass freshly mown. We quite regretted being booked into our site tonight as this would have been an ideal wild camp - for possible future reference this is at N 54 46.873’ W004 56.582’, north of Ardwell on the A716.
We stopped there till early evening, having one of our pre-cooked meals from home (chorizo, butterbean, sweet potato, tomato - thanks for the idea James) while taking in the sea view and listening to the bubbling call of curlews. The tide was coming in while we were there and slowly leaving the tops of large rocks exposed like tiny little islands. We suddenly realised that about half a dozen of these rocks each had a seal lying on it and some of them looked very large indeed. Some were mottled grey, others a grey/black. Checking later it seems we had seen a mix of grey and common seal.
Back at the site kids were whizzing about everywhere, so we were glad to have been away for the day (grumpy old people).
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