It's been a rather drench day today here on the Isle of Colonsay. Not to be deterred, we set off after breakfast in our wet weather gear, which included the waterproof trousers to Colonsay House Gardens. The poor, poor trees. I'm quite sure if I lived here permanently, I would have sunk into a slough of despond. The trees look as though 1) they have all been poisoned, 2) it's Autumn and 3) it's Winter. This is all a result of the awful weather in May when the leaves were just starting to unfurl. So, until next year... Colonsay House Gardens were established by Lord Strathcona in the early 1900's and he was able to take advantage of the previous owners, the MacNeils' woodland planted in Kiloran Valley. The gardens include rhododendrons, magnolia, azalea, acacia, maple, eucalyptus... The gardens which in days gone by employed an army of gardeners now employs only one. Subsequently the woodlands are in desperate need of work. As I was walking with ma boy I hatched a great plan for the woodlands. The colleges that train gardeners, landscape architects and designers should, in their 'prac' year be given a portion of the garden to study and cultivate. The students' job would be to map out the section, name all the plants, note their state of play, good or otherwise and their plan of action in bringing their individual sections back to their formal glory and finally carrying out this plan of action. But FIRST they have to give themselves a spray with anti-midgy spray. After visiting the gardens, we headed down to the beautiful Kiloran Bay. When we parked the car,I noticed two ladies sitting in their car reading, by far the most intelligent occupation to undertake on the day. A quick wave, a wind down of a window and we were speaking to a previous housekeeper/cook of Colonsay House. It was fascinating to hear about The House when it employed a team of gardeners, when the kitchen prepared the many breakfasts; the nursery breakfast, the dining room breakfast, the staff breakfast, packed lunches for the household who would not be 'in' for lunch and then begin on the morning teas. From here, we made our way our way to The Strand which is the shell-sand beach which separates The Isle of Colonsay with The Isle of ORONSAY. In order to walk to Oronsay, one must wait for the tide to go out and then walk across the exposed sands to the island. This means if course that time is limited over on ORONSAY and the iur's walk to the Priory there. Very patiently, standing in the rain, we slowly, ever so slowly, watched the tide expose the sand. Finally we started walking. Most folk had wellingtons on, but David and I had only walking shoes. Nevertheless, we set out across the bleak landscape with visions of monks wearing a lot less in the way of warmth and protection from the elements than us. After reaching stage one of the journey, I decided enough was enough and headed back over the sand dunes with the black-faced sheep for company. As I walked I practiced my poem HAMNAVOE - not too sure of what the sheep thought about this muttered of a woman following them. Meanwhile David, the determined one took off his shoes and completed the journey to the other side. In bare feet he identified even more with the monks of the past! Safely enconsed back in the car with my book THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery I was suddenly shocked by the appearance and sound of a body hitting the window. After wiping away the condensation I discovered it was ma boy. He had survived the crossing both ways. We have yet to see the priory as it was a further hours' walk. We will leave that to another sunnier day some time in the future.
