While today was the only day forecasted this week for no rain, it was unfortunately particularly windy at Ardrossan over the Firth of Clyde, which is where I would take a ferry to go to the Isle of Arran, my original plan for the day. (Btw I keep seeing the Firth of Clyde and am instead only retaining the Colin of Firth — obviously very wrong but I think if the namers had seen Pride and Prejudice things might be different.) When I awoke at 7 am, the ferry folks had already issued an alert that they might cancel the ferry and though it wasn’t cancelled when I needed to leave the house, if I took a two hour train ride only to find no ferry, it really would’ve been a waste of time and money!

So I created a plan B. I was also interested in seeing Hill House (one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s few places he architected and designed the interiors of) but of course in preparation for his 150th birthday celebration, they’ve closed it for renovations! I was up early and ready for a day trip so it was either Ayr (a pretty town an easy train ride or two from Glasgow) or my host suggested going to Dumfries House. The tough thing is it’s a few miles’ walk from the nearest train station. But I decided to go for it. I like walking anyway!

The house was actually just the country home of a marquess (or earl — my Downton Abbey experience said it’s different but they used both today. OK, so I just read up on it. The earl and marquess were different people. It went from an earl who bought everything to a marquess later.) The grounds are lovely but the earl went all out on the decorations and furnishings. (Did I mention my host couple are an architect and designer? They’re very modern but still liked this place.) What makes the house really special is its 60+ pieces of Chippendale furnishings. Many were unique for the earl and today are worth tens of milllions of pounds each. Chippendale was still a young man when he sold the furnishings so maybe the earl got a good deal? (Actually the earl kept his receipts which luckily for the trust proves its provenance — and for the time, he spent a lot. Many pieces cost more than a working man would’ve earned in a year.) They didn’t allow photos inside but here are a few of the grounds. Dumfries House has an interesting story in that the current marquess was ready to sell the house and grounds (it’s not even his main house) along with all the furnishings ten years ago for 45M pounds. Not surprisingly he had problems finding a buyer and was going to sell it in pieces when Prince Charles heard about it. HRH put up about half and a conglomeration of the community and others raised the other half so they have a trust that bought and now controls the house. Apparently HRH is very involved in the restoration and even designed one of the gardens. (I wasn’t impressed but don’t tell him that– I mean, rather Meh below.)

What I was impressed with is his commitment to make the estate a training center for crafts people, hospitality trainees, chefs, artists and farmers. They employ a lot of local people to maintain some aspects, expand and beautify others, and restore other parts to its 1700s design. Also they have working gardens and animal husbandry.

It’s very pretty and well maintained. My two funny stories are that I realized I forgot my water bottle so stopped in a pharmacy across from the train depot to see if I could buy water and also ask for directions. The pharmacist was very nice about giving directions but I could tell I was going to forget them. An older (84 yo) man who she knew by name was picking up his Rx and he offered to drop me near there as he was going that way. She told me I’d be fine with him so I went and also met his spaniel, Bobbie, who is a hunting dog — and his story is that Bobbie was used by HRHs Charles and William when they were here hunting 5 or so years ago here. They all say Charles is often in the area (they’ll see his helicopter come in — nice life!) and is very friendly with the locals.

The second story is that I decided to do their Grand Tour, which is longer and shows more rooms, but isn’t run as often. I had 2.5 hours to wait — but the ticket seller thought it’d be fine as their grounds are extensive and there’s a tea room and much to see — and it was pretty well timed for me to catch my return train afterwards. I guess I’m either a fast walker or not a gardens lingerer. It also wasn’t terribly warm although there was actually sun there today (!). Anyway I pretty much walked the entire grounds, ate the lunch I’d brought with me, meandered about, and still had 35 minutes to kill. I went to hang around the outside of the house, which I was not sure was allowed and two of the ground wardens came up to me. I was thinking they were going to ask me to leave the area but instead they asked if I was lost or needed help and offered to show me sights on little-used paths to the side of the house! This crucifix was the main object of our walk through wet and muddy paths. They were very sweet, pointing out where to walk that was less wet and muddy. It’s still possible they were making sure I wasn’t a terrorist (going on the grounds is completely free but you can’t go into the house unless you buy a tour ticket). Good thing I bought the fancy tour!!

Oh they also had a couple of random more recently built structures that are supposed to reflect the original designs. I’m thinking they really didn’t have a clue about anything Asian because I thought this bridge was off on proportions, materials, colors and even dragons. (Chinese dragons don’t have wings — they’re more serpent like. These really are just western dragons– if you can even see them in the photo.) But the other structure cracked me up and the last is for Luca as it reminds me of Helm’s Deep (sorry for another LOTR reference).

I just looked and so far I’ve walked 8.4 miles (over 19K steps) and 29 floors today. Every day since I’ve landed I’ve walked over 10K steps (about 4.5 mi), but for some reason today I’m feeling more achy. Probably because there weren’t many places to sit and rest my feet all day! Might be time for a bath with Epsom salts (it IS a very nice Airbnb).

On that pleasant note, I’ll bid good night. I don’t think I’ll make it to Arran with the upcoming weather forecast but I suppose you never know — the weather is very changeable here!