We were so excited to get the keys to the new house that, even though it's a seven hour drive from Warwickshire, we decided to make the dash for a long weekend the very day after completion.
So we set off early Saturday and made good progress. To get to the house, there are two options: either up Loch Lomond and head west then down Loch Fyne, or from Glasgow head west and take a short ferry from Gourock to Dunoon then a short drive north to Glendaruel.
We'd not done this second route before - and decided to go for it. The car was loaded up with some essentials: a couple of chairs, a duvet and pillows, towels and some basics like a kettle. There wasn't time for DIY on this trip - just check things out and note them down for the next visit.
The ferry worked well - it's probably swings and roundabouts vs taking the long way round - but an interesting option. The boat rolled a little over the choppy water, but we made it!
Once on the Cowal penninsula, the road from Dunoon to Glendaruel, even on a November day, reinforced the raw beauty of the whole area, with pine forests and clouds rising off the hills like mist.
Even in mid-November, the view from the house as you can see if truly amazing an still surprisingly green and sheltered.
The house felt empty this time as we'd just brought a few small things that would fit in the car. But it worked out that Adam and Emma, the previous owners, didn't need one of the double beds and said we could have it, and so we knew we'd get a good nights sleep! They had also made us custodians of their dining table for the time being as they have temporarily downsized and don't have the room for now. We promise to take good care of it!
Adam and Emma met us at the house when we arrived mid-afternoon and joined us for a cup of tea. Their help in understanding the mechanics of Clacheranmor (its private water supply, how to turn the AGA on, set the heating and find the stopcock) was invaluable.
About ten minutes after letting ourselves in there was a knock at the door. Baffled, John answered to find our new neighbours (200 yards up the road), Dave and Heather - wow, how amazing that they've popped by. It turned out to be an accident as they were looking for Emma and Adam and saw their car on our driveway so came to meet us, but what a lovely surprise! Heather is a whirlwind, in the nicest possible way - she has a lot to say, oozes warmth and enthusiasm, and is instantly familiar and inclusive. She instantly put us at ease. Dave is quieter, but there is an interesting depth there and we are looking forward to meeting them again.
The house tour was followed by cracking open the bottle of whiskey they'd kindly bought us a moving in present, and giving them back a key so that they could keep an eye on the place whilst we're 400 miles away. There was also a beautiful card created by Emma and two beautiful little cups, just right for a dram, made by Adam. They are both fabulous artists - see their Instagram here.
As with all house purchases - spending a couple of days really looking around the property highlights some of the work needed, but we still don't think it's overwhelming and we definitely can't make complaint about how the house was 'sold' and represented in the glossy brochure. If anything it was good to see it stripped back to highlight the great features that we fell in love with.
At the end of the day, John wanted to pop out the back of the house to get a view down onto the house. He aimed to climb to the top, ignoring the advice of Adam and Emma, and Heather and Dave that it was a long and difficult climb that way. After a while it was getting dark and he headed back down before getting lost!
The next morning we got up around 9am and whilst John made tea I grabbed a shower and, as I emerged wrapped in a towel, I could hear Heather's unmistakable voice in the kitchen. Back so soon, I thought, but nice to see her, and she was there to give us their contact details and invite us round for coffee later that afternoon. We thought we should jump into becoming a local with both feet and agreed to see them later.
We've promised ourselves that we're not going to be slaves to doing the house up and spending all of our 'holiday' time on renovations and DIY, so we headed south toward Tignabruagh for our first 'excursion' into our new backyard. Those couple of hours were lovely and just demonstrated how much stuff-to-do you literally fall over on Argyll's secret coast.
This photo over a loch isn't even a walk up a hill - it's just the view from the road heading towards Tignabruach looking south over Colintraive and the isle of Bute.
And if you want a decent coffee (using coffee beans from a local bean roaster) then our new favourite cafe, Five West at Tignabruach, hits the spot ... and the cake is pretty good too!
Having lived so far from the sea, we're now going to be somewhere with a massive coastline. The below photo is the first part of the coast we explored that day, at Otter Ferry, on the shores of Loch Fyne - oh, and there's two or three award winning restaurants around here - maybe they'll make an appearance in subsequent posts!
At 2pm we walked up the road to Heather and Dave's gorgeous house at the apex of the Glen, and were warmly welcomed in. Dave made great coffee and I got a tour of their downstairs and all of the amazing art on their walls (much of it by Dave's mum) whilst John was shown the garden and tool shed (man stuff!) We chatted for a couple of hours and Heather promised to introduce me/us to some of their friends and yoga class and another biker (already a little group is forming!).
Despite being shy, perhaps this community will become home more quickly than we expected. We were sorry to have to leave it all behind so soon as we had to return to the rat race on Sunday evening.
Comments