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Written by Susan Rae
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Sunday, 13 September 2009 19:04 |
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The four of us (Sue, Stew, Sarah and Dave) set out on one of our usual early starts, around 11.30, which taking into account the previous nights late BBQ, was indeed an early start. This time we were bound for the West coast and sunny Isle of Gruinard (a.k.a. Anthrax island) Sunny? - at least according to Stew's ledgendary weather forecasting skills. He also predicted a travel time of 1 hour 15 mins and when pressed he informed us the sun would arrive at 13.30. Exactly one hour and fifteen minutes later we were looking across the water to Gruinard and, a short while later, 13.30 to be precise, the sun came out, is there no end to this man's talents. We pulled up in a lay-by opposite the island in the hope of spotting a white tailed sea eagle, as opposed to the odd dead sheep. During the next half hour we had seen not one but a pair of sea eagles plus a chick. We also saw one of the adults attempting to snatch a gull from the sea but a small army of gulls, aided by a heron, drove the eagle back to the island, a meal opportunity gone. For good measure we also saw a large number of black throated divers plus Gannets diving at full speed into the sea, with considerably more sucess than the eagle. Sue showed her skills on the trip with photos as diverse as a Highland cow and a shrew - but I am not sure she knew which was which. We carried onto the beach at Mellon Udrigle with the sole intent of causing serious to the picnic the girls had produced, not quite Egon Ronay, but not bad for experienced amateurs. The beach has beautiful white sands and an ever changing collection of rock art built from the flat stones that abound, crocodiles and dinosaurs were the order of the day, along with numerous precariously balanced rock piles - great fun for very elderly kids! We finished our wildlife adventure with some good views of seals quite close to the beach. Finally it was back to Home Farm for evening refreshments. The road home gave us a further and somewhat surreal view of the stunning landscape - the An Teallach ridge floating in the mist. Must go now as the amateur picnic supremos have just read this blog.
Bye for now.
Dave
  
  
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Written by Susan Rae
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Wednesday, 19 August 2009 08:22 |
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Hi, it's Rachel again. What a day its been!
Yesterday we decided to go to the Falls of Shin about 1 and 1/4 hours from Home Farm. On the way we passed alongside the Cromatry Firth where there were grey seals basking on the rocks. They do show off their acrobatics! After leaving the seals we made our way to Bonar Bridge via Struie Hill which has commanding views over the Kyle of Sutherland. We stopped to take in the scenery and were surrounded by beautiful flowers where we noticed a Peacock butterfly had landed.
  
As we finally reached Falls of Shin we saw the beautiful waterfallls where the salmon were jumping, heading back to the place where they will spawn. If you feel thristy, theres always the coffee shop which is good value for money. After being filled with coffee and cake we decided to take one last look at the falls before checking out the gift shop.
What a lovely way to end my trip and I will definately be back in October
 
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Written by Susan Rae
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Sunday, 09 August 2009 18:51 |
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As August is a busy time at Home Farm my niece Rachel has come to lend a welcome hand. After a busy morning we managed to find a couple of hours for a relaxing walk. She agreed to write this short blog.
Hey! Today we took a 2 hour walk starting at Rogie Falls between Contin and Garve. If you would like to go to a place where you can see the salmon jump and beautiful waterfalls then this is the place!
When we have been there before we usually go down the steps towards the bridge, where you can view the falls, and back out the other side, but this time we decided to take a detour. There are so many different paths that you can always find many different photographic opportunities. As we walked along the rough path next to the River Blackwater we were drawn off the path towards the rivers edge.
  
The path lead us through a cluster of old farm buildings where we saw a group of inquisitive ponies.
Being August the rowans were laden with berries while the verges were alive with many types of wild flowers, including Meadowsweet, Scabious, Achille and the delicate Harebell.
  
The most fascinating thing was the lush woodland scenery that clothes both sides of the Blackwater gorge.
After a couple of hours walking what could be better than a glass of hot chocolate and a piece of the best tiffin you could ever taste. We went to Planet Ocean's coffee shop in Conon Bridge (www.planetocean.co.uk) where you are always assured of a warm welcome from Gary and Catriona, why not pop in the next time you are in the area for a delicious snack or lunch and see the stunning marine aquarium they have on display |
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Written by Susan Rae
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Monday, 20 July 2009 19:39 |
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Hello everyone and welcome to our new modern website. I am not sure if July was a good time to change the site with the season in full flow, but we have it done now and we think it looks really good. We would like to thank Math and MJ from Holland, who were staying with us when we started the process they helped with the guests outlook, always good to have another perspective. We still have a few 'tweaks' to do but in the main it is complete, let us know what you think!!
We wanted to add a few images of local places, so as the sun was shining today we went for a short walk around Beauly Priory. The priory is a fine old historic building close on a bend by the River Beauly. on the way home we popped into our local distillery 'Glen Ord'.
  
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