After our last newsletter, it has been lovely to hear from several of you and to receive some last-minute bookings from returning guests. We have also enjoyed meeting some new Ard Daraich visitors and extending our friendship to more people. Just today we said goodbye to a friend returning to Malawi; tomorrow we do so […]
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Late Autumn
Two nights ago we officially moved from summer into autumn and whilst I was on Mull there was a huge harvest moon that slid up over the horizon to light the landscape for the whole night. Autumn has arrived early this year with the first tree turning in late July and when the rain came […]
Continue ReadingAutumn
It’s morning, and I go into the garden to seek out flowers. Wandering about the woodland I look up, and it’s as if someone has lit a match, the canopy of the trees is showing patches of fire that dance in the sunlight. On the rocks and ground a number of red, purple and orange […]
Continue ReadingWe’ve been trying to grow Roses.
As a previous owner of this house was famous enough to have a rose named after her, it was inevitable that we would try and grow not only Rosa Constance Spry but also a number of others. Maybe we assumed it wouldn’t work but with the enthusiasm of our dear friend Linda Coggin, who […]
Continue ReadingPrimula Season
When you become a gardener one of the first principles you learn is to try and make a plant selection that provides something of interest throughout the year. This is a challenge in any garden but by no means impossible and as you live with your garden over the years you come to look forward […]
Continue ReadingExtreme Gardening.
At Ard Daraich we do a particular form of gardening. Norrie calls it Extreme Gardening or Gardening with the Elements. We live at the bottom of a steep infertile hill; blanket peat over granite and we use the topography to inform the design as paths meander up the hill. Where there is little soil […]
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