Roads to Joy

This past Saturday we embarked on a little trip to a nearby National Trust for Scotland property. Well, we’d not quite clocked that Threave House and Gardens were an NTS premises, but we were delighted to be able, finally, to use our membership to enter.

On the way in, we passed a russet-brown shrub with abundant blossom, and exclaimed, say, wouldn’t that be a good colour-rich specimen to place in the back garden? Promenading through the huge and capacious estate, we were thrilled by the flowers in bloom all over the place.

We did venture through the old pile, as well, but of the rooms and furniture the most impressive sight we experienced was that of a large painting by John Faed, back in 1863, of a gathering of local folk with their armaments, a kind of inspection of the Territorial Army capacity, back in the day. We got some of the low-down on the Faed family, one of whom painted the scene we enjoy from the bench at the top of the woodland beside us here in New Galloway. A talented bunch, perhaps five in total became artists, though no creative spark had been in evidence in their previous history.

We’d followed a couple of similar age to ourselves up into the house. The woman was thrilled, as she said, to be back in the house again — she’d scrubbed the floors many times as a teenager! In these old places, the space usually of the most interest to us is the kitchen, but that part of the house was off-limits on our visit. Never mind, we’d enjoyed our walk, and we knew we’d found a perfect place to take our dear friends when they come soon to visit us.

On the way out, we ventured into the adjoining garden shop, and found a potted version of the bush that had so caught our eye when we came in. When we got it safely back, we let it rest from its journey for a day before I planted it in the corner where its colour will be most vibrant. As we suggested to ourselves, the previous occupant must have been a regular visitor to the Threave Gardens, since so many of the plants had duplicates here at home!

All in all, it was a lovely day out for us oldies, who are doubtless carrying on the tradition of exporting gardening components to admire close-up throughout the seasons.

We really must remember that we’re blessed with the time, and the capacity, to enjoy these outings.