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Author Archives: Jonathan and Denise

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Dusk at Clachan

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 12/04/2021 by Jonathan and Denise12/04/2021 1
Dusk at Clachan

Dusk at Clachan. Photo by Becky Bridge

Thig a-Steach – Come on In

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 10/04/2021 by Jonathan and Denise10/04/2021  
An Gàrradh Mòr : Kitchen

Both our own home An GĂ rradh Mòr and Carrick Eriskay are now ‘on the market’ with Bell & Ingram.

Photos of the interior of our own house – An GĂ rradh Mòr – here at the walled garden have appeared from time to time in these blog posts, but here’s a wee tour of the principal rooms, in no particular order.

This is a very significant milestone for us, in what has to date been a long and fraught journey without signposts or reassuring waymarks.  We hope it becomes more straightforward as options narrow.

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High, Lows, and Tormented In-betweens

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 09/04/2021 by Jonathan and Denise10/04/2021 2
Brynhedd

Quite possibly you’re thinking (you wouldn’t be the first) “Have they gone mad?  From walled garden and croft plus holiday lets and a life unfettered by traffic and crowds, to a very ordinary and very modest bungalow on the main road from Lampeter to Camarthen …?!?!?!”  Well, we’ve certainly asked ourselves the same, time and again ; and yet a very still small voice – and a very persistent one! – tells us that it’s time to let go of these things, to live and to travel through life more lightly. New opportunities – and challenges – that perhaps are better suited to our ages and circumstances, or the needs of our family – or, for that matter, the world about us, will unfold soon enough.  And we will not have need of a large house, extensive outbuildings, or land.

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Snowfall in Spring!

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 09/04/2021 by Jonathan and Denise09/04/2021  

An Garradh Mor, Isle of South Uist : Snowfall in Spring!Jonathan & Denise >

Snow is very infrequent here : most winters we get nothing more than a light dusting on a couple of occasions.  Jack Frost is, likewise, a seldom-seen visitor to the island.

True, many a winter we see the top of Beinn Mòr, Beinn Coradail or Thacla  topped with snow and glimmering with ice on their rocky ramparts ; but that’s more than a fifteen hundred feet up and more than a couple of miles from the nearst roads.

The winter now well behind us was been no different.

So what a surprise, then, this morning, to wake up to this –

An Garradh Mor, Isle of South Uist : Snowfall in Spring!

An Garradh Mor, Isle of South Uist : Snowfall in Spring! Our first ever Uist snowfall in April!

 

Hand Writing

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 26/03/2021 by Jonathan and Denise09/04/2021  
Hand Writing

Hand Writing

Reopening (Again)

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 25/03/2021 by Jonathan and Denise25/03/2021  
First primrose of season emerging despite wintry showers. The Big Garden, Isle of South Uist

J & D >

1st April we’re re-opening the Hebridean Woolshed’s wee shop here in the walled garden in South Uist.

So, when you’re ready (and permitted) to come, we’ll be ready to welcome you. Until then, let’s just enjoy the stillness and quietude, the wild primroses putting out blooms even amidst the chilly blasts of March.

 

 

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Make Do And Mend

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 23/01/2021 by Jonathan and Denise24/01/2021  

Denise > In this case, that’s ‘make do’!

Isle of South Uist : Machair gate at Tipperton

Isle of South Uist : Machair gate at Tipperton – make-do-and-mend!

Pummeled

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 22/01/2021 by Jonathan and Denise22/01/2021  

Denise >

Isle of South Uist : Beach at Smercleit - Sand pummeled by hail (melted) and 'signed' by Tilly

Isle of South Uist : Beach at Smercleit – Sand pummeled by hail (melted) and ‘signed’ by Tilly

A True Blue Day

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 21/01/2021 by Jonathan and Denise23/01/2021  

Jonathan & Denise >

Snowfall at Dawn … the day begins blue and continues on the same theme. Photos D at home, J at Carrick

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Then & Now

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 19/01/2021 by Jonathan and Denise20/01/2021 3
Carrick Croft - 1934 : The MacDonald family harvesting hay

Jonathan & Denise > Ciorstaidh [Kirsty] MacDonald and her older daughters Mary and Annie are making hay in the field below Carrick – which we refer to as Field 1 or Home Park.  The young boy sitting on the grass is Alasdair Lachlainn [Alexander Lachlan – or just Alex] : as a young man he emigrated to Canada and made a good life for himself there.  Here he is sitting back to back with his year-older sister who became a nun, being thereafter known as Sister John Vincent. The last time such labour-intensive work was considered at all worthwhile was during the Great Depression  – when this old photo was taken.

 

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Carrick & Croft – Map

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 18/01/2021 by Jonathan and Denise18/01/2021  

Jonathan & Denise >

Over the weekend we’ve been working on developing the interactive map of the croft.  It’s still a work-in-progress, but already it offers a lot more than just showing where on the surface of Earth the croft is located! Judge for yourself :

Rip Tide

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 17/01/2021 by Jonathan and Denise19/01/2021  
Eriskay Causeway at Ebb Tide : The Sound of Eriskay

J > The energy gained by the waters rushing headlong under the bridge – falling nearly two metres in just 20m or so – is not quickly dissipated, not by the weight of the weight of the seas that they blunder into, nor by the waves driving in from the west, nor even by the wind.  Never, surely, did any attacking army break through the ranks of its sworn enemy with as much malevolence!

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