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The Big Garden and Croft

A small country living in the Outer Hebrides

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Cuniform

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 11/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise11/12/2020  
Isle of South Uist : Denise at Boisdale beach
Isle of South Uist : Boisdale beach
Isle of South Uist : Denise at Boisdale beach
Isle of South Uist : Boisdale beach
Baghasdal, Isle of South Uist : Cuniform footprints
Isle of South Uist : Boisdale beach

Sweet-and-Sharp

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 10/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise08/01/2021 3
The Big Garden : Japonica Quinces, 2020

J & D > As winter deepens, fresh foods give way, one by one, to stored or preserved. This week we’ve harvested the Japonica Quince fruits, which are inedible (that’s an understatement, if ever there was!) when raw, but make the most perfectly sweet-yet-sour jellies.

 

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Seasonal Knitting

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 09/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise08/12/2020  

Denise >

Here’s some seasonal knitting in my work-bag : a couple of Shetland Lace Scarves. As fast as I’m knitting them, you’re buying them!  They’re approximately 120cm long by 22cm wide, and very very light. The yarn is 100% Fine Merino, hand-spun by me with a ‘random’ selection of pre-coloured ‘tops’.

The Hebridean Woolshed : Shetland Lace Scarf
The Hebridean Woolshed : Shetland Lace Scarf
The Hebridean Woolshed : Shetland Lace Scarf
The Hebridean Woolshed : Shetland Lace Scarf

The price is £78.00 for either. Check our Hebridean Woolshed page for p+p charges.

To buy, email me to check availability. I can send an electronic invoice for secure payment by card.

 

Ridges and Hips

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 08/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise08/12/2020  
Carrick - The Blue House, Isle of Eriskay

Winter Sunrise, Carrick Eriskay and Beinn Sgiathan

Jack Be Nimble

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 07/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise08/01/2021  
An Gàrradh Mòr : Jack Frost on the roof of our car
An Gàrradh Mòr : Jack Frost on the roof of our car – the first frost of the winter
Jack Frost on the (Blue) VW Golf
Jack Frost on the (Blue) VW Golf

Lockdown ‘Leisure’

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 07/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise10/01/2021  
The Hebridean Woolshed : Cabled Fingerless Mitts

The difference in tone between the Hebridean hat and Hebridean mitten is not a trick of the light/camera : it is real.  The hat is a special because it’s made with the very finest Hebridean lambswool spun true worsted. Not apparent from a photo is that it is smoother, softer and more supple than the usual woolen-spun lambswool, and even slightly lustrous.

This yarn comes from one of the very first batches of mill-spun wool from our flock, when we sent to a small mill that specialized in worsted spinning. It was very expensive and we had to wait almost a year to get it back from them, so we’ve not made that choice again!  We’re holding this yarn back for special orders…

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Final Reading

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 06/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise06/12/2020 8

Jonathan & Denise >

We’ve sold Eight Askernish.   After taking the final reading of the electricity meters, we’ve handed over the keys to the new owner, who has moved to the Outer Hebrides from Monmouthshire – in south-east Wales.

8 Askernish, Isle of South Uist

Leaving 8 Askernish for the last time, after final reading of the meters and handing over the keys

The last booking was a disaster, the guests badly abusing the cottage and leaving us traumatised and seriously out of pocket.

That’s such a pity, as it’s tarnished our memories of our time owning the cottage.  We put a great deal of hard work, commitment, energy and ideas into the cottage, and got rewards both financial and personal ; but the whole business environment has changed out of all recognition, since we bought the cottage in 2005.  The likes of AirBnB and TripAdvisor are to blame, but they are too big, too powerful to ignore.  So, whilst we can be proud of what we achieved, it was – and it is, time to move on.

The proceeds from the sale will be used – when the opportunity arises – as a (not entirely figurative) downpayment on a new chapter in our lives.

In the meantime – and for the forseeable future, we continue in the self-catering business, focussing on our other self-catering property, in Eriskay.

Straggling Homeward

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 05/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise08/01/2021 3

Jonathan >

Late afternoon – 3pm at this time of year, and the first still and sunny break for many days. We gather up : coats, boots, Tilly.  From Smercleit, north along the western shore of South Uist as far as Boisdale. We turn there, our lengthening shadows straggling homeward behind us.

Isle of South Uist : Denise at Boisdale beach

5th December 2002, 18 years ago today, a day much like today, we arrived at the walled garden with our ginger cats Molly and Meg, Lady – a wire-haired Jack Russel,  and mile-high hopes for a more fulfilling life.

 

BLF + Merino

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 04/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise08/12/2020 1

Jonathan >

I’m spinning a 4-ply yarn with just 2-strands.  That’s because there is a weight/thickness that, in the UK, is known as 4-ply, and which is somewhat thinner/lighter than Doubleknit (aka DK).  I’m spinning one strand with my own selection of pre-coloured Merino tops. The other strand is from a naturally oatmeal-coloured Blue-Faced Leicester.

The Hebridean Woolshed : Merino
The Hebridean Woolshed : Merino
The Hebridean Woolshed : Merino and BLF
Merino (coloured) and Blue-faced Leicester (natural oatmeal)

 

 

Thomas

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 03/12/2020 by Jonathan and Denise03/12/2020 3

Denise >

Thomas.  He’s not a lap-cat by habit, but he is very affectionate.   And …

An Garradh Mor : Thomas

… he’s also very heavy!

 

Shetland and Flax

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 04/11/2020 by Jonathan and Denise03/12/2020 1
Hebridean Woolshed : Handspun Shetland and Flax

These two skeins were handspun with equal measures of Flax (in a natural creamy white) and Shetland wool (a natural peaty brown).  The Shetland is fine and soft – like the Merino, but has the fine crimp that traps air and makes the yarn and garments made with it ‘springy’ and warm.  The Flax, spun in a semi-worsted fashion, is smooth and slippy, and contributes to the finished yarn an easy drape, resilience, and a measure of sheen. It’s a great combination for a scarf.

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Just in time

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 03/11/2020 by Jonathan and Denise10/01/2021  
An Garradh Mor : Protection boarding for the greenhouses installed for the winter ahead

D > An Garradh Mor / The Big Garden : Protection boarding for the greenhouses installed for the winter ahead – just in time for a storm, last night, to knock them about a bit!

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