Nairn

We are spending a few days at Alison and Hugh’s newly built house in Nairn, which is truly fabulous. It’s very spacious, beautifully decorated in neutral tones, and extremely comfortable. It has underfloor heating and a huge kitchen / living / dining room with huge floor to ceiling windows overlooking the garden and countryside beyond. Honestly there are not enough superlatives to describe it. Alison and Hugh have designed the house themselves and so everything is the way that they want it, from kitchen units to windows to door handles - everything. And it’s all so new. We are so pleased for them that they are now living in and loving their dream home.
We arrived here in Nairn on Sunday afternoon after a walk and lunch at Rothiemurchus with Cat, Ally, Christine and Gerry. Despite the bucketloads of whisky that James had consumed the previous evening he had slept very well and was fresh as a daisy. I however had a bit of a headache which seemed very unfair! I was soon revived by our brisk walk.
It was exciting to arrive at Nairn where we were greeted warmly by Alison and Hugh and given a tour of their amazing house. It was nice to be reacquainted with Hermes the cat who is now a rather elderly boy but very happily settled in his luxurious new abode. On Monday morning we went for a very pleasant walk from the village of Cawdor to Nairn, a distance of about 12 km. The weather was so mild and sunny that it was hard to believe that it is still January - although I heard via a message from Doreen that it was snowing in Glasgow! At the River Nairn we saw Dippers; cute little birds that were doing a little bobbing dance on the rocks. Alison cooked us another delicious dinner then Hugh fired up the wood burning stove and we had a cosy evening chatting.
This morning the weather was still bright and sunny although a bit frosty underfoot. After Alison and Hugh’s polytunnel was delivered - this is going to be large enough to have a cherry tree in it as well as raspberries and strawberries! - we went for a stroll around the perimeter of their extensive gardens. They have already done a lot of work and have planted a lot of trees. Then we walked into Nairn via the sandy beach, where, among other seabirds, we saw oystercatchers. We had coffee and cake in the OneOneTwo coffee shop before heading back to the house for a relaxing afternoon.