January Months at the Castle

The winter months in 21st Century Scotland can be surprisingly harsh. As the temperatures plummet we often lose our water. The house is on a private supply so the pipes freeze with the ground, and waiting for the thaw can often be a test of endurance, 8 weeks was the longest in the Winter of 2011, never to be forgotten. Long grubby days etched in our minds. Out of sheer desperation, we were forced to take up family membership of a Spa in Inveraray. So that winter, the girls learnt to swim, my skin never felt so soft and my car devalued rapidly with the 60 mile a day round trips.

Electricity is equally tenuous. In our decade here at Dunans Castle, we have spent weeks living by candle light and boiling water harvested with a pick axe from the burn.  We now have a small generator that can power a couple of computers and keep the basic day to day functions going, but some of our early experiences were a challenge.  I have many memories of huddling around the wood burning stove in our red shed, a tumble of children, dogs and he and me, bickering about who would brave the freezing cold air out-with our human duvet cocoon to grab a snack or a glass of ‘milky’, of the benumbed nights when I would wake in the wee hours for a baby feed, or a pee and lie in horror as my body registered the toe shriveling cold.

Another general challenge was day to day shopping.  One guest, husband of a friend, upon being forced by his wife to leave the comfort of his city existence for a long weekend in rural Scotland, asked me, somewhat hesitantly if I had a ‘thing’ about toilet roll. Startled, I replied no! Although I had not previously considered the matter, I had rather assumed my relationship with said domestic sundry, was normal. After a considered pause, he nodded thoughtfully and remarked it was just that he had never stayed in a house where there was so much, toilet roll in evidence, in bulk in fact!

He was quite right. In the downstairs loo, sits a huge old Jardinière that once belonged to my great grandmother, Lilly Lynn, a formidable matriarch, headmistress of a rural school, painter, tailor and all round ‘can do’ lady, the sort of Gal, who upon spotting the first ever ‘fitted kitchen’ in a ladies periodical, set about to build herself her very own version, which was so well built it outlived her inimitable spirit.

Said pottery inheritance was indeed full of toilet roll and sits to this day, usefully, in state, in the downstairs loo, full of loo roll!  In the guest shower room was a similar arrangement and again in the upstairs loo. So yes, on reflection, our guest did make a good point, we were well provided for on the toilet roll front, however, as I put to him, this was more about forward planning than an odd bottom fetish on my part!

Consider, says I, its 9pm on Sunday evening and you pop to the loo to discover no loo roll – eek, no late night garage, no minimart up the road, not even a 24/7 supermarket within an hours drive, bum! Quite literally, nothing open until Monday morning and even then a 1 and a half hour round trip!  Life at Dunans is all about forward and behind planning!

Running a household and ensuring everyone including our sundry animals are looked after takes a level of military planning, especially when the children were small, I now have a brain that shops in bulk, I can whip off a basic bi monthly shop in a snap, however when in Glasgow confronted with a ‘metro express mini-market’ option, small items, individually wrapped, in pack of 1 or 2 or in the case of cucumbers, a half, (what is that about)? I am often at a complete loss.

What I do love about living at Dunans are the local businesses that have become a welcome part of our lives, providing food and goods and taking the day to day pressure off. As of yet no-one runs a loo roll delivery company, however we get Robert from Fynest Fish, once a week, Bob, from 3K who delivers pet sundries once a month and a whole heap of local delivery companies who keep us ticking along, without constant recourse to the great gods, like Tesco and sundry other world dominating purveyors of food.

I also am proud that our rural life means we are really, really in contact with our food sources and seasons. My youngest daughter will happily pluck a pheasant and both kids know what the meat and fish they eat actually looks like from the beast it once was. Admittedly we are not well set to grow our own, despite my feeble attempts, rain, deer, rain and more rain, oft kills what we do grow, but we do buy locally grown when we can and we also have some great local, ethically sourced meat/dairy suppliers, so its win, win all the way.

Our Local suppliers – Support local: Buy Local: Create Sustainable Community living: Real Food

http://www.lismoregrassfedbeefandlamb.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Fynestfish/about/?ref=page_internal
http://www.goruralscotland.com/auchentullich
http://www.winstonchurchillvenison.com/foods-from-argyll/
http://dalmally.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/3k-supplies-17110739.html