Gavin Robertson said ”One of the most satisfying aspects to making high quality, handmade furniture, is that every day is different. As a furniture maker who is constantly creating new designs and working with new techniques, I particularly enjoy this side of the creative process, an aspect of the business that comes about through engagement with clients, and this is perhaps the reason that the work is so varied every day. When Wendy and Don first approached me with the idea of producing new furniture for the dining room of Boath House we agreed we wanted furniture that was modern with clean functional lines that would sit happily within a Georgian interior.

The chairs are all made from solid oak with clean geometric lines. The most interesting detail is the miter to the front legs and arms, looks incredibly simple but the arm component alone has eight separate machining operations! The finished chair is exceptionally comfortable and to achieve this two prototypes where made. The tables are made from prime solid oak and were designed to complement the chairs.”  Gavin who has been designing and manufacturing bespoke furniture since 1993 enjoys prominence as one of Scotland’s leading craftsmen in the production of furniture, upholstery and interiors of superlative design.

An entire new range of crockery handmade at Highland Stoneware in Lochinver to compliment the furniture is a range which is in neutral colours and organic shapes designed by David Grant the MD and founder of the pottery with Charlie’s input into the design making these all unique handmade pieces. Highland Stoneware pottery is situated in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. It was formed in 1974 and has built an international reputation for quality and innovation. From making their own clay to the finished pot, each piece is handmade by a dedicated team of craftspeople in Lochinver and Ullapool. David loves the challenge of designing bespoke pieces and he certainly rose tot the challenge for Boath.

Much to the chagrin of Don, Wendy yet again chose a Farrow and Ball colour which is named after some detritus from a fish market and although appealing to the designers sensibilities, is frightful expensive!  So although almost a complete departure from the formal white table linen and crystal glass candlesticks the quality of the furnishings, we think, further enhance the food.

Of course we are very interested to hear your response to the changes so please do feel free to comment.

(photo- www.Jakemphotography.com)

The first alert is the bright yellow flowers on the Witch Hazel, followed by Snowdrops then yellow Aconites. Regardless of the date we generally only consider Spring to have truly arrived when the Daffodils are in full bloom. This is of course a moveable feast dependant on the weather and variety. Probably more important is geographical location. We have noted in the past that Cornish daffodils are well over by the time ours start to open.

The first tree to bud in our grounds is the Horse Chestnut, it is also the first to start losing foliage, thus heralding the onset of Autumn. (Don’t ask what order everything else pops up in)

Wendy is busy planting new trees prior to the end of the dormant cycle, some of them even our children will not see to maturity. On the other hand some unselfish individual planted many of the beeches that have given us so much pleasure over the years, and are now providing cosy log fires for our guests.

Some of the thousand or so bulbs we planted at the end of last year are beginning to show, although it may be another year before we get to see the rest of the planting that the field mice have not dug up and eaten. Paperwhite Narcissi in pots are in full bloom under the shelter of the portico – lovely and fragrant to have in the House, but they die back very quickly in the heat.

As everyone (everyone??) knows the Vernal Equinox on March 20^th marks the official arrival of Spring, but here on the coast where the snow has almost completely missed us so far, and where we have had a toasty 6 to 8 degrees celcius all week, Spring’s advance party has already arrived.

Rooms have to be kept warmer in a hotel than elsewhere, particularly when we often enjoy the company of guests who are accustomed to warmer climes. It is also normal for people to open windows when they are too warm rather than turning the heating down. The cost of heating Boath House has doubled in the last five years and so we have at last taken the financial plunge and installed a wood pellet biomasss system which in theory should pay for itself in 5 years.

We have utilised the services of a Fort William company who have installed the system to a very high standard with a minimum of fuss and disruption using local time served tradesmen. Its great to see that there are engineers and tradesmen specialising in renewables being trained and employed locally. It is to be hoped that when the University of the Highlands new campus is in full swing that we will see more young people benefitting from the move towards renewables which we see in industry and in newer homes.

The system is due to be commissioned this week in the house, and will eventually heat the greenhouse as well. Watch this space and we will let you know whether renewable energy lives up to its green credentials.

Another friend in Austria who lives at some 5000ft tells me that there is no snow in the village and there has been none since the beginning of the year. He was completely incredulous that not only were they without snow, but that he had seen several bees flying around looking for water and food. Twenty years ago we were ski ing from the same village to the ski lift at the end of March on snow a metre deep.

With floods of Biblical proportions in the South, it seems ironic that the 2012  Climate Risk Assessment Report stated that in the next 60 years half of our population could be living in areas with water shortages.

Having spent most of my life in the Highlands of Scotland I am fairly sure that this little patch of our beautiful Country will  not fall into this category, so we are continuing our garden expansion by using more polytunnels and erecting more raised beds to minimise the effects of extremely wet weather. No doubt the Bog Garden will also become a more prominent feature in the coming years!

All of apples have now been picked and juiced. Normally this labour of love falls to Wendy and I, but this year Charlie and his crew plus Ian our Groundsman achieved in an afternoon what normally takes us two or three days. We had an enormous crop this year  (although plums and pears were not so good) so lots of lovely apple juice. How difficult is it to make cider??

Our new polytunnels have been emptied of tomatoes and squashes, so lots of chutney and purees being made this week along with elderberry cordial. The late raspberries have been transformed into jams and we are almost ready to snuggle up for the Winter.

Almost is the key word here, recent winds have caused some damage (although all in all its been a fabulous year around Nairn and is still bright and unseasonably warm) and we have had to bring some branches and the odd tree down, the result being that our stock of firewood is growing exponentially. As we burn around a ton of wood a week in the cold months this will soon vanish when the frosts appear.

We had thought that we were going to have a very early Autumn, it turned out to be what is termed a “false Autumn”  caused by an unseasonably dry start to the year.  Fortunately this latest warm spell  put a stop to the leaves falling in serious quantities until this last week, we are now deluged in clouds of yellow, red and orange leaves and our life saving leaf blower has been in action several hours a day with Ian at the helm. We normally try to keep them in vast mounds in order to utilise them in a couple of years as mulch. This is fine in theory, but it does mean that if a strong wind from the wrong direction springs up we are liable to have to do the work all over again. This also means a bi weekly visit to the roof this time of year to ensure that the gullies and drains do not block up and cause leaks in the house.

On the plus side it does mean that guests are able to drive away with a cloud of multi coloured leaves fluttering in their wake!

The trees were probably planted when the current house was built around 1820, and it is immensely sad to watch them slowly disintegrate or be blown over as has happened in the last three consecutive years, however all is not lost. The very first one we lost due to gales was some 5 years ago, and a magnificent specimen it was too with no internal rot (something that most of the latest victims have) so we brought in a mobile saw mill and had it cut into planks.

Now that the wood is seasoned we are beginning to use it around the grounds and in the house. Ian, our indefatigable groundsman, has been restoring old garden furniture which we almost invariably obtain from Auldearn Antiques using this lovely home grown wood, and very handsome it is too. So if you do happen to visit us, and find yourself sat on an old wood and wrought iron bench or chair contemplating the lake, then consider all the history keeping your bum off the grass.

I have been a casual beekeeper for a number of years now. We started off with three hives of the local black bees which thrived for the first three years, then started to decline.  Despite efforts to shore up the dwindling populations we eventually lost the last hive this winter. No sign of any disease, and despite a couple of poor summers we would not normally have expected these losses a few years ago.

The current decline in bee populations is well documented at the moment, and it does seem odd that urban bee keepers are not experiencing the same percentage of losses as those of us surrounded by countryside.

Whilst scanning the internet looking for all things bee I came across these bumble bee hives and bought one to see if it would prosper here. The small hive and the colony arrived a few weeks ago and is thriving wonderfully well, great to see as bumble bee populations are also under threat.  I would encourage anyone who wants bees but no suit, smoker or stings (or honey }to look at these little marvels. There is absolutely no upkeep, but there are lots and lots of beautiful bees bumbling and pollinating round our garden again. Apparently the hive dies out over winter (although some queens will survive to start again next year} but the company simply supply another cassette population next spring, and I believe that for around £70 per annum this has to be one of the best investments we have made for some time – we are going to buy more hives next spring and dot them round the walled garden and orchard..

As I said earlier there is no honey, but there is no work involved either – ideal for the lazy environmentalist and for those of us who love to see those fat, striped little marvels hard at work whilst we sip a glass of chilled white wine.

Check out – www.dragonfli.co.uk/bees/beepol-lodge

I may yet regret these words, but the weather here in February and early March has been outstanding. Almost every day the same, cold frosty mornings with clear blue sky’s giving way to a fairly warm day with no wind to speak of followed by another cold frosty night.

The snow plough we purchased the year before last after two of the worst winter’s in recent years languishes in the shed still waiting to see snow.  Machinery has of course replaced most of the manual labour in the fields. The garden here would have had at least six permanent garden staff a hundred years ago. Now we have a part time lady and a groundsman who does a million other things (including a lot of tea drinking).

Twenty years ago we would have spent days and days raking leaves in the Autumn, now with a large leaf blower be can do the job more effectively in a matter of hours.

What cannot be replaced (fortunately) is the sheer wonderment caused by plants bursting from the earth each Spring. No matter how many times I see this annual miracle (this will be number 69 – though I confess I cannot remember the first half dozen years) it still makes me realize how privileged we are to be able to get dirt under our fingernails, and home grown produce on our table.

Now brace yourselves for snow!

November (or Movember if you are growing a moustache for charity) is the month when we start our maintenance on the outside of the house. The roof, windows, drain pipes, parapets and drains all inspected and repaired where necessary. It is always necessary!

We are surrounded by beautiful mature deciduous trees which shed a gazillion leaves over a four to five week period, November winds pick them up and deposit them in drifts everywhere, but mainly in the roof gullies and the drainage system, thus rendering them useless unless they are cleaned out every other day. Gullies are the worst as reaching into an eighteen inch deep round hole only slightly bigger than ones arm which is full of icy water, mud and leaves is bad enough – the discovery of a very large toad (we have lots breeding in the lake) who is quietly hibernating and starts squirming madly in ones hand just adds to the general disenchantment.

Our Groundsman, General Handyman and all round good egg Ian blows the leaves into vast piles on the lawns (gone are the awful days of raking endlessly). We then spend several days pushing them onto a tarpaulin and dragging them into piles in a corner somewhere . They are then ignored for a few years – this is apparently known as mulching, but Ian and I have another name for it.

Leaf mulch is much prized by our gardeners, and I really do love our trees, but just occasionally I do wish for just the odd Spruce!!