When we went to bed last night, it was incredibly quiet on the farm. We woke in the morning to what we thought was the sound of planes. Initially we thought we might be in the flight path of a nearby airport or an airforce base, but it seemed pretty odd as there are no major cities nearby. When Google provided no answers, we finally worked out it was just the wind. Our calm Scottish weather had finally ended and it had turned wild and wet.
The family had very kindly offered to be our tour guides around some of the local sights. After a hearty farmhouse breakfast, we set off in two cars. Boys with Malcolm (except Molly the Border Collie) and girls with Sarah. A few days ago we’d been chatting about places in the world we all wanted to go. One of Matt’s top picks was Canada, and he’d particularly mentioned Banff. Little did he know he would end up in Banff so quickly, it was our first stop of the day. Shame it had no snow and definitely no ski fields!
Our next stop was Crovie, a delightful fishing fishing village tucked into the cliffs. Last time we visited it was a beautiful day. Today was quite the contrast with rain, wind and wild waves. But somehow it seemed more like Scotland is meant to be. We braved the weather to walk the length of the village, then retreated back to the warm dry cars. We drove through some more gorgeous coastal villages then on to Whitehills for a yummy lunch.
The weather had improved a lot after lunch, although there wasn’t a lot of daylight left. We had just enough time to explore another cute village called Portsoy, then sample some more Scottish ice cream.
Then it was back to the farm, via lots of lanes and villages. Some of the villages still had their Christmas decorations up so we were able to enjoy them as well.
We were spoilt again with another perfect farmhouse meal – the best feed of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings that we’ve had in a long time. It was lots of fun swapping stories of Scotland and NZ, and of course sharing places we had all travelled. I love living in NZ, but it’s so far from everywhere and I’m envious of how many amazing travel destinations are so easy accessed from the UK.
