I'm not a pheasant plucker...

David and I had cause to find ourselves deep in the countryside today, visiting a lovely lady who lives in an old (but lovingly refurbished) farmhouse set in acres of stunning farm land.

She had been recommended by a friend of a friend who knew we were looking for a home boarding service for Lola for those times when R, our wonderful dog walker, isn't available (he's currently booked up almost 18 months in advance!)  E sounded just what we are looking for so we arranged to visit her this morning.

We followed her directions and found ourselves on a narrow country road that seemed to go on and on (today's blip was taken on the way back down the road which was a very leisurely drive due to this pair of love game birds not being in any hurry to move off the road) before passing a field that contained two stunning horses and turning left towards the farmhouse.

As we got close, three very lively little Jack Russells and an older, slower terrier, came to greet us.  Lola, who had been lying snoozing in the back of the car, got very excited at this point.

E appeared and called them over and we parked at the farmhouse and as soon as David opened his door, all the dogs piled in, very keen to say hello!  It was absolutely lovely!  When I opened my door the three JR's jumped out again but the terrier, an old boy at age 14, decided my lap was quite a comfy place to be and I was sorry that I had to move him in order to get out the car.

I was interested to see how Lola would react to the dogs and and vice vera and to our delight, they got on famously!  One of the JR's was definitely in charge and tried to boss her a little bit but Lola is oblivious to that and just wants to play and the bossy one soon realised Lola was happy to follow her lead so all was well. 

Whilst David and I sat outside and had a chat with E, the dogs went for an explore (the whole area is dog friendly so she was off lead the whole time.  Miles away from roads, traffic and other people with dogs :-) around the farmhouse and garden, Lola smiling the whole time.  They stopped for drinks of water, had another run around then all came and found some shade and lay down.  

E can offer Lola a home from home (even better as she would have complete freedom outside) she has experience of lots of dogs and clearly loves animals.  It was clear from our chat that we are very like minded when it comes to animals and life in general.  We are delighted to have found her and delighted that she is just as excited about having Lola to stay.

On the way back home we popped into a new (to us) pet shop and bought Lola some new chew toys and training toys for her training class starting on Tuesday.

We got back to the house to find Bruce, the landscaper, and his lads almost finished laying the resin in the side garden.  We are over the moon with it, it looks fantastic.  The new garden furniture is due to be delivered in the next week so that will be the cue for the weather to return to the usual dismal Scottish summer, so I apologise in advance for that.

Lola went out for her afternoon walk with R.  I love how happy she is to see him.  They are great pals.  When they returned R said they had walked in the shady woods and had ended up just sitting together enjoying a little bit of a breeze, which was probably what Lola needed after her mad run around with the E's dogs earlier.

D and I spent a huge chunk of the afternoon trying to clean up my lap top to create some space.  We've managed to clear about 30GB, which is enough to let me edit my photos again, but I really need to clear the scratch disks and that is proving more difficult than it should.  Will try again tomorrow.

PS Just see the late night weather forecast.  More sunshine and 21 degrees for us tomorrow and Saturday.  Rain maybe on Sunday.  Probably means garden furniture will be here Monday.