Clock

Not having exercised in a couple of days, I took Django for his morning walk. As I approached Penicuik Old House, I heard the clock on the "stables" (aka Penicuik New House) ring the hour. It's been stopped for many months, so it was good to hear. Otherwise, little of excitement to report: I bumped in to neighbours and had a chat; Django and I found the the new ball bought yesterday to be disappointingly difficult to launch far; I saw a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers. The latter weren't close enough to photograph - particularly with a phone camera! - but very pleasing, as I don't recall ever having seen them before! Hurrah for the rewilding in the Estate!

The dome to the rear of the house is not an observatory, but a dovecote (known as a doocot here). There's an interesting, if sad, story about its form. Until 1743 there was a Roman temple (known as Arthur's O'on - oven) near Falkirk, but its deliberate destruction for stone to build a (short-lived) weir so appalled the Clerks that they built a dovecote as an exact replica of the temple.