Saskia, backlit

A lovely sunny September day - perfect for our planned walk on the Threave Estate near Castle Douglas. Fiona, Saskia and I started at Threave Garden with Jess and Archie as our enthusiastic companions.

We walked along beautifully kept tracks through fields and woods to Threave Castle. When the children were small, they used to enjoy the boat ride across to the castle, which is on an island in the middle of the River Dee, but sadly it has been closed for several years now while Historic Scotland carry out structural repairs.

The dogs had a lot of fun splashing about in the burns (as indeed they were doing behind me as I took this photo of Saskia).

We had lunch after our walk in the popular  cafe at Threave garden, sitting outside in the sunshine. Lovely.