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Went for some fresh rolls when I got up and made bacon morning rolls for S, Ad and I before Ad left to drive to Thurso with his girlfriend and I took S to collect her car and start her drive south.
I then drove over to A&N’s and we went to the open day at Marchmont House as planned. It was another lovely largely sunny day, although not quite as baking hot as yesterday. We went on the house tour and it was good to learn a lot about the Palladian house that was extended in the early 20th century and then needed complete restoration including buying all the furniture and artworks from scratch online. I liked the colour palette it had been decorated in and the gorgeous floors and custom made carpets, but preferred the rooms with pre-Raphaelite and arts and craft style finishes and pieces to the Georgian standard stuffy oil paintings of mountains and (mainly) nameless aristocrats. Hugo Burge had filled the gardens and many places in the house with very modern abstract sculptures and several of them were beautiful….we found we were thinking about him a lot as we walked around. I’d met him last year very shortly before he so sadly died…..such a shame when he’s made such an incredible job of finishing this restoration and getting his arts foundation launched,
We enjoyed a delicious buffet lunch out on the terrace in the sun, bought some cakes to take home for later, then went round to see the open studios with several craftspeople showing their work and selling some. The studios themselves were also so lovingly restored and well equipped and were clearly giving great opportunities to young craftspeople,
Walking around we came across some gorgeous estate cottages and lovely gardens with geese and runner ducks, beehives and beautiful borders full of flowers. All very bucolic….
We headed back to A&N’s and she went back to preparing for her interview tomorrow. We practiced answers to some questions and she talked through her presentation and fiddled with the slides. Sure she’ll be fine but no doubt she’ll be up late tonight!
Came home and slumped a bit…glad it’s another quiet week ahead but unfortunately the weather doesn’t look that great in the next few days. We’ll see!