Up the Cemetery

Yesterday we were given free passes to the Country Living Christmas Fayre at the SECC in Glasgow. First time there and it was FABULOUS. So many fantastic stalls, not trashy, food stuff too, so spent a fortune but did get some christmas presents too. I treated myself to 2 pretty rings - I love sparkly! Also bought a lovely sheepskin rung for the front of the fire, made by the only tannery left in Scotland, which is in the Isle of Skye. It's a patchwork one and the colours are lovely (Breagha loves it too!).

On the way home we stopped off at Blackford to give Breagha a run in the woods. I grew up here and the cemetery sits on a hill next to the railway line overlooking the village. My childhood home looks up to it. Before the new church in Blackford was built the villagers would walk up the hill to worship in the now ruined church. As children we would walk up here at dusk and scare ourselves witless with tales of ghostly sightings. Still remember how scared we would be and run for our lives down the hill! My papa and my dad are buried together up here. It's a lovely spot overlooking the Ochils with graves going back to the 1600s.

The graveyard is split into three sections. The very old part which has one of the last lych gates left in Scotland, the middle part which was where I took this picture, and the new part and the end. You can see how fashion in gravestones have changed over the years. This one dates from the early 1900s. It's worn well!