Plan B

The guys were supposed to play golf this morning, but it was raining pretty hard and the club pro pretty much told them they'd be silly to go out in such nasty weather. So, whereas Patty and I were going to go shopping and poking around by ourselves today, I was charged with coming up with a new plan that included all of us. No problem!

We started at the visitor center in Crieff where there is also a crystal outlet, a glassblower and garden shop. It was so cool and wet outside we were happy to stand and watch the glassblowers working in front of their kilns for awhile. One was making perfume bottles and the other was working on paperweights.

Then we headed for the village of Aberfeldy, which was about 45 minutes away on one of the most beautiful roads I've ever seen. The landscape was filled with heather and fern-covered mountains. Very sparse, dotted with white sheep with black faces laying next to rocks that could be their twins. Occasionally a clump of wild pink foxgloves sprung out of the ferns. Hardly a tree in site as the weather is prone to extremes of wind and temperatures. 

We got to the charming town of Aberfeldy and walked in and out of a few shops, one of which was selling fleece pullovers for 8£ so I went in and put one on under my rainjacket and asked the clerk to take the tag off. It was the smartest thing I did today as it allowed me to enjoy all of our activities without being frozen.

We had a nice lunch of soup and toasties at the Tay Café before heading out of town to find Edradour Distillery, an historic single malt maker near Pitlochry.

We took the tour, which was much better than the Famous Grouse in many ways. We loved our guide James, who was a big white-haired Scot with a booming baritone voice. He was certainly passionate about his distillery and the products they produce and it was reflected in his tour. 

The woodland setting was gorgeous and the crisp whitewashed buildings with bright red doors were perky and just plain cute. We tasted two of their single malts--one aged in oak casks in which sherry had formerly been made, and the other in a cask in which Super Tuscans are made. I preferred the first, thought the second was a bit too gimicky. We received a classically shaped "nosing glass" ( in the right of the pic) which is used to enhance the aromas of single malts. 

Back at the house, the cows were up near the driveway again. We've learned that they all have routines and spend certain times of the day doing the same things. It's amazing how close they actually come to the house. The pheasant is on the clock too--he arrives at his spot under the birdfeeder around 5 a.m.