Sue's Been Baking

Visitors who stay with us at Roskhill Barn's 'Bed and Breakfast With a Difference' always get to sample some of Sue's home baking...

Yummee!!!

A February Evening on Skye

It was my turn for evening dog-walk-duty today, but this afternoon, I became a bit involved in my work revising our B&B website (more news about that soon) so by the time I set off for Dunvegan Woods with Cupar, daylight was already beginning to fade.

We've had a delightfully calm and fairly mild and dry day here today, with occasional sunshine. Our walk up through the woods was lovely - a few shrubs are actually beginning to show green shoots of spring, though the leaf buds on the trees are still tight shut. Once out of the woods at the top of the hill, our path crosses open moor, with a wonderful view back to MacLeod's Tables - tonight they were mysteriously shrouded in swirls of cloud.

Cupar was having a great time sniffing for rabbits and deer (or whatever other imaginary creatures he sniffs for), but I eventually became aware that it was actually getting rather DARK, and we still had a mile or so to walk back through the woods to the van in the car park. So we came back down the path pretty briskly - it would not be fun to be in the woods in total darkness. There is a path - but there are some significant boggy patches to negotiate!

As we arrived back at the van, a distant insomniac blackbird was still singing, but the owls were beginning to hoot. However, Cupar insisted on having his usual game of 'fetch' with a tennis ball, so we played for a while, until the owl hooting became a chorus, and bats were silently fluttering about above us.

I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remember that the dream we live here is real.

Allotment news

I intend to make a big effort to post allotment updates in this blog this year, every time I do something major out there. The news today is that the seeds for this year's planting have arrived by mail order from Suttons . It is to be:

• Onion - Sturon  (from sets). 
• Cabbage - Kilaxy (a club-root resistant variety - club root seems to affect the whole plot, and I haven't yet grown a decent cabbage here)
• Brussels sprouts - Crispus 
• Broccoli - Ironman 
• Swede - Invitation (also club root resistant, though I've not actually had a problem with swedes)
• Carrot - Maestro
• Broad Bean - The Sutton
• Runner Bean - Best of All (Trying 'tall' runner beans this year - if we get a summer storm, they will probably blow over, but the dwarf ones don't seem to crop very well)
• Potato, 1st early - Lady Christl (Another try to grow some really good 'new' potatoes...)
• Potato, 2nd early - Maris Peer 
• Potato, maincrop - Desiree (red potatoes which grow really well here)

Planting won't be starting for a wee while as the soil is still very wet and cold. I am supposed to be rebuilding the cold frame soon, as the existing one has rotted to the point where it is almost unusable. I just need to get myself motivated for that job! But all the brassicas started in the cold frame last year, and made good strong plants before planting them out, which was probably key to the excellent broccoli and sprout crop we had.

More to follow!

Soggy Skye

From the tourism point of view, I probably shouldn't say this - but we have had an awful lot of rain this winter....

Rivers and burns are flowing high, and our lawn squelches when I walk on it. Maybe it is a good sign that we will have a dry summer.....???