Attadale Gardens (Tourist At Home)

So many visitors stay at our BnB room and Self-catering accommodation and sometimes it is shameful that they have seen more of my country and home than I have had the pleasure to enjoy.

Attadale Gardens was on my list of places to visit in Wester Ross and a beautiful Sunday afternoon was just the day to experience this gorgeous haven of a garden.

What I remember most about the gardens is the peace. It was calm, sunny, warm, birds were singing and water tinkling.

There are so many hidden nooks and crannies with inviting benches in shady or sunny spots.

Finding the 19 hidden sculptures became my challenge as I wandered around the beautiful gardens.

To find:

Heron – Exaltation – Bream – Big Bird – Crowned Eagle –  Life is not a rehearsal (carved in the cliff) – Cheetah – Wild Boar – Chameleon – Roe Deer – Urn – Owl – Torson – Otter – Eagle – Fish – Reclining figure – Gnomon of Giant Sundial – Obelisk

My favourite and the last one I found what the hidden Chameleon…well it is a Chameleon after all!

There is also a little DIY cafe, what I would call an honesty cafe, where you can help yourself to tea, coffee, cakes and ice cream and throw your money in the pot.

You know you are in the Highlands when there is an Honesty Cafe!

Anthrax Island ~ Gruinard Island (Tourist at Home)

Having looked at the many islands off our shores for too many years it was time to explore another local island in my 19 for 2019, Tourist at Home goals.

Gruinard Island is also known as Anthrax Island and until recently we would not have been permitted, or wanted too, set foot on the island.

Paddling conditions were perfect for me and in the capable hands of Gairloch Canoe and Kayak Centre we set off to circumnavigate the island and then land.

We saw many Black Throated Divers calling on the water, Shags perched on rocky outcrops and cliffs and Common Terns screeched in protest when we finally landed on the rocky spit of Gruinard Island.

The heads of bonny Bluebells bobbed and danced in the breeze as we explored the island a little after our lunch. You would never have known the islands sad and dark history.

The island had been used for biological welfare tests and was contaminated with Anthrax in 1942. Since then the island was a no go area until it was finally decontaminated in the 1980s.

Gruinard Island was out of bounds until 1990 when it was finally deemed safe and sold back to it’s original owners for £500 pounds.

Watch this short video to learn more about Anthrax Island.

This is original movies from the Anthrax tests. They are quite upsetting. Caution advised.

Torridon Am Ploc ~ the open air church in Torridon (Tourist at Home)

Tourist at Home  – 19 for 2019 – I first saw the open air church on a TV program and I knew, living so close (for the Highlands), that I had to find it!

It was another gorgeous Wester Ross day, I had done my research, found the co-ordinates and research on google (NGR NG 89511 56228).

It is a hidden gem and on the day I visited in early May it was gorgeous and warm.

The open air church would have been swamped with water on a wet, windy and wild Wester Ross day. You really would have had to be devoted to worship on a day like that.

It was after ‘The Disruption’ of 1843 that open air churches were used.

Parishioners of the Church of Scotland were disillusioned as they had no say in the choice of minister who preached to them. The minister was chosen by the landowner or laird. The split in the church lead to the creation of the Free Church of Scotland, predominantly a church of the Highlands of Scotland.

The open air church was still used into the 1980’s.

With Bluebells dancing on the day I visited it would have been a wonderful location for an open air wedding ceremony.

Tranquil, hidden and peaceful!

Below are images (screenshots) of what it would have looked like when in use.

adventures of mandyerush