Leadhills

This must be some kind of record, three blog posts in one day! But I could not resist showing you what we did this afternoon as it was so enjoyable. As part of the Scottish Open Garden scheme we visited The Scots Mining Company House in Leadhills. As you might guess from the name of the place the original owner of this house that was built around 1735 was the manager of the lead mines there. They gave their name to the village which is called Leadhills. It's very high up (about 1300 ft) so it was quite windy and because the weather this winter has been so awful their daffodils like ours are not quite all out yet. Despite this we really enjoyed our visit specially when I discovered that all the ground for the garden had been brought back from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, as ballast for the ships that had transported the lead across there. So I was walking on home turf so to speak! The views from the house were magnificent and the house itself as well as the garden are now recognized as being part of the wider cultural landscape at Leadhills, which includes ground reclaimed from the surrounding moorland.

We also found some amazing ceramic stones with stunning patterns that, of course, I had to capture for future reference.

We then drove on to Wanlochhead, officially the highest village in Scotland and the site of one of the lead mines. I had visited there before during one of my mother's visits but it was a first for John. We promised ourselves a longer visit in the summer so that he could visit the mine and we could spend a bit longer there. I still managed to buy a gorgeous piece of lapis lazuli stone from the Visitor's Centre shop and feel the beginnings of a bracelet forming in my head using this as a centre piece. My hands are itching but really quilts should be my focus at the moment. I'll put the lapis lazuli on my desk as inspiration till I'm ready to start beading! Even on the scan it looks like a beautiful, dreamy landscape.