Let there be light!

Today was definitely the best day of the week so the studio was left behind to go and take a walk. And I asked John if he would like to go and walk in the grounds of Penicuik House. The reason for this is that my posts here on the subject of Penicuik House have elicited several e-mails from people who grew up there or had connections with it and I wanted to check out what progress has been made on the restoration and preservation of the place. And the good news is that there was much activity, both around the house in the shape of a enormous crane and on the bridge you have to walk over to get to the house. All good signs although the official website that used to exist (www.penicuikhouse.co.uk) seems to have vanished into thin air. However the signs informed us that money for the work has been coming in in the shape of a grant by Historic Scotland as well as lottery funding so hopefully the work will be completed in the near future. Work has been ongoing since 2008 at least. 

The grounds of the house, although in private ownership, are open to the public and it's a favourite dog walking place for the local residents. The paths are good and for once no special footwear was necessary to wander around. The sun was shining merrily away as you can see.

It was quite hard to capture any good photographs of the house as it is now almost completely enveloped in scaffolding with that crane looming overhead too. Above is just about the best I could do. I really like the reflections of the trees on the bare walls.

 At the back of the house is a large lake with a little summerhouse on the shores, looking very romantic.

And nearby is what must have been a distant view from the house of the poet Allan Ramsay Monument, erected in 1759. We couldn't discover any way to get closer to it but might give it another try one of these days.

I was quite pleased with both the walk and the photographs I had taken but the best moments were yet to come. On the way home the sky took on a magical appearance, with light seeming to shoot out from within the clouds. As often happens we were on a main road (the A702) and stopping is not easy. Had I been by myself I might not have ventured to do so but John kindly stopped the car, I jumped out with my camera at the ready and took the picture that you can see at the top of this post. Only one picture but it was THE ONE for today and also became my blip for today.