Our Summer Break in Scotland

Well we're home now from our little break in Dumfries and Galloway. We had a great time walking and nature watching, admiring bluebell woods and sitting up at sun-set to spot otters.

For me it was an inspiring trip too. As we visited various places I picked up many ideas that I can use in future projects and we both had to overcome the challenges of finding vegan food while we were out! 

One of my favourite parts of the trip was the visit to Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery in Eskdalemuir. There you can go to relax and be at peace. The environment is perfect for escaping modern life! We had a happy hour in the little vegetarian cafe, where they prepared a cheeseless toastie and hot mug of chai tea for us. A walk around their kitchen garden made me a little envious of the space. They has large, orderly beds of various herbs. I've never seen such a lot of horseradish in one bed! The chives and mint looked wonderful too and made my army of little pots look a little feeble.

We also had a good walk along the riverbank there and left feeling like we'd had the perfect start to our holiday. Over the course of the next week we did much walking, mostly through bluebell woods and with many stops at hides to watch wildlife. The red squirrels were a highlight as we don't get them in Cambridgeshire. It reminded me of the delight in welcoming wildlife into my garden.. Nature is a wonderful thing and sorts itself out without our meddling. This little squirrel was at Threave House and Gardens, which is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. We also saw them at Ken Dee Marshes and Eskrigg Reserve. Other wildlife highlights were seeing Osprey at Threave Castle, sitting out at 11pm to see otters at Wood of Cree and watching a wonderful show by the Swallows and House Martins at Wigtown Bay.

The wildflowers were looking lovely everywhere we went and I'm pleased to have seen some happy bees along the way. If I'm honest I didn't see as many bees as I would have expected for the amount to blooms that were out. We found some beautiful coastal flowers down by St Ninian's Cave, on the Wigtownshire coast. The walk to the coast is a scenic one at the moment, being through a woodland with bluebells and wild onions. We heard many birds in the trees on the mile long path between the car park and the pebble beach; the highlight for me was seeing a tiny Goldcrest! When we got down onto the rocks we were treated to this beautiful array of colourful flowers.

If you're looking for an unspoiled area, with massive amounts of interest then you can't go wrong with a trip to Dumfries and Galloway. The people are more than welcoming and there are so many things to see, you'll be booking your second holiday in no time! We were lucky with the weather and didn't really have to change our plans to accommodate it.  If you'd like to view my holiday snaps you can see them on facebook.

As ever the only downside was the lack of freedom when it came to finding places to eat out. We made ourselves picnics everyday, but it was noticeable how difficult it is to just pop in somewhere for a cup of tea and a cake after a long walk. We found a couple of places that had maybe one or two vegan options, and another that was happy to change one of their snacks to make it suitable, but there is a long way to go yet! We did find a cafe in Wigtown called ReadingLasses that had soy available and a couple of vegan options, which was welcome. There is definitely a need for more suitable cafes with the amount of people getting clued into the damaging effects of a non-vegan diet! I did stop into my favourite little health shop, Sunrise Foods in Castle Douglas, while I was there and stock up on a few things I can't get easily in England. It's a great place to buy loose teas, coffee, herbs and spices! 

For me it's back to work and my little eco-mission. No more holidays for us this year! Over the coming weeks I'm going to be experimenting with various recipes in my continuing attempts to replace my store bought products with homemade alternatives... follow the blog or like us on facebook to see how I get on!