The Festive Season

It's the day after Thanksgiving and, yes, I realise that I'm in Scotland but I will never be giving up my expat Thanksgivings.  Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday...all about food without the stress of having to buy the perfect presents for everyone. Needless to say, I've got a full belly and am thinking about everybody back home in California.

When I was still back in California, Thanksgiving marked the kick-off of the festive season and when we were younger, the day after Thanksgiving was not spent shopping but rather we all piled into our pick-up truck, drove an hour to a Christmas tree farm and chopped down our Christmas tree.  I loved this because I love the festive season.  But you should see the looks I get from folks over here - it's like I'm on the crazy train when I mention Christmas decorating and trimmings.  Is the end of November really too early to start the holidays?  Aside from the shopping, I love Christmas time - people are generally in a better mood, you make time to get together with friends, and the joy flows a little bit more this time of year so why not stretch it out a bit and start a tad early?

We have guests that will be arriving for Christmas and I can't wait to decorate Newholme.  It's a big beautiful spaces with so many mantles crying out to be adorned with greenery and bobbles.  The drawing room is the perfect spot for the Christmas tree with plenty of space to open pressies while drinking coffee and hot chocolate with a fire rumbling in the back.  I'll be posing plenty of pictures so stay tuned and until then have a lovely festive season!

26th October...the first snow!

Okay, so there is no actual snow on the ground but it was fluttering and that's really all you need.  Funny that one second we are out on a clear afternoon walking the dogs in the delightfully chilly autumn whirlwind of leaves and 10 minutes later it's snowing.  It didn't last very long but just long enough to give me great hope that winter (a proper one) is heading back to Stirling.

Here's question for you...snow, is it a blessing or a curse?

Me:  Blessing!  I totally dig it!

Hopeful for a cold winter!

I'm going to try and make up for lost time...shame on me for not having posted anything over the summer!  I thought I would post some pictures of things we've done and places we've been around Stirling and around Scotland...who knows, may be something nice for you to so too!

David's family house is in Port of Menteith which is about 25 minutes due west of Stirling.  The house sits above the Lake of Menteith - not a misprint - a lake not a loch.  The lake, on its own, is lovely to visit and the island that sits in the middle of the lake is home to Inchmahome Priory a must see (in my opinion) if you're in this neck of the woods.  A few years ago, the lake froze over and it was brilliant!  Having come from California, it's quite unsettling to stand and walk on a body of water...to hear the cracking, one thinks that the end is near and that falling through the ice is inevitable but I'm so glad I got over that because I was able to bring forth the inner roller skater in me and try my luck with ice skates...I may not be very good but I have a great time!  

Since we had such a lousy winter last year, I'm really hoping that we get a truly cold winter so that I can practice my twirling again!  

A great way to spend a long weekend with friends is to go exploring...come home after a day of walking, ice skating or curling, grab your mugs of hot chocolate, and curl up in front of the fire with your pals.

Okay, so it's been a while!

Although I promised last time to blog more (which I didn't), this time I really mean it!  I can't harass my husband to do his blogging without doing my own.  Now just time to figure out what I need to catch up  on.  Last time I posted I had just planted the hanging baskets - which turned out beautifully by the way - but now we are well into Autumn and there isn't too much happening in the garden these days.  But with the cold weather comes the opportunity to wear your jumpers, get in front of a fire and make some homemade soup or just have some lovely store bought stuff and eat it with a gooey cheese toastie!

Here at Newholme, we are in the process of updating some of the rooms and here is picture of our latest update:

We're not changing a whole lot because we love the 'old' feel of the house but look at what a fresh coat of paint, some new linen and pillows and few bits and pieces do for a room.  We are really looking forward to continuing our quest but we have clients in for the next few weeks so it's got to go on hold for the moment!

The Beginning of the Blog

A warm welcome to everyone who visits this site. My name is Nikki and I, along with my husband David, manage this wonderful home. Newholme is owned by Hazel Sangster, who grew up in Stirling and spent her childhood in the house but now resides in Canada. David has lived in the flat that is adjacent to the house for the last twenty or so years and has taken care of the property since the day he moved in. I, however, am a newer addition having moved here in January of 2007. I met David while I was staying at Newholme when I came to see the British Open in 2005. After many flights back and forth between San Francisco and Scotland it was time one of us moved and so here I am and I've loved every minute of it...and we got married in June of 2009 so you can see that's it's worked out quite well for me!

To a person who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, this is living in the country. I get in my car and drive 4 minutes down the road and I'm surrounded by green fields. There are cows and sheep everywhere, 2 Highland cows just down the road, and I pass a castle everyday on my way to work.  Stunning.  Stirling is a beautiful place to live and a great place to visit.  I've been both a visitor and a resident.

Newholme House is a unique rental home.  It can accommodate up to 12 people and I can say from my own personal experience that you can come here with 12 people and still find a space all to yourself as Newholme is large and spacious.  We've had people here for family reunions, to celebrate anniversaries and special birthdays, there's been ceilidhs here and we will be having our first wedding here in August.

The gardens here are spectacular and we've been working hard to get it sorted for the upcoming summer season.  We had a pretty bad winter with storms that damaged most of the trees in the garden and we are still dealing with the aftermath.  While most of the trees have been cleared we are still working on a small area that has proven to be quite difficult and we hope to get this cleared in the next several weeks.

The blooms haven't quite come out yet...it's been a really rough year weatherise (although the last few days have been GLORIOUS) and everything is taking it's own sweet time coming out of the ground but I'm hopeful that the colours will be abounding by the end of June.

Anyway, that's our story for now.  We look forward to meeting some you and hearing from you and I hope that you enjoy our blog.

Signing off for now,  Nikki

Just in case you were curious, this is what we look like!  The champagne is because we were on our way to France to celebrate David's 50th birthday this year!

The First Post

Hello everyone!  I thought it would be an interesting idea for those of you who have stayed here and for those of you yet to come, to see what we do here and what goes on at Newholme and in Stirling.  There's no better time than the present to begin posting as we are currently experiencing a 'Scottish heatwave' of sorts and there's lots going on!

Yesterday I managed to get the hanging baskets sorted and they are residing in the mini green house until they 'beautify' a bit.  Also, planted the sweet peas which will be fragrant and fantastic in a few months if the bunnies don't manage to get to them first!

For those of you who have been here before, you might remember seeing a fairly big bloke on a Saturday morning tooting around in the garden...that's Willie (whose real name is Billy) and he's been a gardener here at Newholme forever.  if you get into a conversation with him you'll realise that you won't be able to understand most of what he's saying...I've been here just over five years now and I thought I would be able to, at some point, decipher his thick Scottish brogue, but it hasn't happened yet.  Still love him and can't believe the amount of work he gets done in such a short period of time and I think he's nearing 70!  Willie has just dug up the veggie patch and I'm in discussions with the main man (my husband David) as to what we will be planting this year....my suggestions are courgettes, peppers, lots of herbs, onions ,garlic and squash of various sorts.  I think we're going to try the all year round garden planning and see how we manage!  With me quitting my job to work with David on the Links Club, we may not be able to afford groceries so here's hoping it goes well!

Until next time!  Nikki

The baskets...each one a different colour scheme.

The sweet peas...grow, grow, grow!!!

Part of the garden...beautiful day!

This is where I'm posting from.

The veggie plot newly turned over by Willie!  Thanks Willie!