I am in Scotland. Working on a woodlands farm. Which has a castle, sheep, horses, cattle, and is on the sea. I'm basically in my dream come true.
Everywhere you look are incredible views. There's not a direction you can look and think, "eh, I guess that field/mountain/stream/bay is alright, I'm not too impressed." NO! Each new perspective takes your breath away.
The farm is called Skipness Woodlands and is on the Isle of Kintyre. Rupert and Anouk live here, where their family owns the estate of Skipness, which is about 100 hectares; a staggering amount of land for this area. The woodlands is being rebuilt by Rupert, to increase the diversity to benefit the ecosystem and also to create more economical trees (furniture and the like). I had to take a three hour bus ride from Glasgow to reach the town of Tarbert, and then we drove about a half hour out to this village. Only about twelve permanent residents... Yeah, it's tiny.
The first day, we walked to the top of their mountain to see Aaron island, and the gull of Kintyre. It was a trek through overgrown ferns, Victorian landscaped stairs, and over little unpolluted streams.
Everything is so beautiful, I have to stop myself from grinning when I remember it's in Scotland too. How crazy is that!
After the inspirational jaunt through the wood, we got down to business clearing and burning rhododendron.
This stuff is taking over the forest, and for new trees to thrive it all has to be cut back. So we did that for about six hours.. It was a tough first day. But today was nice and relaxing; I cut firewood, scraped windows and walked down to the sea. Dingo hung out with me all day and we had a great time.
Lots more to come, including hanging out with sheep, other wwoofers arriving, hopefully horseback riding, and collecting lobster pots.
I'm off to go out and eat the world!
Found some Kraft Mac and cheese in London to eat here. THE BEST
You sure are building character across the pond!!
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