Hello

Welcome to my ramblings from the farm in Perthshire

Hello!

For a while now my daughter has said to me that we really should film our lives on the farm as there is never a dull moment. I do however think that this genre has been brilliantly covered by Mr Clarkson and his farm but the similarities are there for sure. I can’t afford an Amazon film crew and nor would I want to put anyone through the mundaneness of my daily life as it generally involves pushing a wheel barrow around and picking up horse poo, walking the dogs and trying to keep up with my therapy work. However, I thought this might be a home for me to put down some of my ramblings in writing. There will no doubt be a mixture of humour and joy mixed in with sadness and confusion as I try to figure my way through.

I cannot say that I am a farmer or that I farm as I really am just the back up crew that holds open gates for the tractor or feeds the cows and deer when nobody else can do it. I leave the farming expertise to a lovely man called Alan who comes onto the farm a few days a week to keep an eye on what we are doing. He keeps my husband and father in law on the right track and it has all gone well so far!

I cannot really even say that I am an equestrian as my daughter is the star in this department. She is off at Hartpury University now with her horse and has left me with her lovely retired eventer called Freddie and my Highland pony called Brodie. I only ended up learning to ride about 7 years ago as I had watched so many lessons that I thought I could give it a go too. I was hooked and from then on horses have been fully part of my world.

I can say that I was born and bred in the West end of Glasgow and that 25 years ago I married the boy that I always loved which led me to settle in Perthshire. His family bought the farm a few years ago so we were lucky to be able to build our home here and it really does feel like home which is a relief and really lovely to feel settled at last.

I can also say that I retrained as a counsellor and this therapy side of life has been hard but rewarding. I am on a break from clients at the moment but will return in the Spring. I won’t bring the therapy ramblings onto Substack as there are plenty out there but thought that I would share some daily ramblings of my bumbling through life up here in Scotland.

The past few days have been a mixture of happiness, joy, sadness and pain. It really has been hard to imagine how the two extremes could have gone side by side but they did. I had my 50th birthday on Friday in Glasgow which was filled with friends, family, laughter and lots of champagne. This continued back at the top of the hill on the farm the next day with mum and dad (more champagne) which was fun followed by watching Scotland getting beaten by England at the rugby - not fun.

However, our hearts broke on Monday as Freddie, our beloved horse who did so much with Daisy was put to sleep. We knew the time would come but not so soon. The lump I had in my throat is still here as well as the pain in my broken heart. He has not been quite right since December so we were referred to the Vet hospital in Edinburgh. They could not have been more lovely, efficient and professional especially as they had bad news for us with the diagnosis. We gave him the best life we could have and the best send off. I talked to him as he drifted off and kissed his nose so he knew he was loved. A rainbow then appeared which was perfect. After he was buried we took a bottle of single malt over to his grave to toast him and the red arrows flew overhead. It really was the best send off for the best boy.

I guess I will finish off this post by saying thank you for reading to the end. My gift to you is to remember to believe in love. Freddie was so loved. He was loved by everyone who knew him and we know he loved his life with us too. Live each day the best that you can and keep looking forward xx