Perthshire treasures, and the wedding draws near.
It’s July 3rd 1962 and Gran’s second, and much longed-for holiday in Scotland is about to begin. Her companion, Pauline Muirhead is not delayed, as Gran had feared; she is there at Euston when Gran, met first by Barry at Waterloo, arrives in time for their ten o’clock departure for Perth.
Once beyond Lancaster, she really feels that she is “in the north”, delighted by unfamiliar flowers such as Wood Cranesbill and Melancholy Thistle, seen by the railway line.

However, with Beattock Summit passed, she is less impressed with Scotland’s visible industry:
We stopped at Carstairs and Motherwell, passing Shield’s Colliery and others with the attendant hideous slag heaps, which are a blot on the countryside, though slightly improved when herbage covers them.
Beyond Coatbridge and Larbert, she has kinder things to say about the area in which I now live:
…the most beautiful scenery as we looked across at the Ochil Hills with the play of sunshine and cloud shadows upon them. We could see Wallace’s Monument, in which is his sword, commemorating the Battle of Bannockburn.
Stirling, Bridge of Allan and Dunblane are noted, and so are the “enormous heads” of streamside Giant Hogweed plants, still a health and ecological problem there today.
The following morning sees them travelling from the Station Hotel in Perth, by bus to Blairgowrie and Bridge of Cally, and from thence being driven by the bus driver himself in his own car, the five miles north to the Dalrulzion Hotel in Glenshee, where the two ladies are to spend a week. “The area is absolutely heavenly, with mountains all around”, writes Gran. On arrival, they at once begin to explore their immediate locality, Gran enthusing, “…to my joy, on the riverbank I found Globe Flower Trollius europaeus, which I had only seen from the train in 1959”.
Gran is struck by the contrasts with her familiar Hampshire: bleating sheep and lambs, the evocative evening calls of breeding Curlews, the extended day length and, she writes that evening, “It is cold up here, over seven hundred feet above sea level… and the hot water bottle which a very pleasant little Scots maid has just brought me, is very welcome”.

The pattern of most of her days in Scotland is set from the start; rising very early and painting flowers found the previous day until joining Pauline for breakfast, then taking a packed lunch for a day in the field, returning to their accommodation for tea before painting more flowers.
Botanising is easily her primary activity but Gran also notes birds she sees, being particularly pleased to see a Short-eared Owl hunting over the moorland near the hotel. A car arrives at eleven o’clock on their first full day, to take them to the Cairnwell via Spittal of Glenshee and negotiating the steep hairpin of the Devil’s Elbow. Today the A93 is somewhat “ironed out” and is a less exciting drive than in 1962, but it still gives impressive views. “One of the most magnificent roads in Britain”, Gran calls it.

She and Pauline are, each day of their stay, picked up by a car and driver and taken to different locations, mainly to botanise, but with the occasional visit to shops: to Braemar, “…where I bought a beautiful tartan rug for Jane and Stuart, a pullover for Barry and a Lindsay Tartan skirt for myself”; to Pitlochry via Strathardle, noting “verges full of flowers”; to the Pass of Killiecrankie; to Dunkeld, “where there are extensive raspberry farms from which, our driver told us, the fruit is now largely bought by Chivers and other jam-making firms”; and past “the five lochs”, Ray, Marlee, Clunie, Butterstone and the Lowes, the last, since 1971, as famous as Loch Garten for its nesting Ospreys.
July 11th:
At ten o’clock we bade farewell to Dalrulzion, where we have had a most happy and exciting week, and left, by car, for Aberfeldy. It was a beautiful drive along the winding road, with moorland on both sides and ahead, the purple, cloud-capped mountains and it was heaven to be driven through such glorious scenery at thirty miles an hour, without the continual hooting of impatient drivers behind us. There is so little traffic on these Highland roads…
Following their arrival at the Cruachan Hotel in Aberfeldy, they decide to walk to Keltneyburn, where there is an as yet undesignated Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve, which I looked after many years later, and where grows the rare Whorled Solomon’s-seal. The distance is too far for them to walk in the time available however, and they would have been unlikely to find the plant anyway, in its almost inaccessible gorge location. Deciding to turn back, and enquiring at a cottage en route, Gran writes:
A very sympathetic farm worker’s wife told us we had missed the last bus and Keltneyburn was still about a mile further on – we had already walked four and a half – but insisted on making us a cup of tea and told us her husband would run us back to Aberfeldy when he returned from the fields at five o’clock. This he did, and we were thankful, for, even fortified by the tea, we did not relish a walk of four and a half miles back again.
On the following day they visit the low ground at the foot of Ben Lawers to check access routes to the mountain, Gran’s main goal of the holiday, and are delighted to discover that a guided walk will take place there on the next Saturday. “I hope to go with them”, she says, telling us that she is “filled with joyful anticipation”. While wandering the lower slopes she spies a new bird for her list:
Looking over the peak of Beinn Ghlas, next to Lawers, I saw my first Golden Eagle soaring high above the summit, and was able to watch it for some time through my binoculars. It was a huge bird.
They return to Abefeldy by bus:
..through Fearnan, Fortingall and Weem, where, with the incongruity of the Highlands, we picked up our Conductress from the bus going in the opposite direction, ours having apparently come all the way from Killin without one! In Aberfeldy I bought a light plastic mackintosh in preparation for Saturday’s ascent into the clouds…
Not the kind of clothing to be recommended for protection from the weather on a Munro, even in Summer!
On July 13th we are given a charming description of an aspect of life in remote Scotland, long gone almost everywhere:
We spent an enjoyable and very unusual time, leaving at nine o’clock this morning and going in the mail bus to Glen Lyon. This small bus, with its kindly and genial Scots driver delivers the mail, the milk and sundry other parcels and packages to all the isolated farms and cottages up the glen, and had seats for six passengers. All along the road the people await their letters, newspapers and milk, or the driver gets out and leaves them in little boxes at the various gates, and on two occasions he just threw the newspapers, with amazing accuracy in passing, into farm gates.
The outward journey takes three hours, the driver stopping not only for the deliveries but also to show his passengers various scenic views, and also to wait at the Coshieville Hotel, as instructed, for two prospective passengers who ultimately decide not to take the bus. Gran enthuses about the great beauty of the “Lyon Pass and Glen…equal to anything we have yet seen in Scotland”; the “great peak of Schiehallion”, and at Fortingall, the “ancient Yew tree, which is said to be over 3000 years old, and is incontestably the most ancient specimen of vegetation in Europe”. On the return journey, the driver stops to collect letters from letterboxes and from people waiting by the roadside, and they are back in Aberfeldy by half-past three.
July 14th is the Big Day. Gran begins her entry:
I have climbed Ben Lawers and in so doing have achieved one of my life’s ambitions and found over thirty of the rare and beautiful plants for which the area is famous.

Pauline Muirhead clearly has other interests beyond botany: she takes a bus to Pitlochry and the theatre there, but Gran has a fabulous time with a group of like-minded naturalists on the mountain, her journal telling of each new wonder that she is shown, or finds for herself. She writes ecstatically:
We reached a height of 3,300 feet and I felt unable to tackle the last hundred feet to the summit over terribly steep inclines of sliding rock and schist, and how glad I was that I turned to a grassy area before starting the descent for I had my greatest triumph – I found for myself the glorious little Snow Gentian Gentiana nivalis of a heavenly deep blue and wide open, but even as we watched it and one lady tried frantically to photograph it, a drift of cold mist came up the corrie and it closed its petals in a few seconds.

Ben Lawers is only just under 4000 feet in height above sea level so Gran had more than one hundred feet to go to the summit, but, with the clothing and inappropriate footware she had, I think she did well, and she probably never reached a similar altitude again in her life. Of the descent, she says that it:
…was quite an experience, too, sliding and slipping on the schist and leaping like mountain goats from one boulder to another, and even the long grassy slope proved quite difficult with shoes whose soles had worn shiny with the climb.
Gaining the foot of the mountain, she adds, “It was six o’clock, and we had been climbing and finding our treasures for seven hours and never were seven hours more happily and profitably spent”.
The next four days are filled touring much of Perthshire and by the evening of the 18th they are back at the Station Hotel in Perth, ready for an early train to Edinburgh in the morning, “…reluctant on my part”, says Gran, “to say goodbye to Scotland after such happy days there”. They catch The Flying Scotsman from Edinburgh, taking a little less than six hours to reach Kings Cross, Gran recording that it was a “wonderful journey saving three hours on the other one”, meaning the previously taken route between Euston and Perth, but, she adds, “I would prefer the slower journey for its great beauty and interest, particularly the delightful climb through the mountains”.
Barry meets the two companions at Kings Cross, where Gran bids Pauline goodbye, and, just missing her connection for Winchester at Waterloo, Mother and Son have time to chat, Gran learning that Julian is now in the school quartet with his bassoon!
The day’s entry concludes with “I found a mountain of correspondence when I reached home, chiefly concerning Jane’s Wedding”.
On July 21st Gran rendezvous at Alton, with Barry who is leading an Alton Natural History Society field trip to the Selborne area. She finds one member of the group particularly interesting:
Miss Brooke, sister of the erstwhile Rajah of Sarawak, joined us and afterwards invited Barry, John Gunningham and me to have tea with her in Alton and then go to see the house into which she has just moved. She talked to us about her expeditions to Sarawak, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina in search of new plants for the British Museum, and told us of her plans for a new venture she is undertaking in spite of her seventy odd years. When Barry asked her how one sets out upon these adventures she said, “Oh! you just get on a boat or a plane!”
Barry spends the night with his mother, and on the following morning he spends time along the River before they both set off for the New Forest. It is Gran’s fifty-eighth birthday.
Over the next few days she is much concerned with the forthcoming wedding. Many presents for Jane and Stuart arrive at The Ridge; Gran has to “dash into town to arrange for the payment and delivery of Jane’s Doulton dinner and tea services which were ordered”, and the couple arrives at The Ridge to make various arrangements and to bring Gran back to Nottingham, where her help is needed. The evening of July 28th, Gran says:
…brought the pleasure of seeing the dress for Jane’s littlest bridesmaid, Stuart’s three-year old niece, Caroline: white sprigged nylon, ankle length and very dainty. We also collected my suit, which seems very suitable both to Jane’s wedding and to me!
“This afternoon”, she writes on the 29th, “I came to Nottingham to help the two youngsters get Jane’s property moved into the flat which they will occupy together after their wedding. She describes their journey together by car and is not particularly impressed by some of the scenery:
All the way the hedgerows were very beautiful with wild flowers, but it was strange how, after Banbury, one noticed the subtle change in the countryside. One would never be deluded into thinking one was still in the South – the Midlands have a character, or rather, lack of it, which is all their own.

Article series
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 1)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 2)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 3)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 4)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 5)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 6)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 7)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 8)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 9)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 10)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 11)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 12)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 13)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 14)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 15)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 16)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 17)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 18)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 19)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 20)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 21)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 22)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 23)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 24)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 25)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 26)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 27)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 28)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 29)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 30)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 31)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 32)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 33)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 34)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 35)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 36)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 37)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 38)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 39)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 40)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 41)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 42)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 43)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 44)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 45)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 46)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 47)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 48)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 49)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 50)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 51)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 52)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 53)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 54)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 55)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 56)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 57)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 58)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 59)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 60)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 61)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 62)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 63)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 64)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 65)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 66)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 67)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 68)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 69)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 70)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 71)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 72)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 73)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 74)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 75)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 76)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 77)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 78)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 79)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 80)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 81)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 82)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 83)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 84)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 85)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 86)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 87)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 88)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 89)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 90)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 91)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 92)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 93)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 94)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 95)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 96)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 97)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 98)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 99)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 100)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 101)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 102)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 103)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 104)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 105)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 106)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 107)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 108)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 109)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 110)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 111)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 112)
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