Today, I have ben preoccupied in researching a Scotland gardens tour including Greenbank, Benmore, Inveraray, Crarae, Arduaine, An Cala, Abriachan, Cawdor Castle, Explorers, Branklyn and Bell's Cherrybank. This will be undertaken over four days. Have also been working on a golf tour for 2011.

Image above was taken at Grantown-on-Spey a few days ago. Unusual to see pheasant and duck feeding together.

Posted information on White family history to my separate GlasgowAncestry blog.

Weather in Glasgow is cold with a hint of snow. Far worse conditions elsewhere in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Labels: Gardens

posted by Nigel Cole @ 7:38 AM  0 comments

This evening, my theme is Macallan Scotch Whisky which has been distilled on Speyside since 1824.

Macallan is positioned at the top end of the market and promoted as a 'luxury' brand. Water is sourced below ground from boreholes and the malted barley is lightly peated. To accommodate demand a former 'mothballed' section of the distillery has been brought back into use and adapted to latest technology. Macallan is noted for its small, onion shaped stills. The oak casks for maturation are critically important and here Macallan works in close cooperation with the Spanish Government which controls the oak forests from which casks are made in which oloroso sherry is first matured before being recycled into the whisky industry.

The visitor centre is very well presented with latest visual aids to help understanding of the whisky making process. Unfortunately, photography inside the distillery is very restricted.

Here is an image of snow capped Ben Rinnes taken from the distillery.

Barrel making exhibition at the Visitor Centre.

Another view from the distillery.

Elsewhere today, I have been very busy with tour enquiries covering:

• Isle of Skye
• Hadrian's Wall
• Scottish Gardens
• Ireland
• Self-Drive tours
  

Also, posted information to my separate GlasgowAncestry blog on Arthur White who died in
1796.

Weather in Glasgow has deteriorated with low temperatures and snow. Worse to come over the next 24 hours! May have to reconfigure upcoming private tour.

Labels: Whisky

posted by Nigel Cole @ 12:18 PM  0 comments

This evening, my theme is Glenfarclas whisky distillery which sits on open farmland beneath Ben Rinnes. This distillery was originally founded in 1836 and has remained independent under ownership of the J&G Grant family.

Key feature of this distillery is the six, very large direct pot stills and use of outside condensers. The whisky is matured in, predominantly, sherry casks and matured for 10, 12, 21, 25 and 30 years. The malt is very lightly peated.

An interesting aspect of this distillery is the black mould-covered walls of the warehouses. The mould is a form of lichen which thrives on then whisky fumes.

This distillery is open to the public and offers good value tours.

Elsewhere today:

• I have been extremely busy working on a wide range of tours including garden themed, whisky and ancestry.
• I have posted information on Curtis genealogy to my separate GlasgowAncestry blog.
• Weather here in Glasgow has edged back toward winter with cold temperatures and some rain. Apparently worse is to come!
  

Labels: Whisky

posted by Nigel Cole @ 3:01 PM  0 comments

This morning I went off to Pollock Park, Glasgow to view and photograph a rare calf known as a silver dunn. The animal about 1 month old now. He is part of a family of Highland Cows called 'Chorrach'. The calf is unusual because of its silver colour. His mother is yellow and father pure red. The following two images show the calf, which seemed a little nervous notwithstanding which I managed to obtain the images.


This could be the mother.

Here is a typical, red coloured, mother and calf which form part of the same herd.


Elsewhere today:

• I am currently occupied with new tour enquiries including a gardens tour of Scotland and a Sinclair Clan themed tour.
• Will be posting information to my separate Glasgow Ancestry blog information on Jamieson from a very old burial ground in Glasgow.
• Weather in Glasgow is dry but on the cool side.
  

Labels: highland cattle

posted by Nigel Cole @ 4:49 AM  0 comments

This evening, my focus is on the small town of Aberlour (full name Charlestown of Aberlour) which sits on the banks of the River Spey between Inverness and Aberdeen in the north of Scotland.

Aberlour is famous for two products: whisky and shortbread. There are some 50 whisky distilleries within a 15 mile radius of the town and Walkers have a major plant in the town producing the famous shortbread. The town has its own Aberlour Distillery.

Here is the Aberlour Hotel

Aberlour Church and War Memorial

Main Street, Aberlour


River Spey at Aberlour. Famous for salmon fishing.


Overall, a pleasant enough small country town. A useful stop when touring the whisky distilleries.

Labels: Speyside

posted by Nigel Cole @ 2:23 PM  0 comments

Today, was the third and final day of our Speyside whisky themed tour.

First stop, by way of variety, was the ruins of Drumin Castle via a tour taking in Speyside scenery and the River Avon. Around the castle ruins was a good display of seasonal snowdrops. We also took pics of Highland Cattle in a nearby field.

Unfortunately, this visit took longer than planned but, fortunately, our first distillery, Glenfarclas, were able to accommodate our late arrival and we went on to avail of the standard distillery tour with some other visitors. Glenfarclas is family owned and very independent. A surprisingly large production capacity for a private distillery.

Next we went to Aberlour for some lunch and shopping. This is a nice enough town on the banks of the Spey.

Our final call of the day was Macallan, part of the Edrington Group. To accommodate extra demand Macallan has brought back into production a formerly mothballed section of the distillery with updated technology. New warehouses have also been built. Macallan is positioned at the top end of the market and sees itself as one of the finest malts on Speyside. The visitor experience (as manifested in the various aids to understanding the whisky making process) is one of the best I have encountered. Macallan malts are shown below.

After the Macallan tour we said farewell to glorious Speyside and started the long trek south back to Glasgow thereby concluding a whisky tour comprising 7 distilleries in 3 days.

Drumin Castle

Washbacks at Glenfarclas

View from Macallan-Ben Rinnes (2759ft.)

Labels: Whisky

posted by Nigel Cole @ 2:44 PM  0 comments

This evening, I am collating today's whiskey tour activities.

After a leisurely breakfast at our Grantown on Spey Guest House we drove about 30 mins north to Aberlour Distillery where we availed of an excellent two hour plus tasting tour with genial host, Julian.Image below shows guests filling own bottle of Aberlour single malt for purchase. A notable feature of this distillery is the blackened trees and vegetation close to the distillery which is attributable to a non-lethal fungus growing on the branches which in turn feeds on the alcohol fumes.
After leaving Aberlour we drove to nearby Glenfiddich Distillery. Firstly, we availed of a spot of lunch at the distillery restaurant and then joined the 2.15 Connoisseurs Tour which lasted about two hours and culminated in a tasting of Glenfiddich's principal single malts. This was a quality experience.

Next we drove to nearby Craigellachie Hotel to visit the famous Whiskey Bar which boasts about 700 single malts daring from as far back as 1919!

After a few samples at Craigellachie we drove back to Grantown for an evening meal and our lodgings for the night.

Stills at Glenfiddich

Labels: Whisky

posted by Nigel Cole @ 1:25 PM  0 comments

This evening, I am summarising today's whiskey themed tour.

Starting from Glasgow we first drove to Auchentoshan, a Lowland ( triple distillation) category distillery where we availed of a tour exclusive to our group.The guide (see image below) talked us through the entire process from malting and mashing through to fermentation and distillation. The distillery was in full production which added an extra dimension-including noise! A good tour rounded off with samples of the Auchentoshan single malt.

Next we drove north to Blackford in Perthshire where we had a spot of lunch and then joined the 1.00pm tour of Tullibardine Distillery. This is a Highland category distillery (double distillation) which dates from 1949, albeit on a site used for brewing for about 800 years. Again distillery was in full production with associated noise, steam and odours. Another competent tour guide with tour rounded off with usual sample.

After Tullibardine we were off again, this time to Edradour at Pitlochry in central Scotland.This is Scotland's smallest distillery under ownership of a businessman who specialises in rare and unusual whiskies. Again, we had benefit of a private tour which proved of good quality. After some purchases in the shop we headed north up the A9 to Grantown on Spey to our lodgings for the night at An Cala Guest House.

Guests availed of evening meal at Craggan Mill restaurant which is renowned for its whiskey themed meals.

Overall, a successful day, notwithstanding the mixed weather. Snow still on the mountain tops in the Highlands.

Inspecting the Mash Tun at Tullibardine


Inspecting the washbacks at Auchentoshan

Learning about the distillation process at Auchentoshan

Labels: Whisky

posted by Nigel Cole @ 1:20 PM  0 comments

Labels: holmwood house

posted by Nigel Cole @ 1:41 PM  0 comments

This afternoon, benefiting from some Spring sunshine, I went off to Pollock House to find more signs of emerging Spring.

Pollock House is an 18th century Palladian Mansion built for the Maxwell family who occupied the site via a succession of castles and grand houses, from the 13th century through to the 21 century. Today, I explored the woodlands and walled garden dating from 1741 which are heavily dominated by Rhododendron, a shrub which is not native to Scotland.

Sir John Stirling Maxwell (1866-1956) had a great impact of the Pollock House gardens. He was an expert horticulturist and a keen collector of new and exotic plants from around the world. The many beautiful trees at Pollock are a legacy of Sir John.

This image shows some early Rhododendron flowers.

I was pleased to find some early daffodils. This species has been held back by the extreme winter 2009-2010.

This is the 250 year old Pollock Beech located on site of the former castle.



Woodland crocus

Rhododendron

Daffodils
Polyanthus
Overall, an interesting and successful trip with lost of emerging Spring colours in evidence.

Labels: Glasgow Pollock

posted by Nigel Cole @ 9:20 AM  0 comments

After last night's exertions ( Ceilidh) I decided to take a bit of gentle exercise and cycle round to nearby Greenbank House which is a heritage building dating from the 18th century and well known for its elaborate and extensive garden. At time of my last visit, on March 5th, the garden was still blanketed in snow and ice with only the most tenuous hints of Spring. However, today I found the situation transformed. There was not exactly a riot of colour but definite signs of life-as manifested in the images below. Another week or so should see much more color, particularly daffodils and narcissus for which this garden is particularly well known.

The image at the top shows Greenbank House with some visitors having fun throwing a Frisbee around in the afternoon sunshine.

This is a narcissus- 'Miss Muffet'

I am not sure what of the official name for these white bells.

Presume this solitary flower to be a crocus.

Another narcissus-'Spring Dawn'


This was a surprise. A rose poking through intense vegetation of a yew or privet like shrub.


An unusual narcissus- 'Beryl'


Snowdrops
More snowdrops.

Crocus
Quite a pleasant sojourn this afternoon. The garden is very peaceful yet just a few miles from the hurly-burly of Glasgow City. A quiet place for contemplation!

Labels: greenbank

posted by Nigel Cole @ 9:35 AM  0 comments

This evening, I attended a community evening at Neilston, a small town about 10 miles from Glasgow. The event was centred around energy saving and reducing the carbon footprint. During the evening, the community benefited from entertainment including a group of 'exotic' drummers, the local Neilston & District Pipe Band and a Ceilidh Band.

Image below shows the drummers in action.

Pipe Band
Drummers
The following two images shows the locals on a group march around the town with (battery powered) lanterns.

Pipe Band in action
Ceilidh Band in full flow.
Specialist Irish Dancer in action.

This proved an enjoyable evening with the Ceilidh attended by some 200 persons- a very successful and well organised event.

Labels: Ceilidh

posted by Nigel Cole @ 4:26 PM  0 comments