This morning, I again ventured off on my bike in a quest for signs of emerging Spring. This time I chose Holmwood House in Cathcart, Glasgow. Unfortunately ( and somewhat unusually for a Victoria grand house) the garden is mainly lawn with only a handful of emerging daffodils and the like. On the plus side it was nice to admire the architecture which was possibly the finest domestic design by Alexander 'Greek' Thomson, Glasgow's greatest Victorian era architect.

Holmwood House dates from 1857-8 and was a mansion with a dual purpose. It was a high status family house combined with a showroom with aim of impressing potential clients of the paper mill owner. The actual paper mill was just a few hundred feet away, powered by the White Cart (river).

Holmwood House is a heritage property open to the public. Inside visitors can view restoration work in progress on Thomson's rich neo-classical ornamentation and decoration.

Elsewhere today, I have been working on the planning of various Scotland tours and responding to tour enquiries from around the world. Posted information on a memorial stone dating from 1796 to my GlasgowAncestry blog.