Last week we were living a Scottish Georgian dream.. A group of friends renting an amazing stately home just south of Glasgow... Auchinleck House. It is a very large grand affair with a large number of (usually - see later) cosy sitting rooms a very large general living room
It was only faux because the curtains were purely decorative but it was still lovely.
The whole house is stunning. In keeping with its history, the furniture - while standard Landmark trust is supplemented with nice wooden closets, fancy tables
and oil painted portraits pf unidentified often stern looking people.
and oil painted portraits pf unidentified often stern looking people.
Externally its a really imposing looking building with glorious carved stone work and at each corner there is a kind of gatehouse which all have fabulous ornemental cuppola type decoration... along with stone balls and huge stone urns.
We drove up through miserable weather but the first morning we woke up to sunshine... rather fresh wind but lovely open views and lots of sheep grazing. Kater on deer were spotted very close to the house! I decided to do nothing but a little sketching and reading. Other people wandered out locally - some to an interesting man made cave - others headed for the coast.
Sadly by teatime it all started to go downhill... we were unsure, but the heating seemed to have gone off! Was it on a timer - had someone inadvertantly switched it off... we shivered in the grand dining room. One of our party gave an interesting talk on the history of the house and its long association with the Boswell family but we were cold.... We consudered eating dinner in the grandeur ofcthe formaldining room but opted
to eat in the kitchen. Much cosier. Upstairs in the living room it was much chillier than the previous night but fortunately we had bought logs so we lit a fire.
In the morning it was cold! No radiators on at all... I rang the house keeper - she was very helpful but couldnt resolve the isue. She came to the house to try, but no joy. Most people had gone out but a couple of us were just hanging out enjoying the (cold) ambience of the house. Thetes nothing like getting stuck into a jigsaw - the only time I fall dpwn that particular rabbit hole is at Landmark Trust houses🤣🤣.
Turned out there had been a missed oil delivery ! No oil, no heat, no hot water! And one very embarrassed apologetic housekeeper - not her fault but non the less very inconvenient... but more importantly very little chance of the issue being sorted in the immediate future.
This came as an unpleasant shock to those muddy damp wanderers on their return when at best, there was only a luke warm shower to welcome them back.
Even the little mouse in our fire grate looked cold...
There was some moaning and a lot of deliberating, but basically it was what it was and we had to make do. The Landmark Trust provided us with a very generous amount of logs so we could light fires wherever.
The wednesday evening was going to be a banquet in the Grand dining room but it was impossible to get that room warm. We lit a smouldering fire but it wasn't touching the edges ofvthe vast room.
We ended up being in the kitchen with a kitchen disco domino session, lights action too much good food and a lot of competative laughing... we did manage to get the room warm with the cooking and an oil fired heater. It got quite cozy and after we had eatrn an enormous dinner some of us retured to the upstairs room. Known as Boswells Library - it had two fire places - one at each end so we lit both fires and eventually we got that quite warm too. But, I have to say it was pretty grim getting out of bed in the morning - stone steps and flags in a lot of the house🤣.
The building got colder and colder. There was nothing to be done... Apparently oil was eventually delivered but of course the boilers needed looking up before they could take the oil through because they've been drained to the very last. There was no chance of us feeling any heat or having any hot water during the rest of our stay.
We ended up being in the kitchen with a kitchen disco domino session, lights action too much good food and a lot of competative laughing... we did manage to get the room warm with the cooking and an oil fired heater. It got quite cozy and after we had eatrn an enormous dinner some of us retured to the upstairs room. Known as Boswells Library - it had two fire places - one at each end so we lit both fires and eventually we got that quite warm too. But, I have to say it was pretty grim getting out of bed in the morning - stone steps and flags in a lot of the house🤣.
It put a dampner on the week. Grand as the house was, other than the chilly bedrooms - we really were able to use two rooms. It was the first time we've done a landmark where it's been disappointing and it's just the way it happened.
We did however complete the ridiculous hard jigsaw... just in time and in spite of the chilly limitations we still managed to have a good time. Good company and an eclectic mix of cocktails can go a long way to enjoying life.
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