Thursday 19 August 2010

Ponies and pansies











The Tarland show has something for everyone; prize-winning ponies in the morning (as well as an excellent homemade cake and jam stall; I snaffled lemon drizzle cake, and three different kinds of jam -- gooseberry, blackcurrant and raspberry). Then in the afternoon, the spectacular Tarland flower show in the MacRobert hall. The sweetpeas were prettier than a picture, the vegetables magnificent, and the home-baked gypsy creams as good as they get. Who could ask for anything more?

7 comments:

Cornflower said...

Our children once christened Tarland "Tedious Tarland" when, on a family holiday in the area, certain members of the party spent too long on the golf course there and the rest of us had to hang around waiting for them. If only the show had been on that day, we'd all have had great fun! It is a lovely part of the world and not 'tedious' at all.

Lilacs said...

I am chartreuse with envy, I love those kind of shows, and it looks like you are having great weather.

jaywalker said...

Hello Justine. Have just returned to Oz from 2 months in the UK and US and Canada and your cheery photos have brightened the very dull day here after so many weeks of warmth and sunshine. It was 103 in new York - much too hot but we saw a wonderful production of South Pacific at the Met and ate in a wonderful little Italian restaurant on 9th Avenue so it was worth it.
We had a week in London and stayed as usual near Russell Square where I always do my walk past the Gordon Square Woolf house and the Tavistock Dickens' plaque. We also rented a house in Deal for 2 weeks and found ourselves having coffee in Dover at the corner cafe where David Copperfield ate his loaf of bread before looking for Aunt Betsy. So that led us to visit Broadstairs where we found the museum located in the real "Aunt Trotter"'s house. The Kent seaside towns are still wonderfully stuck in the 50s seaside holiday atmosphere - we watched a seafront parade of coastal Regatta Queens on their decorated floats that could have come straight from a 50s newsreel. We also managed a day at Knole - I had been before but my other half hadn't and was suitably impressed. You can really feel Vita as a child there, not being allowed to touch the valuable historical artifacts even though it was her home. Ater all that it was two weeks in the US and Canada plus a week on the Rhine, so we are now recovering in order to come again next year! Thanks again for the lovely photos and the descriptions of your household chores which also gave me a smile. I love "chucking out", it makes me feel free of stuff
and unlumbered with the past. Quite the opposite of my partner who is a hoarder.

Anonymous said...

I was so excited when I was asked to judge the children's tent at Cortachy Highland Games.Such fun. I gave this the overall prize.
http://twitpic.com/2f1rhj
Miss Whistle's blog has lovely pictures not unlike yours. I love Scotland in August. http://misswhistle.blogspot.com/

Miss Whistle said...

Oh this is wonderful. Fi is right -- so like Cortachy.

Thank you for posting.

enid said...

Just returned from France and I loved the markets full of fresh produce and flowers. Your photos are great and very uplifting.

Justine Picardie said...

Thanks for all the lovely comments, which have led me in lots of different directions -- from Bloomsbury Square to Cortachy Castle, Mrs Dalloway to Miss Whistle.