Patrick the gamekeeper is the most marvellous host, both professionally and privately. On a clear sunny day, having the job of looking after deer and pheasants and helping people to shoot them would seem to be an occupation made in heaven. Unfortunately, the weather is not always fine, and the animals don’t always cooperate. Patrick’s place of work is an estate of thousands of acres in the heather covered hills of the north east of Scotland. The customers are happy to be taken from the isolated narrow road to the home ground of the even more isolated deer and pheasants across country in a 4WD. We had the excitement of riding in a trailer towed behind Patrick’s Quad bike. The limit of oc health and safety in the trailer is padding made of old quilts, gaffer taped into recycled animal feed bags.

The pheasants are bred and raised in a number of predator proof pens in isolated high valleys. There are the squeamish who think it cruel to breed birds for sport. But at least they have better odds than the cattle or chickens that are bred for the table. As it was my birthday, Patrick was kind enough to let me drive the quad bike over the lumpy heather hillside. From a hide on a distant ridge we were able to view through binocs the rear end of a Roe deer. The perks of the gamekeeper seem to include a great shed, lots of firewood and the occasional meal of venison.

Once a month the community come together in the Glen Livet hall to enjoy making music in the old fashioned way. Tonight there are about 10 fiddles, 3 accordions, a clarinet, piano, drums, guitar and a tin whistle. Great dance music, but the only hint of actual dancing was the tapping of feet under the tables. There is poetry recital, story telling, A Capella singing and more. Three young ladies wore T shirts branding themselves “Blast from the past”. They all qualify for the OBE, and one of them has the real OBE. They sang a couple of lively brackets in broad dialect. The Clarinet player appearing in the video clip retired 15 years ago from being a heart surgeon.

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When Helen told her grandsons that we were going to the Braemar Highland Gathering, one of them asked her “Do you know, grandma, that in the olden days one of the competitions was to pull the leg off a sheep?” Grandma did not know that. But the suggestion was interesting enough to check our Mr. Google on the subject. From Google, there are to be found many bizarre variations on the theme, including, “The games feature events that have changed little since medieval times include lifting of heavy stone, throwing the hammer, and tossing of the caber. Lucky for us, the game of ‘twisting the four legs off a cow for which a fat sheep is offered as a prize no longer occurs in the more civilized programs of modern games.” Not a cow in sight, but, in the presence of the Queen, Princes Phillip and Charles, many large things were thrown impressive distances, highland flings were flung and the services teams contesting the tug-o-war turned the beautiful lawn into a mud bath.

The town of Knockando, as well as the compulsory distillery, has a wool mill. They are proud of their long history of weaving tweed fabric. There are two faces to the business. Modern high speed looms weave commercially viable tweed for rugs and clothing, and the ancient Dobcross looms which are still in use form the focus of a wool mill museum. The Dobcross looms in their day – mid 19^th century – were the work horses of the industry. Built before the days of planned obsolescence, they will never wear out. But for nearly a century have not been profitable to run. Following video clip compares the two styles.

The burning political issue all over the country is the impending referendum proposing independence for Scotland. Vote Yes for independence, No thanks, to stay part of the union. At time of writing the “Yes” voters were the more noticeable. A ’vote Yes’ banner even appeared in far away Pennan, which seems to have come into existence as a fishing village in the 18th century. Over the years, the native families have moved out and most of the houses have been bought as holiday homes. Pennan became famous in the 1980s for being used as one of the main locations for the film “Local Hero” and representing the fictional village of Ferness. Film enthusiasts have come from all over the world to make a phone call in the red telephone box which featured in the film. The phone box was in fact originally put there only as a prop for the film, and then removed, but as a result of public demand a genuine telephone box was installed a few feet from the original spot, and is now a listed building.

Pennan is a hundred miles from anywhere and the last place to expect haute cuisine, but at the Pennan Inn we were delighted.