Cee Dee - for you

[rainydaywoman11]

I don't want to trample all over CB's eejit pheasant thread.

My interest in all of this started in 2011.  We were supposed to fly to the US 2 days later. Well that didn't happen.  So, since the weather was so glorious and my husband is determined that I see the beauty of the lochs and the mountains of my own country - Loch Ness scares me witless - terrified of vast expanses of fresh water - don't know why.  The mountains of the Great Glen frighten me to death, because all I can think about is dead people.  OH is not eeerm, let's say, very sensitive to that sort of thing.

Anyway, I did enjoy it and I saw lots and lots of places of special interest.  Do you know about Croick Church?, built by Telford and where the church sheltered the villagers driven from their homes by the Highland Clearances. Spooky.

So we get to the Black Isle and OH is looking for lunch, always happiest eating, when I saw this, what had been, entrance and the remains of a stone wall.  It was Rosehaugh - A House of It's Time (name of the book) - gone.  Apparently it was amazing and the landowner took great care of his workers, tenants and his servants all from the village of Avoch.  It had lakes, a waterfall, swimming pool, smithy, slaughterhouse, workers hut, power house and all the bits you mention.  I so wish I had seen it in it's heyday.  OH thinks I'm nuts but I swear you could feel all those people from years before, it felt like a happy place.

So I am on the big river - look up the book - hundreds they're selling it for.  Guy in the US wants over £500 - why????  It's on here for £45 or make me an offer. lol.

Thank you for the link, it is on my favourites now and I had a bit of fun looking up Cumbria, a place I love.

[aernethril]

Just wanted to say that large expanses of fresh water have the same affect on me too - no explanation for it.

When I've been driving around the country and come over a hill and faced with a vast lake or reservior, I'd nearly freek and sometimes had to turn around and go another way!

I also found myself having a very nervy moment a long time ago in the Alps - suddenly felt very threatened by the whole place.  One or two places in Cumbria have a similar effect but not as bad.

Would love to be able to just pack up a car and take meself off journeying around the country like I used to do.  So much I've not seen.

[cee-dee]

I'll BBS to comment, watching TV.

[wskneil]

If you fancy a visit to Wentworth Carol it's only a few miles down the road from us!

[cee-dee]

I've been to some of the places in that link. It's sad, but there's no future for houses of that size. There's only so many hotels/golf courses (has golf peaked now?) that can be supported so just what would you do with those houses if they were still there?

I've been to other houses where the original houses (mansions really) have been demolished and now the family occupy a large house made out of what was the stable block. Lots of those houses had stables built in the same style as the house and were of super quality and design.

One such place had a large archway through the stables in to the stable yard and when they made the stables in to a house, that archway is now a huge window on both sides.

That house also retains the building where game was kept. It's partly underground and is sort of egg-shaped. It still has the hooks where the game was hung.

Grand houses usually had lakes and with them went the Ice House where ice would be stored after being taken from the lake in Winter. One such house stands on high ground overlooking that lovely pool (which I mentioned on the Pheasant thread) and most oddly, the Ice House is several hundred yards from the house (which has been reduced in size from its original grandeur).

Sometimes grand houses were built on the site of a previous house or an old house completely remodeled. Also, some grand houses were built using stonework taken from old castles, even a huge Monastery or Abbey which had been dissolved by Henry V111.

One not far from here had been built from stone taken from an old Castle which had literally been used as a convenient quarry. That house was torn down in the '60s (lots of the materials were sold off) and a most frightful looking house built in it's place but that has now been remodeled (thankfully) to a bit more tasteful style.

[fishpieface]

Sorry Cee-Dee & Rainy, I am very nosey but this is very interesting.

Near to us there is an old mansion that burnt out many years ago and is now just a shell.

It always fascinated me - I used to drive a bus route past it - eventually I asked in a local

bookshop about any information they might have.  They gave me some leaflets which outlined

its history and how, even about 100 years ago, it was just left after the fire as it was too costly

to rebuild.

I find stuff like this fascinating, sometimes eerie too as you imagine what went on in the past.

As to water, I love it and love outdoor swimming, however, I don't like swimming in water that

I don't know the depth of, like very, very deep water.  I'd happily swim at the edge of a loch,

river or sea, but don't like the middle bits.  No idea why, as to swim you only need the top

couple of feet, but it's just a bit un-nerving knowing it's very deep.   I don't mind if I'm in a boat

or something though.

[cee-dee]

Did you see post #15 on the Pheasant thread?:-

http://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Family-Home-and-Garden/will-ya-look-at-this-guy/m-p/4158771#M166928

[wskneil]

When we lived in Cruden Bay, we often used to walk up to Slains Castle. The roof had been removed in the 1920s to avoid taxes and slowly fell apart. A lot of stone reappeared as local houses. Went up to show Jan were we used to live some years ago and it was surrounded by a 6ft high chain link fence to keep people out as it was going to be "redeveloped" as a luxury appartment development complex thing, As we walked down we found that someone had cut the lock off the chain holding the gates closed so we went in and found local families, exploring and picnicing as they always had. Asked one familyabout the gates and found out that everytime a new chain appeared on the gates, someone would take the boltcutters to them!
Oh and it's Draculas Castle.... honest!

As it is now

And as it was in it's prime

[cee-dee]

If you really want to break your heart, just have a look at the link below. I was first there when it was absolutely derelict and bits were being sold off, fortunately stopped just before the fountains went.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witley_Court

[fishpieface]

Wow Wskneil, that's a bit close to the edge isn't it?!

Very sad isn't it Cee-Dee that the value, not necessarily monetary, of some of these great properties has not been realised until too late.  The value to society more than monetary I'm talking about - once gone, it's gone forever or gone to such a degree that it

really is financially un-viable to restore.