#RoofSquares 2-8: Ayrshire edition

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Squares 2-6: Darvel and Galston

The recent Bank Holiday Monday was, as we say, scorchio. This is unusual for Scotland – more often than not, a holiday is greeted by a downpour. We took advantage of the weather to head down to Ayrshire to do a couple of easy walks near the small towns of Darvel and Galston. There were meadows and forests aplenty, but I’d already decided to take part in Becky’s #RoofSquares challenge for June (though posting weekly rather than daily) so that’s what I was looking out for. (The roofs don’t have to be square, but the images must be!)

At the top of the post is John’s shot of the roofs of Darvel as we climbed up and out of the Irvine Valley. Below are a couple of houses we passed on the way. From a distance, I thought the first was a barn but on closer inspection it’s a newly-built house with a barn-style roof.

Not roofs, I know, but on this part of the walk we met some very cute pigs and cows! Can’t resist sharing.

After lunch, we did another walk from Galston which took us to a viewpoint where we could see as far as Arran (hazily). However, the roofs which caught my eye were in town: Barr Castle (flat but decorative underneath) and the local Catholic Church (amazing round turret, and I like the row of dormer windows too). These shots are both from my iPhone. I do contribute pictures occasionally, it’s not all John!

Roof Squares 7-8: Small Animal Hospital

I didn’t have quite enough photos from Ayrshire for a full week of square roofs, so to finish here are a couple of an unusual roof structure nearer home. The Small Animal Hospital is part of Glasgow University’s Vet School at Garscube Estate, and has a turf roof which you can walk right over.

We did just that! From the top we could see back to the glass part of the roof shown above on the right. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Now to hunt out seven more roofs for next Friday …

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55 Comments »

  1. Near where I live, there is a specialty grocery store that has a grass roof. To make it even more interesting, they tether their goats on the roof. It is quite the tourist attraction!

    Jude

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  3. Love the pictures of the mother pig and her piglets plus the friendly cows! The weather looks gorgeous – the blue skies are reminiscent of the ones here in Perth (not so much at present however we are in winter!) 🙂

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  9. Never underestimate the cell phone camera. Most are very good indeed. I love the piglets just enjoying their day there at mama and I must say to live where you are is just beautiful. Something out of a fairy tale! I love it!

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  10. I think the photos you took with your iPhone look pretty amazing. It almost goes without saying that I’m going to love anything with turrets, but the Barr Castle is quite unusual with those rounded corners. I like!!

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  11. I love the first photo! Excellent shot of the roof steeple and the town through the trees. There are many fancy roofs and that barn house…not sure I like that style for a house. The warthogs are cute and the little ones look hungry. The last photos…are you standing on their roof? Very cool how they incorporated the land.

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  12. Hi Anabel – it looks like there’s something climbing on the first roof … but lots of wonderful country views … love the pig! My favourite … and what fun the vet school is … great to be able to walk up on the roof … lovely – cheers Hilary

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  14. I am greatly enjoying this new weekly feature, Anabel. I was also glad to finally realize that the roofs photographed did not need to be square, only the picture did. I had been looking hard to find actual ‘roof squares’ in your photos! 🙂
    Happy hunting!

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  15. Some nice images. Love the piglets one. I was down that way last summer, ( Darvel and Galston area), to explore the abandoned theme park and rides before they were dismantled but as it was private land we were on I never posted it but that surrounding Irvine valley looked promising for local walks.

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  16. I enjoy that you take on various little challenges and make them your own, Anabel. I like your Catholic Church shot. It not only shows the church as having prominence in the area, but it shows off that cloudless blue sky. There were only two days of rain the entire month I spent in Scotland as a child. Maybe that’s what is going to happen for you this year. Fingers crossed.

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    • Thanks Karen, the church is my favourite shot too – i’d originally taken the roof from further up the hill looking down, but when we turned the corner and saw the row of houses I knew that would be a better angle. I like challenges if I can subvert them slightly to fit my own agenda! In this case, I would have written about the walk anyway and it was nice to do it in a different way for a change. As for the weather, you were very lucky! Though it’s still holding up at the moment (bar the odd thunderstorm).

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  18. Yes, do enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. Too bad we don’t have your rain – could really use it right now! (Looks like Bryce Canyon in your header photo there.)

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    • There were loads of them, the estate we were walking through had a huge forested section fenced off for them. We were lucky they were all sunning themselves near the fence.
      These were the only wee ones, though a collection of grumpy looking adolescents lay off to one side.

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  24. Great Post. Isn’t that the Vet Hospital that John Barrowman did the Small Animal Hospital TV Pro gramme from a couple of years ago? It looks very familiar..

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