Attadale and Balmacara

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Attadale House and Gardens

The fourth day of our highland holiday in July dawned dull and damp. We’d spotted Attadale Gardens on our way to Applecross a few days earlier and thought, optimistically, that if we pottered around there for the morning, we might be lucky with a brighter afternoon (spoiler: we weren’t). However, the gardens, including a sculpture trail, were well worth a visit, rain or shine. First, a few house and garden shots (the house is private, so you can’t tour inside).

Then the sculptures – there were 19 in total, so I haven’t included them all! These images are captioned with title and sculptor, so hover over, or enlarge, them if you are interested.

Crowned Eagle by Rosie Sturgis, bronze 2001.
Owl by Rosie Sturgis, bronze resin, 2017.
Cheetah by Hamish Macke (bronze)
Roe Deer by Hamish Mackie, bronze, 2013.
Chameleon by Alex Jones, bronze 2004.
Wild boar, bronze, unknown, Thailand.
Urn, mixed slate, Joe Smith.
Obelisk by Joe Smith, Caithness slate, 2002.
Reclining figure by Geoffrey Armstrong, Clipsham stone 1972.
Giant sundial, slate

Finally – there was a tea room, The Old Larder. We had a hot drink when we arrived and sandwiches for lunch before we left: all very good, serve-yourself with an honesty box. And it was warm! We didn’t bother with the outside seating shown below.

Attadale tearoom
Attadale tearoom

So what to do next? It was raining harder than ever, so we thought we maybe wouldn’t get so wet under trees on a forest walk. I told you we were optimists, so we drove on to Balmacara.

The little settlement at Balmacara Square is a mixture of old estate buildings and newer houses, and now belongs to the National Trust for Scotland which carried out substantial renovations. It was good weather for the ducks!

Balmacara Square
Balmacara Square
Balmacara Square

The circular woodland walk we intended to follow from Balmacara was, we discovered, closed for logging about half way round. Our alternative route was, I suspect, a lot longer and we were soaked by the end of it. Good weather for frogs (or are they toads?) as well as ducks, not so good for us – but we’re still smiling! Just.

Balmacara forest walk
Balmacara Burn
Frogs / toads?
Balmacara forest walk
Balmacara forest walk

This was a day when we were particularly glad to be staying in an apartment rather than a hotel. Our clothes went straight in the washing machine when we got back and dried out overnight. Would we have better weather the next day? I still wanted to get to Skye …

Scotland, UK ,

75 Comments »

  1. I admire your determination to walk rain or shine. We are having very wet, windy weather here right now, and I have to really push myself to get out for my daily walk.

    By the way, we have a lily pond in our backyard, and it blooms from June through to August. I love to spend time gazing at it.

    Jude

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  2. I came here for the smiles from you and John and was treated to so much more. The house, the plant-life, the sculptures, The square, the forest trails, and even that cute little frogs are all so very inviting. I can’t wait to wander with you someday when I find myself in your neck of the wood.

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  6. it’s amazing what weather you will put up with when on holiday! At home you simply stay put. But really the only thing that puts me off in the rain is the fact my camera is not waterproof! And rain is always a good excuse to visit a tea-room 🙂

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  7. My favourite sculptures are the wild boar and the eagle – he looks pleasingly fierce. That looks more like a toad to me, though I’m going mainly by the bumpiness of his skin, as frogs tend to be smoother. I’m a huge fan of amphibians, but I’m certainly no expert at identifying them!

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  11. Shame about the weather but the gardens and walks look really good. Love the Old Larder and an honesty box is brilliant. Wouldn’t work in a lot of places would it?

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  12. The gardens look beautiful. I must confess walking is losing its charm here due to the high winds we’ve been afflicted with for about two weeks now, winds that have destroyed all the colourful plants (and roses) that were still blooming. All blown away and scattered to the 4 corners. I do like walking in the rain, something I’ve always enjoyed, but I have to know that I’ll be coming home soon to warmth and fire.

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  13. What beautiful gardens, rain or shine. I love the sculptures, especially the owl, the urn, and the chameleon. The weather does seem to be such a challenge so much of the time there in Glasgow! I think it would dampen my spirits, but you always seem to be upbeat about it and make the best of it. 🙂

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  16. In spite of the rain your day does look gorgeous. I would have definitely loved the sculpture trail. Impressive shots of the 🐸 or toads. I can’t tell the difference either! X

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  18. A shame it was so wet for you, I don’t think I would have ventured out in that at all. The wild boar looks quite fierce though the little roe deer looks quite sweet so that’s my favourite 🙂

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  24. Seems like you managed to make the best of it despite the weather. All it really takes is the right clothing and attitude! I’d say you have one toad and one frog there.

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  25. I was saying ooh to the pictures of the garden even before we got to the sculptures. Shame the rain got you down – I can see by Mr M’s shoulders how much hes hating it!

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    • Thanks Kate, I had to check what I’d written! I’ve edited the text now to make it clearer that Attadale and Balmacara (which is NTS) are different places. I had a look at your post, your pictures are lovely and green, definitely a result of lots of rain.

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  27. You are very hardy people… not certain I would have done as much as you did under such heavy rain. I might have decided to get a good book and go read in the apartment. Good for you though as it still looks like you had a great day. (Suzanne)

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  30. Lovely photographs. An interesting garden and I thought the sculptures were very different. Do you realise that when you are sitting in an area that has a temperature of about 367c photographs of people walking in the rain,are really quite refreshing. However, I find it strange that the garden is under the care of the National Trust, but the house is private..Odd, I thought.

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