Work continues on the site of Cuckoo Lodge, one of two new five-star properties under construction

Summer seems to have arrived, and we have been really enjoying the lovely weather over the last month. Colin and I have even had to do a fair amount of watering the plants and flowers which are bringing some beautiful colour to the estate. The barbecues have been seeing heavy use, and the midges have been kind enough not to come out in force. It is a good start to the summer and we have our fingers crossed it continues as the season progresses.

News from the Estate

One of the most exciting things happening is the hive of activity where the two new 5 star lodges are to be built, with all the ground works now being completed, and the land now settling ahead of putting up the properties. It is the fun stage now as we look at the fixtures and fittings and design options to go into what we are sure will be very special lodges.

Curlew has also been getting much attention, with a complete refurbishment upstairs and down.
The new visitor’s centre is almost complete, with only a few finishing touches needed inside. We have had several local residents approaching us, and as a result now have local meats and eggs for sale, as well a selection of other holiday essentials.

On a personal note, Cameron and I have returned from our honeymoon and are settling into married life, like all newly weds I am sure, working hard to fill the hole in the bank account from a wedding and honeymoon. We practiced what we preach and spent our break in the UK, with only one day of rain and spectacular weather we saw our country at its best and loved not being caught up in the torment of ash clouds and staff strikes that the airlines have been suffering.

West Coast Wonders, by Nicola Singleton

One of the things I love about Portnellan (apart from the fact  that when I’m there I’m on holiday!) is that it makes an ideal base for exploring some of the West coast of Scotland’s most glorious gardens. 

The West coast has become famous for its gardens because of the influence of the gulf stream. The climate is wet and the winters are generally milder than the east coast.  You can grow a huge range of more unusual and tender plants, especially on some of the islands, providing there is some shelter from high winds. The area really is a magnet for keen gardeners. It provides ideal conditions for plants from such exotic places as China, the Himalayas, Chile and New Zealand. Rhododendrons feature heavily and many of the species types will grow as tall as trees. You will also see Magnolias, Camellias, Eucalyptus, Acers (Japanese Maples), Crinodendron (Chilean Lantern tree) and other tender shrubs. Meconopsis (blue poppies) and Primulas also thrive. 

The woodland gardens like Arduaine (Kilmelford) and Glenarn (Helensburgh) are my particular favourites but the other gardens range from classic formal designs to historic castle gardens (Ardmaddy Garden-Oban) and unusual garden buildings (AnCala-Isle of Seil and Ascog fernery-Bute).  

If you only have time for one garden I would pick Crarae Garden at Inveraray. It is a fantastic example of a wild woodland garden reminiscent of a Himalayan gorge. A burn cascades through the centre of the garden and plunges in to a deep gorge which can be viewed from a wooden footbridge (there’s always plenty of water in the burn!). It is surrounded by magnificent plantings of Rhododendrons, Camellias, Cotoneaster, Sorbus and Conifers…very atmospheric! 

A number of the larger gardens have grouped themselves together to form The Glorious Gardens of Argyll and Bute. The website provides descriptions of each garden and up to date visitor information to help you plan your visits.

A little food and wine

After a month of Cameron wondering if there are any other vegetables in the world beyond asparagus, we see the very short season coming to an end this month. Rather than moving back into buying the much less flavoursome Peruvian I think we will happily wait until the UK option comes around again. But as the saying goes, when one door closes another opens, and we are now working hard to build our own vegetable garden and see what we can manage to grow in our little corner of the Highlands.

This month is a good time to get early new season lamb, which is truly one of life’s great pleasures, and this recipe is a very simple easy one that allows the beautiful flavours of the meat to shine through. It is also the quickest dish to make, with minimum fuss, and minimum washing up - always good.

Lamb Steaks with Garlic sweet potatoes
Serves 2, 5-10 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking

2 dsp olive oil
2 Lamb steaks
2 sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, bashed with a knife and peeled
2 dsp wholegrain mustard

This is a one dish wonder, which I love.Firstly, oven on to 220’C/gas 7.

Put a medium-sized roasting tin onto the stove, heat to a medium high temperature and add 1/2 the oil. Once that has heated, season the steaks and brown each side then set aside. Put all the sweet potato and garlic, along the with the remaining dessert spoon of olive oil into the roasting tin, shake around until coated and then pop in the oven for ten minutes. At this point, brush the lamb steaks with the mustard and pop on top of the sweet potato, back into the oven for another 15 minutes, by which time the steaks will be cooked and the sweet potatoes soft.

Serve!

To drink we had a couple of glasses of Wolf Blass President’s Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. This has been one of Cameron’s favourites since he tried it 3 years ago, but we don’t have it very often, just as a bit of a treat. With Cameron in training most of the year now for one crazy event or another we have both become pretty occasional drinkers, and this bottle lasted us two nights (unlike the lamb). The wine is sold in Waitrose,  and while not cheap, made more affordable by the 25% sale they currently have going on. It is a good time to stock up on wine!

A new member of the Portnellan family

We have had lots of fun recently watching the latest addition to Portnellan, a red squirrel, help itself to the nuts we have out for the birds in our back garden. It is quite a spirited little one, and we have managed to get quite close, and take a few pictures of it as well. It does have to pick it’s moments though, as we have a permanent resident Cuckoo and Woodpecker, both of whom have hearty appetites as well.

That is it from us this month, hope the summer brings you sunshine, and if it is something close to your heart, a good result in the World Cup.

Yours aye, Elaine