The week-long visit of Les Amis de Perth from Cognac, France, was a great success. Fourteen visitors lodged with various members of the local Friends of Cognac and a very happy time it was for all of us. Our guest, Catherine Mattei, is fourth from the left in the photo above, taken at Ann Rankine's house last night (Ann is second from the right).
As when we travelled last October to Cognac, the group had coach trips during most days to visit various sites of interest around this area of Scotland. On Tuesday, they went to Glasgow to do a bit of shopping and to visit the newly refurbished Kelvingrove Museum. That evening, there was a civic reception in the Perth City Chambers, presided over by the outgoing Lord Provost Bob Scott. (His four-year term of duty just ended this past weekend.) Afterward we and another Friend of Cognac, Norma Nairne, took Catherine out to dinner in Perth.
On Wednesday, the group visited the famous Rosslyn Chapel mostly famous these days because of its role in the novel (and now the film), The DaVinci Code. While down in that part of Scotland (below Edinburgh), the group also visited the Scottish Mining Museum at Newtongrange. There was much interest in both attractions. That evening there was a buffet supper at the home of Ian and Viv Cowing. Ian is the president of the Friends of Cognac. We had a wonderful time getting to know folks better, our own group as well as our French visitors. After the meal, we had a musical evening of French and Scottish songs sung by first one group and then the other and, in some wonderful cases, by us all at once.
Thursday was the group's day to visit Glamis Castle, home of the late Queen Mum, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and birthplace of the late Princess Margaret. There was time in the afternoon for some shopping in Perth. That evening, we had Ann Rankine and her two French guests, Anne-Marie and Danielle, the only other guests who were staying in Comrie, to dinner at our house. We had a terrific evening even if it didn't end in song!
On Friday morning there was a tour of the Famous Grouse Distillery (formerly the Glen Turret Distillery) which is on the Comrie side of Crieff, just 7 miles to the east of us. The Comrie guests were collected by Elspeth, a Crieff member of the group, and taken to see Loch Turret and then for tea on the terace of her lovely Victorian home on the hill overlooking the town of Crieff. Once back in Comrie, I took them on a walking tour of Comrie, in and out of shops, up and down lanes, and into the Royal Hotel where we had afternoon tea in the library like ladies of leisure.
There was time after our tour for a brief rest before we all had to freshen up and change into our fancy clothes for the Ceilidh in Comrie's White Church Community Centre. We were piped into the building by a piper standing at the front entrance. Once in the hall, we were handed a glass of Cava and the socialising began in earnest.
After a lovely meal catered by the Achray House Hotel in St. Fillans, there was Scottish country dancing aided and abetted by a terrific traditional band, The Gallivanters. Don and I weren't sure we were up to the dancing what with our dodgy knee and hip but we did just great. (And only paid for it a little bit.) It was a most enjoyable evening and ended, as all events here do, with the linking of hands and the singing of Auld Lang Syne.
The weekend was en famille meaning that formal events weren't planned by the committee; rather, the guests were with their host families who selected activities for the weekend. On Saturday we took Catherine to the Killin-Glen Lyon area and then through Aberfeldy, Dunkeld, and Blairgowrie almost back to Glamis. Our destination was Eassie Farm for fresh asparagus. We came home with 5 bunches and a jar of Hollandaise sauce. It was a gorgeous day, one of the best of the visit and so nice to be out in the countryside under those conditions. That night Catherine took us out for a meal. Alas the Royal Hotel dining room and pubs were booked solid as was the Deil's Cauldron so we went to the other end of the village for a meal at the Earnbank Hotel.
Sunday was a lazier day. The three of us spent some time drinking coffee and reading the paper while listening to choral music. Don made us a delicious brunch of baked French Toast (which the French call "Golden Bread") and bacon. At noon, Nessie, a patchworker friend and one of the Crieff hosts, brought her guest Marie-France over to see my quilts. Marie-France does traditional patchwork by hand. We had a nice visit and tour through the house. Marie-France was very complementary and has asked me to consider teaching a series of small technique workshops if she can manage to arrange for members of her patchwork group in Cognac and their husbands to come stay in Crieff for a week. I told her I was quite interested--as long as I have a translator!
In the afternoon yesterday, another beautiful day, we drove into Comrie's two glens, Glen Artney to the south and Glen Lednock to the north. Both have lovely scenery but each is different from the other. We came back with just enough time to have a short rest and get ourselves ready to go to Ann Rankine's for dinner with her, Danielle, and Anne-Marie. We came with a 3 bunches of the Eassie asparagus as well as chocolates for our hostess. When we arrived we found that George Carson and Jean Benn were also there. They have both been to Cognac in the past, George with the Strathearn Ramblers and Jean with the Friends of Cognac. Ann fed us a lovely roast lamb which she got from a farmer in Glen Artney. (Later Catherine and we confessed that we had to work hard not to think about the sweet little lambs we had seen frolicking on the hilside in the Glen just a few hours before.) Again, the evening ended in song, this time led by Catherine who has a captivating voice.
It was an early night as we had to arise at 5:30 this morning to get ourselves ready, fed, and out the door and to Crieff before 7 which is when the bus would pick up our visitors. (It had started in Perth and so already had the rest of the group on board.) It was a fond farewell with a few tears and much cheek-kissing and au revoirs. Even the folks who were on the bus got off to say goodbye to us. It was a very touching farewell but they managed to get off on time to get to Edinburgh for the first leg of their trip back to Cognac.
Don and I felt that Catherine was the absolute perfect guest for us. We all had things in common and got along beautifully. We feel certain we shall see her many more times in the future.
It will be a year and a half before our next scheduled Friends of Cognac trip to Cognac, but Catherine has invited us to come before that for the Cognac Blues Festival which is held each July. We are thinking seriously about it--not for this year but perhaps next.
As when we travelled last October to Cognac, the group had coach trips during most days to visit various sites of interest around this area of Scotland. On Tuesday, they went to Glasgow to do a bit of shopping and to visit the newly refurbished Kelvingrove Museum. That evening, there was a civic reception in the Perth City Chambers, presided over by the outgoing Lord Provost Bob Scott. (His four-year term of duty just ended this past weekend.) Afterward we and another Friend of Cognac, Norma Nairne, took Catherine out to dinner in Perth.
On Wednesday, the group visited the famous Rosslyn Chapel mostly famous these days because of its role in the novel (and now the film), The DaVinci Code. While down in that part of Scotland (below Edinburgh), the group also visited the Scottish Mining Museum at Newtongrange. There was much interest in both attractions. That evening there was a buffet supper at the home of Ian and Viv Cowing. Ian is the president of the Friends of Cognac. We had a wonderful time getting to know folks better, our own group as well as our French visitors. After the meal, we had a musical evening of French and Scottish songs sung by first one group and then the other and, in some wonderful cases, by us all at once.
Thursday was the group's day to visit Glamis Castle, home of the late Queen Mum, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and birthplace of the late Princess Margaret. There was time in the afternoon for some shopping in Perth. That evening, we had Ann Rankine and her two French guests, Anne-Marie and Danielle, the only other guests who were staying in Comrie, to dinner at our house. We had a terrific evening even if it didn't end in song!
On Friday morning there was a tour of the Famous Grouse Distillery (formerly the Glen Turret Distillery) which is on the Comrie side of Crieff, just 7 miles to the east of us. The Comrie guests were collected by Elspeth, a Crieff member of the group, and taken to see Loch Turret and then for tea on the terace of her lovely Victorian home on the hill overlooking the town of Crieff. Once back in Comrie, I took them on a walking tour of Comrie, in and out of shops, up and down lanes, and into the Royal Hotel where we had afternoon tea in the library like ladies of leisure.
There was time after our tour for a brief rest before we all had to freshen up and change into our fancy clothes for the Ceilidh in Comrie's White Church Community Centre. We were piped into the building by a piper standing at the front entrance. Once in the hall, we were handed a glass of Cava and the socialising began in earnest.After a lovely meal catered by the Achray House Hotel in St. Fillans, there was Scottish country dancing aided and abetted by a terrific traditional band, The Gallivanters. Don and I weren't sure we were up to the dancing what with our dodgy knee and hip but we did just great. (And only paid for it a little bit.) It was a most enjoyable evening and ended, as all events here do, with the linking of hands and the singing of Auld Lang Syne.
The weekend was en famille meaning that formal events weren't planned by the committee; rather, the guests were with their host families who selected activities for the weekend. On Saturday we took Catherine to the Killin-Glen Lyon area and then through Aberfeldy, Dunkeld, and Blairgowrie almost back to Glamis. Our destination was Eassie Farm for fresh asparagus. We came home with 5 bunches and a jar of Hollandaise sauce. It was a gorgeous day, one of the best of the visit and so nice to be out in the countryside under those conditions. That night Catherine took us out for a meal. Alas the Royal Hotel dining room and pubs were booked solid as was the Deil's Cauldron so we went to the other end of the village for a meal at the Earnbank Hotel.Sunday was a lazier day. The three of us spent some time drinking coffee and reading the paper while listening to choral music. Don made us a delicious brunch of baked French Toast (which the French call "Golden Bread") and bacon. At noon, Nessie, a patchworker friend and one of the Crieff hosts, brought her guest Marie-France over to see my quilts. Marie-France does traditional patchwork by hand. We had a nice visit and tour through the house. Marie-France was very complementary and has asked me to consider teaching a series of small technique workshops if she can manage to arrange for members of her patchwork group in Cognac and their husbands to come stay in Crieff for a week. I told her I was quite interested--as long as I have a translator!
In the afternoon yesterday, another beautiful day, we drove into Comrie's two glens, Glen Artney to the south and Glen Lednock to the north. Both have lovely scenery but each is different from the other. We came back with just enough time to have a short rest and get ourselves ready to go to Ann Rankine's for dinner with her, Danielle, and Anne-Marie. We came with a 3 bunches of the Eassie asparagus as well as chocolates for our hostess. When we arrived we found that George Carson and Jean Benn were also there. They have both been to Cognac in the past, George with the Strathearn Ramblers and Jean with the Friends of Cognac. Ann fed us a lovely roast lamb which she got from a farmer in Glen Artney. (Later Catherine and we confessed that we had to work hard not to think about the sweet little lambs we had seen frolicking on the hilside in the Glen just a few hours before.) Again, the evening ended in song, this time led by Catherine who has a captivating voice.
It was an early night as we had to arise at 5:30 this morning to get ourselves ready, fed, and out the door and to Crieff before 7 which is when the bus would pick up our visitors. (It had started in Perth and so already had the rest of the group on board.) It was a fond farewell with a few tears and much cheek-kissing and au revoirs. Even the folks who were on the bus got off to say goodbye to us. It was a very touching farewell but they managed to get off on time to get to Edinburgh for the first leg of their trip back to Cognac.
Don and I felt that Catherine was the absolute perfect guest for us. We all had things in common and got along beautifully. We feel certain we shall see her many more times in the future.
It will be a year and a half before our next scheduled Friends of Cognac trip to Cognac, but Catherine has invited us to come before that for the Cognac Blues Festival which is held each July. We are thinking seriously about it--not for this year but perhaps next.
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