Apples in Orkney?!

Today we went with the local garden club on an outing to the island of Shapinsay, there to explore the gardens, have a guided tour of the castle and tea and cakes!

The castle was a family home, but had fallen on hard times. It is now a very upmarket place to stay. It was sold about four years ago and since then has had lots of money spent on it, refurbishing the castle and getting the acres of woodland, lawns, formal gardens and walled vegetable gardens back into shape.

The old greenhouses have been re-glassed and are full of fruit and plants - olives, lemons, grapes and figs. The lawns are beautifully mown and the paths covered in new layers of shingle. Everywhere there are neat edges and baby box hedges planted. On the walls of the vegetable gardens there are lots of old varieties of apple trees, beautifully pruned and trained. Wonderful to see it all looking so productive, and to know that they are using all local labour to do it.

Afternoon tea was served in the dining room, lots of lovely cakes and scones with jam and cream, and endless pots of tea! The ferry crossing was calm and the sun shone, so all in all a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

We could have done with slightly fewer stuffed dead animals and birds though . . . . They were a strange lot, the Victorians.