Extraordinary. Exceptional. Completely surreal. Even after 4 weeks, it still didn't feel like reality. I'll show you what I mean . . .
Sir Peter and Lady Catherine Erskine are phenomenal people who coordinate an unbelievable multitude of projects on their Estate. Hosting WWOOFers is just one aspect . . .
Sir Peter and Lady Catherine Erskine are phenomenal people who coordinate an unbelievable multitude of projects on their Estate. Hosting WWOOFers is just one aspect . . .
This is the 'house' I got to live in.... has "Holy Cow!!!!" escaped your lips yet? Yes, this is Cambo House. I consider it more of a castle, but you know, what's in a name?? =) This place is gorgeous, and as impressive as it looks in the picture . . . or maybe even more so.
View from the back of the house. "Backyard" isn't really appropriate as the house sits on 1300 acres. My first room was on the ground floor, the third window in from the left. =) My second room was in the attic . . .see the windows jutting out from the roof (in French called a 'chien assis'), well mine was the first one from the right of the house.
You might be asking, "Whatever does she mean, 'first' and 'second' room?" Let me explain. Since WWOOFing at Cambo was such an utterly incredible experience, I asked my first week there if staying longer would work (I had been told many people extended their stays - imagine that!) Catherine said that would be fine, and in the end, there were three of us WWOOFer 'over-stayers' and we all moved up to this attic apartment (don't be fooled by the whole 'attic' bit, it was amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing) to make room for the new scheduled WWOOFers. One of the best parts about this is that my last 10 days or so, we were 10 WWOOFers and it was fantastically fun!
My first room on the ground floor. These are previous rooms of each of their kids. Every WWOOFer gets their own room. I know, I know, it's ridiculously luxurious. If you've never WWOOFed before and are thinking about it, do NOT expect this to be the norm. One thing I have to point out . . .notice the white cord under the bed? Yeah, there was definitely a heated pad between the mattress and the sheet, so I could set a timer and get my bed warmed up before I got in. AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!!!
Each room had a sink too. SO COOL!! I could brush my teeth in my room every day! It's the small things in life. =) And yes, that is a fireplace behind the bookshelf, but I had a feeling it had been out of commission for a while. The window had wooden shutters inside - kind of bummed I hadn't thought about opening them for the picture, but now you get to see real Scottish indoor shutters! =)
The view from my second room. Yep, that's ocean you can see at the horizon on the right, juuuuuuuuuuuust between the trees. Only a 7 minute walk from miles of coastal walk. Fabulous!
Aaaaaaaaand the second room. Amazing is insufficient. (though no heater pad on the bed for this one. Ha!) Another fireplace!! I didn't use this one, buuuuuuuuuuut, we did use the one in the living room for a wine and fire night with the WWOOFers . . .
The living room of the attic apartment. So cozy! The apartment also had a kitchen, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. Incredible. They usually rent this to people staying for vacations. (Thinking of coming to Scotland anytime soon? Cambo is only 7 miles south of St Andrews. . . .)
In case you're scratching your head, yes, this apartment is still in the house. They also have 4 other apartments and two entire wings that they rent out. Add to that 3 Bed & Breakfast style rooms in the house and 3 cottages on another part of the property, and you've got lots of options as a vacation-er. =)
Below are pictures of the part of the house we lived in. We lived with the Erskines in the family part of the house.
I got to walk through this room daily! There was a huge doll house to the left (just outside the picture) and it's quite fun to imagine a childhood here.
Two flights of stairs built in regal 'women gliding down in flowing dresses' style. My mouth dropped open when I first saw these stairs. So impressive! With huge portrait paintings lining the walls with various Erskines. What a way to see your family history!
The Drawing Room! This room wasn't used on a daily basis, but is used more for special occasions, gatherings, conventions, etc . . . My mouth was still hanging open the first time I saw this room. Val (one of the WWOOFers) played the piano in here sometimes and it was just exquisite. (see it hiding in the shadows on the very right of the picture??)
My musical skills will never parallel his, but I got to play the accordion for a brief moment! And I do use the term 'play' loosely. Shall we say I 'made noise' on the accordion. =) It belonged to Struan (one of their sons) and he very graciously let us try playing it. So generous!
OK, moving on to the exterior of the house..... They have 4 horses on the property that are free to roam around. Magnificent!
Yeppers, just munching away by the house. =)
They also have 5 pigs. I love pigs! I hadn't realized how cute they are, but these guys were awesome. Great at prepping ground for planting!
The Victorian Walled Garden. This is where we spent a lot of our time, as WWOOFers.
This is a statue just inside the walled garden. If you look at the picture just above once more, you'll see her in the center of the picture. There were about a dozen various statues throughout the gardens and it really added a lovely dynamic.
What a glorious day! I was, in fact, incredibly lucky with my entire stay at Cambo as we rarely had any rain. I had more days of sunshine than anything else. The day I took these pictures, I just strolled around the estate and gardens and read a book out in the sun . . . . you'll see. =)
A little stream passing through the walled garden
Fuchsias!! There were so many fabulous plants around the Estate. Nerines are a new favorite, as are viburnums because they flower in the winter! Excellent!
More strolling around the walled garden. A lot of the WWOOF work involved transitioning the garden into its winter phase, preparing for snowdrop season!
Here it is! Capturing my moment reading under the blue sky and sun in the Victorian Walled Garden. Stupendous!
This is a complex of buildings comprising the head gardener's house, a bothy for two student gardeners and the old stables.
With 1300 acres of land, one of my favorite things to do was simply take a stroll through their Estate. A lot of it is forested, and this lovely walk along the stream was one of my favorite spots. We learned that the forest is also a splendid location for some mushroom hunting!
Have I mentioned that the house was only a 7 minute walk from the coast? Here are some of the views you are rewarded with when you step out onto the beach. Glorious.
AND! There is a Coastal Path that runs the entire length of the Coast through the county of Fife. It is signed quite decently and ranges from walking on the beach, to a well maintained path, to a completely mauled path, and even walking across golf courses. It is crazy! The first time the path spit me out on a green, I assumed the path had ended and I turned around. Then I learned that no, in fact, the path follows the whole coast. Really?! So then I crossed the green . . .and indeed, that is what you're supposed to do! Bizarre!!! In some spots, they even have signs that warn you . . .
I kid you not. =)
OK. I realize you may be wondering what the heck I did for work at this amazing WWOOF host. I unfortunately did not take my camera with me on any work days, so there are no pictures, but here is a brief list:
- pulled ivy off trees and walls and had bonfires to get rid of it! =)
- raked leaves (lots of raking)
- weeded
- pruned various plants to prepare the gardens for snowdrop season (literally thousands of people will come in February to walk around the Estate, looking at their nearly 300 varieties of snowdrops - it's a big deal!)
- planted bulbs
-catalogued books!
"Huh?" Is that your reaction to my last bullet point? Yes, indeed, this is not a typical WWOOF work, but they have thousands of books in their house and one of their projects is to figure out exactly what they have. When I started to feel sick, or when the weather did not permit garden work, this was actually a really fun task because I got to see some absolutely phenomenal books! Some from as early as the 1780's! My favorite (which she let me read! Again, very generous) was one from 1840 entitled Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River. Home!! I thought it was incredible to read a book that dated to a time when the Columbia river area had not yet been colonised.
Overall, the bulk of the outdoor work was with the gardeners. The potager was done for the season, so there was no work with edible plants, which was a bit of a bummer, yet quite normal for November. In the end, I really appreciated learning more about gardening for aesthetics, and it was such an incredibly fun group of people to work with, I loved it!! I consider myself incredibly lucky that I was able to have this experience.
