It’s been a long time, nearly 15 months since my last post and a lot has changed. We are settled now. We moved into our new home in August 2022, which we were in the process of buying when I last posted. I didn’t want to jinx anything by talking about is, so much has gone wrong over the last few years that I didn’t want to jump the gun. As it was, we had to wait an extra 5 weeks on top of our hoped for contract exchange, which meant another large rental payout. Such is life, the whole selling/buying process had been so much more expensive than we’d hoped anyway.
We now call Langholm our home. We love it here. We had originally wanted to be a bit further north in East/South Ayrshire or possibly Fife, two areas where my mothers side of the family hail from, but were having difficulties finding what we wanted. We went to view a Victorian terrace property in Langholm and absolutely fell in love with the house and the area. Our offer was accepted and here we are. The property was mostly walk-in condition, although we have had a few things done since we moved in and redecorated most of the rooms.
It is beautiful here, and there is a strong sense of community, although we haven’t really got involved in anything. There’s been so much going on we haven’t really had time to stop and smell the roses. Just as well really, as the two I planted both have black spot now. For more on my gardening exploits, I’ve started a garden journal.
One of the things Langholm is notable for is the Common Riding. On the last friday in July the town balloons to accommodate at least over a thousand people for the biggest day of the year. It starts with a flute march at 5am and remains pretty rowdy for the rest of the day. With having two elderly dogs and another two who don’t fare well in crowds, we didn’t go out for the riding so I won’t say much this year. Hopefully we’ll be able to next year.
On the subject of the dogs, the youngsters are thriving (I include Miah in that, even if she is 9). The oldies are showing their age now, but at 16 I don’t expect them to be all sunshine and rainbows. Gypsy is doing OK but Katy is failing now. We know we won’t have her for much longer, and I hope that the life we gave them since mum died has been, if not stress free, at least a happy one.
As you can see, fleeces/jumpers are a bit of a necessity in Autumn/Winter here. Whippets do like to be warm..
I will keep this short, there’s a lot to say but I prefer to say it in stages. I’ll leave it with a couple of images of the garden, which is coming along really well and now has a brand new potting shed, which I have yet to take a photo of. More on that to come!
