G is for Glamping

Welcome to the A to Z blogging challenge where for the month of April we post everyday except Sundays, corresponding to each letter of the alphabet. I've chosen to blog about keeping the romance alive in a relationship along with ideas for married couple dates. Each post will also have a romantic song for you to listen to whilst you read.

Today's music choice for your enjoyment is Marvin Gaye - Lets Get It On.

Todays romantic activity to do together is Glamping - that's glamorous camping for those of us that like a little bit of comfort when we're enjoying the great outdoors. This can be a great compromise if one of you wants to go camping and one wants to stay in a hotel with running water.

Last year we found a fabulous place to stay at Glenshee Ecocamp in Perthshire - set in beautiful Scottish scenery and very peaceful. Additionally, which for me can be a bit of a challenge, there is no wifi, so it's a break from technology and a chance to focus on each other. We're actually going glamping for my beloved's birthday and the Prosecco is packed to celebrate the wonderful man that he is.

G is also for giving, and in any relationship there is give and take - make sure that you give at least as much as you take, but try and give even more. Give your special person the gift of your time, friendship, support, and of course give the gift of your love.

Why don't you try getting away from it all for a while, and if like me you don't fancy roughing it too much, then glamping may be just the thing for you.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Previous A to Z Posts:

2017 = Golspie

2016 = Graveyards

Farewell 2017, and Welcome 2018

It's only a few hours until we wave goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new, so time to be a little reflective on how the year has been. In January I wrote this post, My wishes for 2017, and I think all of these still apply for the coming year.

We've had lots of great Days of Fun and found some really unique things to see and do. There is so much incredible history to explore where we live and in January we visited a remote church which sheltered Highlanders during the clearances in 1847 and has words scratched into the glass by these long ago people - A Scottish Tragedy Preserved in Glass.

We attended a world championship in which the Swedish reigned supreme, ironic really as it was the World Porridge Championship and it's one of the dishes that Scotland is known for.

April saw me taking on the A to Z Blogging Challenge for the second year, this time I had a theme and it was all about the Scottish Highlands which made it much easier than 2016. Read my thoughts on the experience and some of the great blogs I found in Reflections on the A to Z.

I ticked two things off my bucket list this year. The first was Glamping in Glenshee - basically camping in a glamorous style. It was a beautiful tent with a low bed, a small wood burner for heat, and a fantastic view of the countryside. It was so lovely that we're going back in April to stay in an old train goods carriage.

The other bucket list item was eating a Deep Fried Mars Bar. I know this sounds like a really strange thing to have on my list, but it's one of those weird food items that I'd heard about for years and had really wanted to try. The verdict - yummy but I wouldn't want to have them very often.

We had a wonderful holiday home in Australia, three weeks of catching up with family and friends whilst still managing to find interesting things to visit and explore. In Tasmania we had a great day out visiting the Murals and Mailboxes of Northern Tasmania and during our brief stay in Melbourne we explored the laneways and Street Art of this fabulous city.

I continued to take part in Top Ten blogging which is hosted by Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom and this year we've done a very diverse range of topics from movie quotes, favourite summer foods, rudeness, random photos, and this one, Favourite Place on Earth. It's a small town in Tasmania called Stanley which I absolutely adore. I love lists so this prompt based challenge is perfect for me.

During the year I found two more prompt based challenges which have been great fun to do. On Wednesdays there is the Hodgepodge which is hosted by Joyce From This Side of the Pond and one of my posts included Problematic Confetti.

The other prompt based challenge is hosted by Annie at McGuffy's Reader and is called Friday's Friendly Fill-Ins - here's one of my posts from October, Friday's Friendly Contemplations. Annie also hosts Sparks on a Monday which is a place for us all to share positive thoughts to spread out into the world - it's a really lovely idea and my first contribution in October was Sparks of Hope.

Throughout all this blogging my beloved is there being his wonderful supportive self, exploring our part of the world with me and making me coffee when I'm sitting at my laptop. I'm truly blessed to share my life with this gorgeous, thoughtful, adorably funny man.

As for our furbies, Princess Cookie Cat is nearly 14 and has started to show her age in small ways - the biggest being that I can catch her quite easily now which makes going to the vet much less stressful. She's sitting beside me as I type this, but of course she's got her back to me so I'll share a photo I took earlier.

Bramble Jelly Sassy Pants (our Cocker Spaniel) is as energetic as ever and still hasn't learnt that if she annoys Cookie too much she will get a whack on the nose. I love this picture as Bramble looks so innocent and Cookie has her paw in the air ready to strike.

With one hour to go until midnight, I wish 2017 a very fond farewell - we had ups and downs like anyone does, but along the way we shared lots of love and laughter.

In 2018 I'm sure I'll find lots of other challenges to take on and hopefully we'll tick a few more things off our bucket list. Starting tomorrow, on the first day of the year I'm going to start the 100 Happy Days Challenge which I was inspired to do by Tamara who did it earlier in the year. This involves taking a photo everyday for 100 days of something that makes you happy and sharing via your preferred social media - mine is going to be on my instagram account.

We wish all of you a year filled with peace, health, love, and lots of laughter.

Happy 2018

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Glamping in Glenshee

At the weekend I ticked another item off my bucket list, and that was glamping (glamorous camping). We stayed at the wonderful Glenshee Ecocamp which is in Perthshire and 94 miles away from us. The drive down is through stunning scenery and even the sky was spectacular.

I love the quirky things we find when we're out and about - this garden is adorable with different Buddha statues throughout. At the top is a platform for sitting out which must be very peaceful.

Another picture of the very rugged scenery of the Cairngorms.

Look at our tent of loveliness! It's beautiful and so my colours. Our tent was at the very edges of the campsite which meant furthest from toilets but it also meant it was the most peaceful spot on the site.

Even Bramble was catered for with a pink food bowl and a giant dog treat - I love it when places we stay do something like this as it's acknowledging how much a part of the family our furbies are.

This puppy dog was staying at the campsite as well and regularly came to visit - she would make me laugh as she would sneak into the tent as if we weren't going to notice her, but then she would pick up the scent of dog food or treats and start investigating.

Bramble meeting one of the permanent residents of the campsite - she was very nervous and Ken had to spend ages encouraging her to get near. The donkey just patiently waited for her to come and say hello.

We went out for tea on the first evening at a pub that was about ten minutes away. We had fish and chips, but not just any battered fish, the batter was made using prosecco! It was scrummy.

On our way home we came across a very Scottish road block - pheasants everywhere. The campsite bordered a huge Scottish estate where they breed pheasants for shooting (murdering) with the season starting on October 1st. It was lovely lying in bed listening to them talk to each other at night.

In our tent was a tiny wood burner which helped to keep us toasty and warm at night - here's Ken doing his man thing with the fire (I tried and was a disaster at firestarting).

Inside the tent was a low table, a bed, and lots of lamps and candles. There was also a kettle if you wanted to put it on the woodburner. This is looking up at the top of the tent from the bed.

At night........

In the morning.......

Apart from the donkeys there were several other residents of the farm including llamas which they do trekking with.

Lots of chickens and in amongst the chickens there was a goat.

This is looking towards our tent across part of the site. There were two of the green wagons plus several pods near the main house for people to stay in. If we were to go in winter I think I'd choose to stay in one of the wagons as they look really cosy and cute.

Me and Bramble relaxing at the tent. There were some really pretty floor cushions that we could use outside - it was so relaxing sitting there, reading and enjoying the view.

As you can see, I dug out my festival wellingtons and they fitted in with the colour scheme of the tent perfectly.

Down the road from the ecocamp was this very cute library in an old phone box. It wasn't the only one we saw in this area and I think it's a great use of them and lovely to have somewhere to recycle books for others to read.

Both the lovely donkeys.

Someone (Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom) commented on my facebook post that our tent looked like a unicorn tent, so what do I do, go out and adopt a unicorn for the tent. Importantly it's a purple horned unicorn.

What better way to enjoy Prosecco than drinking it out of the bottle through a purple straw whilst enjoying the great outdoors.

Sunset on our second evening - we sat outside the tent to eat and it was beautiful.

Another view of the tent of loveliness - you can see the smoke coming out of the chimney. I should add that again I tried to light the fire with no success and then Ken stepped in like a proper bushman and made fire.

Bramble sleeps in her crate at night but in the morning she took great pleasure in getting into bed between the two of us - I personally think it's more about being next to her daddy and pushing me out. This photo of the two of them is so cute (and slightly disturbing).

Really loved this weekend in the tent of loveliness with my wonderful husband and one of our furbies. Have you ever tried glamping, or do you prefer all the comforts of a five star hotel.

The area we explored will be in another post, as there's way to much to put in this one. Until next time, be good, stay safe, and make sure you're kind to yourself this week.

Pamela & Ken

xxxxxxxxxxxx