Tea on the Lawn

May the beauty of spring fill your heart with joy this month. A month of new beginnings and a chance to bloom.

This week we have been on our travels all the way up to Stirling and the imposing Gartmore House. The house was built in 1793 by William Adam as the seat for the Graham family. 1900 Cunninghame Graham sells the house to shipping magnate, Sir Charles Cayzer. He remodels and expands the building, enlisting the help of architect David Barclay, a pupil of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The house has had many uses over time including as army barracks.

Current Day Gartmore House is used by Craft breakers, holidaymakers, school groups and conferences who all make themselves at home, proving the house as a popular getaway destination in the Trossachs.

Our week residential had a travelling theme and included workshops in milk flask covers, luggage labels, passport covers, kindle cases and travelers bags. In between the workshops, surrounded by the beautiful countryside in full spring bloom, we had time to just enjoy Mother Nature at her finest, the smells, the colors, the sounds. Waking up to the birds tweeting was a highlight of the week, in their full glory and with nothing to drown out their morning calls we could fully appreciate all that the countryside has to give. A humbling moment and a most enjoyable week. We look forward to returning in October and seeing all that autumn has to offer. 

This week's moon will be in the waning crescent phase, transitioning towards a new moon. It will start the week with about 17% illumination and steadily decrease, reaching a near-invisible state towards the end of the week.