Weekend at Fingask...

Fingask Castle is in Perthshire, I had the privilege of staying in one of the cottages in the grounds of the Castle this weekend. 10 years ago for the 40th birthday of a family friend we stayed in the grounds along with a number of other families. Now, 10 years on we stayed in the same place for his 50th!  The group was almost the same! 

Almost whole group photo...

As it was a bank holiday weekend in England we had four days to enjoy! Friday was just spent travelling and then catching up, I hadn't seen some of the faces for 10 years. It was strange seeing how much everyone had changed and grown up. My brother Sam wasn't even born last time we went, Mum was still pregnant with him. 

This is a photo of me and my friends Catherine and Thomas from 10 years ago. Catherine and I used to love wearing the same outfits, we were very cool children. As we both still owned the tshirts we decided we had to recreate some photos from the trip 10 years ago!

Me and Sam enjoying the view

On Saturday morning Mum and Sam walked up the hill to my cottage and we explored some of the grounds together. Here are a few pictures I took while we wandered...

Mum and Sam leading the way

The Chinese bridge

The grounds were just so beautiful

St Peter's Well

Chinese Bridge Selfie!

 Before lunch some of us took a trip into Dundee and we visited the HM Frigate Unicorn. We then headed back to Fingask to join the rest of the group for lunch. 

After lunch most of the group headed out for a walk up a hill to a tower and down and through Perth. The views from the top were amazing.

Me enjoying the views of Perth

The ladies having a rest and chat at the top

Group photo at the top!

Tim doing a headstand... as you do...

Perth

Saturday evening was the official birthday party and we just enjoyed a lovely evening of food, chatter and fun. The next few photos are of the lake and the main house where some of the group were staying. 

The main house

 On Sunday some of the group went white water rafting in nearby Aberfeldy!  Here are a few photos of the afternoon... (Taken by the official splash photographer and stolen from their website!! http://rafting.co.uk/) 

Me in the middle looking a little petrified!

I have to admit I was pretty nervous but once we got out onto the water and started paddling I began to feel more at ease! The rapids weren't nearly as bad as I had imagined them to be, I envisaged the raft sailing down waterfalls and turning upside down leaving us all floating down the river. 

My boat..

Not bad views really

 

There were some rapids, honest!

The experience wasn't like that at all! The rapids were fairly fast but nothing like I had imagined making it far more enjoyable! The only downside to the rafting was the temperature. I don't think I have ever been so cold! My whole body was shivering and numb with cold by the end.

Loch Leven... Wow

 On Monday we packed up and headed to Loch Leven near Kinross. The men and boys all went on a cycle ride round the Loch and the women went for a civilised walk and then met the men for lunch. It was a lovely end to a fabulous weekend.  

Emmie x 

Birthday Celebrations in London...

It was my boyfriend's Birthday a few weeks ago and as it was his 21st I treated him with tickets to Les Mis in London! We both love the show and the music and probably together know all the words! We just stayed in London for one night but we tried to pack as much as we could into the time we had.

When we arrived we met up with Andrew's sister and her husband who were also in London and we had lunch at an amazing bbq place that I can't remember the name of! I had the most incredible pulled pork sandwich with tasty fries and sauce. It was so good I clearly forgot to take a photo but you can take my word for it that it was amazing! After lunch we headed to Hyde Park and sunbathed! We embraced the heat wave that hit England!

Andrew and I then left the park and headed to our Hotel. We stayed in the Strand Palace which was very very nice and right in the heart of Covent Garden. We found our rooms, got changed and then headed out for pre theatre dinner! Neither of us had ever been to Zizi's before so we decided to give it a go and loved it! We went to the one on the Strand which is underground and really cool. We both had super tasty mains and shared some cheesy garlic bread.

It was then time to head to the theatre! We were both so excited, it was my first ever time seeing a show in London too so I was super excited. We had amazing seats, we were so close to the stage which just made the whole evening even better. The performance was incredible! I could watch it over and over, the actors were amazing. Before heading back to the hotel we thought it would be fun to go meet some of the cast at stage door! We got photos with the actors who played Marius, Fantine, Enjolras and Jean valjean! It just topped off an already perfect evening!

We then spent the second day exploring, we visited Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Westminster and Buckingham Palace. Here are a collection of my photos from the trip...

Sunbathing in Hyde Park

LES MIS!!!

Covent Garden looking lovely

Love this one!

Emmie x