The Summer House Lodgings

| September 18, 2018
The lovely landscape and environment of Persabus feed the creative spirit. Years of bracing walks in the autumn, and winter months, when the colours on the island are at their most vibrant, led to dabbling with paints at the kitchen table, which evolved into watercolour paintings, and then to my designs being hand painted, glazed [...]

And all it took was a tractor, trailer, horse box and a few Calmac containers….

| September 12, 2018
The Persabus Hebridean broadcasting blog is back on the airwaves. It was a rocky one. Away on the mainland we hit technical glitches in internet land. Happily though we managed to accompany youngest as she headed for the bright lights of university living. We followed in her wake with tractor, trailer and horse box, and [...]

Changing Seasons

| September 3, 2018
In the Happy Farmer’s words ‘it’s great to see the sun hanging out again’. The panorama from the farmhouse is changing. The summer colours are merging into an autumn landscape. The barley in the front field has ripened to a rich, golden colour. The Paps are swathed in purple and gold as the greenness of [...]

Spicy Times…

| August 27, 2018
I have been having the most incredibly spicy times with the Happy Farmer recently. His favourite national dish is curry. He was the first person to introduce me to the delights of a Glasgow curry, many years ago. Such was his love of a good Indian meal, when visiting the city, he could quite easily [...]

The wonders of wildlife

| August 21, 2018
  The Happy Farmer is tearing his hair out, well a few strands of it anyway. He has fallen out with some of the residents. They are trying his patience and he is counting the days until their departure. He says he has never known such messy guests and they aren’t even paying for the [...]

The Highland Fling

| August 13, 2018
When a young couple are to be married on Islay it is local tradition to have a ‘blackening’ for the couple. The bride and groom are ‘kidnapped’ by friends and relatives and tied to the back of a trailer. They are then towed through the villages, where buckets of anything rotten and smelly is thrown [...]

A Dip in the Ocean

| July 30, 2018
The Happy Farmer is being kept on his toes. He has ‘lady’ issues. One of his Highland girls is procrastinating about her ‘calving duties’. On hot days she can be found dipping her hooves in the very boggy ditch to cool off. With her extra heavy gait, there is every chance she may struggle to [...]

Island Traditions…

| July 24, 2018
The Happy Farmer and I waved goodbye to the last of our visiting relatives on Saturday. On Sunday we headed to Machir Bay for a walk along the shore. It was a very warm, cloudy day, but even on cloudy days Islay does not disappoint. The colours in the waves and the gentle roar of [...]

Persabus Pineapple Pops….

| July 17, 2018
The ‘pineapple pop’ has been flowing freely and abundantly as the farm upped a gear into full scale ‘party mode’ at the weekend. It’s been an incredibly sociable time as we gathered as many of the clan, extended clan, friends and families together for our annual  Summer Party festivities. Tractor and horse box were reversed [...]