Daisy Cottage

We've just finished two weeks at our penultimate host, in the fishing village of Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll, Scotland. On the west coast the whole area is very beautiful and muse-tastic. The town of Tobermory, on the isle of Mull is the inspiration for kids TV show Balamory, the nearby Mull of Kintyre was ever immortalised by Paul McCartney, the isle of Skye is also nearby and there is a whole lot more to the place than tartan, red deer and shortbread! Our hosts, Ed, Carina and their son Peter are truly lovely people. Kind, generous, warm and welcoming, they went out of their way to ensure we had a fab time WWOOFing for them. Our hours of work were short, we had two bedrooms in their lovely home, ate with them every meal, were taken out exploring the area and on our final night they took us out for a meal. Our work was largely based in their new house, a new build using eco building techniques and materials. We did some filling holes, some oiling woodwork, plenty of painting, some digging up spuds, some building a woodpile housing, some stacking wood. At the current house we did plenty of woodchopping, some spud sorting and finally we spent some time at the local Healing Garden, a community project in the grounds of the medical centre using herbs and other healing plants. Our task was cutting a hedge down to let light in and views out.

 
Our time off was the best though - we explored the amazing beaches, had walks around the town and the scenic landscapes, spent time on an island in the harbour having rowed across with our hosts in their canoe. We attended a local smallholders gathering and had a go at felting and watched a green woodworking demo, sampled local produce and spent lots of time fishing. We saw seals, buzzards, gannets, gulls, cormorants and jellyfish and we caught fish!

Dragon: Bad: That our hosts son had to go to school. I missed playing with him while he was out at school each day. Good: I enjoyed eating mackerel that we had caught ourselves. Learnt: How to fish - how to cast, what bait to use and so on. Star: Bad: we didn't see the seal on our last day Good: We saw the seal every other day and I found £7 under the shelves in the local Co Op Learnt: There was a local beach made completely of shells, that had been discarded by fishermen over the years. Ady: Bad: Leaving! It was the first host I felt really sad to leave. Good: I really enjoyed living with such kind and trusting hosts. Learnt: I learnt loads about Scotland from Ed, his knowledge about the area they lived in was huge. Nic: Bad: The midges! We'd been warned and if we settle here we will have to find solutions but on this visit I did get midged and I did have nasty itchy bits. Good: It was great to be at hosts in such beautiful surroundings. I really fell in love with Scotland. Learnt :About fishing, about green building, about Scotland.