Month: May 2026

Welcome to Glencoe!

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I thought I would start off my series of posts about life here with a little overview of the site, and tell you a bit more about my routine this year.

‘Welcome to Glencoe’, is what we always say to people as they pull up to the entrance to our campsite. 

If you have been following this blog for a while you’ll know that last year I worked at the Speyside campsite, so I had to concentrate really hard to get my greeting right for the first week or so!

Usually people are very excited when they get here, as the drive in either direction is through some of the most stunning scenery in the UK.

I will show you more of that in future posts but you might either come past the gorgeous Loch Leven, or past Buachallie Etive Mór, a very distinctive mountain on the A82.

The site is next to the National Trust Visitor Centre, a busy hub for the area, with lots of great information about the history and the geology here. They have a fascinating exhibition on the history of mountain rescue, and a recreation of a 17th century turf house, with amazing views.

This is also the start of the newly opened Glencoe Greenway, a 13km bike and walking trail that goes around the two valleys here.

If you are lucky you’ll get to see the Visitor Centre Highland cows, or coos, as they are called here in Scotland. 

As I have mentioned before the site itself is very different to Speyside, being a much more natural environment.  We do have lots of lovely planters at the entrance, and have all spent time making our staff pitches look pretty, but the rest of the site is very much a natural environment. 

In the middle of the site is, ‘The Mound’, which has amazing views, we have a couple of picnic benches up there and keep the paths mowed, but everything else natural. 

Our camping fields are the same, large stretches of grass, with amazing views while you are mowing!

The site is one big loop around this Mound, with a couple of small dead ends into the road nearest the facilities block, and one into an area with a great view of one of my favourite hills. When it rains this one has some great waterfalls running down it.

It is also the view from my caravan door! I love sitting in my new awning on a sunny evening watching the clouds.

I have been busy getting things to make my little caravan feel like home, particularly for the outdoor space.

My pitch at Speyside was a lot more of a natural environment, so I didn’t need as much, but here I have now got an awning,  a storage unit donated by my manager’s wife, and lots of lovely pots and planters, as well as many solar lights! The tins are my ones from Katy.

We have had a great start to the season, the weather has generally been good, with a very hot week where I got to wear my lovely uniform sunhat!

It has been so busy, we have been fully booked for weeks, with an average of 35 arrivals a day, so most of the afternoons are spent here, greeting campers.

Mornings vary, I have two early starts, on duty from 8am, doing site checks and office admin, checking arrivals and manning Reception. 

My two later starts I go straight to cleaning duties, this year that is very different as well as I clean as part of the team. Everything is in the one facilities block, at the end of the site.

This means I only clean the toilets once a week,  the other three days I am on showers and basins, or what we call, ‘outers’, which is dishwashing, laundry and the chemical toilet disposal.

I am enjoying the fact that the toilet block is newer and has smooth shower walls, rather than all that grouting I cleaned last year!

We have also had a couple of social events since we started, including two bbqs! They are such lovely people to live and work with, and I am really enjoying the experience. 

I get two days off a week, so have been doing some exploring. There is such to see and do here, both near and further afield, I am really excited to spend the summer here, still can’t believe that this is my life.

Hope you are having a great time whatever you are doing. Have fun and thanks for visiting. 

Fashion Icons

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Although I wouldn’t consider myself a follower of current fashion trends, mainly due to living most of my life in camping trousers and fleeces 😉 I am interested in historically inspired trends, and of course in historic fashion itself.

I have enjoyed researching medieval fashions as as re-enactor, and Victorian ones for Steampunk costumes. I really enjoy interpreting things for my own dressmaking, and so the second exhibition we saw in London was brilliant due to its combination of the old and the new.

Entitled, ‘Marie Antoinette Style’, the exhibition covered historical fashion, but also how the queen’s clothing had been remade, for various films, but also used as inspiration for costume balls, and current fashions. All of this was cleverly interwoven with the story of her life, and a look at how the garments and accessories were made. 

It was a really well curated exhibition, and I’m glad we bought tickets early, as it was sold out very soon after it opened.

The initial section was full of the most gorgeous examples of historic fashion, including this stunning wedding dress. None of the queen’s original garments survive, so this section was from various different museums.

What was equally fascinating was the section on jewellery, fans and shoes, including some of the original designs.

I loved the Manalo shoes based on her style. Even though I mainly live in flip flops and safety boots these days I do like a pretty shoe!

The second half of the exhibition looked at some of the recreations of her clothing,  dating from the 19th century, and how the fashions had been interpreted by various modern designers for catwalk shows.

This was also supported by scenes from films about her life showing the movie costumes in action. The green dress in the centre of the room was just stunning, so a marvel of fabric engineering.

A really interesting exhibition, and so well put together.

We then had for a quick wander around the medieval art section before it was time to leave to head back to Ellen’s.

I am hoping to spend a bit more time in London next year, there are so many more museums I want to revisit, so may do that early March when I return from Spain.

Life here on site continues to be very busy, we have had some stunning weather and some dreadful stuff, often all in the same day as is normal for Scotland. I will share some of the loveliness with you in the next post, before continuing to document life before I got here.

Meanwhile take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

London life

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I am taking advantage of the fact that we actually have four bars of signal today to bring you an update on my trip to London with my lovely daughter, Ellen, at the end of February. 

Things seem to be improving on the connectivity front, it is one of the few disadvantages of living here that 21st century conveniences can’t be taken for granted.

Ellen and I planned our trip last year as we saw that there were two historic fashion exhibitions on at the same time. We had a wonderful weekend enjoying city life, with a hotel in the beautiful Bayswater Road area, delicious meals out, and lots of wonderful clothes. 

On Friday we had chance to do a quick visit to the wonderful British Library before going to our hotel. It is such a beautiful building, and as we both love books so much, a really inspiring place.

We had a visit to the Treasures Collection, full.of significant texts, from annotated writings to illustrated religious texts.

So many gorgeous things in the bookshop. I really want these map books, when I have space on my bookshelves.

Saturday morning was a quick trip to Borough Market, where we bought gluten free treats, and I stocked up on spices for the caravan from this amazing stall.

Then it was a walk past the Shard to the Fashion and Textile Museum, for an exhibition about the company Cosprop. They have been supplying film and TV productions since the 1970s, using a combination of vintage clothing and reconstructed garments.

It would take too long to list all of the films and TV shows they had costumes for but think Victoria, lots of Jane Austen, and virtually every single other big historical movie filmed in the last 50 years.

So many amazing things, and to see them close up was such a treat. 

It is difficult to say which was my favourite, however I do adore Georgian waistcoats, the embroidery is so stunning. These were such amazingly detailed reproductions, taking inspiration from original panels.

A quick visit to Covent Garden for refreshments, seeing a Bansky and an art installation featuring a jellyfish on the way, and we ended the day at Liberty for cocktails.

They had a new range inspired by Bridgerton, and although I am never going to pay that much for a pillowcase, it was lovely to see the fabrics, and Lady Bridgerton’s mask from the ball.

Fingers crossed the internet will remain good so I can be back soon with part two of London life, the one where we visit the V and A.

I am so happy that I can do all these brilliant trips  and that my life is full of such diverse adventures. 

Hopefully see you soon, take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

The joys of rural life

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Just a quick post to say that blogging is not happening at the moment due to an almost complete lack of Internet here.

We had some problems a couple of weeks ago, with the local mast and O2, so I went and restarted my other Sim card which works on a different provider.

However the last few days have been really poor as well, I can barely get my emails, so no chance of sharing anything lovely with you. I am still loving life here, and am getting lots of reading done!

Hopefully may be able to post soon!