During August just past, we stayed for a long weekend at the Woodlands Hotel in Barnshill, Broughty Ferry. On the Sunday we decided to have a wee run out in the car and so we took a drive through Angus, passing through Monifieth, Carnoustie, Forfar and then Kirriemuir via Glen Clova. At one point, on the road between Carnoustie and Forfar, we were stunned by a spectacular panoramic view of Strathmore and the Grampian Mountains. I thought to stop to take a photograph but so overawed was I by the magnificence of the scene I believed any photograph I took could not do it justice; better it remains a memory. If you are ever in Carnoustie and have time to spare to take a drive over to Forfar you may experience the spectacle for yourself.
Continuing our journey we reached Forfar which has changed a little since I lived there as a toddler, yet the centre of the town still feels and looks the same as those images of it locked in my childhood memories. While in Forfar we visited a supermarket "Home Bargains" which I am sure was not there the last time we visited. I was certain it was on the site where William Low and Co had a big store. My wife was less sure. In the new store "Home Bargains" we bought a pair of nail scissors, a nail file, tooth paste and a bottle of wine. From this data you can rightly deduce my wife had a troublesome fingernail, we wanted to keep our teeth clean and our breath fresh and I desired refreshment for the evening.
From Forfar we drove through Cortachy to Glen Clova, discovering on our way that the Royal Jubilee Arms at Dykehead, where in the distant past we had enjoyed a number of family celebrations, was closed down and now, in large part, demolished. We journeyed on to Milton of Clova where a sheep dog trial was in progress. At what was the Ogilvie Arms and has for some years now been the Clova Hotel, we each had an excellent coffee and a light, tasty scone with butter (in my wife's case with extra butter!) before driving further up the glen to the road’s end. At Acharn the quiet hushing sound of the river in the midst of the mountains is to me like a whispering signature tune. I am sure that if I was parachuted there blindfold I would know where I was.
I walked up Jock’s Road a little and among the trees caught sight of Glen Doll Lodge, which from 1950 was a youth hostel until it was closed in 2002, when, one legend has it, they couldn’t find replacements for Danny Smith and his wife, who were for many years, as I remember, the wardens there. I fear the real reason for closure may have been a financial one combined with effects of the outbreak of a foot and mouth epidemic in 2001. It is now in private ownership but shows little sign of being lived in.
Continuing our journey we reached Forfar which has changed a little since I lived there as a toddler, yet the centre of the town still feels and looks the same as those images of it locked in my childhood memories. While in Forfar we visited a supermarket "Home Bargains" which I am sure was not there the last time we visited. I was certain it was on the site where William Low and Co had a big store. My wife was less sure. In the new store "Home Bargains" we bought a pair of nail scissors, a nail file, tooth paste and a bottle of wine. From this data you can rightly deduce my wife had a troublesome fingernail, we wanted to keep our teeth clean and our breath fresh and I desired refreshment for the evening.
From Forfar we drove through Cortachy to Glen Clova, discovering on our way that the Royal Jubilee Arms at Dykehead, where in the distant past we had enjoyed a number of family celebrations, was closed down and now, in large part, demolished. We journeyed on to Milton of Clova where a sheep dog trial was in progress. At what was the Ogilvie Arms and has for some years now been the Clova Hotel, we each had an excellent coffee and a light, tasty scone with butter (in my wife's case with extra butter!) before driving further up the glen to the road’s end. At Acharn the quiet hushing sound of the river in the midst of the mountains is to me like a whispering signature tune. I am sure that if I was parachuted there blindfold I would know where I was.
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| The River South Esk at Acharn where Glen Doll branches off from Glen Clova |
I walked up Jock’s Road a little and among the trees caught sight of Glen Doll Lodge, which from 1950 was a youth hostel until it was closed in 2002, when, one legend has it, they couldn’t find replacements for Danny Smith and his wife, who were for many years, as I remember, the wardens there. I fear the real reason for closure may have been a financial one combined with effects of the outbreak of a foot and mouth epidemic in 2001. It is now in private ownership but shows little sign of being lived in.
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| Broughty Castle just before closing time on a gray Sunday afternoon in August 2018 |
Well, I may never be back that way, but I am pleased that between 11am and 4pm on Sundays and maybe on other days the castle is open for all to visit.
