Andrew and I decided that as he had just finished his contract it was time to have a holiday! He has been working on that project for about 2 years and as we got The Elms last year we didn't go away, but started work on making the house ours instead. The Old Place of Monreith a Landmark Trust house was available, it also has the bonus of allowing dogs so we could take Sproggy too. It is a large place so we invited a few friends along. As Nick finished his contract at the same time he said he'd like to join us. Jennifer and Bernie {who came to Lundy with us} were available too, the rest of our group were Gavin a Scot {like myself} and Rick who like Jennifer and Bernie live in Cambridge.

This Landmark Trust building was renovated in 1983 to their usual standard. Monreith or Dowies as it is also known, has a history, it used to belong to the family of Gavin Maxwell the novelist who wrote The Ring of Bright Water etc. and has been mentioned fondly in his biographies. Gavin in our group was apparently named after Gavin Maxwell, so was very interested in seeing the place.

Andrew, Sprog and I set off fairly early as we knew we'd have a few stops on the way for walkies etc. Jennifer and Bernie were car sharing and Nick had offered to collect Gavin and Rick. It was a pleasant and uneventful drive to Monreith, which is quite isolated, the nearest village being Port William. Ayr, 68 miles away is the closest large town. We arrived first and Andrew lit fires in the kitchen and drawing room, I opened some wine and we settled down to await the others.

May I add that they were in convoy with 3 GPS' between them and still got lost!! We relied on normal map navigation and didn't - so much for technology! They did have the advantage of fires and wine to greet them.

They all unpacked. Landmark trust places are wonderful to holiday in, no TV, radio, telephones or other stuff to tell you what is going on in the world, I love this as you can just lose yourselves for a few days and totally relax. Gavin and Rick didn't like this idea much and brought 2pc's, 2monitors, connectors etc. including internet access, DVD's and speakers. They all got lugged up to their bedroom. Andrew and I did bring some music too in the form of a gateau blaster.

When everyone had unpacked we set off to find dinner. Port William has an hotel called The Monreith Arms, we went in and enquired about dinner. The bar was rather shabby, the lounge was occupied by a local workers meeting. We were told that we could use the dining room. We were led through a hall occupied by 20ish tables of oldies 4 to a table playing bridge - tea and bourbons were set out in the corner for them. An enormous function room awaited us, beautifully laid out tables set with silver cutlery etc. very Miss Haversham, totally surreal! A calor gas fire was switched on to attempt to warm us. The food was amazing! One of the best steaks I have ever eaten and sticky toffee pudding to die for, the others were equally impressed. A good pint of heavy went down well too. The bill was half the price of anywhere in England, of course we will be back! We retired to the Old Place, Andrew stirred up the fire and we relaxed with some wine for the remainder of the evening. The others settled at the large dining room table to play games.