Darklass House. We rented this house. It is big, but not so big that we didn't fill it. The Three were teenagers by this time and needed lots of space for flouncing out in huffs and slamming doors and brooding. (And that was just me!) There was an extension that was always freezing in winter until a log fire was lit, then it became a great place for real parties with dancing and proper games.

The Christmas seen here was spent with Crawford and Tom Buchan (who looks ghostly in the light and has now sadly passed on.) I just wonder who took the photo???

The fuel bills were astronomical. On top of the oil we got through two shed-loads of wood with extra bags of peat over the winter that the snow was so bad. We were snowed in for a while and the electricity supply failed for a couple of days.

The critturs were always to be found keeping cosy and warm on the best chairs.

Jenny the dog disgraced herself regularly by chasing the farmer's chickens up and down their coop (she couldn't get at them but she could make them run!) They stopped laying in protest. One day she got stuck in a harrow chasng a rabbit. When the kind, long-suffering, farmer pulled her out by the tail she bit him.

We had the best ever Hallowe'en in this house. Decorated the kitchen and properly scared the visiting children.

On second thoughts it wasn't as much fun as the one in Findhorn when I lit a fire in the back yard and dressed as a witch with blacked out teeth, then sat crouched over the fire waiting for guysers. Scared the pants off 'em.