We wake up early in
Inverness but decide to indulge in the spa and steam room downstairs before
breakfast to relax our tired muscles. It
has been a long 2 days getting here and the chance to sit in some bubbles and
do nothing is inviting.
After breakfast we will make
our way to Newbold House, in Forres - Scotland, which will be our first communal
living experience. We are here as
community guests, which means we get board and lodging in exchange for
volunteering half a day as well as a small financial contribution.
During our stay in Europe we
will travel using local transport wherever possible. We are fortunate that the bus stop is just
outside our hotel in Inverness. We are
told to look out for the No. 10 bus and it arrives soon enough. Thankfully, we are travelling light, a daypack
and backpack each, so catching local transport won’t be too much of a hassle.
The trip to Forres takes us
through incredibly beautiful countryside; wide open moors that stretch for
miles, ablaze with yellow gorse. I am torn between wanting to make use of the
internet on the stagecoach and enjoy the scenery. We reach Forres in an hour and decide to
walk the 30 minutes to Newbold House.
It is a stunning village with
incredible sandstone houses, each one completely different to the other. The gardens are a mass of tangled colour and
we stop for photographs and to reassure one of the locals who thought we had
got lost on the way to the airport. I
guess it isn’t everyday that you see a couple of strangers dragging their
luggage behind them on the streets of Forres.
We can’t believe our luck
when we finally arrive at Newbold House.
The impressive sandstone mansion is from the Victorian era and the
massive room we are shown into almost big enough to be a studio apartment. We settle in quickly and relax in the outdoor
conservatory, and enjoy the warm weather we seem to have brought to Scotland.
On Sunday we begin what will
be a typical day during our stay here.
We choose to go for meditation early morning but this may not be a
regular feature. After an assortment of
fruit and cereal for breakfast we have a meeting. There is a mix of volunteers and long-term
community members here and the day begins with a bit of sharing and getting to
know each other and then apportioning the chores that need to be done. We start wiht garden duty on Day 1. Working hours for us are from 9.30-12.30 with
a half hour tea-break. We enjoy being
outdoors in the warm sunshine we have been blessed with.
I feel happy and free from the hustle and bustle of my life in OZ.
The morning is over almost
before it started and we have the rest of the day to ourselves. It is wonderful to have our meals cooked for
us. They are mostly vegetarian and I enjoy
the fresh salads, soups, lasagne…. made straight with produce from the
garden. Our first full day here has been
wonderfully relaxing. We indulge in some
rest and a long walk in the beautiful countryside that surrounds us.
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