Brief encounter

9:50am Saturday 25th October 2008

John Hobbs discovers a weird and wonderful world on a journey through what’s been called undiscovered Scotland.

IT started with afternoon tea on the edge of a magnificently manicured lawn at a country house hotel. Moved on to a close encounter of the twitcher kind with a rare hoopoe bird. And finally came to rest, snug under the eaves of a centuries-old grain mill.

This journey along the byways and beaches of Dumfries and Galloway, to the most southern tip of Scotland, lived up to every expectation of being both weird and wonderful.

Tea at Cavens, an 18th Century manor house, set in six acres of landscaped gardens and woodland near Kirkbean, proved to be just the first taste of things to come.

With accommodation for only 16 guests, owners Angus and Jane Fordyce and their highly trained staff can afford to indulge visitors with near-individual attention.

Angus has drawn on experience working for nearly 20 years in London hotels to create memorable menus, using as much locallysourced ingredients as possible.

The accommodation at Cavens is superb, tastefully combining a modern, functional bathroom with a fine blend of traditional furniture in a bedroom-cum-lounge. Pure luxury this.

Many of the guests at Cavens use it as a base to explore the miles of wild coastline and forests along the Solway Firth. It is a birdwatchers’ paradise.

All of which brings me to that encounter with a retired academic from Bedfordshire, who my wife, Tricia and I, came affectionately to call “Hoopoe Henry”.

Over a mound of scampi at a local inn, he told us how he had spotted the rare hoopoe, identified by its bright orange crest with black stripes, just a stone’s throw away on the beach.

Still hot on the trail of the hoopoe, we ran into Henry a few days later when he recorded a second sighting of the bird, which rarely ventures far from its native Southern Europe.

This, much to Henry’s delight, was to be reported later in the local Galloway Gazette.

MUCH of our stay in Dumfries and Galloway was centred on the Threave Estate, near Castle Douglas.

Threave House, a red sandstone mansion built in 1871, stands in the centre of the estate, surrounded by an amazing range of gardens and woodland. They abound in flowers, fruit and vegetables and are home to a horticultural school from which students have gone on to manage gardens all over the world.

On the outskirts of the estate is Threave Castle, built in 1370 by Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway.

An eerie, isolated place this, which is approached across the River Dee by boat (you call the boatman by ringing a bell on the jetty), but well worth a visit, if only to glimpse the barn owls and wild geese that nest here.

Our “home” at Threave was the amazing Granary Cottage, one of two converted from the former Kelton Mill by the National Trust for Scotland and dating back to the 1450s.

Most of the timber of the old mill has been preserved and left largely untouched in the interior of the cottage, which now has a modern kitchen with dining area. Upstairs, snug under the eaves, are two bedrooms and a lounge, all carefully furnished by the Trust to fit in with the character of the mill – the stream still flows past the tiny windows.

During much of the 1800s Kelton and nearby Rhonehouse were at the centre of an economic boom, with families pouring into the area to share in its rich harvest.

But now the area has returned to its traditional industry of cattle and sheep farming, working hand-inhand with tourism.

A holiday in this still largely unspoilt area would not be complete without a visit to the Mull of Galloway, that most southern tip of Scotland.

Like the walks through forests and along beaches cloaked in cockle shells between Rockliffe and Kippford – and the wonderful array of independent shops still surviving in Castle Douglas – our journey turned out to be a memorable one.

TRAVEL FACTS

■ John and Tricia Hobbs stayed at Granary Cottage, Threave Estate, near Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway, as guests of the National Trust for Scotland.

For details about trust properties and bookings visit ntsholidays.com or telephone 0844-493-2100.

■ Cavens Country House Hotel at Kirkbean is offering autumn breaks for £300 for two nights for two people sharing a room up to November 30.

For more information about Cavens and other special offers visit cavens.com or telephone 01387-880234.

Features