Deborah Richardson-Webb / Well Trodden Paths

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

Nelson Mandela

Meeting Jules in that Edinburgh café last July to discuss the Natural Change Project, I was intrigued to learn that the second week would be held somewhere I had visited many times.  In some ways I felt destined for that journey and in other ways I knew it may feel strange to return.

In 1990 the following entry in a holiday brochure drew my attention,

“At the heart of Glenprosen, one of the renowned ‘Glens of Angus’, lies the Balnaboth Estate on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park; 6,000 peaceful and secluded acres surrounding 16th-century Balnaboth House. In its midst, these five characterful holiday cottages each offer a unique and magical holiday retreat for couples; indeed the creator of Peter Pan himself (Sir James Barrie) was born in nearby Kirriemuir and holidayed here.

These cottages were once occupied by shepherds, gardeners or other staff of the Ogilvy family when this was a traditional Victorian sporting estate. Red squirrels play in the trees, otters frequent the burns, and deer graze all around. Because of the varied scenery, that varies from beech woods to forest, pasture to heather moor, mountain streams to river pools, the area enjoys a spectacular range of wildlife, including species largely extinct elsewhere in Britain, such as black game and ptarmigan.

Good road, rail and air access to Angus provide easy access from all parts of the UK or international destinations. Shop 9-10 miles.”

We stayed first in Braeshalloch in October 1990 and from 1996 until 2004 we stayed in the Gardener’s Bothy, The Laundry, Pitcarity and Burnmouth Cottage.  I had trodden these paths many times.

October 1990

It is twenty one years since this photograph was taken and seven years since my last visit, I know it may feel strange to go back.