Gavins Tapestry Pole Finials

In the Great Hall of Balintore Castle, which we are currently restoring, there are some surviving cast iron tapestry poles with accompanying finials i.e. shaped ornamental end-pieces. However, perhaps 70% of these are now missing, and we had to find a way to source them.

The poles themselves are easy just 5/8" cast iron rods.  I despaired about reproducing the metal finials, until I discovered they were actually turned wood. :-) 

I chatted to my builders about how we might replicate these, when Gavin took it on his own back to buy a lathe off eBay. 

Last Monday he had his first go on a lathe since woodwork at school. By Monday lunchtime he had produced these:

You can see the original Balintore finial, newly painted grey, on the right hand side. It has to be said that the initial consistency of the finial product was not the greatest. All the turning is being performed freehand.

The finials and tapestry poles were originally painted more of a dove grey, although only limited areas of the original paint survive on the now-rusty rods. We had a grey metal primer in stock which was good enough for the job.

By the end of Monday, Gavin had produced these:

On Wednesday production was in full flow as Gavin cracked sharpening the chisels and I bought him a large set of new ones off Amazon.

The product is now much more consistent, and the just-turned finials have that classic WWII bomb shape.

I love when that "How on earth are we going to do this?" problem turns into a "Let's have a go." solution.

Storm Éowyn

Naturally I scheduled my Burns Night celebration at Balintore Castle slap bang in the middle of storm Éowyn on the evening of the 24th January. Thankfully, most guests did make it. Angus was not as badly hit as the Central Belt of Scotland, and I only had a couple of pull-outs due to the weather.

So while conditions were undeniably windy and snowy, it has been worse, so I was surprised that Éowyn took out one of the huge Sycamores lining the east drive. I can only surmise that these trees are the same age as the castle (165 years) so it is extremely sad. This is the first one to be lost. 

These Sycamores survived almost total ring-barking by rabbits during a previous snowy winter. As no grass was visible for months, the rabbits had to live off bark. A small inner core of the tree was rotten, possibly as a result of the ring-barking, and this looked to be the point of failure.

With my positive hat on, the tree will supply much needed firewood for Balintore for perhaps a whole year.

Some friends stayed on after the Burns Supper, so I took them for some walks in the vicinity. During one walk at dusk, my friend Thom got his right foot stuck in a snare and got brought down. He had no idea what was happening to him and he was panicking. My other friend Aislinn, with great presence of mind, ordered him to stop struggling, found that the snare had tightened around his ankle, and managed to loosen it off. I am putting Aislinn forward for the George Cross!

In fact, we were discussing the Order of the Thistle and the Order of the Garter, and I mentioned these were the highest order you could get. However, on checking online, these only come third, and are trumped by the Victoria Cross and the George Cross, It is only proper that courage should be put ahead of privilege and aristocracy! :-)

My group of four friend and myself realised that we represent the British Isles perfectly. The group had someone from Eire (Aislinn), Northern Island, England (Thom), Wales and Scotland (me)!

fallen Sycamore

rotten core of fallen Sycamore

snow from storm Éowyn

snow from storm Éowyn

Merry Christmas 2024

Christmas 2024 is almost upon us and indeed has hurtled towards us since the beginning of December with unconscionable speed. I was wondering what the topic of this year's Christmas missive should be, and in the end I chose an easy way out. On the 12th of December, there was a recurrence of an amazing atmospheric phenomenon where mist settles in the bottom of Glen Quharity immediately below the castle. I took a few photos on the day and was going to blog about it in any case.

Ironically, my previous blog entry was about not being someone who chases after the best sunset photos as life is too short. However, what does this blog entry contain? You got it: more sunset photos! :-)

Obviously, a winter's day in which mist settles in the valley like a white ocean while the sky above is mid-summer blue with a radiant sun is going to produce interesting light effects, so I kept an eye open throughout the day just in case. Sure enough, there was a wicked sunset - see below.

Prior to this the low evening light shone magically through the low lying mist. It actually proved impossible to photography with my modest camera phone, but here is my best attempt:

The mist blanket effect occurred around 11AM, and I knew there was a very limited time window to capture it. It had largely dispersed after half an hour. I have only seen this effect perhaps 5 times throughout my 17 year ownership of the castle, so there was no way I was not going to take a panorama and short movie to capture the best representation of  "being there". 

The first time I saw the effect was the best, when the white sea lapped up to the edge of the ha-ha, so the castle terrace became a shore. This time the mist was set a little lower, was less opaque and less pronounced to the ends of the glen, but the experience was still pretty awesome. Double click on the image below for the immersive panorama experience:

double click for a VR panorama

Here is the video:

2024 has seen considerable progress in the restoration of the castle's Great Hall. We started working on this in the winter of 2023. I thought perhaps the task would be completed before Christmas, but this should instead be early next year. Look out for an opening event. My builders have been working so hard on the great hall, and I have spend so much money on this in addition to the funds raised by the GoFundMe campaign (many thanks!), that a celebration is definitely in order.

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel, regarding taking Angus Council to task over their mishandling of the castle's restoration. In 2021, the Council's harassment of me become so extreme that they broke the law and caused me to have a series of mental breakdowns. I submitted around 50 formal complaints to the Council which were never answered, so I brought in the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

The Council did not even respond to the Ombudsman, and the matter was finally taken to the very top level of the SPSO. Two months ago, after numerous extensions, the Ombudsman finally forced the Council to respond to a single one of my complaints.

The response document signed by the Council's CEO Kathryn Lindsay is just a tissue of obvious lies and fabrications trying to whitewash the Council's wrong-doings. I even wrote to Kathryn giving her the opportunity to withdraw this document providing proof that the contents were lies. As a former public servant myself, I know how serious lying is, and presumably the document was not written by the CEO herself, who undoubtedly has done good work in her former life in Social Services, but as a CEO she should be exemplary in upholding the principles of public service. Hint, lying is not one of these principles. :-) Anyhow, the fact the Council has been evading being held to account for 3 years (and counting!), shows how broken public services are and how broken the mechanisms are for holding these public services to account.

It is good news in a way, that the Council's response is entirely indefensible, without merit and often times without sense, as this will hopefully make the Ombudsman's job simpler. So after three years of unrelenting legal work with no reward, things may be changing. Visitors to the castle are universally shocked that the Council is unsupportive of the restoration. And "unsupportive" is not the half of it. Await future hair-curling blog entries.

As ever, the restoration is one of the most acute discriminants of the human condition and the positive connections with supportive "friends of Balintore" are deeper than ever. I wish heartfelt season's greetings and best wishes for 2025 to family; friends; and those friends of Balintore. You know who you are!

Confessions of a Non Sunset Chaser

One of the few good things about winter are the sunsets. A quick google reveals that this is indeed the favoured season for photographers to capture these beautiful events: the sun is low and the phenomenon occurs not too late in the day.

However, I have long made a vow to myself not to be a sunset chaser. The nature of a sunset changes rapidly with the changing conditions. Generally, the colours get richer and richer the later the hour, but of course the intensity of the light eventually diminishes. In short, taken a photograph of the optimal sunset is a stressful, non-deterministic and time-consuming business. And I want nothing to do with it.

However, you do get those evenings when the light is just magic. A few months ago, the whole sky just exploded and the vivid colours lasted for hours. And this evening, a narrow band of land and sky around the horizon took on some amazing hues: with purple hills and traffic light orange skies. The colours below have not been photo-shopped.

The mast in the first sunset photo is a recent replacement that carries emergency radio signals. I am praying for a mobile phone antenna to be attached (mentioned as a possibility in the mast planning document) so the castle will finally get mobile phone reception. Before storm Arwen, the mast was hidden amongst the trees.

The second sunset photo shows a band of purple hills against a dark band of cloud.

As much as I am an avowed non sunset chaser, I did note with some satisfaction that the sunset diminished after I had taken the photos, despite the fact the sun was still above the horizon. :-)

And while outside today, I took a photo of the castle's new transformer. This was installed yesterday, by a team of 10 or so workers from Scottish Hydro, with a suitably long power cut during the day. All I could find to do was to clean and tidy the kitchen - that shows how desperate I am without technology. :-)

I was going to photograph the crew at work, which was fascinating to watch, but some castle emergency pulled me away.

Ko-Ko's Carbolic

Winter has, without doubt, arrived in Glen Quharity, with the first snow of the season on Thursday and then the second snow on Saturday.

Thursday was just a rehearsal:  a light sheet of snow alleviated by bright sunshine. Saturday was the real deal: a foot-deep blanket of snow in the morning with snow falling continually throughout the day; it was bitterly cold and overcast.

Thankfully, most of the snow had melted by Sunday morning and though patches of snow are still lurking in the shadows it has been much warmer, though the word "cold" would be totally relevant.

When guests at the castle over the autumn have said "It's cold.", it is very tempting to say "No, this is not cold.", because I know what is coming. However, I neither wish to be confrontational nor indeed wish to invalidate someone's subjective experience. 

At the end of the day, it's ultimately a practical matter and I might proffer "Would you like to borrow a woolly hat?". And it is to be noted that I started wearing a winter jumper over my shirt a fortnight ago. A fortnight ago the jumper was off and on, to regulate my temperature. Now it is "on": such is the change in the weather.

As Saturday evening approached, I realised I had missed out on my daily walk so rushed out as it was getting dark. The picture of the scaffolded gate lodge and burn by the gate lodge were taken on this walk. They show the wintry conditions. The camera's night sight mode is amazing,  and the reality was much, much darker.

Here is a picture taken from the castle's front door on Saturday morning.  I was reluctant to breach the virgin blanket of pristine snow, but mainly I didn't venture out as I had my slippers on and who wants ice on their inner fleece?

And a polecat update for Ko-Ko fans...

With a random glance out the kitchen window, I spotted Ko-Ko with a rat in her mouth running towards the castle. She was looking extremely pleased with herself. I was happy that she is actively dealing with vermin, and that she can seemingly move in and out of the building at will. 

On Monday, as I headed to bed I saw something bright red in the middle of the corridor. "How did that get there?" and "What is it?" are questions that sprung to mind. I bent down to examine the object: a bar of carbolic soap with Ko-Ko's teeth marks. The characteristic smell perhaps made her think it was edible, but the proof of the pudding ... The raid on the nearby bathroom had proved fruitless, and the swag had been unceremoniously dumped.

Electric Halloween

There's something of an irony in the title of this blog entry as Halloween almost didn't take place at the castle this year due to a power cut. But if you like looking at electrical equipment, this is the Halloween blogpost for you. :-)

our Halloween storyteller - Eileen Budd

The Halloween storytelling event at the castle was scheduled for yesterday i.e. 10:30 to 12:00 on Saturday 2nd November 2024. On Tuesday a letter arrived through the post from Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSE) stating that the power would be off from 09:00 to 17:00 on the very day of the  event. Total sabotage!

I contacted SSE by email and was told that they could not reschedule the outage or supply a generator. I then phoned up and confronted the SSE chap with "You tell me what to do!" because SSE was entirely responsible for creating this problem. Anyhow, the chap relented and said he would send out a generator.

The SSE chap emailed later that the work at the castle was more complex than anticipated and would be postponed to the 26th November. Hurrah! Then the man with the generator turned up. I told him that it was a false callout as the power outage had been postponed. He left swearing! Then he came back. It was my mistake: in fact there were to be two power cuts: one yesterday and one on the 26th.

The chap talked about a transformer and pole upgrade. I mentioned that I might know the very pole as there is a transformer by the castle that looks like it came out of the 1950's!

old castle transformer

I discovered a modern transformer lying on the ground nearby on Saturday - no doubt the upgrade:

new castle transformer

There was also critical work planned on a castle gate lodge early yesterday. The delivery of the necessary materials from Wickes was scheduled for the day before, so there was no slack whatsoever in the schedule, and I was only able to confirm the delivery had taken place late Friday during a walk to the gate lodges in pitch blackness!

Needless to say I have been having kittens in the last few days about no building materials and no electricity! These panics aside, the story-telling event went ahead without a hitch, with top quality storytelling (courtesy of Eileen the storyteller); top quality refreshments (courtesy of Ryan the chef) and a top quality venue (thanks to Balintore the castle).

I met Eileen for the first time at a Burns Night at the castle in January of this year. She revealed she was a storyteller. Balintore is a perfect venue for story-telling of course and yesterday's event was the direct result of our conversation at that time. It's lovely when plans come through, and I am dreaming of the next story-telling event! The photo above gives her other storytelling gigs in November.

After the event, I went round to the take a photo of the SSE generator. This had just been switched off just a few seconds before the photo was taken. Thank you SSE!

the SSE generator that electrified our Halloween event

Some of the locals generally come over around Halloween for a suitably ghostly tour of the castle. This is always a total delight as the kids come too and everyone makes a great effort with their fancy dress. The following alarming spectacle met me on my doorstep late yesterday afternoon! :-)

the spooky Halloween castle tour

And finally, I am sure you would all like an update on our resident polecat Ko-Ko. :-) She has come to sleep with me every so often over the last few weeks. On Friday night, I was woken up by some rustling in my bedroom. This is the normal precursor to  Ko-Ko joining me in bed. But this time she climbed up behind my headboard which has metal bars, until her head was about a foot from mine. She gave out a ginormous "squeak" and then ran off with lots of elaborate tussling. It scared the life out of me, and I was so perturbed I put the light on by my bed so at least I could see what was happening.

I have no idea what was going on: was she just playing with me? Joe, Ryan and I heard a polecat fight under the floorboards of the basement kitchen. It was quite a stramach, with lots of squeaking and banging.  Was it polecat against polecat; polecat against rabbit; or polecat against rat? If the latter then I guess the disturbance is welcome i.e. for polecats to deter rats this must translate into physical action at some stage.

A last minute reminder to readers of the Balintore Castle Restoration Blog that a few tickets are still available for our spooky Halloween storytelling event. It takes place at 10:30 AM tomorrow (Saturday 2nd November, 2024). Refreshments are provided and I daresay tours of the castle will be available after the storytelling for those that are interested. :-) The main road to the castle was re-opened last Tuesday after a full year of closure, so please help us celebrate our first event in a long time! 

You can book your tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ghosts-beasts-and-bogles-tickets-1026757418077

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ghosts-beasts-and-bogles-tickets-1026757418077

Going fast

Saturday, November 2

Ghosts, Beasts and Bogles

Join local storyteller Eileen Budd by the fireside at Balintore Castle for Halloween ghost stories of Angus. Refreshments provided.

By Dr. David John Johnston

23 followers

3 years on Eventbrite 📈

Date and time

Starts on Saturday, November 2 · 10:30am GMT

Location

Balintore Castle (undergoing restoration)

Balintore Castle Balintore near Kirriemuir DD8 5JS