We went across to Aileen and Mark’s near Cramond and caught up – it’s been a year since we saw each other. Aileen and I met in 1st year maths at Edinburgh University many eons ago. There were very few other girls in the class.

We went to see Hopetoun House on the Firth of Forth just outside Edinburgh. When we arrived there we went for a walk alongside the estuary through the trees.

There were good views up the Forth.

We had a heavy shower so hid for shelter in the trees.

We went back to the house to have lunch at the cafe before the 2pm tour. We were quite appalled at the general lack of organisation. It took 20 minutes to order soup as a customer being served had gone off somewhere else so everything stopped.

The cakes looked good but everything else was a bit of a shambles.

We then went on the 2pm tour of the house. The house is very grand – but it’s all due to a facade put on a square 16th century house by famous architect William Adam.

We had time to get onto the roof of the house for views while it wasn’t raining.

In the foyer is a huge portrait of the 7th Earl of Hopetoun who was appointed the first ever Governor General of newly federated Australia in 1900. He was particularly liked by Queen Victoria.

There were some hand painted block documents from his time in Australia.

It was a very enjoyable fun tour by guide Lesley. The 1600s paintings newly discovered in the roof of the old building were quite spectacular.

The family still live in one wing of the house so must be doing ok.

After the tour we drove down to South Queensferry to see the craft trail. We had to stop first for tea and huge scones with views of the bridges – again.

We then walked down the road to catch the craft studios before they closed.

First was an intense potter who explained her experimentation process and showed us all her test pieces. We then saw some excellent very delicate paintings of objects or flowers – always with an insect involved in it.

We then went to a group of artists in one building who had a variety of paintings including formalhuman poses with dogs heads and some very nice landscapes by artist Jill. It was Jill’s birthday so birthday cake was handed round . The boys managed a piece – even after huge scones. Then it transpired that Jill’s son knew Mark and Aileen well through the scouts – it’s a small world.

We then headed back to the car – with the boys having an icecream from a place with 50 flavours. Glenn had panacotta and balsamic vinegar with strawberries. I don’t know where he puts it all!

Back at Aileen’s we checked the van radiator water which had been going down every time we drove it. There was evidence of a leak unfortunately. A trip back to the Forfar garage was looking likely.

While we were there the brazen resident fox went past – we were obviously on his normal route.

Aileen made us a lovely dinner including healthy beef stroganoff and rhubarb crumble – with rhubarb from the garden.

We had a very good sleep in a normal bed – and woke up very late the next morning.