Here's the cast of The Curious Case of Osgood Mackenzie at Inverewe Garden where we took the show last weekend for a couple of performances.  This is the garden that Osgood created 150 years ago in what on the face of it is the unkind and bleak terrain of Wester Ross.  With the help of the Gulf Stream, shelter belt planting and years of work (not to mention the abundant cheap labour of the time) he created a little paradise which is now in the custody of the National Trust for Scotland.

While the play was well received in Edinburgh during the Fringe, here in Poolewe the audiences were naturally very interested to see some local history brought to life.  They clearly enjoyed the show and were very complimentary about the performances which strangely enough we lapped up.

The weather on the drive up was not so good but Saturday was a beautiful day and the run back to Edinburgh through some of Scotland's finest scenery was great.  Not so great for Rob who was driving, but for me who had been driven around all weekend like royalty it was super. 

Between shows we were given a bit of a guided tour round part of the garden and round Inverewe House which sits in the middle of it.  The house that Osgood's mother had built burnt down in 1914.  The present house was built by his daughter in the thirties.

Inverewe House

View from the house

Lush growth in the garden

We were staying some distance away and enjoyed excellent food, drink and crac on both evenings, venturing out late one night to see what we could of the aurora borealis, which wasn't much.  But we had excellent views of Skye from the cottage and other fine views en route.

Sunset over Skye

The mountains of Torridon to the south

Gairloch - we were staying 10 miles further along the coast