A Move to the Outer Hebrides

I have spent a lot of today making more candles. I am really pleased that I am going to be selling locally in the Uig Community Shop and I am looking to get my candles into more local places. The weather hasn't been that good the last couple of days as we have felt the effects of Storm Hector which has broken some of my plants and destroyed the flowers with winds gusting unto 41mph. Today also started out raining but its cleared during the early afternoon and we even saw some sunshine and I've managed to get washing on the line. At one point the wind dropped and the loch was very still and flat and this meant we had a visit from the midges! I enjoy making candles and find it a great way to relax and also do something creative. I have been making bluebell, sandalwood and mandarin, paradise beach and fireside today. I had been waiting for more wax to arrive and with the weather being bad, it meant I could focus on production today. My current favourite f

Its nice having friends come and visit us on Lewis.  One of Adam's ex-work colleagues, who is a motorbike enthusiast, arrived having made his way up from Bath via Isle of Skye and the Isle of Harris.. Watching his reaction to the scenery was amazing and reminded me of the first time that I came to visit my sister. I couldn't stop taking photos the whole time. I kept saying to her "stop the car, I need a photo!".  I love showing off the beaches and mountains and feel very priviledge to be able to call this place HOME...yes, it is now feeling like home! We had a lovely walk on Reef beach (below) and later on that day I got to see my first sea eagle.  Beautiful blue, clear, clean water. It is freezing cold if you paddle though. Cliff Beach - popular for surfing Explore caves via a kayak The amazing Uig Sands . This is a great beach for walking the dogs. Uig Chessman  - the giant king replica of one of the set that w

Even though we live in a fairly remote area we can still get a Tesco delivery which is amazing!  If you book well in advance, 3 weeks ahead, and don't mind it coming at the end of the day, you can get it for as cheap as £2.00. This is less than the cost of the fuel for the drive into Stornoway. It also means that I don't have to go into Stornoway each week if I don't want to....although I generally do end up going in for one thing or another and the strange thing is that even though Stornoway is 25 miles away, doesn't feel that far. I think its because there is a lot less traffic on the roads compared to driving on the mainland. When I was telling friends before I moved, that the nearest local shop was 6.8 miles away, their comment was "Its a bit of a way to go if you run out of milk!" The difference in distances to get things doesn't seem to matter as the bonus of living here far outweighs any inconvenience. You just have to be organised and p

On this particular day we woke up to fog. Even the birds were quiet with just the occasional cuckoo calling and the baa of the sheep. I head downstairs to let the dogs out for their morning ablutions and I reflect on the relief that I feel at the way the cat has now settled in. He has always been a town cat and I was worried that he wouldn’t cope with all the open space but he seems quite happy. He is as noisy as ever - what else can you expect from a Havana/Siamese. Sometimes his ‘shouting’ can get on your nerves and he constantly wants to be cuddled. Maybe its the fact he has to compete with 3 dogs although when he was still with us in Bath for the 6 months prior to coming up, he was just as demanding . The drive up with him was a bit traumatic for both of us. He hates being stuck in a cat basket and I had bought some herbal drops to give him to calm him down for the journey but when the day came I was horrified to find that I had packed them.  I jammed his cat c

Adam and I are returning to Lewis after having been down to Bath to pack up and move from the house that I rented with Jon whilst he completed his degree course at Bath Spa Uni and while I finished my job at the GP surgery. Our car is stuffed full to the gunnels and we ended up having to give items away to friends and neighbours as we just couldn’t fit it all in! On hindsight, we should have taken the trailer with us or the roof box so that we could have managed it a bit better, but we needed the bike rack to bring back Jon's bike.  For me, these couple of days down south packing up our things felt quite significant and that it really was the end of an era in my life and I feel like I have now started properly on our new adventure. Adam has already adjusted as he has been on Lewis for the last 6 months and although I am familiar with the place, it's still different. We overnighted in Stirling at  Hillhead Farm Lets  before leisurely heading up to Inverness. The scene

Back in the August of last year and after a lot of discussion, my husband and I decided to take the plunge and give up our full time jobs and relocate to Uig on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. I was working as a practice nurse in a local GP surgery in our then city of Bath and my husband Adam, was working as a sales executive with BMW. It was a bit of a staggered affair as he ended up moving first with me going up for a long weekend every 3-4 weeks and then I joined him permanently at the end of April. Why there you may ask.... We had been visiting Uig over a number of years as my sister had moved there with her family back in 2007 and although it is remote, the peace and slower pace of life held a huge appeal. With our busy and full on jobs we didn’t get to spend as much time together as we would like and Adam worked 3 out of 4 weekends and holidays and time away were just too far apart.  We would often wish we were in a position where we didn