Inverbroom

Last week was spent with the Monks Clan in Inverbroom Lodge outside Ullapool in the North West of Scotland.  The reason for this get together was to celebrate Jean’s 70th birthday and we had all been saving up for it for over a year.  Everyone was really looking forward to it – all 18 of us (maybe not Rory who celebrated his 4 week birthday while we were there).

We arrived on Sunday afternoon at about 2:30 after a 4.5hr drive through some great countryside and great weather.  Our accommodation for the week was the Victorian shooting lodge pictured above.  It is half a mile from the head of Loch Broom and 8 miles from the fishing village of Ullapool.  There were 11 bedroom, 9 with en-suit.  The place was ideal – loads of space for us all and a dinning room big enough for us all to eat at the same time.  Here are some pictures from the web site - The (Adult) Lounge - 

The Dinning Room

The (Kids) Lounge

The Kitchen/Breakfast Room

The Week
Monday - we were up reasonably sharp, had breakfast and everyone started to “muster” in the driveway.  We all headed into Ullapool to have a walk round – Mo and I were on dinner duty the next day so we needed to pop into the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces.

Back for lunch, tidy up and then a walk along the river in the afternoon.  The kids started walking up the river with there welly boots on – but for Laura and Nicole that wasn’t enough – they ended up swimming – this water was straight of the hills and couldn’t have been much above freezing – nut jobs!!
Tuesday, was our day for dinner duty – after breakfast everyone headed out for a drive in the cars.  We got dinner organised and then headed out for a quick drive to take in some of the scenery – it is a lovely part of the world, very barren and bleak in places but spectacular.  This picture was taken about 4 miles from the house looking down the valley to Loch Broom and Ullapool and the one below is near a place called Gruinard Bay.


We got back to the house about 5:30 and got the dinner sorted – Mexican stew, rice and Crusty bread with my (only!!) speciality – Trifle for pudding.
The weather wasn’t looking too good on Wednesday so we headed into Ullapool and took the kids swimming – they had a ball.  We headed back to the house and had lunch – the weather seemed to have settled down so David called the Gamekeeper for the estate to see if we could use the rowing boat that was on our own private loch.


He was happy to meet us and we all headed up for afternoon messing about on the boat – or so we thought.  As we got our life jackets on the weather changed – and, as Gordon said, “It started to blow a right hoolie!!”  There wasn’t enough space in the boat for everyone, so the kids all had turns.  The kids who weren’t on the boat were getting a hurl around on the the Gamekeepers 4 wheeler motorbike. 
David then had a shot of being in charge of the boat …… what a laugh!!  Megan said that David trying to row the boat had been the highlight so far!!

Alan, the gamekeeper had said that if the weather was not any better in the morning then he would come round and take the kids up the hills in his 8-wheel all terrain vehicle – called an Agrocat. 
So on Wednesday morning, he came round with the motorbike/tank/boat vehicle and the kids and me set off – straight up a hill.  Gordon and Eddie started to walk up behind us.  The hill was about 1500 feet high and we managed to get up in about 20 minutes. Once we got to the top the Agrocat turned round and went down to pick up Eddie and Gordon.
While we were waiting for them to arrive I was snapping away at the kids and the scenery.  Eddie and Gordon arrived and after a tour around the top of the hill the Agrocat headed back down with Eddie and the kids.  Gordon and myself headed down on foot – the weather was overcast, but it was a lovely day for a wee walk down a hill.  Dinner tonight was leftovers from the previous nights – and a few glasses of wine!
      

I was woken on Thursday morning by Ella (nothing unusual) telling me to come down and see “The Birthday Girl”.  Today was Jean’s 70th birthday – and she was Ella’s favourite for the day.  This gave Gordon and Eddie a day off!!
David and Caroline were on the birthday dinner so they were having to hang around the house.  The kids were quite happy to do the same, so the rest of us jumped in the car and headed out for a run in the cars – we headed north to a place called Lochinver, past loch Assynt, shown below.

We took a single track road back towards Ullapool, which took us through some real barren and desolate, but beautiful scenery.  We stopped along the way to get some pictures – the one below is at Stac Pollaidh (Stack Polly) .



When we got back to the house, Caroline was still hard at work in the kitchen and David had taken the kids down to the river to have a bonfire.  The birthday dinner was  a great success – Caroline had really gone to town – scallops to start, lamb (amazing) for main and 3 different deserts – I went for the Bread and Butter Pudding (2 helpings)
Ella, Gordon and Myself went out for a wee walk to start off Friday.  It was a really nice day – still quite windy, but getting warmer.  We headed down to the next field, where spring lambs had started appearing.  We saw a lamb, still wet from being born, take it’s first steps and feed from it’s mum.  I kept waiting on Ella making a connection between what we were watching and what we had for dinner!!  After the lambs, Ella wanted a shot on her swing.


For the afternoon, it was decided that we would head to Gruinard Bay beach which we had seen from the cars earlier in the week.  The kids had great fun, flying kites, climbing rocks and digging holes in the sand.



 

When we got back to the house David and I went out on the bikes for a wee cycle.  David had been going out every day and had a run of about 10 miles along the loch side and back.  At the half way point I was feeling surprisingly fresh as we were about 100m above the loch, so we had been steadily climbing.  I was thinking that the way back was going to be a breeze – unfortunately the only breeze was the strong one hitting us right in the face when we turned.  This wind had been blowing me up the hill the whole way,  we now had to cycle straight into it.  By backside was loupin by the time we made it back – but still enjoyed it!  It was Eddie’s turn on dinner duty, so once he had got the order from everyone, Jean and him headed into Ullapool for Fish Suppers and Chinese carry outs – magic.

For our last full day we had arranged a boat trip from Ullapool out to an island called St Martin’s to see some seals and scenery.  Luckily the weather was great – and the sea was reasonably calm.


After the boat trip, we headed back to the house for the last time.  Fiona and Gordon were on dinner duty.  While they got things organised, we started getting things packed up for the early start in the morning – it is always the worst bit of a holiday.  Dinner was Turkey, and leftovers.  Laura had made a chocolate cake and a cheese cake for pudding.  Another great dinner.  I ate like a horse the whole week, it was hard to refuse when everything was so tasty!!
Next day was an early start to get the cars packed up and the place cleared for 10.  We made it and headed off.  We got home at 4 and started the washing from the week!!

We all had a ball, and it was great to spend the week with everyone – how are we going to match it for Eddie’s birthday next year!!

Below is a few of the pictures from the week…