Welcome Home At Last!

Among the many places we looked, we were drawn to each of these three for different reasons. 

House #1 was practical and offered more space, but felt a bit to far to commute. 

House #3 was stunning surroundings, but felt a bit too isolated. 

In the end, the row house in Kilmarnock with it's Victorian charm and neighboring park just spoke to us! It felt like home immediately, not unlike the way we felt when we found our house in Washington.

Welcome to Kilmarnock, Scotland...next home of the Matthews clan!

First, a few interesting facts about our new town:

1)     Located about a 30 minute drive south of Glasgow City Centre, one of the largest towns in Ayrshire with a population of about 45,000.

2)     A major industrial center of Scotland throughout the 19th and 20th century, which like industrial cities of the US, has struggled economically as industry shifted to cheaper global labor markets

3)     Two major industries were locomotive manufacturing (one of the worlds first tram railways was from Kilmarnock to Troon on the coast, built for transporting coal to the port there for export) and textiles. 

4)     As textiles go, Kilmarnock was well known for it's carpet manufacturing, including supplying the carpets used throughout HMS Titanic

5)     Probably most famous in modern culture as the birthplace of Johnnie Walker, one of the most popular Scotch whiskeys worldwide. 

6)     Poet and national cultural icon Robert Burns published his first volume of poetry here.

7)     Kilmarnock Academy, where our kids would likely attend high school if we stayed that long, is one of a very few schools in the world that can claim as alumni 2 Nobel Prize Laureates: Biologist John Boyd Orr, as well as Physiologist and discoverer of penicillin Alexander Fleming.

8)     There's a Scottish Premiere League football club here, the 2nd oldest in Scotland.

9)     Much debate and controversy surrounds the birthplace and ancestry of national hero William Wallace (Braveheart!), but contrary to accepted history that he was from Renfrewshire just north of us, some evidence exists that he could have actually hailed from the area around Kilmarnock! Not going to get into that national debate.

And now for a tour of our new home...

We're on a quiet little street with a path into the park. The kids are a 5 minute walk from their school and we're about the same from the city centre, library, museum, etc. The city is big enough to have major stores like Asda and Tesco for groceries and other basics (if you didn't know, Glasgow has the only Costco in Scotland...which is like a little slice of America, complete with £1.00 hot-dog meals, samples, Skippy peanut butter, Ghiradelli brownie mix, and the only good salsa in Scotland!)

The house itself is a Victorian era row house, constructed of red sandstone common throughout Scottish buildings of that era. 

The house retains many original features from its 100+ year history, including the stained glass front door, mosaic tile entry, banisters, and ornate crown moldings and tray ceiling detail. The downstairs includes the entry foyer and a half bathroom, as well as a door to the rear garden.

At the top of the stairs is Jude's new solo bedroom, followed by the main hallway.  There's a newly updated kitchen and nice dining room to one side, and the cozy living room with bay window and fireplace to the other.

There's a newly updated kitchen and nice dining room to one side, and the cozy living room with bay window and fireplace to the other.

At the end is the master and the girls bedroom, as well as a very small extra room which functions as a study.

All in all, we love it. We weren't holding out for a place with so much character and charm, but feel blessed to have found such a nice home and nice neighborhood within our budget, even if we had to venture a bit further from Glasgow to get it. It's not huge (like most European homes), but feels spacious and is bigger than most of the places we could afford (credit the post-industrial Kilmarnock economy for that I suppose). Most of all, we feel at home here already--Although frankly, after living out of suitcases for 4 months, anything would probably feel like home. 

We're already working on creative plans to make guest space available, and can't wait to have grandparents, and any other family and friends who can swing it come stay with us. We've only been here a few weeks, but agree with everyone we encountered who raved about the beauty of this place and the warmth of its people.

House Hunters International: Scotland

Okay so just a fun game/poll here as we finally get ready to settle down in our own place...

As soon as we decided we were moving across the pond, it became immediately clear that we were not the only ones who've watched HGTV at some point. Countless people said, "Hey, you should see if you can get on House Hunters International!" For those not familiar, the 'reality' show follows a family looking for a home overseas, debating between several options and finally deciding.

Unfortunately, we did some research and discovered that the participating in the show is not at all lucrative and also totally staged. So instead, here's our own self-made version. We ventured a bit further from work than originally planned to get a bit more space/neighbourhood quality for our budget. All of these are in the Ayrshire region south of Glasgow..see if you can guess where we've ended up living:

1. Four Bedroom Detached House Near the Coast - a newer home than the other two options, with an additional bedroom as well--no bunks needed! Sits on a quiet circle great for riding bikes, located in Stevenston, a smaller town near the coast in Ayrshire, this one has the longest commute, but offers a 4th bedroom and an extra bath.

2. Three Bedroom Townhouse Near the Park - a traditional red stone row house with many charming original features reflecting its century-long history. Boasts a nice updated kitchen, high ceilings, and a back garden with astroturf--no mowing and no mud! Located next to a nice park in the moderate-sized outlying town of Kilmarnock.

3. Three Bedroom Flat within an Old Countryside Estate - a nicely updated apartment conversion within Lockridge House, the former mansion house on a country estate outside the village of Stewarton. Split over two levels and has a lovely eat-in kitchen with large windows overlooking the estate and horse stables!

Tell us what you think...

Answer coming soon!

Away on Holiday -Caerlaverock Castle

This weekend away was exactly what we needed to rekindle the excitement we had had for coming to live here in Scotland and Europe.  Because of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Edinburgh we opted out of the major tourist attractions and went south.  Caerlaverock Castle, near Dumfries,  was having a Medieval Mayhem event and we all had so much fun!

This was really a perfect first castle visit.  The castle itself is a ruins with wonderful winding staircases that lead to nowhere, remains of the great hall and a real moat.  Exploring all of the passages and stairways was a blast and there aren't any stern faced employees telling you not to climb the walls or not to touch- we were free to explore as we pleased.

I loved looking up and seeing the vertical rows of fireplaces where rooms would have been or walking up a staircase only to have it end in crumbles, never being able to reach its long ago intended destination.  It is so intriguing to think of what it was like for people to have truly lived in these cold, dark places.

The Medieval Mayhem was lots of fun; with old children's games, sword fighting lessons and a battle between the English and Scots ( with the Scots in victory of course,) crossbows, and traditional bows and arrows to shoot, steep hills to roll down, an adventure playground!  Logan, Jude, and Arden insisted on wearing their dress-ups and fit right in.

We drove further south and into England that evening, as we were going to explore the Lake District the next day.  We found a great pub, Strawberry, near our hotel that was warm and kid friendly and satisfyingly yummy.  Sharing three scrumptious desserts together was a perfect end to the day.

Away On Holiday -Ullswater

Sunday, we found a congregation to attend church with and then had a lovely drive through Windermere, where Beatrix Potter lived. It was quite crowded with tourists that day so we didn't stop, but it was such a charming town that we will definitely come back and take it all in. We were on a wonderful windy valley road with such alluring rocky hillsides surrounding us that I was just itching to stop in the middle of anywhere and hike to the top of one.  Jon said "what's stopping us?" So we did.  And it was the best part of our trip. 

We hopped over fences, climbed under and over stone walls, around the thistle and through the tall grasses and ferns all the way to the tippy top!  We were probably at it for around two hours with some of it being very steep, but the children were awesome and exuberant with not one complaint.  

 We made it back down pretty quickly and stopped at Ullswater for some well deserved ice creams and a boat ride.

We wandered into Penrith for dinner, Angel's fish and chips with brown curry dipping sauce is the best we've had yet.  We got our order to go and walked to a nearby park with you know, just another castle ruins across from the McDonalds.  It started to rain so we picnicked under the park gazebo and played on the merry go round in the playground when it had let up.

Away On Holiday -Traquair House

On Monday we went back into Scotland to play in the hedge maze at Traquair House. Anyone who's seen Labrynth can imagine how fun it must be to get lost in a hedge maze! Well, unless your baby brother has been wished away to a goblin king and you're stuck in the maze, being tricked at every turn, in your pursuit to rescue him.  If that has been your experience then perhaps you did't have as much fun as I had.

The rest of the estate's grounds were just as enjoyable.  One of the things I love about all of these castles and grand estates is that they have thought about families.  I love staring at tapestries and admiring fine china, but my children aren't quite there yet- and these places get it.  So, they all have wonderful adventure grounds for the children to enjoy when their patience has worn thin ( and probably mine too.)

Hay Bales and Ladybirds

We all got pretty excited when a big, blue tractor drove right past our front window and into the backyard/ field followed by a big, red baler.  We threw on our shoes and ran out to the back porch to watch the action.  When they had finished and gone we ran all over the newly trimmed yard and used the bales for our own purposes.

We discovered a tree swing.

 And then ran into the grassy fields to hunt for ladybirds.

Adventures in Wardrobes and Such

The cottage is full of books- travel books, dinosaur books, birds of the british isles, extinct animals, books written in Italian . . . Books make me happy and rooms full of books make me feel mysterious and whimsical. I love reading to my children, playing the different character parts with changes in my voice and accent to fuel their imaginations.  My mother read to me and took us to the library often- encouraging us to cherish the books and the worlds within them. My father created the most wonderful on the spot bedtime stories, an oral tradition he has continued to share with his grandchildren.  

When I spied C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on the shelves here I realized my children had not yet joined Lucy on her adventures in Narnia.  Before we began, I told Logan and Jude to take turns going inside the large wooden wardrobe in our room (wardrobes are quite plentiful in Europe.) They were skeptical and curious and wondered why on earth a person might go inside a wardrobe! But, of course, they will never think of a wardrobe the same way again.  

It had been ages since I had read the story myself, and as an adult I found myself sobbing and sobbing through the text as Aslan sacrificed himself for Edmund as I know that Christ has sacrificed himself for all of us.  And for me, I too will not think of a wardrobe the same way again. 

When the book was finished we watched the new movie version after which Logan and Jude straightway grabbed their swords and invisible bow and arrows to battle a White Witch in the living room.