In late October 2019 we moved from what we had been our home for eleven years in south west France to the small town of Alyth in Perthshire Scotland.
We had ruled out England considered other areas of Scotland, some too far north, the Islands too remote for us. We had looked at Perthshire before, nearer to family, not too far from Edinburgh or Glasgow, we liked Perth and were soon to discover the city of Dundee.
We found our house very quickly, and fell in love with it, it had its problems, the town had suffered a freak flood in 2015, so we couldn’t get house insurance to give us full cover. We pulled out of the purchase but only a few weeks later finding through an adviser suitable insurance, so we were on again much to our relief. We still love the house, I am learning to love the oversized garden with it’s far too many trees and noisy crows.
It is a lovely town surrounded by beautiful countryside with friendly residents and lots going on.
I joined the local photography and the art group, I volunteered at the food bank in Blairgowrie five miles away. Karen found a job at a local bank.
I started working on a project with the members of the photo club in conjunction with Perth Museum to put together an exposition of old and new photographs of Alyth in the Alyth Museum.
Then came Covid19 and lockdown, we are lucky to be here where we can work in our garden, take walks into “The den o Alyth” a beautiful location, up the hill or into the countryside past the potatoes and raspberry fields.
Den o Alyth the old swimming pool
The photographic project is on hold probably until next year now, I am still working at the food bank emptying the box at Tesco twice a week dropping it off seeing hardly anyone else, just another woman volunteer occasionally who sorts it out and arranges distribution to the council.
andymcneephoto 