Category: Dunans Castle

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And The Next Thing is ... DCT Dunans Castle

Progress on the Bridge! We’re devising applications to Historic Scotland and Heritage Lottery Fund this week to effect its repair and restoration.

bigbridgeThe next stage in our progress to restoring Dunans, notwithstanding the ongoing consultation on our Conservation Plan, is putting in place the funds for the repair of the bridge. Today I have been working on the application to Historic Scotland on behalf of the Dunans Charitable Trust. I’ve now worked through the entire online form (excerpt attached to this post) and I am beginning the process of making the application to the Heritage Lottery Fund while I await feedback. Necessarily this is a detailed process, but the work that Robin Kent and David Narro associates have put in on the Conservation Plan and Indicative Costings make the whole process much less onerous than I thought it would be.

Once we have finalised the application we’ll be publishing the submitted form (less confidential material) on the Dunans Charitable Trust website here.

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And The Next Thing is ... DCT Dunans Castle

The Books have arrived: The copies of the Conservation Plan for Dunans arrived yesterday!

copiesofthebook

We are all delighted with them, and Monday will see the first copies sent out to all the Lairds and Ladies who have ordered them from ScottishLaird.com.

This first print run is nearly all sold, so if you wish to ensure you receive a copy quickly, please order now.

 

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle

Before & After: a pasture full of rashes & a pasture full of *cut* rushes

After

WARNING: If you have never used or wanted to use a lawn mower, strimmer, brush-cutter or scythe, then this post is probably not for you!

I know, I know, this really is a man and machine-type thing – you know when we get all excited about the latest, greatest gadget – but in this case its the repaired mechanical scythe which we really missed last year when it went out of commission.

There are areas of the grounds at Dunans which have consistently resisted taming, and only by using of our trusty BCS 620 Powerscythe can we ever hope to reduce the rash quota and reinstate grasses, wildflowers and other entirely desirable natives. Even inch thick, gnarly bramble succumbs.

The pictures show a before and after of the lawn on the south side of the castle – well, I call it a lawn, but it has been traversed by several heavy machines and is now more like a mire. I am hoping a weekly cut with the scythe will begin to get things back to a sward-like state.

 

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle

Georgia Bear & Co. visit Dunans Bridge with @thatpowanwoman and the results are Magical!

georgia_bear_bridgeTo see more, please visit the Dunans Castle Facebook page.

Over the next fortnight or so expect some absolutely lovely Dunans Rising garments and accessories to launch on the ScottishLaird website, including scarves, rugs and hats. We’re very excited about them, coming as they do, hot on the heels of the launch of the Conservation Plan for Dunans, which is presently available at ScottishLaird.com and via Lulu.

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle

Sheep inna windae: @thatpowanwoman takes photo of the week @DunansCastle

10353487_10152395438231224_840965589864182290_oThere is little else to say other than, the perfect photo is nothing more than composition, timing and subject. Jean nails it here IMHO.

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle

Transactions on ScottishLaird.com are now securer with 128-bit encryption, SSL, HTTPS and a bunch of other acronyms!

certificateWe’re delighted to confirm that we can take Credit Cards and Debit Cards on any of our ScottishLaird.com websites now as we have just implemented Secure Sockets Layer and HTTPS, enabling 128-bit encryption for all transactions. No longer is Paypal our only means of taking payment – which is great because it means transactions will now become less complicated and more frictionless. The picture (inset) is our security certificate from Comodo and covers both the general ScottishLaird.com site, but all of our Redemption sites for Groupon certificates.

And the featured image? The lock on our browser when the checkout page is reached!

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And The Next Thing is ... DCT Dunans Castle

Making progress at #DunansCastle with our architect, surveyor and H&S consultant

bridgesketchMuch discussion over the next stage of the work pending the consultation responses from Historic Scotland, Argyll and Bute Council, the Community Council, Development Trust and of course our Lairds and Ladies. During the afternoon we discussed the possible reasons for the round tops to the eight stanchions on the bridge (which you see in every photo of the structure). Robin, our architect, and author of the Conservation Plan (available here) thinks that they might have been designed to have obelisks or turrets atop. He made this quick, very rough sketch to outline the idea and I had to share it with you. Of course the reality is that it is unlikely they were ever built, and if they were they were taken down for good reason. More research may reveal the real intent.

After 5 hours of working through our plans we called it a day, or at least that was the intention – instead, Sadie launched into TWTC work and I, for my sins, went off for a three hour meeting with the Development Trust. It really doesn’t stop!

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle

First Feedback on the Conservation Plan for Dunans from one of our Lairds!

p1Laird Andrew Kerensky was the first of our Lairds and Ladies to acquire his copy of the Conservation Plan, and he has this to say about it:

Hello Dunans Castle – Home of the Scottish Laird Project I have received my digital copy of the Dunans Restoration project book thank you. It is a fascinating read…  it is very well written and incredibly insightful into the work going on thus far. I’m amazed that you are allowing us one footers an opportunity to contribute some opinions and thoughts into your wonderful project. Thanks for this!

Of course we are delighted, and to whet your appetite even further, we have included the introductory spread of the book as the featured image on this post.

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle

Narcissi, Primula & Barty: a winning combination for tours at Dunans this Spring!

To celebrate that Spring really may finally have sprung, three photos. The first two are very much about the grounds. The narcissi come up every year and are a delight – banks of them in front and behind and around the castle. The primroses seem to have had an excellent year this year and are now present on both approaches to the bridge. Perhaps this explosion is to do with the significantly warmer winter we had this year, and perhaps this explains Barty the basset hound’s sprightliness – I haven’t seen him move this quickly, ever. So quick was he I nearly didn’t capture him fully – as it is his head is blurred. Barty the Ballistic Bassett perhaps?

If you want to meet Barty, see the beautiful grounds, and hear about the progress of the restoration, book a tour now at help@scottishlaird.com (we run tours Mon-Weds-Fri at 12 noon, April-October) £2.50 p/p, free for Lairds and Ladies!

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And The Next Thing is ... Dunans Castle Recommended

Making email newsletters more elastic and more cost effective: @elasticemail

elasticemailSo Scottishlaird.com has over 11,000 subscribers divided into three separate lists, and frankly we were growing tired of an ever-inflating monthly charge from our old supplier – a rather overgrown simian. Now, don’t get me wrong the service was excellent, the templates great and creating an html email a breeze to put together and design, but the cost was ridiculous.

So yesterday, in email dialogue with Julie from ACT around the mailing list for that charity, the contractor recommended Elastic Email. So me having the technicals, I gave the system a once over.  So impressed was I, that I have converted our entire list to Elastic Email and dumped Mailchimp back down to the free account.

Why keep the free gorilla account? The wonderful integration between it and my e-commerce software – we’ll be using it to collect subscribers and then transfer them over to EE. Security-wise we’re fine, given that both companies are at the top of their game, but it is a bind to have to migrate users over ….

The only word of caution I’d give, is that EE isn’t quite as user-friendly as MC – but then I *think* that’s what you’d be paying extra for with when you go ape!

(… and all of this rather explains why there has been a hiatus on the email newsletter front with Scottish Laird – sorry!)


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