Selwyn & Ink
Both the commemorative edition for Lairds and Ladies, and the PDF version have finally been published on ScottishLaird.com. This marks the first stage in the consultation on the plan, and all answers will contribute to the development of our plans for the building, grounds and bridge.
Watch the Scottish Laird site for news on the books (in particular our Lairds’ and Ladies’ and the PDF versions), and in the meantime enjoy the inside of the ScottishLaird welcome pack A4 folder. Gorgeous isn’t it? Lots of Dunans Rising tartan, lots of Lairds and Ladies taking the tour, and lots of new information researched through the plan.
Join our intrepid guide Colin, on a tour which tells the tale of Dunans over the last 500 years.
Today a party of 15 learned about the history of the building, the fire in 2001, the bridge and the tallest tree in the UK (it is!).
As is obvious from the picture, this is not a trivial task. The GPS coordinates we’re generating have to be processed using excel, then a text editor, and then parsed into SQL. At the same time, we’re relating the coordinates to specific plot numbers according to the schematic we drew up right at the beginning of the project in December 2007. These things take time, and we are still calibrating the results, so its all not entirely accurate yet.
If you would like to get an idea of where your plot is, please visit our beta app, here.
Over the bank holiday we have been testing our new quadcopter mounted camera and this is a short excerpt of what we think will become an exciting and revealing tool for the restoration of the castle. We’re presently designing shots for a forthcoming ibook of the Conservation Plan.
That’s the printer’s ink, the new paper and the ozone of a press that I can smell … No, but really the proof is a live book printed by Lulu, ordered three days ago and received today – and it’s lovely and glossy and just beautiful.
We’re looking for a small Scottish printer at the moment to do a run of between 250-500 hardbacks with dust jackets. And that run will be the primary publication, but we’ll continue with the more expensive Lulu version to enable easy sales around the world.
The PDF version is also nearing completion, and that’ll be immediately available on the Scottish Laird website. It’s not as glossy, but all of the text is there, albeit in a more compressed typographical form!
We have a lot of requests from Lairds and Ladies for a GPS Coordinate of their plot when they come here for their tour (and actually alot of folk want to be able to see the exact location of their plot online too). So we have a small app which does exactly that.
At the moment, it will provide a result for all plots up to around N5400E1. You enter your plot number into the search box, and if there is a result, you are taken to googlemaps where a pin is dropped on the approximate location of the GPS coordinates (see picture above).
We say approximate because we are not entirely sure that Google plots GPS exactly right in our location.
Anyway, you can check your plot here.
… and that’s the name of the radio programme with presenter Claire English – It seemed like a good idea at the time.
It’ll be half an hour of Sadie and me talking about what brought us to Dunans and how we’ve overcome the obstacles to make a success of the project. We enjoyed it immensely, particularly the initial bit standing on Dunans Bridge in full sunshine talking about that moment when we first saw Dunans and fell in love with it {sort of}!
I’ll post more when the programme gets broadcast some time in May. The photo is of Sadie and the BBC team walking back from the initial take on the bridge.
[And notice all those cars to the right of the ladies? That’s nearly 20 people who went on the ever-popular Lairds and Ladies’ tour today!]
Really very exciting. We even have a reference number from the council now for this pre-planning stage. Of course now the hard work starts – consulting with the community council and the development trust, who are sure to be our fiercest critics!
Today I gave a tour for six lairds and ladies – a couple from Aberdeen, another from down south with lovely pooch Oliver and the last all the way over from Australia.
Oliver and people had stayed at Sandra and Michael’s at the Watermill and gave great reviews, particularly for the ever-popular big breakfast that is Michael’s speciality.
Then, given their itineraries, we recommended The George in Inveraray, The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, The Colintraive Hotel and Inver Cottage! I always feel lucky to have so many great places to recommend in such an isolated spot.
For more information about tours and where to stay and go near us, please click here.