Staying in the cottage where treasure island was written.

Now, I wish I could say that the lovely little cottage above is ours for our stay in Braemar in the Cairngorms. I had been looking forward to staying in the cottage where Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island. The cottage still exists, it is in Braemar. We did stay there. However, the part we stayed in was not worth taking a picture of. In this next part of our exploring the cairngorms we go from Treasure Island to pipe bands. And pipes will play up in more ways than one.

Robert Louis Stevenson, here we come.

Two parts of the cottage are rented out. The actual cottage itself, and what must once have been the servant’s quarters, or possibly the kitchen. That last part is where we were. There was a garden, we could look at it, through the kitchen window. As for the the sitting room window? All I could see were the fence and two large dustbins. This is the area that the website describes as: “Outside there is a charming little gravelled garden area (with furniture). Never knew those large green slightly moldy dustbins were considered as part of the furniture.

• It seems the cottage is no longer for rent, at least not on the website I used. This website usually serves me very well when I stay in Scotland.

A bit of disappointment

The part we stayed in was at the back of the house in a side lane, so it was quite dark inside. We were greeted by instructions on the table about what to do when the water supply did not work. Also, how much to pay extra when we had used the amount of wood and electricity allotted to us.

Pipes are playing up

The first morning the fire alarm went off. When you flush the loo the whole house shakes. Literally, and emits a sound from the pipes as if someone is drilling a hole with a pneumatic drill. And I mean e-ve-ry single time you flush the toilet! It did not quite have the romantic feel that I had led myself to expect. So, our romantic Treasure Island cottage turned out to be fiction after all.

Cairngorms beautiful scenery

Maybe we were just spoiled rotten by our previous abodes, where everything was so tip top in order and better than expected. Because, in all fairness, there was a huge fireplace. Hence, my idea that this must have been the kitchen. I did have a lovely fire one morning. But oh the scenery, the scenery of the Cairngorms, now that is something worth talking about.

The pipes are playing

After all the hullabaloo with plumbing and fire alarms going off, I heard yet another quite persistent sound. It seemed to come from outside, and there it was: a quintessentially Scottish pipe band playing, just around the corner of our cottage. Pipes yet again! These, however, did considerably brighten the atmosphere and our moods.

The nice thing about spending time in a slightly larger place is that we spent the rest of the afternoon (with tea and cake) in the Bothy bistro just down the road. We were reading our books and enjoying the surroundings.