Guest Writer, Mark, on his visit to McCallum's Bagpipe Factory

They have grown and have taken over 3 store fronts now.

A visit to Scotland, for me, would not have been complete without a tour of McCallum Bagpipes, in Kilmarnock. McCallum sponsored our trip by supplying a set of their dependable P3 plastic bagpipes and accessories. With our adventures to many countries and climates, including a soaking at an Iceland waterfall and mountain hiking in the Lake District of England, it was obvious that my wooden bagpipes wouldn't come back well tuned, although Lisa would say that they never sound in tune! 

 

Me in anticipation!

Robert, the foreman at McCallum, was a great host and took us on a tour of the production floor.  He started with handing me a large block of African Blackwood, which is the main material made in the Great Highland bagpipe. I was amazed at the weight of the wood and Meg couldn’t even budge the block pictured on the table.  These trees grow in swamp lands in Tanzania and are now sustainably farmed, which is great news for the Tanzanians and the future of bagpipe manufacturing.  I am hoping to see the Blackwood trees when we visit Tanzania.  Ebony used to be widely used; however, due to the shortage and tendency to crack, Blackwood became the common choice.

 

How it all begins.

The wood is then cut into rectangular blocks. 

Milled into round dowels, then shaped further.

The ivory mounts are then added.

McCallum uses milling machines to do much of the work, this modern technique has allowed the bagpipes to be consistent and built with high quality in mind.  The etchings on the caps, ferrules and other metal parts are designed in house where computers are programmed to complete the engraving. You can even get these in fancy, glittery colours, commented Lisa. 

 

Hand finishing the stocks of the drones is completed on the yellow
milling machines shown in the background.

ohhh sweet!

Lisa's artistic contribution, she's missing her glittery bits left at home.

Lisa made me add this one to show the colours.

The finishing touches and final assembly of the pipes are completed by hand.  McCallum has grown from a business of 3 employees doing all of the work to employing over 30 people today.  They are currently producing between 30 to 40 sets of pipes per week.  In recent years they have diversified their stock by producing the plastic set of bagpipes, which I have on ‘world-wide testing’, and have recently introduced colours into their lineup.  You can now march down the street with blue, red or green bagpipes. 

 

The final assembly room.

The girls and I checking out the map where they have shipped their pipes.

The new colours for the fancy piper...no Lisa, I do not need a new chanter!

Lisa was very thankful they were able to set me up with some new chanter reeds that allowed my high e to sound ‘MUCH’ better than when the pipes first arrived – those poor Icelanders didn’t know what had hit them!   A big thanks to Kenny McLeod, Robert Eynon, Ian Todd and the rest of the crew for their hospitality, support and expertise.  If you are in the market to purchase a set of bagpipes, I would highly recommend a set of McCallum's.  More on the travelling bagpipes later! 

Still in England, what have ye bin doin all this time?

Well, let me tell you!  Technically we are in Scotland now, but on the borderlands of England.  Since our tour will take us further north shortly, we have been venturing back into England for some sightseeing. 

A typical day for us consists of the following;

7:00 ish am - Usually a leisurely wake up of checking emails and Flickr uploads while still in bed.  Yes Ipad has remained a third wheel, but one we have come to appreciate a great deal.  Grab a quick bite of fruit or yogurt and throw on our workout clothes.

8:00 am - Drag the girls out of bed for the day.  They practice their dance for an hour while Mark and I head out for our morning run.  We enjoyed running along the river and parklands in England and now along the country roads and fields in Scotland.  It is not unusual for us to dodge raindrops, sheep and cow patties. 

We sure wish Dana was here, I really don't know enough
about Highland to be able support Ally as she needs right now.  

Working on her leaps!

9:00 am - Girls work on their schoolwork - half hour for English, Math and French each, and the other half hour is usually Art or History.  Most of the Geography lessons have been on the road with our in house Geography specialist pointing out every land formation, weather system and rock that crosses our path. While the girls are doing their schoolwork, Mark and I are supporting them, booking flights and accommodations, researching our outings, writing and catching up on correspondence. 

 

What school looks like on the road.

Any place works just fine!

11:00 am - Shower, pack lunches, snacks and water bottles and head out for the day. Sometimes we head out earlier if we have a big day planned.

We walk a lot!

 

We might visit a castle like Buckingham...

or a museum...

Big Ben...

or relax at the beach...

maybe visit another castle...

walk along Hadrian's Wall...

or climb a mountain.

We fit in dance competitions...

a chat with Cleopatra...

and more walking...

some time for posing with the Horse Guard...

and we always take time to relax and enjoy the journey.

4:45 pm on the dot - Check out the local village where we have been exploring for the day.  I think Mark plans the timing just so, allowing me only 15 minutes to browse before the shops close at 5:00, occasionally they stay open till 5:30 and that is a real treat.

 

There is always time to check out the Whiskey Shop it seems though....

York, what a beautiful little shopping village.

5:30 pm - Dinner time.  I’ll pause here while our family gets over the shock of us eating so early.  We have learned that dinner is enjoyed at a proper hour here, and if we want to eat in some restaurants we have to keep better hours than we are used to.  Mind you, if we are eating at home it is rarely served before 7:00 pm it seems.  Some habits die hard!

 

Hmmm, what to have for dinner tonight?

If it is up to Ally it is usually meat pies, tonight it is Yorkshire stew.  Papa look at the size of that yorkie!

and we must not forget dessert!  (Cousins, wish you were here!)

7:00 pm ish - We are usually back home from our day’s outing.  Photos are uploaded and organized from the day; laundry is done and hung to dry.  The girls usually do a workout and some more schoolwork and Mark continues his correspondence and research on the Internet for whatever the next leg of our trip requires. I make tea and lately a treat and we relax for the evening.  A walk, reading, piping, blogging, and on the rare occasion a DVD movie are activities that usually carry us through until bedtime if we are staying in.  We have ventured out in the evenings as well to a night festival, show and concert. (I tried to upload a video clip of the concert we attended, but blogger is not co-operating and Mark wants to head to the World Pipeband Competiton in Glasgow, so must run for now, sorry pipers!)

London at sun set.

Sometime after 10:00 pm - Head to bed to do it all over again tomorrow! This is the life and I highly recommend everyone add an adventure like this to their bucket list.

Going to the Chapel...

At Gretna Hall

Often the people we meet along our journey ask us where we are headed to next.  Gretna Green, by far, has received the most interesting comments: running away to get married are yeh?  are you going to get married there?  or we were married there thirty plus years ago!  Little did we know when we booked a house exchange with Nick and Sarah, that we were headed to one of the most popular marriage destinations in the world.  What better place to celebrate our 17^th wedding anniversary. 

 

They say it is good luck to kiss under the gate...and we figured we better give it a try.
So far during our trip we have ruined a Teflon pot, broken a microwave and a figurine.
And we thought we wouldn't have to worry about maintenance and repairs for a year!

Unlike Niagara Falls and Vegas, Gretna Green is a tiny little village in the south of Scotland, so far south, that it is actually on the borderlands of England and Scotland.  The size doesn’t seem to matter though as Gretna Green hosts over 5000 weddings each year.  People from 91 (and counting) different countries have been married in the Old Blacksmith’s Shop since 1984 and 1 in every 6 Scottish weddings takes place here. Just so happened that the day we visited was the only day that week that there wasn’t a wedding planned, so we got to explore!

 

The Victorian Bridal Chamber where many a couple stayed, originally in the Gretna Hall Hotel,
now on display in the Old Blacksmith's Shop on the way to the anvil.

The anvil is at the front of the room in front of a carriage which was commissioned for Queen Victoria's coronation.
The room is wired with WiFi as all weddings are streamed live to the Web, unless chosen otherwise.

Gretna Green became popular for runaway weddings back in the 1700’s when English Law stated that you must be married in a church, with your parents consent and that the couple must be over the age of 21.  In Scotland none of these rules applied and the legal marrying age, still to this day, is 16.  The girls have each chosen a historic site that we have visited to write a History essay about, thankfully neither of them chose Gretna Green.  I’m not sure I want them to know that there is a place they can run away to and get married, without our consent. J

I do!

Today there are many establishments hosting weddings in Gretna Green, but the iconic blacksmith and his anvil have become lasting images.  And although we didn’t get married here, we have added these images to our wedding anniversary memories as we tried to recite our wedding vows to one another over the anvil (without much success I’m afraid). At least we remembered the meaning of the vows if not the actual words!  

At another Blacksmith's Shop around the corner, this newly married couple just made it into
the vehicle in time, before a huge downpour hit!

High Tea aka Afternoon Tea

One of the things I remember while growing up as a kid was, being reminded of proper table etiquette.  My stepfather would say to me, “You can’t behave like that, Lisa, when you are dining with the Queen”. Usually he was referring to me having my elbows on the table or my not eating something I didn’t care for.  I do remember being told; however, that if I stuck my little finger out when sipping, that I would make proper company to have tea with the Queen.  Those early memories must have stuck with me, because having high tea in England and seeing where the Queen and other Royalty lived were some of the things I was most looking forward to, while visiting England.

I had visions of dressing up in fascinators and taking the girls to a quaint little tearoom. There, we would be served fancy sandwiches and sip our tea out of delicate teacups, centuries old.  The ornate silver service would gleam and yes, our little pinkies would be standing at attention.  I was thrilled when our morning discussion of what the day would hold, revealed a trip to Audley End, a beautiful old home in the country, and afternoon tea. 

There was a working kitchen at Audley End where they made
biscuits and bread from scratch.

The gardens of Audley End, so beautiful!

Us in front of the Cloud Hedge, Audley End.

A beautiful setting for Mark to play! The inside was spectacular and the furniture and books were as they
were in the early 1800's, even the paintings on the wall remained in their original spot and form.

Well... there would be no fascinators (no room for those in the backpacks), but I did pull on one of my dresses that I had brought along just in case the opportunity arose to wear more than Lululemon and flip-flops.  After a beautiful day in the country our timing was impeccable.  We arrived at a little tearoom, in one of the prettiest towns in Essex, shortly after 4:00 - proper afternoon teatime.  We asked about afternoon tea and my spirits dipped a little when we were told that afternoon tea had to be ordered in advance.  We were offered cream tea instead.  Now, don’t get me wrong, cream tea is fabulous - warm scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam, but I really had my heart set on the fancy little sandwiches and fruit to accompany that cream tea.  I wanted the whole experience.  My reaction must have told a story, as the kind woman responded quickly that she could in deed fix us up an afternoon tea if we wished.  And oh did I wish!

Anxiously awaiting our tea!

We took our seats outside at the only table available, which had a beautiful view of the river, but was a little close to the company van.  Oh well, I just wouldn’t pay attention to the fact that we were practically sitting on the street and I would focus on the beauty of the river instead.  After all, we were having tea.  My excitement was mounting as I imagined the tiered server arriving and wondered what flavor of tea we would be offered.  

 

Notice the van.... and my silly husband!

 The luncheon arrived and it did look spectacular on the tiered trays, but we didn’t get to choose our tea.  Again, everything looked so delicious that I quickly forgot about it and began to enjoy a tuna and cucumber sandwich on the most delicious brown bread - without the crust.

The tiered trays look wonderful!

Ally and Mark were dying of starvation and just wanted to eat, but I wanted a photo!

The teacups were also not the delicate vintage I had expected, and were so heavy that it made holding out our little pinkies quite difficult.  The plain white teapot dripped tea down the spout after pouring and was more suited to industrial use than afternoon tea.  Even my little brown Betty was better than that!

No pinkies extended with these mugs!

I was trying desperately to hold on to my overly romantic dreams of afternoon tea.  Then… things really started to go down hill.  All in a matter of minutes Ally had spilled her tea, dropped her scone in her lap, was covered from head to toe in icing sugar and went swimming in her teacup for the sugar packet that she had just dropped in.  Tea was to be enjoyed without sugar – didn’t she know that…and swimming – come on!  She was shattering all visions of my afternoon tea right before my very eyes.  Mark thought this was all very comical and the two of them were laughing so hysterically, that I am pretty sure I heard a snort. 

 

Goofball! Sorry no photo of the wet, icing sugar covered, Ally.

Meg was the only sensible one of the bunch and she and I sipped our tea with the straightest of pinky fingers and delicately nibbled at the sandwiches on our tiered server, trying to ignore the shenanigans across the table.   Mark and Ally had long ago devoured their sandwiches and scones and were thinking about ordering an ice cream cone. Ice cream cones with afternoon tea – where did they think they were – Hewitt’s Dairy Counter?  There is nothing dainty about big slobbery tongues lapping away at ice cream running down an arm. We were in Finchingfield, England, for crying out loud, one of the prettiest towns in Essex, having tea with the Queen.  OK, so maybe the Queen wasn’t really there, but I was imagining she was - and we were never going to be invited back again, no matter how straight our little pinky fingers were. 

    

Tea time became a regular occurrence while in Chelmsford!

This time, Ally had no mishaps, but Dad... he choked on his tea!

Again there was belly laughter, but nothing would interrupt my indulgence,
not even the weight gain!