Hi friends. It’s been a long time since I updated the site, and for that I apologize. I have had some messaging back and forth with a few of you, though, so Magruder-land was never far from my thoughts. In fact, I spent a week in Perthshire in June, where I had the great pleasure of meeting both Don McGruther and Hugh and Margie Rose. Hugh and Margie very kindly hosted myself and a friend at Trian House for lunch, before Hugh took us for a tour around Glen Artney and nearby sites. His knowledge of Drummond history was a plus for me. The next day Don drove up from his home near Glasgow to answer some of my McGruther history questions and to drive us around to some sites I’d not seen on earlier visits, including Drummond Castle Gardens and the Drummond chapel at Innerpeffray Library.

With Don McGruther, under a stormy sky at Craigneich. Photo: Brandon Moore-McNew, June 2014.

While in Perthshire, we were fortunate to stay at The Arch House, headquarters of Grace Notes Scotland, a nonprofit founded by Margaret Bennett to conserve and pass on the traditional cultures of Scotland, both Gaelic and Scots. The Arch House occupies part of what once was the stable block at Dunira Estate, west of Comrie–a unique and beautiful place.

The Arch House, Dunira Estate, Perthshire. Photo Susan Tichy, June 2014.

When I got home I had good intentions about getting right to work on this site…but instead spent the rest of the summer in a place with limited access to the internet–yes, there still are such places–so I’m just now trying to catch up.

So today I’ve made a new gateway page to the McGruther/Magruder Heartland, and made updated pages about sites in Glen Artney, Directions to Belliclone, etc., outgrowths of that page. Hugh Rose’s beautiful photos are also now part of that family of pages. My own photos will be coming soon. The gateway page includes a historical summary, so you can figure out where you want to visit and why.

Maybe all you need to know is how beautiful it is in June…

Glen Artney from Hugh & Margie’s garden, Trian House. Photo: Susan Tichy, June 2014.