Quokka's Christmas Stories - 3. Scotland

Fordell Castle – Scotland

It has been nearly six years since I was last back in my Scottish home, and with Cousin Robert now getting frail and not travelling as much, since our last face-to-face meeting in Switzerland, just over three years ago, I felt that it was time that the whole family make a trip to Scotland, as it may be the last time that we see Cousin Robert alive, so I asked Hunter to start planning the trip for me.

The boys were now all attending the same school in Launceston, and both Julia and Patricia had settled into their new life in Australia very well, with both of them now the best of friends, and both families would often do activities together on weekends, and the two families would spend each of the school holidays with me at Wigan Manor.

With the 3^rd Term holidays recently passed, I asked Hunter to plan for all of us including staff to spend Christmas at Fordell Castle, and we notified Cousin Alexander to let him know of our plans, and he said he would make sure that Fordell was ready by the time we arrive, and that he would for now keep Cousin Robert out of the loop of what was been planned.

By the end of November, and with just over three weeks until Christmas, all the plans had been set. Exactly a week before Christmas Day, on December 18^th, my husband James, his brother Ashton, Hunter and myself, would fly from Hobart to Sydney, then Singapore and onto Geneva arriving on the evening of the 19^th local time, where we would spend two days.

Leaving three days later at 8 am on the 23^rd, arriving in the mid-afternoon of that day in Edinburgh, where we would be collected by Cousin Alexander and taken to our hotel to rest for six hours. Meanwhile, the rest of the family and staff, leave Launceston on the 21^st and after a short layover in Melbourne, they would fly to Perth, before boarding their direct flight to Heathrow, London, and after a short layover, board a flight to Edinburgh.

With all the staff and family together, we would travel by Scot Rail from Edinburgh to Dalgety Bay, which is just under an hour of travel in First Class by train, with our family and staff having booked over half of the seats in that one car, which made the last bit of our journey more comfortable.

Aled and Edna were at the train station when we arrived, with two minibuses to transport all of us and our luggage to Fordell Castle. Alexander and family would join us on Christmas Eve, where we would all travel to Balcarres Estate in convoy, with Cousin Robert to be notified of our arrival the morning of Christmas Eve, once we had all rested overnight.

“Good morning, Barcarres House, master of the house speaking,” Robert said when he answered my call, and it made me remember the first call I made to Barcarres so many years ago. “Good morning to you too Cousin Robert, how are you this fine day?” I responded. “Edwin… how do you know that it’s a fine day? Are you by any chance in the UK?” Robert asked me as he tried to work out what was going on, and I chuckled.

“Yes cousin, I am in Scotland, I am home at Fordell, we… that is the whole family and my staff arrived yesterday, even my Mum – Alexandria has made the long journey too, as well as my four sons and their two mothers,” I replied.

“Well I be… that makes an old man very happy to hear this. I do hope that you will be coming over here while you are visiting Scotland,” Robert said to me, “More than just visiting cousin, thanks to the careful planning by Cousin Alexander, his staff, my staff here at Fordell and your staff there at Balcarres, we will be celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Balcarres House.

We will be arriving at about 3 pm this afternoon, so we all look forward to seeing you again, but you do not need to worry about anything, it is all completely organised, so you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the big family gathering,” I said to Cousin Robert. “Wonderful, I am very much looking forward to seeing you again Edwin,” Robert replied.

When we arrived at Balcarres, Robert was seated in a wheelchair which alarmed me a little, even though Alexander had informed me of this when collecting us at Edinburgh Airport, and he had aged a lot since I last saw him three years ago. While the staff and family were settling into their accommodation, Robert Alexander, James Robert and I headed to the library to talk.

Alexander had me looking after my interests in Scotland, England and the Isle of Man while I've been home in Australia, and now with Alexander expected to take over managing all of Robert’s properties, business interests and eventually Robert’s title, it was suggested to me that I reduce my property interests to a more manageable level, so that I could run things remotely in Australia.

I agreed with this suggestion, knowing full well that I had been relying on Alexander too much lately to manage all of my properties in the Northern Hemisphere, and I would some of my stay in Scotland to review the properties I own and decide on which ones will be sold.

That evening, the family and staff sat down for a formal dinner in the main dining room, with caterers brought in to assist with the heating and service of the meal, which was wonderful plus we also had a bagpiper playing as well as a classical quartet to entertain us, and everyone enjoyed the wonderful evening.

The following morning, after an informal breakfast, with it being rather cold and snowing outside, we elected to stay indoors, and we enjoyed a light Christmas lunch since we had a large feast the night before. Shortly afterwards, Cousin Robert asked Cousin Alexander and me to join him in the Library once more, where Robert announced that on his death, I would be receiving a large sum of money to be held in trust, to be given to my boys once they had reached the age of 21 years.

I looked over to Cousin Alexander who smiled and nodded his head to say that this was approved by him as well, “That is very generous of you Cousin Robert, but I am sure that I will have plenty of money to set my boys up for life once they are old enough to look after themselves,” I said to Robert still a little in shock at the offer.

“It has been decided, and it is not just your boys who benefit from this gift, James Robert and his siblings will also be receiving a trust fund, so just accept it and look after it,” Robert said to me, and all I could do was smile and nod my head in understanding and with thanks.

Later that afternoon, my staff and family made the hour-long journey back to Fordell Castle, where we would be staying for four weeks since the boys are not due back to start school until early February, and this may be the last time the whole family gathers in Scotland again.

When we do travel back to Australia, the family and staff will be travelling in two groups, with James, Anton, Hunter and I making a short stop in Geneva on our way home, while the rest of the family, will be taking a direct flight to Perth from London, then onto Brisbane, Melbourne and finally home to Launceston.

That was the plan, but that all came to a crashing halt, as just four days before we were all leaving Scotland, my mother Alexandria took a call from Balcarres, to inform us that Cousin Robert had passed away peacefully in his sleep and that Alexander and family had already been notified.

I had Hunter delay our flights by a week, to allow us to mourn and bury Cousin Robert, and he had decided to be buried alongside his cousin and my Great Aunt Beatrice Petworth, which I thought was a very nice decision.

Our journey home was a long and sad one, but I was glad to be home in Tasmania again. I had a brief chat by telephone with Julia and Patricia, to make sure that they arrived home safely in Launceston, and I was informed that the boys had all retired to bed early, because of all of the travelling, and they had their delayed first day at school in two days, as it was Friday evening when we all arrived back home.