My garden plus a free novel download

This is a woodpecker which I managed to snap from my bedroom window, though even when I am indoors he senses the slightest movement and darts away.

The housemartins are not so shy and continually dart from under the eves of my house, returning year after year. 

When I moved from the farmhouse I was supposed to be retired -except for writing novels of course. I didn't think I would want a vegetable garden with only me to tend it and eat the produce. However I missed the fresh vegeatbles and, being diabetic, they are good for me. Here are some of my vegetables in assorted pots. My runner beans are just off the picture beside a trellis. I like my potatoes in large pots so that I only need to use a few at a time. I am pleased with my leeks, carrots and onions as I use a lot of them for soup in colder weather. The large pot - almost a raised bed - was a re-cylced container which my son cut into sections. Next year I may try another as my cauliflower and broccoli are doing well. I also have three large containers of strawberries so that one is replanted each year in rotation. In the corner of my bordes I have a Victoria plum tree with rhubarb beneath. The blossom was early this year and spoiled by a very cold spell, but I also have a small apple tree and it has set a good crop so far. I have a loganberry and a few raspberries canes, while my conservatory has helped me keep myself in summer tomatoes for the past few years.

The book below is fiction but it gives a good account of farmlife during the first world war.

Family at Fairlyden is free to download from Amazon on Sunday and Monday June 10 & 11th. Follow this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Fairlyden-Series-ebook/dp/B00845UK30/

Book 4 - Fairlyden at War

This is the fourth and final book in the Fairlyden Series covering three generations of Scottish farmers.
(Originally published by Headline in hard and paper back). They are all available now for downloading from Amazon

FAIRLYDEN AT WAR - blurb

It is the 1930’s with men desperate for work and food. Fairlyden has survived due to Logan’s skill and his wife’s thrift. Their daughter, Kirsty is proud of her father’s achievements but her brother, Luke is afraid of animals and his fear leads to tragedy.

James MacFarlane has spent his first twenty three years learning all he can from Logan Fairly at Fairlyden. So when he chooses to live with his great-uncle at Nithanvale, the Fairly family’s greatest rival, Kirsty feels betrayed. To make matters worse she is jealous of Mary MacFarlane, who is the last of the MacFarlane line, along with her half cousin.

Kirsty’s responsibilities are heavy when the second world war breaks out and they are increased when evacuees arrive at Fairlyden but her sense of humour sees her through and her determination to keep the farm never wavers in the face of
threats.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fairlyden-War-Series-ebook/dp/B00875SY9Y/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=13389http://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Fairlyden-Series-ebook/dp/B00845UK30/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338989130&sr=1-104987&sr

Book 3 - Family at Fairlyden

I am pleased to say I have now uploaded the third book in the Fairlyden Series.

The Family at Fairlyden – blurb

In 1906, Beth Jamieson, is a little girl of eight, with honey gold curls, blue eyes and the sweetest nature. Her father is Mistress Fairly’s right-hand man and when Nick’s wife dies, Sarah Fairly treats Beth as her own.

Sarah’s daughter Sadie is jealous and does everything she can to prevent the growing relationship between the small girl and Logan, Sadie’s youngest brother: `She’s a labourer’s brat! She’ll never be mistress here! Never!’ she is heard to say. Yet, sharp tongued and vicious though she is, Sadie fails to stop the first childish closeness then, as the years roll by, the encompassing love that draws Logan and Beth together.

Throughout the country, the early years of the century are a time of social change: in London suffragettes chain themselves to railings and the Kaiser visits the King; in the Scottish borders, the Fairlys witness the first motor cars and increasing mechanization on the local farms, while on the far horizons dark clouds of war are massing.

Although Logan would rather breed cows and horses and stay with Beth at Fairlyden, he knows he must fight. As they take their leave beside the burn, one soft autumn day, the lovers cannot foresee the problems, the heartbreak and the joys which the future holds. Or who will inherit Fairlyden.

As the third volume in this magnificent Fairlyden quartet, The Family at Fairlyden takes up the moving love story of Beth and Logan while also chronicling the continuing saga of the Fairly family in this beautiful corner of rural Scotland.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Fairlyden-Series-ebook/dp/B00845UK30/

Book 2 in the Fairlyden Series - Mistress of Fairlyden

I have uploaded this book to Amazon as an E-book.

Mistress of Fairlyden

As Mistress of Fairlyden, and happily married to William Fairly, Sarah feels her life complete. But longing to share the joyful news of her pregnancy with Beatrice Slater, her childhood friend, Sarah defies her husband’s wishes and goes alone to Muircumwell Mill. She could not have foreseen the dreadful consequences which are to haunt her for the rest of her life, and force her to become the sole keeper of a disturbing secret.

At the Mill, she meets Beatrice’s sly and ambitious father, Edward Slater, whose evil jealousy and desire for revenge lead to a frenzied attack upon Sarah. Months later little Alex is born with a deformity of his feet. Sarah blames upon herself. William cannot bear the fact that his son will never be perfect and a rift develops.

Bored with the farm life of Fairlyden, and troubled by his son’s condition, William sets up a precarious business venture with Sir Simon Guillyman. Sarah cautiously welcomes this outside interest, thinking it good for William and their marriage. But when Sir Simon dies unexpectedly, his attractive widow poses a new problem.

With a growing family, financial hardship and the secret burden resulting from Edward Slater’s revelations, Sarah finds herself increasingly drawn to Crispin Bradshaw, owner of a Yorkshire woollen mill.

Mistress of Fairlyden is the moving and evocative second novel in this quartet of life on the land in nineteenth-century Scotland, following Fairlyden.

The Family at Fairlyden and Fairlyden at War will be uploaded in a few weeks time. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Mistress+of+Fairlyden&x=12&y=19

The Grandeur of Trees

During the winter storms two more of our precious trees blew down and another had to be felled for safety. An ash seedling had taken root in the fork of the trunk which had also begun to rot. More than a hundred years to grow and and in less than an hour it lay on the ground. If only trees could talk what wonderful tales they would be able to tell.

Fortunately we planted three copper beeches for our three children when we moved here in 1970 . They were slender saplings then and even after forty years I can span their trunks easily with my arms. It will take another hundred years before they are as big as the ones we have lost. How insignificant our own lives are in comparison. More recently we have planted an oak tree and a white birch, both with special memories. Through time they will help to replace the trees lost in the large farm garden but it saddens me to think no more children will have the joy of collecting conkers from the horse chestnut tree as my children did, nor will they gather beech mast in the autumn.
Many of you will be familiar with the poem below, and even better if you have heard it sung in the rich deep voice of Richard Tauber.

Trees by Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

I think that I shall never see

                                                                                  

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

*

Fairlyden book 1

Please Note : FREE DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY

 1st AND 2nd  OF APRIL 2012

Blurb for Fairlyden by Gwen Kirkwood

 (book One in a series of four)

Matthew Cameron’s death has ended the three life lease on the tenancy of the farm of Nethertannoch but Sandy Logan hopes to secure the tenancy so that he can keep his promise, made to Matthew on his deathbed, namely to love and protect his daughter, Mattie. He has made his promise with joy and sincerity because he loves the beautiful and vulnerable Mattie, who has been deaf since childhood.

The laird, Sir Douglas Irving, has other plans. He has little interest in the remote Scottish glen of Caoranne, or its people, but he needs to buy the silence of rapacious farmer, Jacob Reevil, who has long coveted the prosperous Cameron farm – and Mattie. So the laird promises the girl and the farm to Reevil’s idiot son, with no thought for the consequences.

When events explode into violence Sandy finds himself accused of murder and he is forced to flee. He takes Mattie with him, although he knows he cannot marry her until she comes of age. They trek for many miles and eventually find refuge at the rundown farm of Fairlyden, nestling in a peaceful valley. It belongs to Daniel Munro who has been in poor health for years due to crippling rheumatism. He does not welcome strangers but something about the pair of fugitives touches his heart and he agrees to let them stay.

They work hard to make a living and to restore the fertility of the land. Gradually Mattie is able to produce enough eggs and butter to sell, and Sandy has his strength and knowledge of horse breeding, but they try to keep out of the public eye, fearing retribution from Caoranne.
Unfortunately Daniel Munro is the illegitimate son of the late Earl of Strathtod so Fairlyden only belongs to him, and his heirs, during their lifetime. Without heirs it will return to the present Earl, who has always hated Daniel and can’t wait for him to die. So Daniel devises a scheme to thwart his half-brother, a scheme which must include Mattie - one which will have far- reaching consequences down the generations.

The Beauty Above

Yesterday evening the sunset over the Galloway Hills was magnificent. Unfortunately my photographic skills cannot come near to showing the beauty of the crimson bands across the skyline, changing to oranges and pinks against the purple and deep blues of the evening sky.

I often look at the sky and think how wonderful it is  but in my writing I realise I do not pay enough attention to this great expanse which we all see above us wherever we are. What can be more romantic than the wide blue heavens with a few fluffy white clouds dreamily floating by, or what can arouse more tension or fear than storm clouds gathering ominously in a darkening, brooding sky. I love the clear white light of a full moon and I still remember learning Walter De La Mare's poem Silver - "Slowly silently now the moon, walks the night in her silvery shoon' I like the bit about the harvest mouse scampering by with silvery claw and silver eye while silver fish in the water gleam. Many songs have been written about walking with a lover by the light of the moon. Yet I knew one writer who said anything to do with moonlight made her feel creepy.

    It is common knowledge that British people often remark on the weather, especially if they can't think of anything else to say, but our weather is so changeable and unreliable compared with many other countries. When I was young there were no weather forecasts readily to hand as there are now. Every morning my father looked at the barometer, tapped the glass and remarked that it was falling, meaning it might rain, or it was rising so it might stay dry.
     He also studied the moon a lot.He used to say when the new moon was on its back it held water but I am no use at interpreting the signs. When we looked at the stars I could see the Great Bear and The Plough and a few others when he pointed them out but I can never see them myself.

The unpolluted Galloway sky is earning a lot of publicity as a place to visit for those wanting to see the stars. In 2012 the organisers of the Wigtown Book Festival are also reaching for the stars by arranging author talks and activities in conjunction with Galloway Dark Forest Sky Park.