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Apr 26, 20222 min read

A stone in time

Updated: Sep 10, 2022


A landscape filled with large pine tree's, fields of heather and sheep sit under Scottish mountains covered in greens. The mood of the scene is overcast by white clouds and a small break of blue sky.
A view of Big Tree Country aka Perthshire from the hills of Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre just outside Comrie, Scotland.

A view of Big Tree Country, aka Perthshire, from the hills of Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre just outside Comrie, Scotland. I stand and watch as sheep in a far off field near Cultybraggan Camp, an ex WWII POW camp, bob about like the white clouds that mirror them above. It's a surprisingly warm day for Scotland in April. Two weeks ago these same hills were covered in Snow.

A young boy with short brown hair squints as sunlight stripes across his face giving stage to his freckles that dance across his nose and cheeks. The light gives a slight glimpse among the shadow of a play bunker.
A young boy with short brown hair squints as sunlight stripes across his face giving stage to his freckles that dance across his nose and cheeks. The light gives a slight glimpse among the shadow of a play bunker.

The tranquil view is mixed with the sweet sounds of children playing underneath me. The hill I'm standing on is actually a play bunker fashioned with four pipes into a, most likely man-made, mound. In the centre of the mound is a slit roof where the children can peak through and spy on their guardians nearby. I look in and see my son staring back at me as the rare sunlight shines through the bunker slits onto his face.

A standing stone covered in moss sits atop a grassy knoll. A blackbird is perched at the top of the stone but can only just be seen due to the surrounding landscape of pine and fur trees. It's a sunny day with the odd white cloud in the blue sky above.
A crow/blackbird sits atop a bronze age standing stone in Auchingarrich.

To the East of the play bunker is a standing stone. After doing some research it seems the monument is genuine. The stone itself is around 3000 to 4000 years old. It most likely was placed as a grave marker to commemorate a hero who fell in battle. The stone is visited by a crow who stands tall atop it's new mountain to survey the landscape nearby.

A white peahen with long a long feathered tail lifts her right foot in a scurry motion across the grass at the bottom of a grassy knoll. Atop the knoll sits a standing stone gently lit by the sun. Behind are arches of hillside covered in trees and umbrellaed by blue sky and white clouds.
A peahen runs along the bottom of a grassy knoll where a standing stone sits.

Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre is home to many animals, both in captivity and natively free to roam in and out of the centre. This Peahen scurries to join her flock as she distracts me from the now flying away crow.

Two children, a boy around 9 who wears a purple cardigan around his neck and a girl around 5 wearing a blue and pink polka-dot cardigan. The boy sits pedalling a toy tractor with his sister sat flush on the small tractor trailer behind. They smile towards the camera. Other toy tractors are parked around them, real tractor tires line the toy tractor yard and part of the farm house and buildings can be seen behind them near a sheep field lined by trees
Two children play on toy tractors on a farm.

To the West of the park is a large play pen for the two-legged human mammals, immensely popular with the youngsters of the species. Partly indoors and outdoors means they can enjoy the rare amount of Vitamin D while also being able to scurry into the shade or out of any random spring showers that may suddenly appear.

A woolly white sheep with black ears and a red dot on its hind lays on a grass and rocky knoll looking towards the surrounding Scottish hillsides that are marble in colour. A leafless tree stands behind the sheep but too far away to offer any shade from the blue sky and white clouds.
A sheep sits on top of a grass and rocky knoll looking out towards the surrounding Scottish hillside.

Until then, I sit like this sheep basking in the sun. Our skin lapping up the warm glow in hope that it somehow feeds our souls and not a melanoma skin landslide. I wonder if the souls who planted the rock stood doing the same all those years ago, possibly even thinking about me doing the same all these years in the future? I wonder if they even thought the stone would still be standing?

A standing stone with some moss draped atop stands on a grassy knoll. The left side of the stone is lit by son and the second side of the stone stands in shade. Behind the stone the marbled Scottish hillside is framed by the shrubbery that frames the standing stone. It's a cloudy day but with blue sky all around.
The other side of the standing stone.

- Holly x

 

Sources:


canmore.org.uk. (n.d.). Auchingarrich Farm | Canmore. [online] Available at: https://canmore.org.uk/site/24795/auchingarrich-farm [Accessed 26 Apr. 2022].

‌

portal.historicenvironment.scot. (n.d.). Auchingarrich Farm, standing stone, Comrie (SM1498). [online] Available at: http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM1498 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2022].


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