We poked in shops for a first activity, and my favourite was the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. They “work directly with local communities to ensure whales, dolphins and porpoises are protected and valued throughout Scotland’s west coast”. I can’t explain better than their website. Basically, they help with conservation efforts for whales and dolphins in the Hebrides. They had several rooms devoted to whale pictures, facts, and activities, including one with nothing but a TV and some benches. This TV played their “whales are cool and you should care about them” video on repeat. They had a gift shop and on the way out I bought a wooden ring and an enamel pin. (I still have the pin! :D)
After that we had lunch at Isle of Mull Cheese. (aka Sgriob-ruadh Farm)
They have a farm shop and a lovely lunch area. Note Jesse’s back in the below photo, bottom right corner.
After lunch we were allowed to pretty much wander the grounds, according to a farm hand guy. We watched the cheese making process, visited the cheese aging cellar, and had a lengthy discussion about cheese aging with a cheese maker guy. (The explanatory farm person strikes again!)
We got a peek into the cow barn, where there were many generous cheese producers, and a few were using this cow back-scratching machine! We were informed by yet another helpful farm worker that the machine was to scratch the cows, (for their pleasure) and to clean them.
The same farm worker said that there was also a pig pen, so we went there next.
Our self-tour concluded, we headed down to look at the aquarium. The Mull Aquarium is Europe’s first and (to my knowledge) only catch-and-release aquarium. They are open from Easter to October, and their displays change with the seasons. Their “creatures stay for a maximum of four weeks before they are returned to the sea”. We got there just in time for the touch pool demonstration.
After that we ate dinner, then ice cream, and went to bed.
~End
(By: Mary Ella)
I’m so glad you are posting more about of your travels in Scotland! The cow scratching machine is amazing! Never saw such a thing at the Vermont dairies we’ve visited. You all learned so many interesting things and shared them with us.
The Greenhouse Cafe certainly looks inviting! And the soup and sandwich must have been a treat. My mother’s uncle (brother of her mother, a Brown, from the Scottish Lowlands) owned the cheese factory in the town where Mother grew up in Canada. Cheese making is an ancient and important skill. Scotland is trying to develop their cheddar cheese production for export. Your photographs are beautiful and tell the story almost without narrative. The ice cream looks yummy!