Growing Up At Tombuie Cottage

A Memory of Tombuie Cottage.

My name is Drew Ramsay and my father retired from Calcutta India back home to Dundee in 1963 when I was 13 years old. He leased Tombuie Cottage for 5 years as a holiday home which came complete with a little over 1000 acres of mixed ground, a rod on the Tay and the use of a boat on the wee loch about a mile or so above the cottage on the Amulree track. I say track because the road from Kenmore wasn't paved then, merely a pretty rough road suitable for a Land Rover but reachable with care in a car! There wasn't any electric so all the lighting was with gas lamps. After the first year my father installed a generator and we then had electric lighting! We holidayed there as a family of 4 for most of the summer and other holidays during that period.
These were formative years for me and the memories I have of the Cottage and the area have stayed with me throughout my life. I learned how to shoot, firstly with a dummy launcher that fired beer cans up into the air, launched by my old man from the safety of a stone dyke, before being allowed to shoot game from the Craic. My Mother taught us how to prepare the game and cook it, and to appreciate the process from field to table.
During that time I also learned how to winkle a trout from the burn with a worm, how to cast a fly on the loch and indeed how to hook and play a salmon in the mighty Tay. Wonderfull times indeed!
I remember also eating out from time to time down at the Kenmore Hotel which was our 'local hostelry'. It's such a shame that the hotel has gone through hard times recently and has been closed since shortly after the pandemic. The salmon fishing too has not been let since the new owners took over. Indeed with the Post Office/Shop being closed also, the village when I last visited resembled something of a ghost town.
Last year my wife and I drove from Amulree to Kenmore and stopped awhile at Tombuie and give the dog a walk. I did knock at the door but sadly no-one was in. Although I must say the cottage and ground looked very well maintained. If anybody knows who owns it now I would appreciate getting in touch with them.

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