Kingussie Rejuvenation

July 6, 2013

This is my final evening in Kingussie (king-you-see) in the Badenoch area. I have found it to be the happiest village in Scotland. From the moment I stepped off the train and was greeted by Derek from The Cross Guesthouse, I knew I had found a place for deep rest and rejuvenation. And the meals must be tasted to believe. Remarkable.

The Cross is the renovated mill on the River Gynack in a woodland setting with many trails. There is a place by the stream I visit each day with dappled light, birds and breezes that welcome me as I walk down the path

“pause on the brae-top

adjoining the mill

and dwell on the splendor of wood, vale and hill

while the murmuring spring as it gurgles along

with a leap and a dance, soothes the ear with its song”

excerpt from In Praise of Glen Gynack

by Rev John Smith (1911)

My Gillespie research led me here. In Victorian times there was a romantic interest in all things Scottish, especially the Clans. Sometimes loose associations placed surnames with some of the better known clans. In our case, with the MacPherson Clan whose museum is in Newtonmore, 3 1/2 miles from Kingussie.

At the museum there are many displays of photos, swords, memorabilia and crests, but no reference materials per se. I found hints and learned that Gillespie in a different spelling Gilleasbaig, was also a first name and one of three sons in MacPherson origins. If you look at the Wikipedia link above you will find the name associated with the Campbell Clan.

It is a stretch to claim Kingussie as part of family history from research, but I certainly claim it as one of my places I would visit again. I will remember it fondly as a village where I have felt very content and healthy.

Everyone likes to chat here. One woman took me to the Folk Museum that shows country life in the 1600’s. It was the first sunny day in weeks on our pleasant hike to the site through meadows and forest.

On July 4th following a once in a lifetime taster several course dinner at the Cross, I went to the local pub where musicians were jamming. Fiddle, flutes, a balalaika and two accordions. A woman has over 300 accordions in storage and she wants to open a museum. The next night I went to the opening for ‘Stitches for Charlie’ the contemporary Tapestry about the 1745 Jacobite victory at Prestonpans that is on tour. The amount of stitchery from more than 200 volunteers is mind boggling