Hello everyone and welcome to this week\u2019s blog. I hope you\u2019re well. I thought I\u2019d fill you in on my recent trip to Scotland.<\/p>\n

Scotland has long held a very special place in my heart. My late father worked as head gardener for a beautiful, grand estate in Lochinver for several years, and my mum worked as the estate’s housekeeper.<\/p>\n

As a teenager I didn\u2019t really appreciate just how wonderful it all was when I visited, but now I savour every little bit of it! The peace, the vastness, the wild animals and lochs. Oh, it was truly something special.<\/p>\n

I still feel as though a little of my dad remains there. His ashes were scattered in the United States so I don\u2019t have a grave to visit. When I go to Scotland it always makes me feel a little nearer to him.<\/p>\n

Scotland has meaning for another reason now. It\u2019s where my partner (always feels weird saying boyfriend at my age) hails from. We\u2019ve actually known each other as acquaintances for over fifteen years, but our relationship began to flourish just over a year ago.<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

I won\u2019t bore you with all the soppy stuff, but… I think we\u2019ve each met our match! In short, we have an awful lot in common and, perhaps best of all, the same silly sense of humour! Oh, and we are both vegans so we love cooking for each other. He makes the most delicious lasagne I\u2019ve EVER tasted!<\/p>\n

We had a wonderful little break together recently. We celebrated our first anniversary which was lovely. I can\u2019t believe how fast a year has gone.<\/p>\n

We also got together for a lovely evening with Jamie\u2019s family for his birthday. Sadly, Jamie\u2019s father passed away last November, so this was the first birthday without his dear dad.<\/p>\n

We went to the restaurant that his family have gone to for decades to celebrate such occasions. The seat at the head of the table was left vacant for Bruce as that\u2019s where he would have always sat. He always ordered olives for the table for everyone, too, so we had \u2018Grandad\u2019s olives\u2019, which I thought was lovely.<\/p>\n

Some of you may know I am involved with The Good Grief Trust. They are a bereavement charity helping those who are grieving to find the right support they need at the right time.<\/p>\n

Jamie has found them to be a very useful resource. I mention this in case you might find it helpful, too. You can find them easily on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

Jamie\u2019s mum is a remarkable woman. She has kept rescue chickens for a number of years. There is a charity that rehomes chickens after they have \u2018retired\u2019 from laying eggs commercially. They have called on Jean to come to the rescue on many occasions and she has been like a superhero to them!<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

At present she looks after over twenty of these little sweethearts. I\u2019ve seen some when they have just arrived after having lived in cramped, caged conditions. They look very scrawny and have a distinct lack of feathers. They also arrive with lots of red, sore patches on their little bodies.<\/p>\n

Jean keeps them separate from the others for a little while so they can build up their strength and become acclimatised to their new environment. You should see the ones who\u2019ve been there the longest. They\u2019re all puffy and floofy and just enjoying life.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one who really stands out as the fluffiest. I\u2019ve nicknamed her Henrietta Pufflepanties as she looks like she\u2019s wearing big bloomers!<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

Jean had been unwell just before my visit so Jamie and I looked after the beautiful birds together. They are so funny with their little personalities! There\u2019s definitely a pecking order and Henrietta is chief in command!<\/p>\n

They have about one-and-a-half acres to roam about in during the day, and they take themselves off to their little beds in the evening. Their pens are secured every night to stop foxes helping themselves to a chicken dinner! They\u2019re just so sweet.<\/p>\n

During my stay Jamie got his telescope out… Now now, I wasn’t even trying to be \u2018carry on\u2019 there! I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever seen a telescope before, let alone looked at the moon through one! It was beautiful.<\/p>\n<\/a>\n

It was very tricky taking a photo but I managed to get this one with my iPhone X. Not bad considering we had to keep making adjustments on the telescope as it was a moving target… or was it us moving. Hmmm, I think it was the earth. The earth moved!<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to thank you all for reading and commenting on my blog. As so many of you know I do find it quite challenging to keep up with all the replies. I do read them all, on all platforms, but I don\u2019t always get time to reply. Your patience and understanding mean so much to me.<\/p>\n

QVC are launching a new Facebook page for me, and I\u2019m going to be posting quite a bit more over there and would love for you to join me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u2018Catherine Huntley QVC\u2019, and will officially go live on the 1st of October. I will still be posting fortnightly blogs but they may be a bit less detailed and will sometimes relate more to special deals on QVC rather than behind-the-scenes, recipes and personal updates than it does now.<\/p>\n

The good news is I\u2019ll be posting all of those kinds of things over on Facebook.<\/p>\n

If you currently follow me on my Catherine Huntley TV<\/a> Facebook page, please feel free to carry on as that will still be ongoing, as will my Twitter<\/a> and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n

Once again, thank you for being such lovely folks and taking time to read my bits and bobs! See you soon on the box or social media!<\/p>\n

Lots and lots of love,<\/p>\n

Catherine xx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone and welcome to this week\u2019s blog. I hope you\u2019re well. I thought I\u2019d fill you in on my recent trip to Scotland. Scotland has long held a very special place in my heart. My late father worked as head gardener for a beautiful, grand estate in Lochinver for several years, and my mum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":88019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}