Crossroads and Characters
46. CROQUET, ANYONE?
Garvock, another large Dunning estate, was owned for almost five centuries by one family, the Graemes, whose roots go back to Celtic times. William Graeme received the lands of Garvock from his uncle, James I of Scotland, in the early fifteenth century, and until 1933 the estate stayed in the family. In this photograph taken about 1900 Garvock House, which had been built about seventy years before, seems in good repair, croquet lawn included, and the estate farms were probably producing their usual excellent crop of potatoes. But when the Young family purchased the house in the 1930's, the estate had gone through difficult years, and the house was badly neglected. So much so that the tower on the right of the picture, the new owners discovered to their horror, was filled ground-floor to ceiling, with wild bees and honey-comb.
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