Our first view of the pedigree black Galloways who were to become 'The Ladies of Low Arvie' - a short extract from the book of that name.

We had not been along this road before but it was easy enough to find the place from Marcus’ directions and in any case we spotted his Landrover Discovery parked just off the road and Richard drew up behind it. I looked to my left just as Richard said ‘There they are!’ and had my first glimpse of 'The Ladies of Low Arvie'. They stood around in a shaggy group, their black coats gleaming with the early morning rain and as we got out of the car they began to move around restlessly, wary of the strangers. By Marcus’ attitude, I could tell that he was nervous and worried that the cattle would not like us and so I stayed by the gate and let Richard walk slowly and quietly up to the group. Although they were obviously on their guard, the cows allowed him to walk amongst them and the calves hid themselves from my view amongst their larger mothers. I could see that the cows looked sturdy and strong and I felt the first flood of relief that they were not scrawny and thin. The cows all appeared to have orange tags in their ears and in the few glimpses I had of the calves, I noticed that theirs were yellow. I stood very still and looked at the milling throng of black bodies, with Richard moving through them and wondered what his reaction to them would be. He had had a fair bit of experience with cattle, although mostly with beef animals, and when I asked him later what he thought, he said that he also had had a pleasant surprise at their appearance and condition and he had agreed with Marcus that we should buy them.