Wigtown

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 8

Destination - Wigtown, supposedly Scotland's answer to Hay-on-Wye - that is a 'National Book Town'. It's a quirky place (though not as charming as Hay) and certainly had a lot of bookshops: seventeen I believe. Its designation in 1998 apparently transformed its fortunes from a struggling town to a thriving one. I struggled, however, to find anywhere to get lunch. The only café that appeared to be open was, predictably, full so I ended up buying things to eat and drink from the town's Co-op and consuming them in a little park in the centre of the main street. Never mind, it was fine. 

The town certainly boasts an imposing town hall in the Victorian County Buildings. 

I found plenty to photograph, as it does seem a rather eccentric little place! 

Along the coast

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 7

Day three and I set out on a jaunt along the coast west from Kirkcudbright. It's quite attractive, with many inlets and coves like this gorgeous little bay near Borgue. Honestly, if you'd just set me down there, I could have believed I was in Greece or Croatia. Hot sun beating down, blue sky, turquoise sea and white sand... and yet, apart from one elderly local walking his dog, there was no-one there at all! Sadly the sea-pinks (thrift) were past their best, dried up in the heat, otherwise the scene would have been enlivened by their pops of mauve-pink. 

Further on, I stopped for a coffee at this lovely little café, Oakhill Café and Deli, in the shadow of Carsluith Castle, a 15th century tower house (and yet another property in the care of Historic Scotland that was closed to access inside because of masonry concerns. Something of a common theme!). The café, run by two 'foodies': Eshan and Suzy, was bright and welcoming, with tables outside to enjoy the summery sunshine. I found that good coffee shops seemed few and far between in this part of Scotland so it was nice to discover this forward-looking place.  

Some of Kirkcudbright's inhabitants

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 6

Near the town hall art gallery, I came across this art installation: Odin's Throne. Created by local craftsmen Ian Cameron-Smith, Ian Gillan and Callum King, it is a huge Viking chair, with Odin's ravens Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory) on the top, and Viking runes carved into the wood. It was originally linked to an exhibition of 'The Galloway Hoard', one of the most important archeological finds of this century. Discovered locally by a metal-detectorist in 2014, the hoard comprises more than 100 valuable and unique objects from Ireland, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms and even Asia. It's thought to have been buried in AD 900, in a time of Viking raids. Read more HERE.

As for the four lovely young ladies, they were just settling on the chair as I was about to take a photo of it. They kindly agreed to pose for me, which they did, very nicely. 

This chap is John Paul Jones (1747-1792), the Kirkcudbright-born sailor who became a highly regarded US naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. From the age of 13, he went to sea on merchant and slave ships and eventually rose to the rank of master of the ship. In 1770, he had a crewman flogged for trying to start a mutiny. When the man later died, Jones was arrested and imprisoned in Kirkcudbright Tolbooth and then released on bail, whereupon he fled back to sea. After he killed another man (allegedly in self-defence) he escaped to Fredericksburg, Virginia, from there joining the American Navy to fight against the British. He lived a very eventful life, dying of natural causes in Paris at the age of 45. In 1905 his body was exhumed and taken to the USA for a state burial. It was said that: 'Jones was a sailor of indomitable courage, of strong will, and of great ability in his chosen career.... He was also a hypocrite, a brawler, a rake, and a professional and social climber.'  Hmm...

Rather gentler and less contentious, the rabbit was one of a series hidden all over the Kirkcudbright Gallery for children to discover. They are taken from decorations in children's books and pottery by the Scottish illustrator Jessie M King (b 1875). She lived with her husband E A Taylor, also an artist, in Kirkcudbright from 1915 until her death in 1949. They lived in the rather delightful house 'Greengates' (below) on the High Street and here, in cottages that she owned in Greengates Close (through the alleyway under the mosaic memorial plaque), she established an artists' community, ran workshops and mentored young artists. That is partly why Kirkcudbright is now 'an artists town'. 

And these two?... Well, I'm not really sure, except that they clearly have a musical connection as they are holding instruments and surround by musical notes. These crocheted post box toppers seem to be all the rage wherever you go.  

I don't know why there should be a 1920s diver's helmet in a bookshop window either... nor what its connection to 'A Dairy Story' is (if it has one). It just caught my eye. So many questions...! But that is the joy of exploring a place that you have never visited before and, in Kirkcudbright, there was much to be interested in.

MacLellan's Castle

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 5

MacLellan's Castle is also situated in the oldest part of Kirkcudbright. Dating to the late 1500s, it may well be one of the town's oldest buildings. It was built on the site of the convent of Greyfriars, after Henry VIII had dissolved the monasteries, by Sir Thomas MacLellan of Bombie who was the Provost (that is, the mayor) of Kirkcudbright. By this stage, such towers had minimal fortifications and it was designed more as a comfortable, domestic home. Sir Thomas and his wife moved in in 1582 and later entertained King James VI there. The family's prosperity did not last and by 1742 the castle was empty. 

Like all the properties we saw that were under the care of Historic Scotland, internal access was banned due to unsafe masonry, though in this case there were actually workmen on site inspecting the walls. 

The town's war memorial sits in front of the castle. Erected in 1921, designed by George Henry Paulin, it shows a seated warrior with a sword and shield, with a sleeping child on his knee - rather touching really. 

Back at the riverside and exploring upstream, after passing under the bridge - and holding my nose past the fish factory (!) - the town quickly merged into rolling countryside, green and pleasant: 

Riverside

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 4

Day two of my holiday was devoted to exploring the town of Kirkcudbright, which turned out to be a delightful little place. The oldest part is clustered around the riverside and harbour, with some white-painted cottages, one of which, originally the Ship Inn, is now an art gallery - the Harbour Cottage Gallery.

From the gallery, which was showing oil paintings by Stewart Morrison, there was a lovely view of the quayside and the berthed fishing trawler. Look how thick those cottage walls are, the windows really deeply recessed. Kirkcudbright is known as 'an artists' town' and has many small galleries, studios and shops, as well as a splendid new gallery and museum in the old town hall.      

I rather liked the ship's wheel that had been cleverly incorporated into a cottage door: 

Lobster pots were artfully arranged on the quayside behind the cottage, perhaps to camouflage the satellite dish! 

I had a mooch around on the quayside - there's always something to see and photograph in such places. 

Evening, Day 1

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 3

Such a hot day cooled off to a calm and pleasant evening, almost Mediterranean in feeling (which was not at all what I expected in Scotland!). I stayed in the town of Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kir-coo-bree), which is on the estuary of the River Dee. A short stroll from the hotel took me down to the harbour area, where there is a small marina. It was all very peaceful, bathed in a soft golden light. 

Looking upstream there is a road bridge in the distance and, on the right hand side, some old harbour-side buildings. There seemed to be just one fishing trawler, which was moored there all the time I was there. Maybe there are others that were out at sea. Beyond the bridge was an industrial estate that had a fish processing plant (very smelly in the heat!) so it seems as though the fishing industry still survives there in some form. 

The river is tidal at this point and the tide was ebbing; the current was flowing really fast and was quite mesmerising to watch: 

Caerlaverock Castle

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 2

Not far from the WWT reserve, there's a very old castle called Caerlaverock. The ruin, in the charge of Historic Scotland, is now closed to visitors due to fears about the safety of the masonry but you can wander in the grounds. 

By this stage, mid-afternoon, it was so very hot and humid that I was relieved that the tiny café in the grounds was open and I could buy cold drinks and ice cream to cool off a bit. I couldn't be bothered to walk far and I was a bit brain-dead (!) so I didn't even take many photos. You can see from the pictures how parched our land is after a month or so with hardly any rain; the grass looked more like it usually does at the end of a dry summer, not the beginning! 

The triangular castle sits deep in a moat, attractively surrounded by water, reeds and yellow iris, with a bridge across to its gate. It dates back to the 1270s, and was built by the Maxwells, a prominent dynastic family in the area. It was besieged in the 1300s during the wars of independence and, though the sixty men in the garrison withstood the onslaught for a while, in the end they were forced to surrender to the much larger English army. It was eventually restored to the Maxwell family and subsequently underwent several other sieges and battles; the Scottish Borders area was always in flux. 

In the1630s, a new lodging was built inside the walls for Robert, the 10th Lord Maxwell and his wife, Elizabeth Beaumont. You can see the Jacobean frontage, with its regular window openings and Renaissance decoration, in the picture below, very different architecture from the rest of the medieval castle inside which it sits. The family were staunch Catholics and very soon a Protestant Covenanter army besieged the castle and forced its surrender. The south wall and tower were demolished and the castle was never occupied again. 

On land behind the castle there is evidence of an even older structure (below), one of the earliest stone castles in Scotland, built in the 1230s but then abandoned in favour of the newer castle, which stands on higher ground. 

It's interesting to speculate on the lives that people led in those very early times, which were as full of turmoil 'politically' as our current world is and must have felt quite precarious, when opposing factions could muster large armies and wars were commonplace. At least if Scotland decides to turn independent in the future, we're a lot less likely to send troops north!  You'll more probably find a film crew in the castle than an army these days. 

And finally, a sneaky pic of me enjoying my ice cream in the little café at Caerlaverock! 

Wetlands and wildlife

Dumfries and Galloway holiday 1

I've recently returned from a holiday exploring the south-west of Scotland, an area known as Dumfries and Galloway. As it's only about a three hour drive from here, there was no rush to get there so I decided to break the journey at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve at Caerlaverock. I hadn't expected it to be as quiet as it was... Even the café was closed and I had to make do with a cup of tea from a machine. The reserve comes to life in the winter, when thousands of geese, swans, ducks and wading birds overwinter there. It was a baking hot day too and the water levels were very low, so perhaps that was the reason people were staying away. There are, however, wild flower meadows, wildlife gardens and ponds to see, so there are dragonflies, butterflies and normally plenty of woodland and garden birds, though I think they were taking cover to escape the intense heat. 

The WWT reserves (there are ten across the UK) were set up by Sir Peter Scott, the son of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott who, in his dying letter, urged Peter’s mother to 'make the boy interested in natural history'. She obviously did! The first reserve, at Slimbridge, was opened in 1946 as a centre for science and conservation, and the charity has grown in size and importance since then, now welcoming a million visitors a year across the sites. There's a bust of Sir Peter outside the observatory named after him. 

Despite the heat, I managed a bit of a walk through the woods and the wildlife garden (below).

From a hide on one of the ponds, I watched a snipe. I don't really have the right camera equipment for wildlife photography but with a heavy crop to my photo you can just about see it! 

There were swallows and housemartins swooping around in front of the hide and one of the swallows kept doing a fly-past quite close. It took me a while to realise she was trying to access her nest inside the hide! Once I spotted the nest, I left quickly so that she could get to her babies. 

From another hide, I saw a roe deer and her fawn - in fact there may have been two young ones but I could only properly see one of them. I was a long distance away (another cropped photo!) but I think the mother was perhaps aware of my scent and was very wary. 

It's a very flat reserve, on the edge of the Solway Firth. 'Not much doing' (as they say) on such a hot day and it was too hot to walk far but nevertheless I enjoyed my visit. 

Poppies

I couldn't resist a quick snap, over someone's gate, of this lovely garden as I walked past. The poppies were huge and vibrant - so cheerful. 

Pontefract Town Hall

Pontefract's Old Town Hall, where the photography exhibition was, was sited at one end of the Market Square. Completed in 1785, it had a market hall and gaol on the ground floor with an Assembly Room above. In its lifetime it has served as a magistrates' court and a fire station. It's now used as a conference centre and for weddings and functions. It was sporting a large Union Jack, no doubt related to King Charles' Coronation. 

The exhibition was in the Nelson Room, so called because it houses a large plaster relief panel of the death of Nelson by Irish sculptor John Edward Carew.  This was the original mould for a bronze relief made for Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in London. It was given to Pontefract by Benjamin Oliveria, the town's MP in the 1850s, who was a friend of Carew. See HERE for more about that. I have to say it was rather magnificent, though owing to the exhibition stands I couldn't stand far enough back to get all the corners in the frame.