Saturday 5 August 2017

Exploring new places

On Tuesday we visited Kirkcudbright pronounced Kircoobree.  It has been a Royal Burgh since 1455 and is predominately a fishing port but also boasts museums, galleries and a castle.  We paid a visit to the Stewartry Museum which holds an amazing array of historical artifacts and wildlife.  As it was busy with children it was difficult to take photos without inadvertently capturing one of them so this is the best I could do.  It was founded in 1879.


Kirkcudbright has a long establishment with the Glasgow art movement including the Glasgow Boys, Samuel Peploe and  Francis Cadell.  There were plenty of gallery/shops to peruse.  Scattered near the estuary where the River Dee runs were several sculptures and even beach huts?!




This is one the town cat who apparently spent his days in different shops and by the harbour.

This wooden sculpture was placed on the harbour in 1994, it was built to remember all those that have been lost at sea.  The artist was Charlie Easterfield.

Sir Thomas MacLellan had the castle built from material from the church which was dismantled for this very purpose around the 1570's.  It was difficult to get decent photographs as there was scaffolding in the centre of the castle.

There is an art trail around Kirkcudbright and from one of the windows it looked like Rapunzel was letting her hair down.



Beautiful views down the River.


Our next stop was Dalbeattie which is known as the granite town of South West Scotland and on wet days I can imagine it looks a cold and grey place.  Thankfully the sun was shining for us.  Dalbeattie was established in the 1790s beside the water power of the Dalbeattie Burn and the granite was extracted from the local quarries which was also exported across the country.

Dalbeattie most well known figure is Lt William McMaster Murdoch who was the First Officer of Titanic.

There wasn't a great deal there but I did go into one of the charity shops and buy some books as the one I'd taken on holiday I finished reading Monday evening.  Three books for a pound - can't go wrong there.  A mixed selection purchased.


From here we called into a small pottery workshop, lots of nice things to look at but nothing that really caught my eye.  I did like the way they had shaped one of their hedges though.


Our final stop of the day was Kippford which is a small village along the Solway coast.





All along the beach is just one mass of pretty shells of which I collected quite a few and have brought them home with me for future projects.





4 comments:

Julie said...

It looks like you had better weather than we have been having, I've just read a blog where the lady came home from holiday in Lincolnshire early due to bad weather all week long.
Lovely and interesting write up, not somewhere I have visited.

Brigitte said...

Great pictures from your trip. It's always lovely to discover new places, I love that, too.
The place where I bought Dutch Beauty is Arts and Designs in the UK. You should find it when you google the name.

My Card Attic: Hazel said...

What an interesting place to visit! I love to read your posts, it's like having a guided tour of the places you visit, with interesting facts along the way! Glad you have had a great visit sweet friend! Have a lovely Sunday! Love & Hugs. Hazel xx
My Card Attic

Karen K said...

Some lovely photos Linda and there seems to be plenty to see and do in the area.

Love the cat sculpture.

K x