Scottish Holiday in June

 Last month David and I took 2 weeks holiday to tour North East England and Scotland.  This may take more than one blog post. Our first overnight stay was in Wakefield, Yorkshire, an area were familiar with having lived there for a couple of years 15 years ago.  On our way further north we stopped at Northallerton and a chance to visit Betty’s but not the tea room but the bakery to get our favourite Fat Rascals.  

On our journey to our next overnight stay we saw some pink elephants on the motor way. Yes, really.

And we knew we were near Newcastle when we passed The Angel of the North (but there was an average speed camera in front of it).

We visited NT property Cragside. This was home to Lord Armstrong who founded a defence company which has long since been part of British Aerospace. One of the ways to reach the house is by going through the rock garden, which we did.

In the drawing room either side of the fireplace were these lovely Arts and Crafts windows of the seasons.

I liked the pattern on that carpet. And below a little bit of Lady Armstrong’s she’ll collection.

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A visit to Morpeth we found the tourist information office at the Chantry (a former chapel by the bridge) where we found a small museum dedicated to bagpipes, not just Scottish, but bagpipes from other countries. I took a photo of this tiny replica of bagpipes the original being in Queen Mary’s dolls house in Windsor Castle (3rd photo below).

After our stay in Ashington we had an overnight stay in Berwick Upon Tweed before our journey the next day into Scotland, but en route we stopped at Bamburgh Castle, which was unplanned but a really good place to visit. This is owned by the Armstrong family (who also owned Cragside) and is still a family home.  Fantastic views over the Northumberland coast and it was a beautiful day.

I was surprised to see a quilt made from uniforms 

And also to learn of a suffragette, Norah Balls, who lived at Bamburgh.

After our overnight stay in Berwick, next time we might stay longer, we travelled to our next stay in Dundee. But we had to make stops to take in The Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel. They did not disappoint.  

Outside the visitor centre were maquette models of the Kelpies and I managed to get a photo with the real sculptures in the background.

Just to prove we were there!

 They sit on a plinth over the Forth and Clyde canal, beside which is a lock gate. 

Then it was onto the nearby Falkirk Wheel, which connects the Forth and Clyde canal (the lower waterway) with the Union canal above . We watched as a boat entered the basin and raised, while the basin above came down with the second boat. While we were there we also saw an electric powered narrow boat making its way to another (conventional) lock on the Forth and Clyde. 

So that’s the first part of our journey and I’ll post again soon with more pictures.