Holiday in North Berwick: Dundee

Dundee was about two hours drive from North Berwick, so it was not really a close place to visit, but we wanted to see the new V&A Museum.

We started our visit with a lovely, long walk in Camperdown Park (a place we used to regularly walk our last dogs, Tess and Henry, when we lived in the city). The cafe in the park was extremely busy with half term coinciding with our week off! It was so sunny and warm that we were able to sit at a table outside with Brock.

We drove into the city centre and had the usual kerfuffle finding somewhere to park. We ended up in the East Whale Street car park: about 10 minutes walk from the new V&A.

My first impression of the building was that it was striking, set next to the 'silvery Tay' and also in its own pond of reflective water, it resembled a huge ship. The interior was less impressive: a large open space with a mezzanine level to access the galleries. On the ground floor there was a cafe and shop (the latter seen from above in the photograph above).

The queue to get into the galleries was a mile long, so we decided to go on to the McManus Gallery instead. The McManus Gallery is definitely well worth a visit if you are in the area.

We had lunch at Fisher & Donaldson (another old haunt of ours) where I had soup (the only gluten free, vegetarian item on the menu!) and Rob had a cheese salad roll. We bought cakes to take away. (Coffee tower for Rob - a choux bun with creamy filling and coffee icing; and a pack of miniature, gluten free fudge doughnuts for me).

Back in North Berwick, we had dinner at the dog-friendly Ship Inn (a huge halloumi salad for me; vegetable curry and rice for Rob) The food was pretty good, but quite expensive. I had an ice cream from the Gelateria Alandas nearby (double espresso and salted caramel - absolutely delicious!).

Brock (and we) had six walks today, so a good night's sleep for us all.

Holiday in North Berwick: St Abbs and Dunbar

Back down the A1, is the picturesque town of St Abbs. We parked in the harbour (£1 per hour charge), and set off on a walk southwards along the coast.

St Abbs Harbour

Coldingham Sands

We walked for about an hour and 45 minutes. There is a narrow coastal path with great sea and beach views.

Statue of John Muir (naturalist) in Dunbar

Mercat Cross in Dunbar

Strange cloud formation, seen on our drive home

View from Lodge Grounds Park, North Berwick

Holiday in North Berwick: The Journey Up

We set off from home, leaving my brother, Philip, in charge of the house, Minnow Cat and Connie Chicken. The rain was pouring down, not boding well for the week ahead!

Our first stop was at Alnmouth in Northumberland. It is an attractive village with a long area of sandy beach, with a few small shops, cafes, hotels and pubs. We parked at the beach car park and walked along to the dog-friendly cafe, The Village Tea Rooms. Brock decided to jump into several very deep pools of stagnant sea water for some reason. He doesn't like water normally, so it was quite a surprise to all of us. Although it was misty, the rain had passed over and it was dry for our walk.

Brock running on the beach at Alnmouth

Alnmouth main street

Our next stop was the wonderful Barter Books at Alnwick Station. It has a cafe, and thousands of books: new, second-hand and antiquarian. There is lots of comfy seating scattered about; a train runs around the top of the book shelves in the first room, where there is often an open fire burning; and dogs are allowed in (apart from the buffet area). Parking on site is limited and very busy.

Barter Books - main room

Display of antique childrens' books

Berwick-upon-Tweed was our next stop of the day. We walked all around the city walls, enjoying the views of the sea and town.

 The allotments at Berwick-upon-Tweed

The house that L S Lowry stayed in on his visits to the town

 Views over the Tweed to the railway viaduct

We drove on to the flat we were staying at in North Berwick and were glad to have a rest after our busy first day.

View from the holiday flat's sitting room window: a minute's walk from the sea!

Latest Work and Mark-making Experiments in Batik

My latest batch of Prayer Flag Brooches are finished and listed in my Folksy and Etsy Shops.

These ones have a light and fragile look with shades of cream, beige and old gold, lace and buttons.

My next project is going to be a tall thin textile wall hanging based on the path at Samye Ling Buddhist Centre.

The path really caught my eye on a visit there, with its recycled paving slabs of different sizes, and occasional bricks or yellow stripes. I took the photographs below and made a couple of drawings to simplify it into a wall hanging.

My plan is that many of the steps on the wall hanging will be an art or craft that I have tried over the years as my own 'Path to Enlightenment' of learning about art.

I have tried to make some of my own fabrics with painted dyes, or batik technique and dye.

Painted dye on cotton fabric

Batik with painted dye on cotton

I added these two patterns to my libraries of patterns on Society6 and Redbubble. They look pretty good on the rugs, mugs, bags etc!

I'm on my third 'step', so a long way to go on this project!

A Walk Near Rosthwaite in The Lake District

Rob, Brock and I had a lovely walk yesterday, starting out from the small village of Rosthwaite in The Lake District. (Keswick is the nearest town). The walk is about 4 miles long, with some steep paths to negotiate. There is a tea room in the village, plus two small car parks and loos. The car park next to the village hall is the cheaper of the two, at £3 per day.

The first part of the walk is alongside a small river, Stonethwaite Beck, and through woodlands. You pass Millican Dalton's cave (the said gentleman actually lived in the cave for many years). We stopped by the river for coffee from a flask and a picnic lunch - a beautiful spot to relax in.

Then it is up into the fells along a well-maintained cobble pathway.

Castle Crag (you can climb up this rocky outcrop if you're feeling lively!).

Looking back towards Derwentwater, just seen in the far distance.

Coming back down to the valley.

A beautiful walk, and not too busy at this time of year. It is suitable for dogs, although you will need to keep them on a lead at some points, as you pass through fields of Herdwick sheep.

[Please click on any photo to see a larger version.]