Photos and the City

Category: In The Movies

Abbotsford House

Welcome to Scotland! From Newcastle, I travelled by train to Edinburgh and from there to Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, my home for the next week. Just a short walk from Galashiels is Abbotsford House, the home of Sir Walter Scott.

It was a lovely, slightly wet, walk along the River Tweed until I reached Abbotsford, situated above the Tweed, nestled in between the hills, Sir Walter Scott loved to roam around, and overlooking the stunning landscape

Sir Walter Scott is a beloved Scottish writer if you´ve ever been to Edinburgh you can´t miss his monument next to Princes Street Gardens, the second biggest monument for a writer worldwide.

Born in 1771 in the Old Town of Edinburgh he spent a lot of his childhood with his grandparents in the Scottish Borders, in Sandyknowe near Smailholm Tower, the former family home.

After finishing his education in Edinburgh Scott became a lawyer. But he was always fascinated by the oral traditions of the Scottish Borders. He collected stories and wrote them down. At the age of 25, he started to write professionally by translation works from German.

On on Christmas Eve 1797, Scott married Charlotte Charpentier and the newlyweds settled in Edinburgh and had five children together.

In 1796, Scott’s friend James Ballantyne founded a printing press in Kelso, in the Scottish Borders. Through Ballantyne, Scott was able to publish his first work, including “Glenfinlas” and “The Eve of St. John”, and his poetry then began to bring him to public attention. In 1805, The Lay of the Last Minstrel captured wide public imagination, and his career as a writer was established in spectacular fashion. (Wikipedia)

Scott’s first novel “Waverly”, a tale of the Jacobite rising of 1745, was published anonymously in 1814.

When Scott was a boy, he sometimes travelled with his father from Selkirk to Melrose, where some of his novels are set. At a certain spot, the old gentleman would stop the carriage and take his son to a stone on the site of the Battle of Melrose (1526). (Wikipedia)

In 1811 Walter Scott bought Cartley Hole Farm on the south bank of the River Tweed and built a family cottage in 1812 which he named “Abbotsford”. Abbotsford House was built in a series of extensions and the farmhouse cottage became a romantic fairy palace.

Scott was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style of architecture, therefore Abbotsford is festooned with turrets and stepped gabling. Through windows enriched with the insignia of heraldry the sun shone on suits of armour, trophies of the chase, a library of more than 9,000 volumes, fine furniture, and still finer pictures. Panelling of oak and cedar and carved ceilings relieved by coats of arms in their correct colours added to the beauty of the house. (Wikipedia)

Scott used many sculptured stones from ruined castles and abbeys of Scotland and even collected Roman and medieval stones and statutes.

The house was opened to the public after Scott’s death in 1833 but continued to be occupied by Scott’s descendants until 2004. Electricity was only installed in 1962.

Today Abbotsford House is one of the main tourists’ attractions in the Scottish Borders and you can even stay there, probably not sleeping in Scott´s bed but nearby!

29/10/2019
Robin Hood´s Bay

It´s a wonderful bus ride from Whitby to Robin Hood´s Bay driving through the picturesque landscape and catching a view of the sea. Even better I rode on a double-decker bus in the front row – the best seat in the house!

robin hood´s bay

It´s just a very short walk from the bus stop in the “upper village” down to Robin Hood´s bay – a stunning old fishing village on the Heritage Coast of the North York Moors. Wandering down the very steep main street I instantly fell in love with all the narrow, twisting cobbled streets and alleyways going right and left and up and down.

Today Robin Hood´s Bay is filled with lovely independent shops and tea rooms and the perfect place to get lost in all the alleys.

The area around the Yorkshire coast was settled by Danes and Norwegians around 1000 but after the Norman conquest in the 11th century, much of the land in Northern England laid waste and later on sold to the Abbot of Whitby.

In 1536 “Robin Hoode Baye” was described as

A fischer tounlet of 20 bootes with Dok or Bosom of a mile yn length. (Wikipedia)

In the 16th century, Robin Hood´s Bay was a more important port than Whitby, whose Abbey was dissolved in 1540.

The town, which consists of a maze of tiny streets, has a tradition of smuggling, and there is reputed to be a network of subterranean passageways linking the houses. During the late 18th century smuggling was rife on the Yorkshire coast. Vessels from the continent brought contraband which was distributed by contacts on land and the operations were financed by syndicates who made profits without the risks taken by the seamen and the villagers. Tea, gin, rum, brandy and tobacco were among the contraband smuggled into Yorkshire from the Netherlands and France to avoid the duty. (Wikipedia)

But fishing and farming were the original occupations of the people living along the coast. Fishing reached its peak in the 19th century: the men went on the sea to catch the fish and the women carried the buckets full with the catch over the moors to Pickering or York.

A lot of the houses were built between 1650 to 1750 and the whole family was involved in the fishing business.

Today the main income for Robin Hood´s Bay comes from tourism.

The village was also featured in several movies like “Wild Child”, “Turn of the tide” or quite recently for “The Phantom Thread” with Daniel Day-Lewis.

If you´re interested in even older times, a lot of fossils can be found along the coast and on the beach.

After some time on the beach, I made my way up back to the clifftops towards the bus stop.

11/10/2019
Whitby

Two boat trips later it was finally about time to explore Whitby – this lovely fishing town. Everyone had warned me that “Whitby is gonna be busy” – and so it was, very busy! Especially after a week in Haworth and my days on the beach of Saltburn.

And no wonder it was busy, Whitby is such a charming little town along the River Esk, the harbour and the dramatic coastline. Lots of beautiful shops, cafés and things to do here! I had planned to take a ride on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway but then spend all the time on the beach – at least there is something new to do next time!

I started my walk around Whitby on the West Cliffs, the more “modern” side vis a vis the old town with the Abbey on the East cliffs- I had wanted to do the 199 steps up to the Abbey at the end.

The fishing port emerged during the Middle Ages, supporting important herring and whaling fleets, and was where Captain Cook learned seamanship. Tourism started in Whitby during the Georgian period and developed with the arrival of the railway in 1839. (Wikipedia)

When passing by the Sherlock café I just had to stop, enjoy the lovely inside and have some lunch! It´s a great place for a bit of rest and it almost feels like sitting Sherlock’s office!

When Whitby became a spa resort during Georgian times many hotels and lodging houses were built on the West Cliffs – and you still find a lot of them today! The view of the city is stunning!

The whalebone arch remembers Whitby’s whaling industry and is right next to the statue of Captain Cook who learned about building ships in Whitby.

After enjoying the view of Whitby I made my way back down towards the harbour and on to the East Cliffs.

Arriving in the old town I realized it was even busier than the West Cliffs and after walking around a bit I decided to do the 199 steps up to the Abbey another time and hop on the next bus to Robins Bay, a lovely little fishing village nearby Whitby.

08/10/2019