After our late breakfast, Kathy returned home and told us the pipe band was about to march through the town square to kick off the town's summer festival. We stepped outside just in time to catch them rounding our corner, and watched until the speakers took the stage.
We took off in Derek's car toward a few of his favourite places. We drove around Wedderburn Castle, where a weary wedding party was packing up the previous night's decorations and leftovers--the idea of a wedding in one of these old castles is enough to make me want to get married all over again. To Brian. Of course.
We crossed into England (Duns is in 'the borders' area of Scotland, so this is not a huge feat) and wound up at Alnwick Castle (pronounced 'Annick'), otherwise known as--get ready for it--Hogwarts, at least in the first two films.
Not being a Harry Potter fan myself, I found this only slightly exciting, and mostly because I knew how jealous a few of my friends would be. It was also the set of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, for those of you who care. Even without the Hollywood connection, wandering around this castle was undeniably awe-inspiring. Just feeling the cobblestones beneath our feet, worn down by huge, horse-drawn carts; marveling at the intricately carved woodwork in the interior rooms; walking the grounds and scaling the castle walls, knowing that centuries ago, one might have looked over the edge to see an army advancing. For Brian and I, it was surreal. For Derek, it's just another day at home... well, not quite. He was an excellent, enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide.
From the castle, we took a jaunt into the town of Alnwick, grabbed a take-way lunch at a Gregg's Bakery (restaurants here have 'take-away' prices and 'sit-in' prices for the same food items, the latter usually at least 25p more expensive than the former) and checked out its famous used bookstore, housed in an old train station and filled to the rafters with books of all kinds--well, except for Sociology, whose section had only about a dozen books, most of them dated textbooks you couldn't pay me to read. The history section was equally disappointing, so we concluded that for academic books, this isn't the place to go. For a good, cheap read--usually under a pound--it's ideal.
By the hour we left Alnwick we were running out of time for our day-trip--we had to get back to Duns in time to go to the co-op to pick up food for dinner and for Brian and I to take with us on our bus tour. We managed to see two more castles (from the outside, just driving around the grounds), including the Bamberg Castle, pictured below:
We also drove into Berwick (pronounced 'Berrick'), parked, and walked along the wall surrounding the town. Parts of it are covered in soil and grass, while others are still bare rock. Standing atop the wall offers an incredible view over the houses, gardens and farms that comprise this, one of the largest towns in the borders area.
We've finished a home-cooked dinner, and Kathy is perusing the 'Castles for Sale' section of the newspaper before we walk over to the Whip & Saddle Pub to sample some real ales--a special selection of beers straight from the keg, brought out to kick off the summer festival. We leave bright and early tomorrow for Edinburgh, to catch our 3-day bus tour of the Isle of Skye.
We took off in Derek's car toward a few of his favourite places. We drove around Wedderburn Castle, where a weary wedding party was packing up the previous night's decorations and leftovers--the idea of a wedding in one of these old castles is enough to make me want to get married all over again. To Brian. Of course.
We crossed into England (Duns is in 'the borders' area of Scotland, so this is not a huge feat) and wound up at Alnwick Castle (pronounced 'Annick'), otherwise known as--get ready for it--Hogwarts, at least in the first two films.
Not being a Harry Potter fan myself, I found this only slightly exciting, and mostly because I knew how jealous a few of my friends would be. It was also the set of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, for those of you who care. Even without the Hollywood connection, wandering around this castle was undeniably awe-inspiring. Just feeling the cobblestones beneath our feet, worn down by huge, horse-drawn carts; marveling at the intricately carved woodwork in the interior rooms; walking the grounds and scaling the castle walls, knowing that centuries ago, one might have looked over the edge to see an army advancing. For Brian and I, it was surreal. For Derek, it's just another day at home... well, not quite. He was an excellent, enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide.
From the castle, we took a jaunt into the town of Alnwick, grabbed a take-way lunch at a Gregg's Bakery (restaurants here have 'take-away' prices and 'sit-in' prices for the same food items, the latter usually at least 25p more expensive than the former) and checked out its famous used bookstore, housed in an old train station and filled to the rafters with books of all kinds--well, except for Sociology, whose section had only about a dozen books, most of them dated textbooks you couldn't pay me to read. The history section was equally disappointing, so we concluded that for academic books, this isn't the place to go. For a good, cheap read--usually under a pound--it's ideal.
By the hour we left Alnwick we were running out of time for our day-trip--we had to get back to Duns in time to go to the co-op to pick up food for dinner and for Brian and I to take with us on our bus tour. We managed to see two more castles (from the outside, just driving around the grounds), including the Bamberg Castle, pictured below:
We also drove into Berwick (pronounced 'Berrick'), parked, and walked along the wall surrounding the town. Parts of it are covered in soil and grass, while others are still bare rock. Standing atop the wall offers an incredible view over the houses, gardens and farms that comprise this, one of the largest towns in the borders area.
We've finished a home-cooked dinner, and Kathy is perusing the 'Castles for Sale' section of the newspaper before we walk over to the Whip & Saddle Pub to sample some real ales--a special selection of beers straight from the keg, brought out to kick off the summer festival. We leave bright and early tomorrow for Edinburgh, to catch our 3-day bus tour of the Isle of Skye.
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