Just a few more Bridlington pics

 We ended up having five nights on the campsite at Bridlington, lazy days spent walking the cliffs into town, drinking coffee, catching up with the gossip and scouring the charity shops for bargains.

The weather was cold but mainly dry, not too windy but we didn't bother with the kites.

We spotted this sign in the window of Boyes Department store and had to investigate.

Interesting use of audio cassettes, I also spotted some textiles.

All in all it was an interesting window display.

On the subject of shops, during our first visit we spotted a traditional clothing shop on the high street. I remember taking photos as it had just closed down but still held stock and peering through the windows we could see the old wooden display cabinets. I took photos of the frontage but can't find them at the moment.

Nowadays the shop is empty and has been up for sale for some time.

However this time we were lucky and were able to go into the store to have a look round at the fittings that were left.

I would love to have these units in my craft room !

A last walk round before returning home, the last few photos then its time to plan the next getaway.

What we did for Christmas

 Hi, I just realised that other than mentioning that I caught a cold over Christmas, I haven't said where we we spent our time.

AS some of you may know, we don't celebrate Christmas, preferring to spend time away from the consumer madness. After a quick dash round the supermarket for a few days worth of food and our only nod to seasonal snacks ( pigs in blankets and individual slices of cake) we headed over to the East Coast. 

I know many would guess that we were heading back to Bridlington but not this time. Our destination was Cromer, Norfolk, the weather forecast very cold and very windy but mainly dry.

                                                          I love crossing this bridge.

Christmas Eve started out grey and blustery, we headed into town to do a circuit of the charity shops and buy some gloves for me as my usual fingerless mitts just weren't enough.

Christmas day was sunny, windy, cold but we ventured out for an hour or so then retreated to the van for hot drinks.

Boxing day started with coffee and breakfast in a nearby cafe followed by an hour or so taking photos then knitting and coffee in another cafe as we exchanged notes as to what we had seen. This sort of challenge gets more difficult in places that we have visited several times.

I have never seen this shop open, every time I look through the window it looks like the contents are slowly mouldering away.

Melrose part two

 Four days in Melrose gave me plenty of time to explore my surroundings, there are a couple of National Trust gardens and I chose to visit Priorwood gardens between the rain showers. They have an honesty shop and a few books for sale. The shop had at least half a dozen varieties of apples along with fresh vegatables.

The garden is the only one in Scotland that was originally devoted to growing  flowers for drying, there are also wood land walks and an orchard although I was driven back by the rain I managed to spend some time looking at the flowers.

Another stroll around found me down by the river Tweed looking for the foot bridge

found it !

                                                          Chain bridge built in 1826

Slightly closer to town is the old rail station, the platform is accessed via an arch in the original station building that is now a casino.

The platform has been preserved and can be easily seen from the road. There originally was a plan to replace some of the track just in front of the platform but this may rely on both funds and younger people to join the local preservation society,

We will return to Melrose, I really want the cardigan in the last post :-) plus good cafes, excellent deli and comfortable campsite make it the perfect place for a post festival unwind.

Colours of Gala

 One of the advantages of Melrose , in addition to it being a beautiful place, is that you can travel by public transport to Galashiels which is home to the Great Scottish Tapestry but more about that in a future post,

As we stepped off the bus we came across our first piece of art, seriously, how can you not smile at these ?

The first one is called Dolly, presumably a reference to Dolly the sheep that was cloned the Roslin Institute, part of Edinburgh University in 1996

Just over the bridge we came upon a painted wall, steam engines always grab my attention as you may know.

Other walls were adorned with painting and graffiti adding colour to what could be a dismal day.

The last picture depicts Sir Walter Scott. 

A quirky statue of Robert Coltart was found in a small square, I especially like the little girl enjoying her sugary treat.

Walking up towards the town we notices that empty shops were displaying parts of the panels that make up the Tapestry.

I suspect that if we had taken the town trail, we may have found more to explore but we were heading to the home of the tapestry, a little unsure of what was on display. We were not disappointed but that's for another post.