Chic is a photographer of old or famous trees. A mate of his likes photographing old abandoned castles, houses etc so he knows a lot of trees and abandoned sites. This was going to be a very interesting day!
This is the famous Great yew of Ormiston. Please click on the photo for a bigger version to see more of the beauty of this tree. It is indeed a magnificent tree and very old as well. The earliest official record dates 1474 but it could by twice as old!
Then we drove through the beautiful Scottish country side to the first monument site.
This is Greenknowe Tower. A little tower house built around 1581. A most interesting little, castle-looking, house that sparks the imagination!
The house was once home to James Seton and his wife Jane Edmonstone.
Apparently at some point in time the King ruled that no man was allowed to own more land than the King him self. So large pieces of land were to be split up and given to certain upper class people if they were interested. The rules said though that the new owner of the land was obliged to build a defendable house on it where, if needed, all other people living on that piece of land could fine refuge in times of unrest or even war.
At ground level there was a cellar where food was stored, the meat hooks are still in the ceiling. This was a cellar-window. Half a century ago James and Jane looked through this window, now I was.
This was the big hall that was their living room basically, right above the cellar, with a big fire place. They must have sat here often. I find it very intriguing when parts of someone's life from about 500 years ago are so... touchable. Know what I mean? They must've been poking in the fire, or leaned against the wall staring in the flames, thinking about things.
And this was the view that James and Jane had from their top floor. Surely they must have seen the rainbow like this sometimes, just like I did today.
The first actual abbey we visited was the one in Kelso. Unfortunately it was not open to the public today. This was a pity because it would've been a great monumental site.
Close to our next abbey we past another famous tree. It is called the Capon tree. To get an idea of it's size, Marjolein is standing on the left side.
The second abbay to visit was the Jedburgh abbey.
One side of the abbey seems to be largely intact. Unfortunately time was short and a visit inside was not for free so we didn't enter the abbey. It looked very interesting though.
Looking in from the front of the abbey.
Then it was time for lunch. I had a boiling Steak and Guinness pie. It was cold and I needed to warm up. I think Chic was trying to speak Korean here maybe ;-)
On our way to the third site we stopped at Scott's view. The favourite view point of Sir Walter Scott, a writer and poet famous for writing Ivanhoe amongst other things.
A famous story tells us that he stopped here so often to admire the view on his way home, that his horses after a while stopped automatically. After Scott died and his funeral procession drove past this place (actually on the way to the next abbey, where he's burried), his horses stopped automatically again to give their master a last view.
Apparently, they really stopped at that time because an accident had happened. So much for a great story...
Scott's view is rather fantastic indeed.
So then we went to look for the third abbey. Full of laughter and good spirits, we walked the wrong way...
The last resting place of Sir Walter Scott: Dryburgh Abbey.
The abbey's grounds are very well kept and we had to pay for entrance. 15 others had visited before us today. Not a whole lot of people. Quiet place. Extraordinary that they are so well maintained when you think of it.
A lot of the structure has been destroyed by the English during their raids. Luckily there was enough left over to burry a few special people, like for example Sir Walter Scott.
Sir Walter Scott's grave.
Also here there is a famous tree; the Dryburgh Abbey Yew. What makes this tree interesting is it's age. Apparently it was planted in 1136 by the abbey's monks.
A church window, constructed a very, very long time ago.
The chapter house is very well preserved. Monks were sat all around in this room to discuss matters of interest. I sat down as well, right there in the middle. I guess the chief-monk would've sat there ;-) It felt funny though, sitting in a spot where many monks have sat before, since the 12th century.
Nice view.
It was a great visit. By the time we left the sun was setting.
There was one more site to visit but it had already gotten dark and the site was closed. This is the Melrose abbey.
I managed to climb up on a wall and take some photographs over the fence wall. It looks nice in the dark I must say.
After a great day out and about it was time for a bit of birthday dinner. I took Marjolein out to dinner at The Doric, a lovely little restaurant in the centre of Edinburgh.
1 comment:
prachtige foto's!!
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