Arbuthnott

And so to Arbuthnott, the heart of Sunset Song country. This is where the author Lewis Grassic Gibbon was born and raised and much of the novel is centred around this area.

This is the view directly across the road from the signpost above. When I first looked at this photo I thought it was out of focus, but it's the soft effect of the barley which tricks your eye.

There seems to me to be an increase in the growth of barley this year. It's everywhere. A welcome return and a nice change from the incessant fields of rape which have replaced much of the traditional crops recently.

The little centre dedicated to Gibbon. As you'll see, it was jam packed the day I came.......

Well ok, I was the only visitor.... I loved the wee sign on the bike which ran along the lines of ... 'This is a bicycle similar to one which Gibbon would have rode......' Fair enough!

The curator/manager/coffee maker offered to put a video of Gibbon on for me and ushered me into this little room/cubicle. He drew the curtain and I settled down in comfort to watch the show...... Note the 56 inch widescreen plasma job. DVD hasn't quite made it up here yet..... it was a VHS.

A range of comfortable chairs was provided, I chose one with a back. A box of tissues was thoughtfully left on the table, no stone was left unturned in an effort to ensure the complete satisfaction of the visitor. I was hugely impressed.

All that paled into insignificance however when I caught sight of this signed first edition of Sunset Song. A fitting end to my day in the Mearns.

'So Chris put on the best frock that she used for Sundays, and her tall lacing boots, and prigged out her hair in front of the glass in the parlour, and went up across the hill by Blawearie loch, with the night coming over the Grampians and the snipe crying in their hundreds beyond the loch's grey waters - still and grey, as though they couldn't forget last summer nor hope for another coming.

The Standing Stones pointed long shadow-shapes into the east, maybe just as they'd done of an evening two thousand years before when the wild men climbed the brae and sang their songs in the lithe of those shadows while the gloaming waited there above the same quiet hills. And a queer, uncanny feeling came on Chris then, she looked back half-feared at the Stones and the whiteness of the loch, and then went hurrying through the park paths till she came out above the kirkyard and Manse. Beyond the road the Miekle House rose up in its smother of trees, you saw the broken walls of it, the flagstaff light was shining already, it would soon be dark.'

Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1901-1935 from Sunset Song.

Drumlithie

As with most rural villages, the hub of the community tends to be the local pub or hotel. Drumlithie is known locally as 'Skite' ....... no idea why.

The neighbouring village, Glenbervie is notable as the final resting place of the great grandparents of Robert Burns. They farmed on the braes of Brawliemuir and it was from the farm of Clochnahill just off the main Laurenckirk to Stonehaven road that Burns father left the howe to seek a better livelihood.

I was surprised when I came across this Church. I didn't realise it had been converted into a house until I got round this side. The only giveaway at the side was the inclusion of a modern style door, but all the original stonework remains in place.

For more My World Tuesday posts click here

Auchenblae

Auchenblae's name is a derivation from the gaelic for 'field of flowers', probably due to the large amount of Flax grown in the area many moons ago.

I noticed this place was up for sale, probably get it quite cheap just now I'd imagine.

The rolling landscape of the Mearns from just outside Auchenblae. Sunset Song country. The deep reddish clay of the earth.

'Clean and keen and wild and clear, the evening ploughed land's smell up in your nose and your mouth when you opened it, for Netherhill's teams had been out in that park all day, queer and lovely and dear the smell Chris noted'

Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1901-1935.

In the Parish church vestibule is a Celtic stone, this has been a religious site since the 7th century. St Palladius died and is reputedly buried here. The ancient ruin of St Palladius' Chapel is still in the kirkyard along with a memorial to Scotland's first Protestant martyr, George Wishart who was burnt at the stake in St Andrews by Cardinal Beaton. Having said that I don't mean literally by him. That is I don't think he struck the match.........

And rather than end on all this goriness and unpleasant forms of death, this is a pleasant wee corner of the village...... better now?

For more ungory Scenic Sunday posts click here

Dunnottar Castle

Chillin' out with a view.

Dunnottar Castle. What can I say? Amazing place, so atmospheric. Even on a beautiful sunny day. Spent a magical hour or so here on Monday. I've lived within a half hour drive of this place all my life but never actually visited it till Monday. Odd eh?

The site has been inhabited since Pictish times (5000BC to 700 AD). The surviving buildings date back to the 15th and 16th centuries but there have been fortresses here since the Dark Ages. Dunnottar has played an important role in Scottish history, not least because of its strategic position overlooking the shipping lanes to the north of Scotland but also due to its position on the narrow coastal strip controlling the northern route to Aberdeen.

William Wallace is said to have led the Scots to victory over the English here in 1296. By all accounts Wallace was said to have imprisoned many of the defeated English soldiers in the castle church and torched it as revenge for many of the brutalities inflicted upon the Scots civilians in the Borders. You can't beat a good gory story to go with a castle eh?

For more Skywatch Friday posts click here

Fettercairn

This fountain was built in 1869 and dedicated to Sir John Hepburn Stuart Forbes, Baronet of Pitsligo and Fettercairn, obviously a very important dude or he wouldn't need so many names.

As you can see from the blackboard, none of your burger and chicken nugget shite here. This impressed me greatly. This was on the lunch menu of the Ramsay Arms Hotel and it very nearly tempted me in. However, one had a bridie in one's car and it seemed a shame to waste it.

This wee burn tinkles merrily through the village just north of the arch.

The Mercat (Market) Cross sits in the centre of the Mercat Square. It must be one of the very few multifunctional Mercat Crosses in Scotland. It incorporated a 37.5 inch groove (or one ell) which was the standard unit of measurement for traders at the time, it also acted as the stocks when the baddies required to be taught a lesson. But most importantly it has........ a SUNDIAL!

Incredible.

Knobbly Stonework and Another Arch

Following the resounding popularity :-) of yesterdays Dalhousie Arch, here's another. This is Fettercairn, about five miles up the road from Edzell.

I've passed through this place on many occasion but yesterday was the first time I've actually stopped and had a wander around. I always had a pretty dim view of it for some reason, possibly due to crap weather and possibly due to the fact that it always had a kind of deserted feel to it.

But the weather was beautiful yesterday and wandering around I came to appreciate what a lovely little place it is.

The first impression you get (as with Edzell) is the Arch. They built this one to commemorate a visit in 1861 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They stopped off on a journey to Balmoral and stayed in the Ramsey Arms overnight. The story goes that they too enjoyed a wee dander around the village and no-one recognised them....... yeah right! What got me was the cost of building the arch.... £250. Strikes me as extortionate for a glorified wall with a hole in it.

There's a nice wee distillery up on the hill overlooking the village. Owned by Whyte & McKay it produces single malt whisky, 'Old Fettercairn' at 10 and 12 year old. And yes, you get a free dram if you do the tour.

The close up of the 'knobbly stonework' is specially for MTB. I thought you'd like this.

Edzell

Day off today, so I took a drive up into the Mearns, the area which lies roughly between Brechin and Montrose in the South and Stonehaven in the North. Took plenty tissues as I usually get a nosebleed when I leave Angus.

North East of Brechin is Edzell, a nice wee place with an impressive arch which creates an impressive gateway into the village. The Dalhousie Arch was built in 1887 in commemoration of the deaths of the 13th Earl of Dalhousie and his wife, who died on the same day. I keep wondering if their deaths were a coincidence or whether they died together in some horrible accident....... must look that one up.

About a mile to the east of the village was a huge US Navy base which closed in 1995. This caused serious financial devastation to the area with the loss of around 300 local jobs and the departure of 700 military personnel. 14 years on and the area is still recovering. But looking on the bright side, there are less babies called Vernon and less chewing gum on the pavements.

The village still supports two hotels, the Glenesk and the Panmure, known locally as the Glenny and the Panny. God knows how.

For more My World Tuesday posts click here