Museums, Mines & More (or, a relaxing seaside holiday)

Shambellie House, National Museum of Costume

Just had a lovely weeks holiday in what must be one of Scotland's hidden gem tourist spots. We stayed at Southerness Holiday Village in a static caravan overlooking the fabulous Solway Coast. It was a time for us to take time out relax and for me of course to knit.
It all started so well, a nice drive down to the site, we arrived in glorious sunshine, DH who had not been to this area before was impressed. He loved the look of the area from the first glimpse. We booked in a reception, got our keys and a map of the site. The caravan was nice, a good size and with a nice view of the beach. We unpacked the car and made some dinner then whoosh, heavy rain followed by flash, bang and the mother of all thunderstorms. Welcome to your holiday! It lasted well into the night with DH & doggie watching out the window, and me sort of half hiding under the coffee table.

Things settled down for the next few days, with long walks on the beach with Skye between heavy showers (I always thought it was meant to be April showers). Then on Tuesday whilst I was preparing dinner DH took Skye for a short walk on the beach. Next thing I know he is back after having found a MINE on the beach! Another caravanner called the coastguard and within the hour a large section of the beach was cordoned off.

Coastguard cordons off the beach

Sometime in the dead of night the Royal Navy turned up and removed the offending object and all was returned to normal in the morning.

After all that excitement we decided to have some culture the following day. A trip to the National Museum of Costume was just the thing. A lovely setting for telling the story of fashion from Victorian times to the 1950's. The gardens at the museum are also lovely and the soup & scones we had for lunch were just braw!

In the gardens at Shambellie

Cottage where John Paul Jones was born.

On our way back to the caravan we turned off the road at Kirkbean and took a detour to the John Paul Jones cottage museum, here we learned the story of how a young Scottish lad, the son of an estate gardener went on to become one of the Father's of the American Navy, and also was for a while a Rear Admiral in the Russian Navy. A fascinating story of which I will definitely be finding out more.

All in all we had a wonderful holiday, so much so we have already booked a week for 2012 and will look forward to finding out more about this lovely corner of our country.