Edenbank Hotel

Earthquakes

by socheid

If you're on a romantic visit to Dumfries, or indeed any other reason for a visit their, don't be surprised if the earth moves for you. While not the San Andreas fault, by UK standards Dumfries is something of an earthquake hot spot.

Dumfries has experienced two Boxing Day earthquakes. These were in 1979 and 2006. There were no serious consequences of either. There was a further earthquake on 7 June 2010.

Be afraid, be very afraid? I don't think so.

Golfing in and around Dumfries

by socheid

Visitors to Dumfries with a passion for golf could go mad with happiness at the golfing options that Dumfries presents. In Dumfries itself there are:-

Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club - http://www.dandggolfclub.co.uk/

Dumfries and County Golf Club - http://www.thecounty.org.uk/

The Pines Golf Centre - http://www.pinesgolf.com/

There is also Crichton golf course in Dumfries (no website it seems)

Of these courses 'The Galloway' is the only 1 on the Maxwelltown side of the river Nith.

Slightly further afield there also the following golf courses among others all within easy reach of Dumfries:-

Southerness
Powfoot
Thornhill
Lochmaben
Lockerbie
Hoddam

Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura (Francais)

by socheid

Ouvert d’avril à septembre du lundi au samedi 10h -17h, dimanche 14h- 17h

d’octobre à mars du mardi au samedi 10h-13h, 14h-17h

Entrée libre

Caméra Obscura (Chambre Noire)

ouvert d’avril à septembre seulement, suivant les conditions météorologiques.

Entrée Adultes £1.90p, Réductions 95p

Le moulin de pierre au sommet de Corbelly Hill fut construit vers 1790. A partir de 1834 il ne fut plus rentable, le moulin à eau construit plus bas, au bord de la rivière Nith, lui faisant concurrence. Le bâtiment fut sauvegardé et on proposa d’en faire un observatoire astronomique. Deux ans plus tard, le moulin était transformé et il s’y ajouta une chambre noire et un téléscope. On avait espéré que l’observatoire ouvre à temps pour observer la comète de Halley en 1835, mais la construction du téléscope fut retardée, et les lieux n’ouvrirent qu’en août 1836.
La chambre noire fonctionne selon le principe suivant: la lumière passe par un petit trou et projette l’image de 1a scène extérieure sur un écran situé dans la chambre noire. Elle est toujours utilisée aujourd’hui, et continue d’étonner le public, pourtant habitué à la photographie, au cinéma et à la télévision, autant qu’elle fascinait les gens en 1840. Ceux-ci venaient y regarder les bateaux décharger leurs marchandises, le flottage des trains de bois et le va-et-vient des marchés de bétail sur la rive d’en face.

Dès le début la Société d’Astronomie collectionna des objets et, en 1862, la salle principale fut achevée pour recevoir les collections de la Société d’Antiquité et d’Histoire Naturelle de Dumfries and Galloway, qui venait de se former. Récupéré par le conseil de la ville, le musée est administré par la région "Nithsdale" depuis 1975. Les collections du musée couvrent aujourd’hui toute la région de Dumfries and Galloway, et la plupart des objets sont dans la nouvelle aile ouverte depuis 1981.

Le Musée possède un choix d’objets variés: de la hache de pierre de l’ère néolithique à l’équipement médical du 19e siècle, en passant par le trépied médiéval, on y trouve même la première bicyclette à pédales du monde. Les outils des artisans sont également présentés, ainsi qu’ une série intéressante de selles et d’outils pour le cuir. Une grande salle, réservée à l’histoire locale, couvre les développements successifs de Dumfries et de ses environs depuis le Moyen-Age. Des peintures représentant des scènes locales sont dispersées dans le musée, et on peut aussi voir une sélection intéressante de cartes anciennes. La collection de costumes est également importante, car elle présente des objets du début du 18e siècle à nos jours.

La collection de géologie reflète la richesse de la région du Haut-Nithsdale (Upper Nithsdale), qui fut pendant des siècles la principale région d’extraction de l’Ecosse pour l’or, l’argent, le plomb et le zinc. On peut y voir les empreintes, prises dans le grès, de reptiles primitifs qui habitaient notre région il y a plus de 210 millions d’années. L’histoire naturelle du Dumfries and Galloway se caractérise par sa diversité. C’est l’une des régions les moins changées de la Grande-Bretagne, et elle offre un grand choix d’habitats et de paysages. Ceci se retrouve dans les collections d’histoire naturelle du musée, qui contient des spécimens intéressants, comme les oiseaux des marais salants naturels du Solway, ou des mammifères des îles britanniques.

Les jardins du musée sont disposés en terrasses gazonnées et en parterres, autour de la statue de Robert Paterson, le "Puritain de l’Ecosse" de Walter Scott, et son poney. Paterson était maçon, originaire de Balmaclellan, et il voyageait dans la région en érigeant des tombes anonymes pour les martyrs presbytériens, persécutés au 17e siècle pour leurs croyances religieuses.

Guid Nychburris

by WhispersWest

"Dun Phris - Roots run deep"

Some were amazed when I chose such an "out-of-the-way" spot for my first few days in Scotland. I wanted to walk the streets that my Gran's ancestors had walked. Perhaps, I was hoping to see her in a stranger that passed by and in doing so reconnect with her once again. I never saw that glimpse but what I found was the most warm and wonderful of places.

Dumfries (pronounced dum-freece, not dum-fries) (Dùn Phris in Scottish Gaelic) is a former royal burgh and town with a population of around 31,146 (37,846 including the Locharbriggs and Cargenbridge areas). It sits close to the Solway Firth near the mouth of the River Nith in the south west of Scotland, and was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire.

A number of well-known people were educated at Dumfries Academy, among them James Matthew Barrie, author of Peter Pan, John Laurie, actor (Private Frazer in Dad's Army), and Jane Haining, missionary. Dumfries is also the hometown of former F1 racer Allan McNish. Dumfries was the "hometown" of Burns while he lived there, but Burns was born in Ayrshire and spent many years there before moving to Dumfriesshire. Also Ray Wilson, lead singer of Stiltskin and later Genesis was born in Dumfries.

My boys & I had the good fortune to arrive on the weekend of Guid Nychburris, the main festival of the year, a ceremony which is largely based on the theme of a positive community spirit. Each summer the Royal Burghs of the region come alive to the sound of hundreds of horsemen, checking the boundaries of their town in the annual Riding of the Marches. This ancient tradition goes back centuries and forms the focal point for week long celebrations in many of the towns in Dumfries & Galloway, such as Langholm, Annan, Dumfries and Sanquhar. You can enjoy a parade by the horsemen followed by pipe and brass bands, marching through the main streets, followed, of course, by lively celebrations in the towns' public houses!

On Saturday morning, the "Cornet" and the "Cornet's Lass" lead a party that rides around the town boundaries on horseback. They passed in front of the B&B in which we were staying, standing long enough for me to snap the only picture I was able to take before my camera battery gave out! They lay a wreath at the base of a memorial honoring their war dead. It was one of our most favorite moments. We were even able to walk to the town centre and enjoy watching the dancing and singing that was going on throughout the square.

Sometimes, "off the beaten track" is the best place to be!

"Long Live Robbie Burns!"

Dumfries was the hometown of Robert Burns from 1759 until his death in 1796. The poet is now buried in St. Michael’s Churchyard in the Burns Mausoleum.

It's easy to see why Robert Burns was such a passionate man. Inspired by the land he loved and the women he wooed, Burns wrote some of his most memorable work in Dumfries & Galloway.

Scotland's National Bard spent much of his adult life in and around Dumfries, dying here aged just 37, and was active and outspoken in the local community. He was a man of deep thought and strong opinions, whose political views were considered revolutionary for the time. While his most famous works such as Auld Lang Syne and Ae Fond Kiss were written with a romantic and timeless grace in Dumfries & Galloway, he also wrote some of his most politically scathing work here, frustrated by his work as an exciseman and critical of the establishment of the day.

Robert Burns is remembered fondly throughout Dumfries & Galloway and there are many places to visit today which celebrate their historical connections with him. Travel the long coastline where he sought out smugglers in hidden coves. Visit his home, his farm or his favourite inn. Or simply look upon his likeness, a centrepiece in the town proud to remember him as its adopted son.

I was thrilled, as possibly only a writer could be, to stand in the bedroom of Robbie Burns at The Globe Inn and run my fingers over the words he had etched into the glass he happened to be in reach of when the Muse struck,

"O lovely Polly Stewart
O charming Polly Stewart
There's not a flower that blooms in May
That's half so fair as thou art".

A word of warning, don't sit in Robert's cahir unless you know his verse well enough to recite! You will end up buying the house a round shoudl you fail.