On a brighter note, the tourist scene in Stockport is much improved.  I bought a Multi-Site Ticket which entitles me to enter the  Air Raid Shelters, Bramall Hall, Hat Works and Staircase House once.   On production of my new Senior Rail Pass this cost just £9.50 and gives me a reason to return as I only managed to see Staircase House today.  This is a beautifully restored townhouse situated in the Market Place.  

The house is famous for its rare Jacobean cage-newel staircase.   An audio guide explained who lived here and how they did so over the centuries.  

The timber building dates from around 1460. Very little is known of the property's early history. The first residents of whom there is a definite record were the Shallcross family who owned the House from 1605 to 1730.  They were members of the landed gentry in Derbyshire.

In its later years the House was used as a cafe and a shop.  In the 1990s it was used as storage for Gardner's Green Grocery and Fruit stall which stood in the market, immediately in front of the House itself.

Following a major fire in 1995, the second of two arson attacks on the semi-derelict building, the restoration work began. 

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staircase_House

I enjoyed a wander round the market area but the boarded up shops in Wellington Road and Merseyway depressed me.  

More goodbyes and thanks and I left for Stockport, where I was brought up from the age of 5.  (We moved there from Manchester, which must be the venue for another tour down memory lane.)  Meadowhall had not been built when I was a student in Sheffield.  

By coincidence the 24th Stockport Guides boarded the train and were very well behaved.  And what a fun train!  The nice guard had to run along from door to door and open them manually at each station.  I thought our local train down south was a relic but really!  

At Sheffield, I found the platform to be the same one as in my student days, but the pumpkin cafe was new and the train service much improved.  I caught the lush 10.41 to Liverpool Lime Street.  The landscape too had new features.  We passed a mosque, a Virgin active health club a a Tesco express mingled in with the Victorian terraces.  Then we reached the beautiful high peak which is so familiar.

I discoverd that Stockport Station has a new entrance, a Starbucks and helpful Branson employees laughing and joking.  But the good old 192 bus is still running up and down the A6 every 3 minutes!  

I haven't visited for over ten years.  How do I feel about Stockport ? Excited To see the town, cautious, intrigued.  I am sad for the losses I have experienced.  

Later I took a walk.  This is the street where I bought my Mini jumpers from a market stall as a teenager.

Today we had another circular walk, this time in the Bradfield Dale.  We started with a viewing of The Strines Inn.  This is an ancient pub dating from the 13th century and frequented by Sheffield Medics 72-77 in more recent times.  More memories of times gone by tumbled into my consciousness and I thought of absent friends. 

On our walk we admired Dale Dyke Resevoir in the Peak District.

We returned home and rewarded ourselves with delicious Pale Ale from Bradfield Brewery.

This evening we enjoyed sunset over Ingbirchworth, spot the wind turbine.

Continuing our walk on Holme Valley, we came across many Weavers' cottages.  These were common in Northern Great Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  They were a cottage industry with dwelling quarters on the lower floors and a loom-shop on the top floor.  Here the loom-shop can be recognised by the long row of windows which provided maximum light for the weaver.

Today we enjoyed a circular walk round Holme Valley. 

 The buntings are left over from the recent Tour de France. 

We walked through the tiny village of Thong.  (This name is believed to be associated with Viking invaders who took control of a large part of Northern England. The Viking word ‘thong’ which meant a strip of land) 

A local showed us the library! 

On the outskirts of Holmfirth, I saw a house resembling the one I used to visit to stay with a friend back in the 60s.  Crossing the Pennines for the weekend seemed so exotic in those days. 

I was kindly met at Huddersfield for the next stage of my trip down memory lane, which was to be based in Penistone.  I was now to spend three nights with my good friend from my New Zealand days (1979).  In the evening I went for a walk round Cannon Hall.  

The Domesday Book shows there was a house on this site in 1086. However none of the current structure is thought to date back to that time.  The Hall itself gets its name from Gilbert Canun who lived there in the 13^th century.  By the late 14th Century the house was in the hands of the Bosville family.  Cannon Hall was purchased by a wealthy local family, the Spencers, in 1660.  They rebuilt the house and created an extensive park and gardens at the start of the 18th Century.

The Hall and Estate were sold to Barnsley Council in 1951 by the last member of the Spencer family, Elizabeth.  Since then the Estate has been run by the council as a tourist attraction.

Cannon Hall also houses a museum.

See http://www.cannon-hall.co.uk/

I left Dundee in glorious summer weather.  I said Goodbye to the River Tay determined to return and and see my family as well as visit Captain Scott's ship RRS Discovery and St Andrews. 

I was glad to arrive in York to meet my second cousin and niece here.  Good luck to Vinyl Eddie who is just starting up.  He's handy for the race course so I hope the race goers all pop in. 

It was very hot when we had for our day trip to Helmsley.  I last visited this historic and attractive market town in 1988.  It is situated where the valleys of Ryedale and Bilsdale leave the North Yorks moorland and join the Vale of Pickering.   

 The remains of  Helmsley Castle tower over the town.  Rievaulx Abbey is close by.  We did not time to visit either of these sites, but we had lunch, a good wander and bought cake and beer.   

In the evening we went out to dinner in York.  We dined outside and later had a long walk.  I remembered staying here with my Mum and daughter in 1994.  That was a lovely time.  Not so lovely was our walk by the river dodging drunken race goers! 

I left Roseisle with a heavy heart.  On the way to Elgin Station we stopped at Duffus Castle.

This is one of the finest examples of a motte and bailey castle in Scotland and is the original seat of the Moray family.  It served as a fortress–residence for over 500 years, from the 1100s to the 1700s. During that time it underwent great change, including the replacement of the original timber castle by one of stone in the 1300s.

Duffus was built by a Flemish man called Freskin, who came to Scotland in the reign of David I (1124–53). Freskin settled in West Lothian, but following an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against King David in 1130, he was persuaded to go north.

Freskin’s son, William, adopted the title ‘de Moravia’ (of Moray). By 1200 his descendants had become the most influential noble dynasty in northern Scotland, with kinsmen settled throughout Strathspey and across the Moray Firth. 

Around 1270 the castle passed by marriage to Sir Reginald Cheyne the elder, lord of Inverugie.  Sir Reginald supported England during the Wars of Independence. However, his son sided with King Robert Bruce, affixing his seal to the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. By 1350 the castle had passed, again through marriage, to the earls of Sutherland.  In the 18th century, Lord Duffus moved to Duffus House, a short distance away. The ancient castle rapidly fell into decay.

For more information see 

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyresults/propertydetail.htm?PropID=PL_099

On the train from Elgin to Arbroath I saw the Haar coming in from the sea near Stonehaven.  

The Haar persisted at Arbroath but it was still warm and people were swimming in the Harbour.  It did not seem very sensible to me.  

Arbroath lies on the North Sea coast, around 16 miles east of Dundee of and 45 miles south of Aberdeen.  I came to visit my cousin and reminisce about my visits to her home in Northern Ireland as a child and being her bridesmaid in 1965.  That was a very special time for me as an eleven year old girl. 

There is evidence for settlement of the area dating back to the Iron Age but Arbroath's history as a town begins in the Middle Ages with the founding of the Abbey in 1178. Arbroath grew considerably during the Industrial Revolution owing to the expansion of the flax and jute industries and the engineering sector.  By the 20th century, Arbroath had become one of the larger fishing ports in Scotland.

This historic town is known for The Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.  I thought this was really interesting, in view of current events.  The Declaration sought to assert Scotland's position as an independent kingdom, rather than a feudal land controlled by England's Norman kings, and to lift the excommunication of Robert The Bruce.  The Pope had recognised Edward I's claim to overlordship of Scotland in 1305.  

The Declaration made a number of points: that Scotland had always been independent, indeed for longer than England; that Edward I had unjustly attacked Scotland and perpetrated atrocities; that Robert the Bruce had delivered the Scotland from peril; and, most controversially, that the independence of Scotland was the prerogative of the Scottish people, rather than the King of Scots. In fact it stated that the nobility would choose someone else to be king if Bruce proved to be unfit in maintaining Scotland's independence. Some have interpreted this last point as an early expression of 'popular sovereignty'.  This means that government is contractual and that kings can be chosen by the community rather than by God alone.

‘It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.’

Extract from the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320.

Arbroath is also the home of the Arbroath Smokie.   Local legend has it a store caught fire one night, destroying barrels of haddock preserved in salt. The following morning, the people found some of the barrels had caught fire, cooking the haddock inside. Inspection revealed the haddock to be quite tasty.  It is much more likely the villagers were of Scandinavian descent, as the 'Smokie making' process is similar to smoking methods which are still employed in areas of Scandinavia.  

Today, some 15 local businesses produce Arbroath smokies, selling them in major supermarkets in the UK and online.  In 2004, the EU registered the designation "Arbroath smokie" as a Protected Geographical Indication, acknowledging its unique status.

I wanted to take smokies back to Lichfield as my friend thinks they are delicious. The shop assistant assured me the vacuum pack would last ten days out of the fridge, but in the end, I decided not to chance it.  

We also visited the harbour and rocky coastline at Portknockie

And we stopped for lunch at Portessie

We called in at St Ninians Church, Tynet.  My friend has family connections here, and learnt about the church while researching her family tree.  It is a historic Roman Catholic clandestine church, erected in 1755, and is the oldest surviving Roman Catholic church built in Scotland after the Reformation.   It was designed to look anonymous  at a time when Catholic worship was tolerated in Britain on the condition that worship take place in out-of-the way churches so as not to offend Protestant sensibilities.  St. Ninian's is a superbly preserved example of a clandestine church and is a listed building.  

T

We also popped into the Walled Garden Cafe at Gordon Castle.  The garden itself is huge and is currently being restored.  The Castle is a stately home in Speyside, originally built in the 1470s.  It is the home of the House of Gordon and one of the largest houses ever built in Scotland.

Frederick Gordon Lennox, the 4th Duke of Gordon sold Gordon Castle and his Scottish estates in 1938 as a result of death duties following the deaths of his father and grandfather in 1935 and 1928 respectively. The Castle fell into disrepair, but was bought back by one of the 7th Duke’s other grandsons, Lieutenant General Sir George Gordon Lennox after World War Two. He was forced to knock much of it down due to significant dry and wet rot but then turned it into a family home, which it still is today.  His grandson Angus and his wife Zara have taken over the running of Gordon Castle and Estate.  

Produce from the walled garden.

For more information visit 
http://www.gordoncastle.co.uk/
http://www.gordoncastle.co.uk/history-of-the-estate/

We drove East.  At Portessie, we found a good reason not to brave a swim in the cold sea.  

Look carefully below and you may see resting at the shore line some more cuddly creatures:  lots of seals.  We could hear them singing loudly.  

We headed for the sea at Cullen.  I got up to waist but then, sure enough, saw 6 jelly fish and got out quick.  The sea was cold but refreshing on a hot day (25 degrees).

Today the sun shone once again over the Morayshire garden.  

On the way home we visited the Black Isle Brewery.  Despite its name, the Black Isle is not an island, but a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water – the Cromarty Firth to the north, the Beauly Firth to the south, and the Moray Firth to the east. On its fourth, western side, its boundary is delineated by the rivers Conon and Beauly. 

 The Black Isle has long been famous for the quality of it's malting barley.

At the brewery, we were welcomed by a friendly team, headed by Marian and enjoyed a short tour.  Organic malt and hops are used in the brewing process.   The hops are imported from the New Zealand or the USA.  Any waste from the brewing process is fed to the blacksheep and goats. The brewery is well worth a visit, it's handy for Inverness airport, which is easy to negotiate and the beer is among the best I've tasted.  

My favourite was the Black Isle Blond.  At 4.5% ABV, it's described as a continental style lager beer with a light biscuity palate and fresh grassy aroma. 

For more information see http://www.blackislebrewery.com/