Staycation #3 – Beneath the Trees, Where Nobody Sees …

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees … our third Staycation day was a visit to the other side of the Solway. When we planned the Staycation, we had two objectives: to take time to stare, and to see more of the wider region around our home in Cumbria. Staycation day 3 cost us the petrol, and the price of our picnic, but it gave us so much in terms of our objectives. 

The trees? The wooden dude, who looks like the spirit of a dead tree come back to hunt the axe-man? We walked from Rockcliffe to Kipford. There are houses built on the cliffs. One of the gardens is populated with stange beings. Experincing it is like stepping into an Anthony Browne picture book. The more you look, the more you see, as some are hidden in the walls and trees. It is difficult to give this experince in photographs, but I have close-ups of some of the beings, including the masks which hang in the grotto. These sculptures and strange beings are out for the world to enjoy. There is no charge. It was lovely to see the land around someone’s house transformed by imagination. 

Along the way we heard woodpeckers, and various other birds. Birds have a huge presence on our side of the Solway. There are various sanctuaries, and the year is measured in swallows and migratory geese (who came back Spet 12th). The geese fly over the house twice a day – they feed in Scotland, but sleep in Cumbria.  Seeing them fly in is one of my favourite things.

After a picnic, we headed to Sandyhills, then had a nose at Sweetheart Abbey. As Edward I once said, if this is Scotland, I want more of it. We have planned a return visit, to the Robert Burns trail around Sweetheart Abbey, and plan to set-up for the day at Sandyhills next spring. 

What is the strangest or most lovely thing you have seen on a walk? Let me know in the comments!