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Published: October 9th 2012
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Dumfries might be the Queen of the South, but a number of other towns in the south west of Scotland are not to be outdone by a title. Castle Douglas is Food Town, Kirkudbright is Art Town and Wigtown is Book Town. It’s all quite refreshing really and a far better aspiration than being the town that has a Morrisons and a Tesco as a motto.
We made for Food Town , which did in fact have a Tesco at the eastern end of the main street. Well, it is actually Food Town of Scotland as opposed to Europe’s Food Town, which is a distinction held by no other then Grimsby according to the sign at by the end of the M180. Man cannot live by frequenting Delis alone, but in Castle Douglas he can certainly try. We didn’t count, but there were a high density of small independent deli shops. They all specialised in local produce – jams, chutneys, shortbreads, cheeses etc. We perused, but did not purchase. Our attention had been diverted elsewhere – a chocolate shop and a micro brewery. Sulwath Microbrewery is down an alley just behind the main street – slightly off the beaten track,
but worth the effort. It was quiet in their small bar – 2 Glasgow Rangers fans were enjoying the afternoon unaware of the impending disaster about to face their team. The car prevented any lengthy attempt to join this discussion but we stocked up on a few bottles for Iater. The home-made chocolates were also purchased – beautifully wrapped I might add – visit them and buy some!Miranda found the local hardware and kitchen utensil shop worth a visit. The shops all seemed to survive on quality product and quality service, which makes you actually want to go in or go back and buy something. The rest of retail in Britain , take note and learn!
The service theme above was working a treat at the local filling station, judging by the long queue outside. Alas not! A quick flick at the car radio revealed fuel panic spreading in certain areas of the nation, as rumours of short supply snowballed. The rumours had reached Castle Douglas. We had no choice but to join the panic – it was a long way to walk home. We treated to our long cabin with the Sulwath supplies. The supplies were so good,
a return journey was made for more stock the following day.
Kirkudbright is Art Town. Whilst Castle Douglas looks like it has hunted the gap in the market and settled on “Food”, Kirkudbright has been on the art trail for years. Kirkcudbright has had a long association with the Glasgow art movement, which started when a colony of artists moved to the area over a 30-year period from 1880 to 1910. The Glasgow Boys were among them. They are still here today, but most wear Rangers shirts.
We initially avoided the art and went for a wander down by the marina and harbour. A couple of trawlers were moored up, but this was no Whitby . A fair number of yachts were affixed to their mooring with one solitary sea dog doing whatever maintenance they do to their craft on a nice sunny day. The wind was low and there wasn’t a ripple on the wander. It was a pretty sight. There was a thought that with it being Art Town and the light so good that afternoon, the waterfront would be lined with budding water colour masters and their easels. It was not! The nearest artist was
myself trying in vain to take a decent photo. We pondered fish and chips. The small castle was closed. We wandered around the historic district, but the National Trust property was also similarly not open yet for the summer. We put our head into an antiques place ……….. we’re closing came the reply, but it was full of dark wood Georgian furniture so not our taste. It was fait to say, that we didn’t connect with the town in the same way as Castle Douglas. The brewery had clearly brought out a bias!
Threave Gardens was open for business, but business was slow. The bus tours are clearly not due in March. We headed into the New Galloway Forest in search of Red Kites. Dumfries and Galloway is now a major centre for the birds that were once close to extinction. We had seen a few circling around, but apparently the forest area was the place to see more. We parked the car and went on an expedition. We didn’t see one! What we did see was the old secret hides from which was used for the original re-population.
The afternoon viewing was more successful. Bellymack Farm has
a feeding station and most red kites in the area clearly have accurate wrist watches to time their arrival for the free grub. The meat is scattered on a huge wooden pallet and the birds swoop down at speed to claim their lunch. The assembled audience snaps happily away, but the sheer speed of the descent of a bird with a 2 metre wingspan probably renders most snaps as a complete blur!
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