Short Break

We managed a bit of an escape this weekend, down to Stirling in the caravan with some friends who have just bought their own one, after a break of a few years. It was soooo good to get away for a couple of nights - we've not been away from the house since our last caravan trip in April, but as my friend is a nurse, she said she'd be willing to do my dressings, which made it possible for me to go. I'm just so grateful.

As it turned out, it was a glorious weekend. We went to Witches Craig caravan site, which lies just outside Stirling, under the Ochil Hills and not far from the Wallace Monument, so beautiful views and a beautifully kept site too, with HUGE pitches!

Here are the new caravanners with their beautiful brand new van - had a bit of van envy going on! We hadn't dared to hope that it would be nice enough to sit outside!



On Saturday we decided to do the tourist bit as none of us had ever been to Stirling Castle. It was well worth a visit... The views from the walls are amazing, and even better because the sun shone all day. This is the Wallace Monument and Ochil Hills taken from just outside the castle.



A rare photo of my fiancee (hee, hee) and I together!



At the moment, the castle's Renaissance Palace is closed for refurbishment, which is a pity, but as part of the project a series of medieval tapestries is being recreated, both on site and at a weaving studio in Sussex. Now this really IS my thing! The original tapestries - The Hunt of the Unicorn - are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and once complete the new tapestries will hang in the Renaissance Palace. Four of them have already been completed and currently hang in the chapel. My photos don't do them justice at all, the colours are so vivid and there is just so much detail to take in. It was really interesting to see how the tapestries are worked - with so many colour changes (there are over 100 colours used), three weavers take a section each and weave the yarn in and out by hand. They each work 7 hours a day and have to have completed a 10cm square each day in order to remain on schedule. At this pace, each tapestry takes between 2½ and 4 years to complete! If you're at all interested in this sort of thing, it's definitely well worth a visit at the moment to see the weavers at work, and it'll certainly be worthwhile going back to see all seven in their new home sometime in 2013.





Sunday was as glorious a day as Saturday, but sadly we had to head home again. Had a really nice time though...