The Sunny South West
I spent the early part of this week working in Dumfries, in the south-west of Scotland. It's a mainly agricultural area, but Dumfries itself is a pleasant town, with the River Nith running through the centre.
I was staying just outside the town centre, in the Crichton area. It's here that Elizabeth Crichton, widow of a wealthy East India merchant set up a psychiatric hospital in 1834. In those days, of course, they were known as "lunatic asylums". By the 1980s, psychiatric care had moved on, and when the hospital closed, Crichton found a new role as a branch of Glasgow University.
It was so pleasant walking through the lovely gardens on a clear evening, admiring the plants and chasing camera-shy bunny rabbits. Although I was there for work, I left Dumfries feeling refreshed and restored. Perhaps the unfortunate souls being treated for diseases of the mind might have felt the better for being there too.
And so, here are some pictures of Crichton, where summer is giving way to autumn.
The Crichton Bowling Club; Crichton Memorial Church; Elizabeth Crichton
Dumfries at Dusk
I was staying just outside the town centre, in the Crichton area. It's here that Elizabeth Crichton, widow of a wealthy East India merchant set up a psychiatric hospital in 1834. In those days, of course, they were known as "lunatic asylums". By the 1980s, psychiatric care had moved on, and when the hospital closed, Crichton found a new role as a branch of Glasgow University.
It was so pleasant walking through the lovely gardens on a clear evening, admiring the plants and chasing camera-shy bunny rabbits. Although I was there for work, I left Dumfries feeling refreshed and restored. Perhaps the unfortunate souls being treated for diseases of the mind might have felt the better for being there too.
And so, here are some pictures of Crichton, where summer is giving way to autumn.
The Crichton Bowling Club; Crichton Memorial Church; Elizabeth Crichton
Dumfries at Dusk