The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

It has been a good summer.  I spent several week-ends away accompanying my wife to golf tournaments around Scotland.  While she plays, I explore the area with my camera.  This entry chronicles three days in Ayrshire, southwest of Glasgow.  Here are the bridges of Ayr.

Ayr was founded as a city in 1205.  It is a nice little city to walk around in. 

There are several fine old chapels and church yards in Ayr.

I love these old church yards.

Ayr is a 'beach town.'  It is in very nice shape, but there were very few tourists there.

Ayr is not far from the village of Troon, and its fine beach.  Troon is also the site of the Royal Troon Golf Club, which was to host The British Open just a week after we were there.

Ayr has a fine medieval feel to it.

There are some fine seaside parks in Ary.

An Ayr sunset.

One of the great attractions of Ayrshire is the Robert Burns Cottage.

The Robert Burns House was beautifully preserved.  The house was built by his father in 1757.

The cottage had a thriving heritage vegetable garden.

There was a misty rain falling the morning we went to the Robert Burns Cottage.

As sweet as the exterior of the cottage was preserved, the interior was full of period furniture and fittings.

With the light outside not conducive to good photography, I welcomed the opportunity to shoot several lit interior windows.

The cottage had very thick walls, nice for framing a window.

A period doll's crib.

There were many displays in the cottage.  This one was a little creepy.

Many depictions of Burns' poems could be found throughout the grounds.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the birthplace of one of my favorite poets, Robert Burns.

Our afternoon journey took us down the Ayrshire coast on small roads.

We had come to see a very special castle . . . .

. . . fantastic Culzean Castle.

Culzean Castle Gardens.

Since 1987, Culzean Castle has appeared on the back of the five pound note in Scotland . . . similar to Monticello on the five cent piece in the USA.

As members of the Scottish Historical Trust, our entry was free.  Colzean Castle was begun in the 10th century and expanded and modernized many ties since.

The first room we encountered was a waiting room filled with ball flintlock pistols, 'the largest collection of such pistols in the world,' the guard told me.  He also said that all of these weapons had been 'fired in anger' at one time or another, mostly in the Napoleonic Wars.

Weapons, weapons, and more weapons made for a macabre display.

Colzean Castle dining room . . . still used for weddings and official occasions.

Beautiful colors . . . but who designs these interiors?

The drawing room.

One of many sumptuous apartments . . . one of which was given to General Eisenhower after WWII as a kind of a prize for defeating Germany.  He used it regularly.

The public spaces were full of fine works of art.  Here Napoleon.

We went back outside to enjoy the views over the Firth of Clyde.

There were fine views up the southwest Scottish coast from Colzean Castle.

A short walk up a forest path led to the working farm and shops of the castle.

A thousand years ago all castles had to be completely self-sustaining.  They grew their own food, made their own clothes, manufactured their own implements and crockery on site.  Everything.

The caastle's farm buildings themselves are very attractive and imposing.

The interior farmyard is now made up of shops and a cafe where we enjoyed a nice lunch.

We enjoyed our long week-end in scenic Ayrshire very much.