One thing arises from all things, and all things arise from one thing.
Heraclitus, Fragment 10
An intricate pattern of ribs and bosses adorns the vaulted ceiling of the presbytery. The central boss positioned directly above the high alter is a representation of the Holy Trinity attended by two angels. To the west is St Andrew holding the cross and reading clockwise are St Bartholomew holding the flaying knife, St Peter with the keys, St Thomas with the spear, St James the Less grasping the bludgeon, St James the Greater holding his staff and a scrip or costrel, St Paul with a sword, and St Matthias with an axe. To the south of St Andrew is a saint holding a book. Another boss has an angel and other bosses are carved with roses and leaves.*
*From the Historic Scotland guidebook to Melrose Abbey.
Melrose Abbey, in the heart of the beautiful Scottish Border country, was founded in the twelfth century by the Cistercian order of monks. They were drawn to this fertile spot beside the River Tweed through its intimate associations with the holy men St Aidan and St Cuthbert. The Abbey grew to be one of the most wealthiest and most majestic medieval monasteries of Scotland, and its abbey church is one of the finest expressions of the order’s ‘architecture of solitude’.*
*From the Historic Scotland guidebook to Melrose Abbey
This maze was designed in 1980 by John Scofield and planted with 1500 Leyland Cypress trees donated by NICHOLAS SAUNDERS. The first tree was planted by Anna Vaughan, the youngest child in the Traquair school. In 1982 after an extremely severe frost two thirds of the Leyland Cypress died and were replanted with Beech.
The maze consists of four subcentres which must be visited in turn before reaching the middle – a distance of a quarter of a mile from the entrance. To leave quickly a shorter route may be used. On Easter Sunday an Easter Egg hunt for younger children is held here.
We were lucky enough to have the maze all to ourselves when we took the challenge. You can see a picture of the FOOLS EXIT (the short route) here.
Scott & Shackleton:
We are Pygmy goats originally from the Cameroon Valley in Africa. We love to frolick and climb things and are very friendly.
We eat greens and special grains and like to be cosy when it is cold.
We have been named after the famous explorers, Scott who led an expedition to the North Pole and Shackleton who led his expedition towards the South Pole.
Glad we didn’t have to go with them!
Kune Kune Pigs:
Hello, my name is Lulu and this is my new friend Charlie, we quite like to peer at visitors and guess what they are thinking. We are grazing pigs and have to stick to a healthy diet of grass, fruit, vegetables and specially yummy pellets. Our ancestors are from New Zealand and our name means ‘fat and round’ in Maori. We have a little tassel under our chin called ‘piri piri’.
Like you we have to look after our health and are not allowed unhealthy snacks during the day (this includes food scraps from the table or your unwanted sandwich which could cause us to become unwell), we should live until the grand old age of 30 years, 28 still to go!
Thank you for not feeding us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once a pleasure ground for Scottish Kings in times of peace, the a refuge for Catholic priests in times of terror, the Stuarts of Traquair supported Mary Queen of Scots and the Jacobite cause without counting the cost.
Imprisoned, fined and isolated for their beliefs, their home, untouched by time, reflects the tranquility of their family life.*
*From 2013 promotional leaflet for Traquair
Friendship is a single tree under which many can enjoy the shade.
From a Thousand Paths to friendship by David Baird
The parish of Ladykirk lies along the northern bank of the River Tweed, which separates Scotland from England, and is about half-way between Coldstream and Berwick. Norham Castle – the stronghold for the north of England – stands just across the river, whilst Haildon Hill and Flodden Field (two of the battles between nations) are just seven miles away (1333 and 1513 respectively).
The Kirk of our Lady of the Steill (or, as it is now called, Ladykirk) originated during one of the many raids across the border, when, so the legend goes, King James IV of Scotland was nearly drowned crossing the ford which just below the church. He, it is claimed, vowed to build a church in memory of the Blessed Virgin of the Steill who had saved him. (A steill is a deep pool where salmon nets are placed.)His vow included the fact that the church should be one that could not be destroyed by either fire or flood (thus the very unusual stone roof), thinking, no doubt, of the many cross-border burning raids and the frequent floods of the Tweed valley.
When exactly this event took place we do not know, but it is known that James IV passed this way in 1496 and 1497. By 5th March 1500 the building had commenced and the work was entrusted to Sir Patrick Blackadder, and then in 1504 to George Ker. The stone used came from the Swinton Quarry (about 3 miles west), and the cost was about £1200 (£1 1/2 million in today’s prices). The king came often to see how the church was progressing – in 1501, twice in 1507 and before the ill-fated Flodden in 1513. He was present at a service in 1505 and gave 14/- as an offering. *
*Information from Church leaflet.
The true knowledge of music is nothing other than this: to know the ordering of all separate things and how the Divine Reason has distributed them; for this ordering of all separate things into one, achieved by skillful reason, makes the sweetest and truest harmony with the Divine Song.
Hermes Trismegitus
Cherie's Other Place 