Alloway, Ayrshire (Burns Country).

Burns Cottage, Alloway

It is coincidental, unbelievable and yet poignant on this day (Burns night) that the next stage of my journey should be from the heart of Burns country. Despite images taken over several days from the previous (Irvine) post, you may re-call me telling you that the weather wasn't good and the forecast was worse for the afternoon.
I hadn't travelled far from the hotel to The Scottish Maritime museum on my first day and didn't intend to hang around looking in a shopping centre or getting wet, so the world (or rather Ayrshire) was my oyster. When I looked up into the sky, it was a no brainer to choose somewhere in the south of the region as there was glorious sunshine in that direction. From the few options available, Alloway and Ayr seemed the least expensive as an afternoon filler with plenty of variety. I had been to these places a few times before, usually on a North East Railtours day out from home and on one other occasion when I stayed in Ayr for a week many years ago.
Having not been here in digital imagery before, it was a great opportunity to experiment and display some of the most photographed scenes in South West Scotland that viewers will either recognise or want to see, hopefully with my take on it.

Alloway Post Office (image 1)

I'll start off with a photographers technical moment for those who like that sort of thing also because the only image I captured of Robert Burns was in one of the few shops in Alloway, the Post Office and village store window.
This is the scene across the road from the famous title image of Burns Cottage. I don't usually do a lot with extreme editing but for those that know me on here, I played about with this one in Photoshop and Aperture for a couple of reasons.

Alloway Post Office (image 2)

Originally shot in 18mm (image 1) due to the obtrusive parked cars including my own in a 30 minute free car parking space, the first image had distortion removed with the perimeter lines much straighter and cleaner particularly noticeable in the roof and the steps.

Alloway Post Office (image 3)

Some readers may remember from my Wetherby post that one of my things is to tidy up the image by removing the bin. Bins are good but not in a photo :-)

Alloway Post Office (image 4)

I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to red subjects and the resultant colour popping, so I opted for the Postbox and sign. Then again one of the things that attracted me to the scene in the first place was the colour and flower basket display, so I added that back in. Photography or rather photo editing can be so confusing to the mind at times with the final image not the dramatic result I thought it would be, consequently I prefer the third one from these four.

Burns Cottage profile, Alloway

Robbie (Robert or Rabbie) Burns was born in this cottage in 1759, two years after it was built by his father. The family lived here for another seven years before his Father sold the property to become a farmer.

Thatch, Burns Cottage, Alloway

The restored two roomed thatched cottage is now part of the Burns museum collection and an integral part of the village of Alloway and possibly one of the most visited sites in south west Scotland. Back in the day after Burns had gone, an entrepreneur ran a public house from the premises, no doubt attracting additional tourist trade and subsequently with the building growing with importance, the Suffragettes attempted to set fire to it to promote their case. The English Poet John Keats visited the property in 1818 and waxed lyrical about the building concentrating more on it's romance and beauty rather than the hardship that was suffered within.

Tam O' Shanter plant pot !!

Burns was a colourful and controversial character in his day, eventually became the National poet of Scotland inspiring those in art and politics to discover The Romantic movement, Liberalism and Socialism. His most famous song sung on New Years Eve is "Auld Lang Syne" while a sample of other poems include "To a Mouse", "Tam O Shanter" and "Address to a Haggis". The latter was an appreciation of the Scottish delicacy but with the passage of time, the celebration on 25th January to the life of Burns has almost become a religious ceremony !! Despite thinking that it is only Scottish people who celebrate the event, it seems that any Sassenach or colonial cousin who has a second Scottish cousin, a piece of tartan on their wall, likes a Scottish sports team or wants to see what this Haggis thing tastes like are all eligible to attend :-)

Auld Kirk sign, Alloway

Moving a very short journey south in the car to the outskirts of Alloway, not only did I arrive at the capital of Burns Tourism but the capital of signs as well ! The signs that marked the different sites were impressive, although I didn't have enough time to wait for the pure blue skies as a backdrop.

The Auld Kirk Alloway and William Burns grave.

By special request as a result of a comment from Cranberry Morning below, I inserted a late image of The Auld Kirk, quite a difficult thing to photograph as a result of the gravestones. There were a couple of reasons why I wasn't happy with this image and consequently left it out of the original post. As you can guess from the sign above, the end of the building is the most prominent and photogenic. Robert Burns father was buried here at the entrance of the grounds. The now roofless 16th century ruin is another setting for a poem mentioned below about Tam O'Shanter.

Brig O' Doon, Alloway

The 15th century Brig O' Doon features in a verse to his drinking friend "Tam O Shanter" ...

Brig O' Doon sign

....  who crossed the bridge to safety on horseback whilst being chased by a witch.

Brig O' Doon Stones

Folklore suggests that the witches were fearful of the cobbled pattern of stones and refused to cross the bridge.

Brig O' Doon gardens

Brig O' Doon was immortalised in a the Broadway and West End musical called Brigadoon where a fictitious Scottish village appears every so often. No doubt a little confusing to those trying to grasp what the real Brig O' Doon or Burns poem is all about.

Brig O' Doon View

I'll not go into personal preferences but this wasn't on my original list of things to see this week and it's strange that the weather forced me into capturing a view that only appears every so often to me !! Now that has you confused :-)

Burns Monument

There was inspiration and a competition to design a build several monuments to Burns around Scotland following the construction of a Mausoleum at the Dumfries grave site in 1815. Gothic designer Thomas Hamilton won the competition and this monument was completed in 1828.

Burns Monument and garden

I wonder if you would believe me if I said I was lying flat out on a stony path with the camera pointing upwards through a hole in the base of the fence. I could only see half the scene in the viewfinder ... the lengths people go to for framing composition :-)

Burns monument sign

It was time to head back to the car for an evening meal in Ayr with some cloudscapes and an unusual favourite building (next post). I was wanting to combine the post and conclude with a more humorous sign in Ayr but best not to bore the reader, I know that my posts are far too long anyway !

Finally ...

As an amateur cyclist who has to dismount at Pelican and Zebra crossings, I waited for the traffic lights to change in order to witness this unusual and incredible road spectacle. This King of the road in Alloway people mover was off to collect the tourists from The Burns museum (didn't photograph it) and take them to the car park. I was left wondering are pedestrians forbidden to cross here for safety reasons.

Pedestrian Crossing, Alloway