Friendly, hospitable people, wonderful countryside and a real sense of history
Disadvantages:
Once you've visited you'll never want to leave !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
It is a common misconception that there is nothing other than hills and rocks north of Perth. No trees, just heather. No decent roads, just single-track roads with passing places. WRONG!
Those intrepid visitors who venture north of the Grampian Mountains will discover that there is a beautiful, fertile plain running more or less uninterrupted around the coast of the north-east of Scotland and down the East Coast.
Elgin is an ancient city and royal burgh, county town of Morayshire (pronounced 'mur-ray-shire). Lying five miles inland from the Moray Firth,on the 'Laich of Moray', it is at the centre of some of the finest arable farmland in Scotland and has one of the few livestock markets lefts. It is dominated from the West by the imposing domed cupola of Dr Gary's hospital, now one of the largest in Scotland and by St Giles church on the plain-stones, in the centre of the now-pedestrianised High Street.
ELGIN CATHEDRAL
The reason that it is a city and not merely a town is that it boasts a beautiful medieval cathedral. Well, it did until the Wolf of Badenoch got his hands on it several hundreds of years ago! It took a hundred years to build and the Wolf torched it in minutes. It was ever thus!
The imposing ruined façade of the cathedral still has the, now glass-less, rose window - the Lantern of the North. In recent years the cathedral has been partly restored. The guild hall is now complete and provides a quiet place to sit while listening to muzak of the Gregorian chant variety.
You can wander through the well-tended graves, noting the skulls, crossbones and other ancient symbols on the graves of the great and the good who lie there.
If you are really brave, you can wind your way up a spiral staircase to the dizzy heights from where you can survey the city and the outlying countryside. As those of you who have read my piece on Glasgow's Lighthouse will know, I have no head for heights so I only made it to the first level. I'm sure I missed out but at least I was able to hold on to my breakfast! The problem with these particular stairs is not that they are open, like those in the Lighthouse, but that they are enclosed! They are also very narrow and the treads are worn from the feet of the monks who regularly made the ascent so they could walk round the higher levels of the cathedral.
BIBLICAL GARDEN & COOPER PARK
Very close to the cathedral is Scotland's only Biblical Garden. It is no mean feat to collect and sustain some of these plants. I believe they have about 95% of the possible plants. The garden is dotted around with statues representing various biblical scenes and illustrated with Scripture. It is a lovely peaceful place and Moray District Council has to be congratulated on the endeavour which attracts visitors from all over Scotland.
The Bishops' Palace, which is adjacent to the biblical garden, is not open to visitors but stands at one of the entrances to the Cooper Park, gifted to the city in the 19th century. The park is well kept with several ancient trees, several of which had to be sacrificed when the 'relief road' was built a decade or so ago. There was something of a stushie about it at the time but, as with so many planning disasters, the road has been inadequate for the volume of traffic since the word go. The Cooper park, in addition to the various play equipment, tennis courts, bowling green and aviary, is home to a fine boating pond in the middle of which are two islands. Summer is not summer without at least one jaunt on the boats!
LADY HILL & ELGIN CASTLE
One of the most dominant landmarks in Elgin, is Lady Hill, or more properly, the huge column on top of Lady Hill, topped off with a statue of one of the Dukes of Gordon. The hill also bears the remains of the ancient Elgin castle. As a child, lots of rumours circulated about the castle having been buried because the plague visited. Whether this was true or not, I have no idea. There was also a rumour that the Duke got down from his column once a year and went to drink at nearby Lady Well. Anyone to actually see him, of course, would not be long for this world! What I do know about Lady Hill, however, is that the visitor is rewarded for the steep climb by the fantastic views right across the city and to the surrounding countryside.
ST GILES AND THE PLAIN STONES
In the centre of Elgin stands the imposing, neo-classical St Giles Church. The steps in front of its porticoed columns play host to the youth of the city and more recently the plain-stones, which is the area around the church, sees a Farmers' Market at regular intervals where locals (and visitors) can buy fresh produce, plants and other items. Behind the church lies a little jail-house into which criminals were once thrown. Braco's Banking house and what used to be the Tower Hotel, are two of the oldest buildings in the town. Off the High Street run a series of lanes, or 'wynds', some of which are of great interest to historians.
HOMOGENISED ELGIN
Sadly, in recent years, Elgin has gone the way of every other town and city in the country. It has been homogenised! Boots, Woolies, Timpsons or Shoe Fayre, Clintons, Dorothy Perkins, Superdrug and a host of charity shops make shopping in Elgin little different from shopping anywhere else.
I reckon you can usually gauge the prosperity of a place by the number and quality of its charity shops. Elgin, similar in many respects to Dumfries, has lots! The area has traditionally been relatively affluent with farming, fishing and distilling being major employers. In recent years, fishing has declined, as has distilling but these have been overtaken by the oil industry and related service industries.
ROYAL AIR FORCE
Morayshire also plays host to two of the largest of the Royal Air Force bases in the country, RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Kinloss. Their presence in the county has a major economic impact in every respect and one soon gets used to the noise of the Tornadoes doing engine runs as the sound carries across the fields. I am sure that it was the presence of so many uniformed personnel in Elgin that inspired me to join the WRAF myself!
ELGIN MUSEUM
Elgin Museum has seen something of a major revamp since my childhood visits. It is now bright and airy with interesting displays. My fondest (and scariest) memories of the museum were the mummy, preserved in a glass dome, which sat crouched at the end of a dark recess, the collection of shrunken heads and, most scary of all, the Samurai armour which you used to have to walk past to get to the upstairs gallery.
I was assured that all these items are safely tucked away in the store-rooms their absence being dictated by these 'PC' times. One wonders what our children will have to look back on with a frisson of fear!
OUT AND ABOUT
Elgin is essentially a rural city with the countryside never further than a few minutes away by car. One of the more noteworthy things to see around Elgin is Pluscarden Abbey. A Benedictine Monastery, it lay in ruins for many years and has gradually been restored by the monks, many of whom have come from Prinknash in Gloucestershire. Pluscarden Priory, as it used to be known, is one of the most peaceful places on earth. It sits amid fields, some of which are tended by the monks themselves. I very seldom make the journey to Elgin without paying a visit to Pluscarden. Of course, being of the fairer sex, I'm not allowed into any of the 'interesting' bits although the monks run retreats for men and are very hospitable by all accounts. I have to content myself with furtive forrays into the chapel, which smells of incense and to the shop which sells honey, herbs and fruit as well as a variety of crafts and religious medals.
Findhorn is another place worth a visit. I mean the little fishing village , which has existed for centuries, not the Findhorn Community, the world-famous New Age commune, which causes so much controversy. It, too, is worth a look, if only for their shop which sells a wonderful range of health food and 'Epicurean delights'. Some of their books are completely 'off the wall' although I try to keep an open mind. It is interesting to note, however, that their Christian book section doesn't contain any bibles so could hardly be said to be 'representative'! By all means, visit the Community, book yourself in for some 're-birthing' sessions, but don't forget to visit the local hotel while you're at it, and go for a paddle in the Moray Firth.
I can remember my little sister's first sight of the sea, which was at Findhorn. Her big blue eyes widened as she cooed 'What a big bath - where's the plug?'
Morayshire's beaches are second to none and Hopeman and Lossiemouth both have two ! I believe you can even surf at Hopeman's West Beach, the breakers are certainly high enough! The beach at Roseisle is superb with some of the old World War 2 'concrete block' defences still in evidence and providing shelter when needed. The rusty barbed wire of my childhood is, thankfully, gone!
All things considered, Elgin is certainly worthy of a visit and is a wonderful base for a holiday. There is so much to do and see in and around this lovely city I am quite convinced that visitors will want to return again and again!
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