Cross Kirk Peebles

I'm always surprised just how much activity I can fit into one day if I but try. I managed to go to an exhibition in The Gallery, Tweeddale Museum, Peebles, catch up with Christine Porter, a lovely quilt writer and teacher who was giving a class in Peebles, and visit (for the first time, shame on me) the ruins of the Cross Kirk, also in Peebles. The fact that I'm getting to grips with all the interesting features locally is largely due to Blipfoto as the search for a daily photograph spurs me on to visit all these attractions.

According to legend (and the tourist information board ) the Kirk is supposed to have been founded in 1261 when a fine cross was dug up on the site. It became a Trinitarian friars house in 1474. This was dissolved at the time of the Reformation, in about 1561. It was used again after nearby St. Andrews parish church was damaged by the English army in 1529 but abandoned when a new church was build in 1784. I went to see the small graveyard attached to the ruins but this now proved to be in what looked very much like a private garden. I will try and go again as it was the private burial ground of the Hays of Haystoun and the Erskins of Venlaw. I'm usually braver when I've got someone else with me!

And to make the day even better the sun was shining! I loved the dappled effect of the sahdows on the grass of the above picture which became my blip for today.