Have you ever been to the Pittenweem Arts Festival? It’s very unusual because the many artists who live in the fishing village open their homes up to the public to give everyone interested a good look at their artwork. At first it seems a bit weird to be walking through someone’s kitchen to see their work but you get used to it and it’s all very enjoyable.
As a gardener I love being able to see people’s back gardens as much as their artwork. The festival runs for a week and the village seems always to be full of people trailing from house to house to view the wares. It isn’t all paintings but includes embroidery, weaving and knitting, sculpture and all sorts.
There are even courses which you can attend on things like knotting, taught by fishermen and folk music evenings. You can read about it here.
The festival runs from August the 2nd to the 10th. You can read more about it and see some photos of Pittenweem here.
There’s also a Forth Bridges Festival this year, it’s a new one and you can read about it here. It runs from 3rd September to the 13th September.
I was in Pittenweem briefly the other day before walking the coastal path to Ainster, and found the most gorgeous old fisherman’s cottage which I am sure is the house I have a drawing of, that I fancied copying as a dolls house. I must go back and take a photo of it as somehow I couldn’t get my iPad to take the picture! The festival sounds interesting. I might try and get there – and take my photo.
I remember being taken to Queensferry on several Saturday runs out in the car, to see how the road bridge building was progressing. Where we viewed it from – above the town – is now covered in houses! It was “out in the country” in the early 60s. I loved the old ferries across the Forth though I expect the parents didn’t like the queuing up to get on one! It was all exciting to me!
Evee,
It seems amazing to me that there was only a car ferry up until the 60s. I really enjoyed the Erskine ferry over the Clyde when I was wee but that was never very busy.
Pittenweem also has a Food Festival sometime, of course mainly seafood, not my favourite.
I loved going across in the ferry! Of course latterly it was always a long wait to get on one! My great great great grandfather wrote in his journal every day – it’s in the National Library of Scotland now – and he talked of ferries all over the country, even to London, and also along lochs, like Loch Tay for example. The Firth of Forth must have been hoaching with passenger ships going up to Stirling, Granton to Kirkcaldy, etc. etc. That must have been a sight. It was just at the beginning of the steam age so most of the ships were still under sail!
Evee,
That must be an interesting journal.
I know that in Kirkcaldy there were passenger ships going to London regularly. When a mother was in labour at home they used to send the kids out to wait for the ship to come in, it was supposed to have the baby on board! If the ship was hooting they all said – it’s a boy!