Beating the Drum

After many years of talking about it, I finally booked an event at Kielder Observatory a few months ago. It was timed to coincide with tonight’s Geminids Meteor Shower. Mr P and I set off mid morning and stopped off in Hawick at the Damascus Drum for lunch (very good). We booked into our farm Airbnb which was quite tricky to find as it’s in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t know what to expect as the skies were intermittently cloudy but it turned out to be a really informative evening and the breaks in the clouds were enough for us to see several planets and stars through their giant telescopes. We also saw some spectacular meteors shooting across the sky without the telescopes. I took some blips but needless to say they were awful! The team were brilliant and even though it was freezing outside (thank goodness for my thermals) they warmed us up with hot chocolate and toasty woodburners. If you haven’t been I would thoroughly recommend a visit.