Harvest Festival

For our Harvest Festival, we no longer decorate the church with several fruit and floral displays, rather, members being tinned and dry goods which will be donated to the local Food Bank. There is a wide variety of items here, representing the imagination of all who sought to improve the life of those in need.

We did not stay for the lunch that followed but hurried home for a quick snack and to exchange the car for a couple of bus-rides down to Holyrood to visit Abbey Strand, one of the buildings associated with the Abbey, dating from the 1490's. Of its many uses, including a place of alms, the most memorable use has been as a place of sanctuary for debtors - and these came from every walk of life. The Sanctuary Line encircled a wide area, marked by a large letter S on the ground. There is a ceiling of painted beams, which came from Midhope Castle, in West Lothian.

A walk through the Physic Garden brought us to a quaint building known as Queen Mary's Bathhouse, dating from around 1565. Whether there was ever such a bath is not known. (Extra).

A wander up the Royal Mile, peaking into the historic closes, brought us to a bus stop as our bus was just arriving so we came home for a very welcome cuppa.