Being Michele’s day to choose our activity, she organised an East Lothian mystery tour. While we didn’t cover huge distances we saw some lovely places which could all be done in a day trip from Edinburgh if you have access to a car.
We started with a visit to Pressmennan Wood situated near the town of Strenton and is well signposted. There are a few choices of walk to do. we chose to 2.5 km walk which took us around the edge of the lake which had a variety of birds including a pair of swans with their cygnets. Along the track there was also a selection of sculptures and woodland creatures homes 🙂 Sadly we saw no otters so our search continues.
After enjoying a picnic lunch we were back on the bike heading through the winding lanes to visit St Mary’s Church in Haddington. The church was originally built in the 1100s. During King Henry the VIII’s rough wooing for a wife for his son they besieged the town for 18 months eventually leaving and destroying some of the church and most of it’s roof. The town did not have the money to rebuild it so it was bricked up and they used the back part of the church for 400 years. In 1972 the money was raised to rebuild the remained and it now is complete again. The were some volunteers in the church welcoming visitors and explaining the history. It was a lovely place to visit and nice to have a chat to the people there.
Next stop was the Archerfield Walled Garden, our expectation of a lovely walled garden was a bit out but it was still a nice place to visit especially for foodies or shoppers. We enjoyed a Chocolate Merangue and coffee in the sun then heade doff for a walk around the grounds. They have some beautiful little nooks and crannies along with a wishing tree where you can tie a ribbon on and make a wish.
And then a couple of shots on the way home all in all a fun day which showed that sometimes the best things to see are not the ‘top spots’
