Daffodils – in the light and in the dark – around Dunbar

In most places around here, the daffodils have had their days in the sun, hail and rain. In some spots, to where the sun does not reach, late flowering, often white daffodils can be seen around the town. My first location was on The Glebe in Dunbar. The word Glebe has clerical origins. It is defined here as “Land granted to a member of the clergy as part of a benefice”. In the Dictionaries of the Scots Language, Glebe has several different spellings over the centuries – Gleib or Glyb – and is defined as “The portion of land assigned to a parish minister in addition to his stipend”. In past days, this land would have been farmland and therefore a source of income for the minister. This glebe belonged to the local Parish Church, at the other end of the High Street i.e. not all glebes were next to the church in question. These daffodils now come up every year and as you will see in the video below, have to survive the quite often fierce winds.

Daffodils on The Glebe in Dunbar (click on all photos to enlarge – recommended)

I took this video on a very windy and decidedly cool day to show the daffodils on The Glebe in motion. The noise from the wind was so loud, I could not do an immediate commentary, so I added a voiceover on Animotica. You will have to imagine the whistling sound of the wind.

Coming home recently from my sister’s house, I took the first photo of the Parish Church from the top of the station road, where there are clumps of daffodils. The trees are only just coming into leaf and the church – lit up at night – is partly visible through the trees. This is an unusual angle from which to see the church and it is only at night that it stands out, as during the day, it is much less visible. I like the different lights in the photo – the shining white of the church and the more subdued yellow light from the lamppost, showing off the sandstone walls on the path to the station, as well as the shadows of the trees. The second photo shows the daffodils in the foreground, with the church face on, the pink sandstone and the blue windows highlighted by the lights on the ground around the church. There was a collegiate church on this site from 1342 and the modern church was noted here as “The original church of Dunbar parish was described as being cruciform, 120 feet long, 25 feet wide, with a gothic transept and choir, and a Saxon nave, possibly originating from the ancient chapel of the parish”. A huge fire in 1989 (photo) destroyed part of the church, which had to be restored to its original interior.

We had a large turnout of daffodils above my stone walls at the front of the house and also many in pots on the decking at the back. The pot in the photo below showed off the daffodils to good effect against the blue sea. In the next pot, the daffodils are not yet fully out, although both pots were planted on the same day. You can also see a couple of early tulips as well as orange pansies, which are now twice the size. I planted the pots in the autumn and have got my reward for waiting patiently over the winter and very cold early spring to see this brilliant display.

Daffodils at high tide

I have featured the walk up to Spott House earlier this year on the blog, when the snow was still blanketing the ground. Now it is daffodil time and the drive up to this impressive house (history and photos) which stands on land acquired by Elias de Spot in 1296, with the modern house built in the mid-19th century. There are thousands of glistening yellow heads and green stems on the driveway in mid to late April and it is a sight for sore eyes indeed. The photo below shows the extent of the daffodils on each side of the drive and I comment more on this and views behind in the video below.

Masses of daffodils on Spott House Drive

At the bottom of the drive, across the road and next to Spott Kirk (good photos) is the garden of a large house with an extensive garden. The blossom on the trees at the end of the garden was just emerging above this wonderful old stone wall and the clumps of daffodils and the huge tree in the middle enhance the quality of the view on show here. This really encapsulates the variety of nature on show in Spring and was a heartening sight on a cold day.

Stone wall, blossom garden and blossom in Spott

I took the video below on the day of our visit to the driveway. Once again the sound of the wind might have drowned out my voice, so Animotica came in handy again. The views all around the drive depict a rural scene that has not changed very much over maybe a hundred years, apart from new houses in the distance.