Kirkudbright and Dorothy L. Sayers

After a great breakfast (not too big!) at The Ship Inn, we headed out into a beautiful day to explore Gatehouse and Kirkcudbright. (Did I mention that it’s prononced ker-cud-bree?) We had a detailed printed tour to see all the places related to the novel (see above), made possible courtesy of the Dorothy L. Sayers Society. And yes, I am a member! However, as we got into it, it was way more detail that we really wanted to deal with. (This is the corner where.... blah, blah.) So we headed to Kirkcudbright, which is the main setting for the book.

It is a lovely little town and has been a center for Scottish (and others) painters since the end of the 19th century when a wealthy (and now pretty famous) painter named E. A. Hornel moved there. Other painters followed, and soon it was quite a hub. It still is a popular place for painters and other artists. Sayers’ novel is about the painters, although she disliked E .A. Hornel. She was known to have said that, should she write a murder mystery about Kirkcudbright, she would kill off Hornel! Well, she didn’t do that in the one she wrote but, if you know the book, many people see his personality in the characters of Campbell and Gowan.

Kirkcudbright

Garden at Broughton House

We went to the museum about the area, which is called The Stewartry. We then wandered the town some more, going eventually to The Tolbooth Art Centre. After that we found the cottage Sayers lived in and went to Broughton House, which was Hornel’s. We decided we didn’t like his paintings, but we did like his garden, which was lovely, and Larry had a useful conversation with the gardener about black bugs on nasturtiums. We went back to a really good knitwear shop where I bought a lovely sweater made in the Orkney Islands. Then it was back to Gatehouse-of-Fleet to get ready for our evening.

In a completely different context, I had discovered that The King’s Singers were performing on this Friday night in Cumnock, just 60 miles north of us. So I bought tickets and we set out on our journey. We arrive in Cumnock in time to have a good Indian meal right next store to the concert venue. The concert was in a local church, and part of a two-year old festival called The Cumnock Tryst. (That’s a word that means gather, by the way!) They had a wonderful concert, enjoyed by the usual completely rapt audience. I’ve been going to hear The King’s Singers in various places since 1982, and it is always true that their singing creates this amazingly contained space that we all live in for two hours. A remarkable thing, even with all the personnel changes over the years. (The King’s Singers began in 1968 and replace people selectively as they move on to other things. There have been 40 singers over 47 years.) The concert was interesting and unusual, featuring pieces about towns and cities. They were called back for two encores, and the last was a setting of Robert Burns’ My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose. In that hall it was very moving indeed. It reminded me of when I was in college and the St. Olaf Orchestra went to Norway for the J-Term. (January 1967, and we called it “Interim.”) Our concert program included Aaron Copland’s Rodeo, and one of our encores was Edvard Grieg’s Last Spring (Våren), dearly beloved in Norway. Before the encore, the conductor would just turn to the audience and say, “Våren.” You could hear the communal sigh. After the concert, at the inevitable reception, it was common for someone to come up and say, “We really liked the American piece (the Copland), but the Grieg, that was the best.” I think in Cumnock, Scotland, on Friday night, October 2, 2015, the Burns was the best.

We set off a little before 10 p.m. to journey back to Gatehouse of Fleet. We had noticed signs on our way to Cumnock that part of the road would be closed that night starting at 6 p.m. But we weren’t sure, so we headed out. And surely they would let us know. Right. They let us know at the closure, and then sent us on a one lane journey through the woods. It was rather mysterious and beautiful, but we were glad for a companion car ahead of us and good old maps.me. (See above.) We arrived back at The Ship Inn at about 11:45 p.m. and headed for bed! A really good day all around.