Beyond trips in my youth to places such as Edinburgh and Butlins in Ayr, my first trip to Scotland as an adult was an invite by the Dewhurst clan for the 1998 Hogmanay. The destination of choice was Kirkcudbright in South West Scotland, about a 3-hour drive from Preston. This started a regular chain of New Year visits over the next 10 years apart from one year out to attend a truly woeful party on Millennium Eve in Preston.
The digs on that first visit were out at Brighouse Bay which had a fine golf course and a terrific coastal walk where on a sunny day you could conceivably be facing the sea in the Mediterranean. I remember Tony Dewhurst who has some pyrotechnic tendencies setting off a firework one dark night called Big Ben which created a cacophonous sound and lit up the entirety of Kirkcudbright Bay.
For two of those years we stayed in a couple of large cottages overlooking the sea in Kippford. The location was a couple of miles down the road from Dalbeattie which had a good batch of bars and a decent Chinese restaurant called the Sea Horse (colloquially renamed by us as the Sea Devil!). On New Year’s Day the pubs were packed, and it became a tradition whilst on a pub crawl to watch the World Championship Darts that take place at that time of year.
I remember John and Tony telling the tale of a couple of years earlier watching local amateur side Dalbeattie Star playing in the Scottish FA Cup on literally an open pitch in the town. Later that evening they were stood next to the players in the Crown pub who were watching themselves on the highlights of the game on Sportscene!
A regular stop when we were travelling up was to a chippy in Annan where we devoured local Fish, Chips, Mushy Peas, Bread and Butter and a Pot of Tea or very occasionally Irn Bru (made from Girders!). There were some brutally cold winters up there with a couple of unnerving drives home and once getting the car stuck in the snow in a layby!
One New Year we ended up in a restaurant in Castle Douglas partaking in a 7-course meal finished off with the lead weight of local dessert Ecclefechan Tart. The Scottish dancing afterwards was a considerable challenge.
Continuing the food theme there was a fantastic small restaurant in Kirkcudbright called Kirkpatricks which served in my opinion Michelin Star fare and their Galloway Beef was outstanding. Tom the chef used to tell us colourful tales, especially of the errant footballer Craig Bellamy, as his previous role was the chef for the Wales football team. It remains one of our Top 5 meals. After the meal we would then watch the sardonic wit of Chewing the Fat, a TV parody show which unfortunately is only shown north of the border.
On New Year’s Eve 1998 we headed down to Arden House, on the fringes of town for a dinner dance. There was an old gunslinger band called Specific who hit the stage during the evening. To put it mildly it was an older clientele in attendance and an older lady toppled over when dancing and fractured her arm, it was an odd evening overall.
On some of the New Year’s Eve’s there was a piper playing at midnight at the Tollbooth in Kirkcudbright. The Tollbooth itself and some of the streets and houses are featured in the timeless 1970’s cult Wickerman movie featuring Edward Woodward.
When in residence there in 2001, John mentioned that a new local festival was being touted for the following summer and thus the Wickerman festival was created. It became a red-letter date for us for the next 14 years and thankfully no-one was foolish enough in that time to arrange a wedding or christening during the Wickerman weekend!