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GOOD THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN LANARK
NEW LANARK WORLD HERITAGE SITE, NEW LANARK
You could spend a whole day here, just outside Lanark, and it would be a day well spent. The first sight you get of the preserved mill village sitting in its deep gorge by the raging River Clyde is one that will send a small shiver of excitement up and down your spine. You just know as soon as you see it that way down there is something seriously special, and you are not disappointed. Apart from the visual treat of the buildings themselves, there are many attractions to see. The Annie McLeod Experience is my favourite, involving a 'magical dark ride' back to the year 1820. Then there's the Village Store, Mill Workers' House, Robert Owen's School, Robert Owen's House, gift shops and mills and views aplenty. They've even got 'Scotland's Largest Rooftop Garden,' not to mention fantastic riverside walks over shoogly wooden walkways leading to the utterly dramatic Falls of Clyde waterfall. This is not a World Heritage Site for nothing; the accolade is well earned.
However, I feel a small input of reality is in order. Consider this: At a time when the country was full of dark satanic mills and workers' lives were pretty grim, Robert Owen managed the mills here and introduced 'many ideas to improve the quality of life for his workforce including free education and medical care.' For a World Heritage Site to be built around this man's brave and practical concept is a little ironic, given that the wee girls who currently work in the cafe in the very mills in which Owens' workforce once toiled will probably not be paid when they are off sick. Just think that through for a moment. It's a sobering thought. Clearly, mankind has learned nothing.
You could spend a whole day here, just outside Lanark, and it would be a day well spent. The first sight you get of the preserved mill village sitting in its deep gorge by the raging River Clyde is one that will send a small shiver of excitement up and down your spine. You just know as soon as you see it that way down there is something seriously special, and you are not disappointed. Apart from the visual treat of the buildings themselves, there are many attractions to see. The Annie McLeod Experience is my favourite, involving a 'magical dark ride' back to the year 1820. Then there's the Village Store, Mill Workers' House, Robert Owen's School, Robert Owen's House, gift shops and mills and views aplenty. They've even got 'Scotland's Largest Rooftop Garden,' not to mention fantastic riverside walks over shoogly wooden walkways leading to the utterly dramatic Falls of Clyde waterfall. This is not a World Heritage Site for nothing; the accolade is well earned.
However, I feel a small input of reality is in order. Consider this: At a time when the country was full of dark satanic mills and workers' lives were pretty grim, Robert Owen managed the mills here and introduced 'many ideas to improve the quality of life for his workforce including free education and medical care.' For a World Heritage Site to be built around this man's brave and practical concept is a little ironic, given that the wee girls who currently work in the cafe in the very mills in which Owens' workforce once toiled will probably not be paid when they are off sick. Just think that through for a moment. It's a sobering thought. Clearly, mankind has learned nothing.
VALERIO'S FISH AND CHIP SHOP (beside the bus station)
If you need just one good reason to visit Lanark, then this is it. The fritters they sell in Valerio's are absolute heaven, and possibly the best in the country. Fritters don't generally get a lot of press, and yet it is not easy making good ones. There are so many factors involved, each of which has to be just right for the final product to be any good. There's the variety of potato to consider, the temperature of the oil used to fry them, the make-up of the batter, and so on. These fritters are large, thin, and coated in a superb crispy batter full of little crunchy bits. I cannot rate this highly enough. Get yourself to Lanark right now.
If you need just one good reason to visit Lanark, then this is it. The fritters they sell in Valerio's are absolute heaven, and possibly the best in the country. Fritters don't generally get a lot of press, and yet it is not easy making good ones. There are so many factors involved, each of which has to be just right for the final product to be any good. There's the variety of potato to consider, the temperature of the oil used to fry them, the make-up of the batter, and so on. These fritters are large, thin, and coated in a superb crispy batter full of little crunchy bits. I cannot rate this highly enough. Get yourself to Lanark right now.
There's not much in the way of what you might term a regular
tourist attraction in Lanark itself, and as such you might be
tempted to make straight for nearby New Lanark which sits a mere
mile to the south. But if you were tempted to do such a thing
you'd be missing out on those special treats that most places
keep for the visitors who dawdle and dally and really look
at their surroundings.
Lanark's High Street is unfortunately blighted by a constant flow of heavy traffic. It's a hugely wide street, but still it is hard to truly relax amidst the internally-combusted melee. That said, there are lots of curious narrow lanes leading off the High Street, and one may spend a delightful while creeping through them to both escape the traffic and see where they lead. Some little lanes, or vennels, also have plaques giving some history and an insight into what once took place in these narrow passageways long long ago.
There is a museum in Lanark, and if you can find it and also find it open, then good luck to you. But it's the little things that make Lanark worthwhile, like the plaque in Castlegate on 'the site of the house reputed to be the marital home of Sir William Wallace and Marion Braidfute.'
Then there's the stone dog on the roof, so easily missed by those who rush to get nowhere fast ...
Lanark's High Street is unfortunately blighted by a constant flow of heavy traffic. It's a hugely wide street, but still it is hard to truly relax amidst the internally-combusted melee. That said, there are lots of curious narrow lanes leading off the High Street, and one may spend a delightful while creeping through them to both escape the traffic and see where they lead. Some little lanes, or vennels, also have plaques giving some history and an insight into what once took place in these narrow passageways long long ago.
There is a museum in Lanark, and if you can find it and also find it open, then good luck to you. But it's the little things that make Lanark worthwhile, like the plaque in Castlegate on 'the site of the house reputed to be the marital home of Sir William Wallace and Marion Braidfute.'
Then there's the stone dog on the roof, so easily missed by those who rush to get nowhere fast ...
THE GIRNIN' DOG, CASTLEGATE
This is not strictly a tourist attraction. Neither is it a pub, although it would make a fine name for a pub. It is a stone dog that sits on a roof in Castlegate. It could be easily missed. If you happen to spot it, your first thought may be, 'What the heck is that stone dog doing on that roof?' That would be a fair thought. It was seemingly placed there by the dog's owner back in the 1840s. He suspected that a woman who lived in the house opposite, and who he knew disliked his dog, poisoned his dog. Although he could not prove such a thing, he had a statue of his dog made and painted, and placed it on the roof so that it looked directly across Castlegate towards the house of the suspected woman. This, I have to say, is an utterly fascinating insight into human nature. To go to so much trouble to get one's own back. One can only guess how miserable the woman's life became thereafter with the dog that she allegedly hated so much constantly peering in her window.
This is not strictly a tourist attraction. Neither is it a pub, although it would make a fine name for a pub. It is a stone dog that sits on a roof in Castlegate. It could be easily missed. If you happen to spot it, your first thought may be, 'What the heck is that stone dog doing on that roof?' That would be a fair thought. It was seemingly placed there by the dog's owner back in the 1840s. He suspected that a woman who lived in the house opposite, and who he knew disliked his dog, poisoned his dog. Although he could not prove such a thing, he had a statue of his dog made and painted, and placed it on the roof so that it looked directly across Castlegate towards the house of the suspected woman. This, I have to say, is an utterly fascinating insight into human nature. To go to so much trouble to get one's own back. One can only guess how miserable the woman's life became thereafter with the dog that she allegedly hated so much constantly peering in her window.
RATING
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