A Disused Railway Station & Childhood Memories in Strathpeffer

Yesterday's day of fun found us heading to Strathpeffer which is 34 miles northwest of us. It's a lovely little town which used to be a spa town popular with health tourists. The train station, which used to bring people seeking the health benefits of the local waters, closed in 1951 and is now home to shops and the Highlands Museum of Childhood.

The museum started with the doll and toy collection of a former resident of the town and since then has acquired more toys, games, and memorabilia for display. Below is the Punch and Judy collection that they have with the hangman (on the right) looking particularly scary.

It was a really interesting place to look around and both of us found things we used to play with as children, or things we wished we had. I didn't wish I had this doll, as her face is a bit scary.

There was a small display about women's lives in the highlands and I really liked this photo of nurses with their patients as it has a real touch of innocence about it. It also makes me glad that I started nursing after they'd got rid of caps as I'm sure I would have been hopeless at putting them on neatly with my curly hair - they stopped wearing them at my training hospital about two years before I began my career.

This is a display that brought back very unpleasant memories for my beloved. The tawse was the weapon of choice for teachers dealing out corporal punishment in Scotland and the north of England. Shockingly corporal punishment in schools didn't get phased out until the 1980s. My beloved describes how the teachers would make them pull their sleeves up and put their arms together to give a good base to aim at and he would have long red welts along his arms (makes me want to go back in time and give those teachers a dose of their own medicine).

Look how cute he is at his school desk - how could anyone ever want to punish him.

A list of rules for teachers in the early 1900's, fancy not being able to wear bright colours or spend time in ice-cream stores - outrageous.

A lovely old rocking horse - it's so elegant and I bet lots of children had fun on this.

Here's a few shots taken of the train station platform where there is also a lovely cafe and of course we stopped for coffee and cake (well it would have been rude not to).

Here's a fabulous wood carving that sits in the entrance to the station with scenes through history of  Scotland (and my beloved taking photos).

A couple of the scenes on the pole, the one on the left showing monks and the one on the right is the vikings.

Pretty display with fairy lights outside one of the shops.

We then drove further on into the town to take Bramble Jelly for a walk. There's some lovely paths through trees near the town pavilion. We came across these interesting mushrooms and when I asked Mr Google what they were I discovered they're called Shaggy Inkcaps.

There were a few hardy white tailed bumble bees still out and about - I hope they get inside somewhere warm before the frosts hit (I know only the queen survives through winter so maybe this was a queen stocking up on pollen to see her through).

Colourful Autumn foliage is starting to appear, and I love how at this time of the year you just catch splashes of orange in amongst the green. This tree is just about to turn, with these leaves ahead of the rest.

Beautiful water droplets on a leaf.

These drops of water caught in a spiders web look like precious jewels.

In recent posts we've been in traffic jams that involved sheep and pheasants, but yesterdays was lots and lots of vintage tractors. There was a vintage tractor festival going on nearby and we just happened to be passing whilst they were all on the road - luckily they took a turn not too long after we took this picture. What you can't see is that there was a really bright yellow tractor in front of this one - it looked like a fergie that someone had painted.

Our final stop before heading home was Chanonry Point where people go to spot the Moray Firth dolphins. We didn't see any sea life but we did find quite a bit of sea glass for my collection, including a very rare piece of white sea glass.

Helicopter flying over.

Bramble Jelly had a lovely swim and played with several other dogs who were all much bigger than her - I did try to get a photo of them together but they were moving too quick for me.

Hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of our day out and hope you have some fun days out yourself. Until next time, be good, stay safe, and take some time to think about what your favourite toys as a child were.

Pamela & Ken
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P.S: Princess Cookie Cat actually decided to face us this evening, though she does look like she's only going to put up with being sociable for a short while.