A tour of Dumfries and my review of Secret Dumfries by Mary Smith and Keith Kirk

/ Mary Smith

I’m delighted to share a post by my friend Robbie Cheadle who travelled from home in South Africa to visit me in Dumfries after reading Secret Dumfries. It was lovely to meet up in real life and be her tour guide for a day – and her review of Secret Dumfries makes my heart sing.

In my Thursday Doors post last week, I said that my family had travelled to Dumfries to meet blogger and author, Mary Smith. Mary took us on a short tour of this fascinating town.

Dumfries Museum

A few interesting artifacts from the Dumfries Museum:

  • Scrimshaw
  • Seven Trades punch bowl
  • Siller Gun
  • Spinning wheel

The story of the Siller Gun

James VI of Scotland and I of England presented the Seven Trades with a trophy – the Siller Gun – to be awarded in its annual shooting competition.  At a time when tradesmen had to be prepared to defend the town, the King’s intention was to encourage their shooting skill.

It is believed that the gun originally took the form of a miniature cannon mounted on a wheeled carriage.  It was remodelled to resemble a flintlock musket by David Gray after it was broken in 1808.  The individual responsible for the…

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18 thoughts on “A tour of Dumfries and my review of Secret Dumfries by Mary Smith and Keith Kirk”

  4. A great review, Mary, congratulations! What a treat to have you as a guide, and how wonderful to be able to meet Robbie and her family. Sometimes I feel as if I’ve already met all my blogger friends for real, but perhaps it will happen soon. Fingers crossed and sending you my best wishes.

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    • It is a lovely review, Olga. It was really good to meet Robbie and her family when they came over to the UK (in pre-pandemic days!). I know what you mean about feeling you’ve already met your blogger friends. I was lucky to meet some at the Bloggers’ Bash in London. I’ve always fancied doing a grand round the world tour to meet them all. I can dream 🙂

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  7. Mary, I’m so happy you had a chance to meet Robbie and her family and what a wonderful time for you all. Your expert knowledge will have been an added bonus on the museum visits etc and her enjoyment of the time together is palpable! As for the book, one I enjoyed very much and you brought the past alive brilliantly … now I want to visit the area for real! xx

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    • Thanks so much, Annika. I really enjoyed working on Secret Dumfries with photographer Keith Kirk so it’s lovely to know readers have enjoyed reading it. I hope you’ll have the chance to visit the area one day – and I’ll be very happy to show you around 🙂

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