Nothing To See Here got a nice mention on the Steve Wright programme on BBC Radio 2 yesterday. Miles Mendoza chose it as his Website of the Day and enlightened the listeners with the following highlights from the site:

• Meikleour Beech Hedge, Perthshire
  Yes, it's the world's biggest hedge.
• Dowcras Rock Factory, Great Yarmouth
  And this is the world's biggest rock shop, just up the road from another spectacular attraction Louis Tussaud's House of Wax.
• Katz's Delicatessen, New York City
  Setting for that famous scene from When Harry Met Sally
• The Toast Rack, Manchester
  A building shaped like a toast rack.

If you listen again it's around 2:45 minutes in. Anyone new dropping by as a result of all this media attention - hello and welcome. Feel free to have a look round, leave a comment or even suggest a place to go. Anyone can write an article - just write 250 words on a place you love, send in a photo and off we go. We always need new suggestions, anywhere in the world as long as it's interesting and a little bit special.

One last thing - I lost some suggestions a while ago (email crash) so if you sent something in and didn't hear back please get in touch again. All suggestions gratefully received.

Posted by Anne on November 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the outside, this doesn't look like a place of worship. The small, corrugated iron hut is pretty anonymous but the crucifix on the door marks it as special. Inside the drab exterior there is an ornate world of wonder. Simple wooden pews face a beautifully decorated altar. There are religious statues on both sides and numerous brightly-coloured ornaments. If you look closely you can see that they’re hand-made, the best example being the Blue Peter-style chandelier made from tinsel and coathangers, still going strong after 60 years service.

This chapel was built by Ukrainian prisoners of war who were sent here in 1947. Between 420 and 450 men were imprisoned in Rimini and sent to Scotland instead of being sent home where they would have been tried as traitors and faced almost certain death. They arrived in Glasgow wearing German uniforms, and came to Happendon Lodge near Motherwell, then Carstairs before landing up in the camp at Hallmuir, 3 miles outside Lockerbie in the Scottish Borders.

90% of the men were farmers so the Ministry of Agriculture gave them jobs on the local land. One man, Mr Fallat, bought some fruit seeds from Italy and planted an orchard that still stands to this day. Inside the church they were just as creative. The landowner, Sir John Buchanan Jardine gave them this small hut and after humble beginnings they began to decorate it as a home from home. On the high altar is a model of their local Ukranian cathedral, carved with a pen knife. It was made from memory as the Russians destroyed the real one. The candlesticks beside it are made from shell casings and the standards surrounding the arch from a tent brought over from Rimini. For a place decorated in a time of austerity it's wonderfully cheerful.

Continue reading "Ukrainian POW Chapel, Hallmuir" »

Posted by Anne on November 21, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Less a tourist attraction than a remnant of faded industrial glory, Crofthead Mill once housed an important cotton-spinning factory. Located on the banks of the River Levern in East Renfrewshire, the mill is the remaining legacy of the textile industry that used to dominate the area.

The current building rose in the early 1880s from the ashes of a disastrous fire which burned down the original mill erected by Stewart, Orr & Co in 1792. Not all of the mill’s structures have survived to the present day though - the five-storey edifice of the spool-turning department was demolished in 1968.

Crofthead was once the biggest producer of spun cotton in the county and its ownership passed through a series of successful companies. Thread from here was traded across the world. One of the more bizarre claims to fame of their products is that thread from Crofthead held together the boots of those on the British Everest Expedition in 1975…clearly it was tough stuff.

The mill attracted thousands of workers to Neilston in the 1900s, with many travelling to find work here after the closure of mills in Glasgow, as well as journeying from northern England, Ireland or the Highlands. Living and working conditions were considered good at Crofthead, and the Mill’s management even built around 400 homes for their workers. If you take a gander around the nearby town (only a short walk away, albeit up the rather steep Holehouse Brae), you can see these dinky millhouses dotted around Neilston, still providing cosy dwellings for the locals.

Continue reading "Crofthead Mill, Neilston" »

Posted by Rosalyn on November 07, 2007 | Permalink