After visiting Gosford Estate earlier in the day we took a drive along to Seacliff Beach, a private beach near North Berwick. Apparently, I had been here before when I was little but I have no memory of it. It's a very nice secluded place and good for a quiet stroll.
I loved the wispy clouds and the patterns on the sand. I seem to like taking pictures of Bass Rock but it's not my fault, it's visible from so many places! Unfortunately, it wasn't focused very well but I like it nonetheless.
The lighthouse is way too small in the frame for this composition but it was the water on the sand mimicking the clouds that caught my eye.
After a walk on the beach we set out to find Seacliff House. From the beach it isn't immediately clear where it is, as it isn't very visible. The following pictures are some of the things that we saw during our search for the house.
After a bit searching we managed to find it. Here is a little history about the house taken from www.scotland.org.uk:
Seacliff House was built in 1750 by Robert Colt. It was later bought by George Sligo who in 1841 employed the Scottish architect David Bryce to build a new house in a typically Victorian baronial style around the core of the older house. However, in 1907 it was gutted by fire. The exterior survives almost complete with gables, turrets and bartizans. The outbuildings were later purchased by the Royal Navy who established a top-secret research base there during World War I. The station, known as HMS Scottish Seacliff, was mainly used for navigation training and U-Boat defence.
These days the house has been reclaimed by nature and the exterior is covered in ivy.
The light was fading fast and we had to leave before they closed access to the area (it's a private beach and area) so I didn't manage to take as many pictures as I would have liked. However, it was still well worth the visit. There's just something about places like this that fascinate me. Once owned by people, now owned by nothing but nature. Gives me a sort of post-apocalyptic feeling.
All images taken with my Contax G2 and Portra 400 except for the last three which were taken with my Mamiya 7ii and Fuji 400H. Developed and scanned by the amazing Canadian Film Lab.
