Not all those who wander are lost
Date published 14 June, 2019
Warm Coldingham
Coldingham bills itself as an historic village. I think it is allowed to do that - there was a monastery here as early as 660AD - although that caught fire not long afterwards. There is a church on the site of the old priory, and some of the ruins of the priory are visible.
Coldingham is not far north of Eyemouth, just over the Border into Scotland. It is has a modest population of just under 2000.
It is a pretty village, and not far from the village centre is Coldingham Sands - a quaint cove with colourful beach huts and intriguing rock formations framing the sandy beach.
There is - at the time of our visit - a small and very welcoming butchers shop, a local Spar, and two very decent pubs that sell food. There is also a pathway - slightly underused, we fear - called the heritage walk, which is worth doing.
But wait. The main reason for our title. We walked through the village 3 days in a row to explore the village, and to enjoy the coastal walks beyond. Everytime we noticed the same thing. Everyone spoke to us. Everyone. And often more than a nod. It's like the people really are friendly. I think they are.
I know. You will all be claiming the same for your own village or town, and I hope you are right. There are other places like this. But here we really noticed it. After three days it felt a bit like we lived there!
It chastened me slightly. I could make every village I travel to a bit more like that by being that cheerful. We all could. We all should. Let's do it right now.
There is one more thing I want to mention regarding Coldingham. Check out this bit of topiary!
We are happy snappers!
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