So today I went on a little day trip to Durham to have a look for inspiration for my fashion course. And what a lovely day it was, the city is home to the magnificent Durham Cathedral , lots of boutique trinket shops and not to forget “possibly the best fish and chips in the world”-Bimbis! It took Andrea and myself a good afternoon to wander round, stopping many times to get the cameras out and snap things that caught our eyes. Funnily enough it was usually the same things that we were drawn to. Sometimes things that would get unnoticed like details above a doorway or a particular colour that caught our attention.

 

(Yes, the picture of the cathedral has been brightened.. the weather was actually rubbish and in fact rained for most of the day) being the optimist though I got some pretty good snaps of wet leaves and a soggy bench.  Thank you rain for enhancing these colours..

     Now armed with 50 new images to annotate and incorporate into my sketch book, let’s just say I have plenty of work to be getting on with to keep me out of trouble!  I definitely recommend the Durham day out! Not only is it a beautiful city but it has some fantastic shops too! Including 2 vintage shops we visited near the gates “scarlet ribbons” and another just down the road, possibly with the name beginning with “D”.. a little unsure on that one.  There’s also a few lovely Oxfam shops on Elvet Bridge, including Oxfam boutique and bookshop.  If that’s not enough there’s also Durham market, where you’ll find the usual markety stalls along with a few particularly nice craft and haberdashery shops. One of the fabric shops we went into there was a rather kind lady who gave me a free sample of tweed to add to my sketchbook! HOW NICE! for any of you fancy dress addicts out there you’ll find enjoyment in the fabric and fancy dress shop just down some steps off Silver Street. Again I apologise for not being able to remember the name of the shop, however I do have a lovely picture of the entrance (see below) pretty cool composition of images there I must admit!

   Equally enjoyable for those doc martin fans, you need to know about a little place on Saddler Street called Scorpio. They have huge amounts of doc martens on display outside the shop and many other amazingly quirky shoe designs in store.

(Not too sure what this was all about. One theory is that it’s a compilation of people who’ve travelled to the shop. Any other ideas?) 

  Well that’s about all I can say about my first Durham experience without boring anyone who might be reading my blog! If you’ve got to this point I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and found it of interest.