A Visit to The Plot

The Plot

Last year at the Cowside Open Day I met Rosy and as we dried the pots in the kitchen together she told me she was reading The Plot by Madeleine Bunting. It’s based on a small parcel of land in North Yorkshire. She mentioned that the name of the plot of land was Scotch Corner and it was just near Kilburn and Sutton Bank. I looked up the name on the OS map and found it clearly marked and, intrigued, borrowed the book from the Library. The author is a Guardian journalist but she is also the daughter of the artist who built a chapel as a war memorial on the plot of land and decorated it with his own sculpture work. You can read more about the book in this Guardian review.

With it having a local interest and the fact that I liked it a lot I recommended it to my local book reading group. Our discussion (it had very positive responses) was held in early June. Observant members of the group had noticed a feature in a recent edition of the Yorkshire Post and brought the clipping along to the meeting. The article finished with :

“The chapel will be open between 12pm and 4pm to visitors and directions can be obtained from Sutton Bank National Park Centre. The chapel is located at Grid Reference SE 526, 814 and it is a 20-minute walk to the nearest parking.“

A quick look at the link to the North York Moors National Park site revealed the dates later in the year when the Plot and The Chapel would be open for viewing.

“The tiny, remote Chapel will be open for the public to see inside on Saturday 18 May, Saturday 20 July and Saturday 14 September this year.”

The group planned a picnic for the Saturday 20 July but I had also mentioned the book to another friend who lives in Cheshire and we’d planned to visit this summer. We invited Rosy to join us and all met up at Byland Abbey. From there it was a short hop to Kilburn and pub lunch outside at The Forresters Arms. Rosy, who lives nearby, took us to a parking place near Oldstead and we walked uphill along the old drovers’ road to Scotch Corner.

At The Plot a small crowd was inspecting the Chapel and there also was the book group; picnicking in the sun. Madeleine Bunting’s brother, Bernard, gave a brief introductory talk and we later looked inside the memorial and the hut that also occupies the small grassy site.

The Memorial Chapel

Carvings on the Chapel door

Lintel above the entrance

Memorial Sculpture

Memorial Stone to John Bunting (at entrance to Chapel)

We soon began to feel the need of a cup of tea and piece of cake so returned to the car and to Kilburn where the Mouseman T Shop was able to supply both in ample quantities.

The Wandering Walsers

Jul30

Wondering what to do in Liechtenstein besides visiting the Postage Stamp Museum in the capital Vaduz I read the following lines in the Liechtenstein section of my Rough Guide to Switzerland :

“… pretty TRIESENBERG, perched on a sunny hillside above the Rhine [is] best known as the adopted home of a community of Walser people, who left their homes in [Canton] Wallis (German-speaking Valais) in the thirteenth century to spread across central Europe. Many of the houses are wooden chalets built in the Walser style. The modern, well-presented Walser Heimatmuseum documents Walser history and culture.”

The spread of Walsers in Switzerland

The Distribution of Walsers in eastern Switzerland, Liechtenstein and western Austria

Key to Above Two Maps

1. German-speaking Valais : original homeland

2. Settled by Walsers

3. Settled in the past by Walsers (nowadays have a different dialect)

I had heard of this resettlement of the Walliser folk in other areas of Graubünden during my stay (St Antonien and near Davos) but was very surprised to see a map at the museum showing the extent of the diaspora.

There’s also a 400 year-old Walser house preserved in Triesenberg and open to the public occasionally. It wasn’t open on the day of my visit.

The Walser House in Triesenberg

If I find myself with a few hours to spare next time I’m in Liechtenstein I’ll give the Walser Sagen Weg walk a go.

Heidi’s Years of Learning and Travel

Jul27

After our morning at the dramatic Tamina Gorge and fascinating Bad Pfäfers Museum we returned by Schluchtenbus to Bad Ragaz town centre for a lunch in the sunny main square – a Swiss speciality cheese and onion tart with salad. We then caught a local post bus to Maienfeld just a few miles away.

Agnes’s Version of Heidi : Lehr- und Wanderjahre

Maienfeld was the inspiration to Joanna Spyri for her Heidi books; the first of which had the same title as this post. From the train and bus station it’s just a few steps to the Heidi Shop and Wine Bar [Maienfeld is in a significant Swiss wine-growing region]. The shop stocks every kind of souvenir thinkable with a Heidi connection and is surprisingly kitsch for Switzerland. There is also, naturally, a wide choice of Heidi titles and editions in various languages. This region “Heidiland” is relentlessly marketed throughout the area and throughout Switzerland in general and overseas.

The Heidi Shop and Wine Bar

Various Heidi titles for sale

Original Heidi Marketing Logo

Today’s Logo Version

We took the route marked uphill towards the Heidi House and Johanna Spyri Museum. It’s a quiet road and track and steepish in places with no-one else about.

The Heidi Way is in this direction

The quiet track up to Dörfli

So we were surprised as we neared the house to see crowds of people. On our alternative route back to Maienfeld we passed a big bus and car park from where the nations of the world had emerged with just a short, level path to the ‘village’ – Dörfli, in the books, but now renamed Heididorf.

Signs in Arabic?

Arriving at the Heidi House

Heidi House illustration from Agnes’s book

Not so much interested in all things ‘Heidi’ Susanne and I wanted to visit the Johanna Spyri Museum housed above (another) Heidi Gift Shop. There’s another Spyri Museum at her birthplace in Hirzel near Zurich. They must have any and all artefacts relating to her as there was very little here, near Maienfeld. Mostly, the museum consisted of information panels, a large collection of old and foreign editions of ‘Heidi‘ and video loops of extracts from Heidi movies made during the last century.

Heidi editions in the Spyri Museum

Johanna Spyri reminds me of Louisa M. Alcott who is famous for her Little Women books but has written and done so much more that is generally not known to the world at large. Spyri was born in 1827 and died in Zurich in 1901. Heidi was first published in Germany in 1879 and was a huge success. It is reputed to be the most-translated book in the world after the Bible and the Koran. But Spyri wrote much more besides and this is otherwise glossed over at the Dörfli Museum although there is a full list of these titles there are no actual examples; just a wall full of old and foreign editions of Heidi.

Descendants of Peter’s Goats? (from the museum window)

After the Spyri Museum and a quick walk around the exterior of the reputed Heidi House we decided to forego the longer walks up to the Heidi Alp and returned on foot to Maienfeld and by train to Schiers.

Further Hiking Opportunities in Heidiland if you have the time and the energy

“To be here is glorious” : The Tamina Gorge in Bad Ragaz

Jul24

Bad Ragaz is famous for its hot springs and the other Friday I met a good friend who is Swiss at the town’s station and we took the special “Schluchtenbus” (Schlucht = Gorge) to the source of these springs and the dramatic gorge itself a few kilometres out of town.

Alten Bad Pfäffers

There’s a small charge for turnstile entry into the Gorge itself where you walk along a narrow footpath – alongside the torrent of a stream and being dripped on from above – to the source of the hot springs itself.

I think the gorge and spring are in happy coincidence with each other since the thermal waters seem to be independent of the rushing stream waters. It was only afterwards that we discovered the supply of free to loan rain capes.

The springs were discovered in about 1240 by two hunters. The monks of the nearby Monastery of Pfäfers recognised the healing powers of the thermal waters. The reputation of the spa spread far and wide and became internationally known and were visited over the centuries by many famous people : Hans Christian Andersen, Joanna Spyri, Thomas Mann to name some of the literary visitors.

Altes [old] Bad Pfäfers is the former monastery on the site and is now a restaurant, meeting rooms, museum and exhibition centre.

The Original Bath in the Museum

Exhibition about Paracelsus

As former visitor, the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke said, “Hiersein ist herrlich” [To be here is glorious]

Do you know Schellen-ursli?

Jul12

Schellen Ursli is the children’s storybook character created in 1945 by Alois Carigiet and drawings of him and his adventures are to be found in all formats in the Engadine area of Switzerland. It kind of reminded me of the Alsatian artist Hansi whose pictures were in every postcard rack, gift shop and home wares store throughout the area.

Last Saturday on our way home from St Moritz and Sils Maria we took a detour into the Lower Engadine Valley to the small Alpine village of Guarda that was the former home of Carigiet. As in Bergün its houses are a wonderful selection of Engadinian art in themselves. There’s a Schellen-ursli path but we didn’t have time for that.

It came as no surprise to me later to read the village has been awarded prizes and distinctions for its beauty. Nor to read on posters throughout the village that a film company was about to shoot some scenes here – it is so authentic.

An Inn in Guarda : Note the Romansch language is predominant here

A House in Guarda

Pretty Window

Another Guarda House – there were so many!

Nietzsche’s House in Sils Maria

Jul11

My knowledge of the life and philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche comes entirely from the writing and TV programme made by Alain de Botton a few years ago in his series Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness. Here is the episode on Nietzsche. In it he visits the house in Sils Maria where FN spent several summers in the 1880s. I was at that house last Saturday.

The village of Sils Maria is in huge contrast with nearby St Moritz with its glitz and glamour. I will however say, very much in its favour, that the setting of St Moritz is simply breathtaking.

St Moritz Bad (Spa) and Lake

St Moritz Lake

Sils Maria is in a no less dramatic situation with a lake and mountains but it also has much prettier architecture, very distinctive of the Engadine region, and a varied and interesting summer cultural programme. Some of it focussing on the Nietzsche House but lots more besides – walks, concerts, talks – many with literary connections.

Some brochures I picked up in Sils Maria

There’s a fantastic library and a huge amount of primary and secondary material at the house and it’s also possible to stay there as a guest and facilitate oneself of these research sources. Read more about the donations to the library here.

Just part of the collection of Nietzsche’s works

A Corner of the Library

Nietzsche’s Room

The View from Nietzsche’s House

World Monument. The Salginatobel Bridge

Jul10

Just outside the village of Schiers where I’m staying is a World Monument – The Salginatobel Bridge. It isn’t UNESCO World Heritage protected as I had originally thought but is specially recognised and has been awarded the honour of being an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

It is little used but has a fascinating history as it looks like a very modern bridge but in fact was built and opened in 1930/31. Robert Maillart, the Swiss engineer whose company won the contract to build the connection over the 90m gorge, was a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete and this bridge is an outstanding example of his work.

I did come across it by accident on one of my walks but at the weekend friends drove me up to it again to get a better look at it and to visit the viewing platform which I had missed previously.

Map showing Schiers and The Bridge

Bergün and its Railway Museum

Jul1

When I arrived in Bergün after the hike down from Preda along the Erlebnisweg [Historic Railway Trail] I was delighted to find such a lovely old traditional village with so many houses typical of the region. These picturesque Engadine houses are lavishly decorated with sgraffito, frescoes and oriel windows and there’s an 800 year old Romanesque church and a Roman tower all amazingly unchanged.

An example of the sgrafitto or trompe l’oeil window

The church

According to the Information Board just outside the village the railway has been a curse and a blessing for Bergün. Back in the nineteenth century the village did a brisk trade in accommodating overnight guests/tourists who were in transit by coach but after the opening of the railway in 1903 it was no longer necessary for horses to be rested and watered here.

Preda and Bergün are both popular for sledging in winter although quite where this is carried out is a mystery to me.

Finally, I arrived at the station where the Railway Museum is located in a converted station building. Despite all the ads for it that seemed to be appealing to children I found it a very adult museum but maybe I wasn’t viewing it from low enough down. For all that, this probably made it more interesting to me. Or would have, had I not been reading all the information boards along the footpath. A lot of the stuff was a bit repeated from them.

After the obligatory shop and cafe you enter the museum itself. The first room is filled with screens showing film of the Simla Railway. Like the Albula Line it is also protected by UNESCO World Heritage status. Built at the end of the 19th century it improved access from New Delhi to the cool summer British residence of Simla. Two Swiss artists made the films travelling on the railway itself. There is no hectic rush as the train and its passengers chug their way up from Kalka to Simla. There is no apparent Health and Safety Advice either by the looks of it. The films are actually very therapeutic and show a relaxed mode of travelling.

The next room is filled with Mr Bernhard Tarnutzer’s train set. Mr T is passionate about the Albula railway to such an extent that he is building his own miniature version (0m guage/Scale 1:45). He began building it at home but is so large now that it has been transferred to the Museum and has a ‘hall’ of its own. He was there on Friday demonstrating its operation to a few of us. The buildings, viaducts and tunnels have been recreated as they were in the 1950s and 1960s with every detail as near as dammit to real life. I’m not so sure however that it’s so interesting to children as it’s mounted at about a metre from the floor. There is still quite a bit of work outstanding until it’s finished.

Mr Tarnutzer explains some technical points

Upstairs there’s lots of interesting stuff and artefacts connected with the building of the line, its history and operation and the resorts that it serves. There were a few hats for children (and me) to try on but otherwise a rather dark area and somewhat adult commentaries when you press the buttons for explanation.

A fascinating day in spectacular surroundings. Most enjoyable.

miladysboudoir

"There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature."

Monthly Archives: July 2013