THE BOOK SHOP

A series of essays....

A   BIT LATE....BUT, WE MADE IT TO WIGTOWN AND WILL
NEVER FORGET OUR AMAZING EXPERIENCES THERE....

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

A day in our visit to Scotland during the autumn of 2018. Needed an uplifting story today to push politics aside, if only for a little while.

By the time we finally made it to Wigtown, parked the rental car, and walked the short distance into town, it was nearly 3:00 in the afternoon. We were elated to find the town still quite active with people rushing into shops, restaurants, and bookstores, children in tow. It was the final day of the annual Wigtown Book Festival, a 10-day celebration designed to promote reading and writing for all ages using workshops, conferences, and writing groups all while increasing the importance of tourist activity and establishing revenue for the town and surrounding area.

Marsha and I had read many articles about Wigtown with its wide range of independent bookshops before leaving for Scotland and it was a brilliant choice to add this interesting town to our ‘Must See’ list while there. Much to Marsha’s chagrin, Michael and I utilized precious daytime light for taking as many photos as possible on the trip down to Wigtown and asked Dan to stop the car with each photo op. In her defense, it was a rather detached and segmented journey down to Wigtown from our rental property just south of Glasgow. 

BOOKS, BOOKS EVERYWHERE WITH
A BOOKSELLERS CODE AS HUMOROUS
AS THE BOOKSELLER HIMSELF!

However, upon our arrival, we hit the ground running and quickly found The Book Shop, the first of our two main destinations. It is noted for being Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop with miles of wooden shelving supporting roughly 100,000 books! Its proprietor is a gentleman by the name of Shaun Blythell who is the author of the wickedly humorous novel, The Diary of a Bookseller, to which he’s added a new novel, Confessions of a Bookseller, in August of 2019.

SHAUN BLYTHELL: AUTHOR, PROPRIETOR, AND ALL AROUND COOL GUY

And there he stood, behind the front counter, in all of his curly, faded red-headed glory, a scruffy figure of a man with small, pouting lips and thick, black glasses framing, if not mildly obscuring, his curious eyes. Marsha had secured a copy of his first book which we’d both read even before arriving in Scotland. So, meeting him was an added bonus for both of us as we secured this eventful visit to The Book Shop within our ‘fond memories’ bank, never to be forgotten.

I believe that about an hour or so later the four of us, having  come-up for air at the front of this magnificent shop, were wiping inquisitive, antiquated dust from our noses, hands, and clothing. We had burrowed into and through some of the finest rabbit holes as intricate and convoluted as a labyrinth and often with seemingly no outlet or resolution. Designed to keep you wandering and lusting for more, there were books in glass-doored, unpainted cabinets; books of all heights and thicknesses lined-up like forgotten shelved soldiers under old, sagging staircases; creaky wooden steps that lured us up to small lofts totally consumed by leather bound wonders, and tiny rooms spilling out with the words of immortalized poets or ancient writings of local explorers and settlers of Scottish heritage such as marked by historic buildings and important cultural traditions.

Wishing we could make a second dive into the printed glory that encapsulated our very beings, we decided it was prudent, time-wise, to pay for our unique finds and then move on to the second bookstore that had captured our love and attention and reason for visiting Wigtown in the first place.

THE CHISELED FRONT DOOR AND
COZY APARTMENT TO LET ABOVE

With a zig across Main Street and a zag down a half of a block to the corner of High Street and Agnew Cres, we were staring at the cartoonish facade of The Open Book, its front door angled as if the entrance had been purposely chopped from the corner of this aged structure in order to fit the town’s uniquely designed plans for walkway and street. The four of us stepped inside.

“Welcome, welcome to The Open Book,” greeted us from two corners of the book-jammed space. We soon discovered that these two lifelong friends and fellow teachers, Marcy and Holli, arrived from the United States at the beginning of the week to claim the right to live upstairs in the cozy apartment while officially running the bookstore downstairs. 

The owner of The Open Book had been offering this option for over six years claiming that she “couldn’t be the only crazy American who dreams of working in a bookshop by the sea in Scotland! There has to be more of us.”

HOLLI AND MARCY AT THE HELM
OF THE OPEN BOOK

This unique vacation rental in the heart of Wigtown is the brainchild of American writer, Jessica Fox, who packed in her California lifestyle at the age of 24 after dreaming of another life in Scotland, and falling in love with Wigtown and its many book shops. She never looked back.

The current shopkeepers and renters, our new friends, Marcy and Holli, had placed their names on a list over two years before in the hopes of making it happen and having their dream of running their own bookstore by the sea come true. They had finally made it and it just happened to be during a large portion of the Wigtown Book Festival and the one afternoon they gladly shared Wigtown with us. Their exuberance shined through in their laughter, small talk, and willingness to explain who they were and how they got here! We were just as excited for them and exchanged website information in order to keep in touch.

This phenomenon has not wavered in popularity after all of this time. While checking for openings online today, the rental calendar remains filled for at least the next several years. 

CAPTURED ON OUR WALK
BACK TO THE CAR

You can be sure that Marsha and I toyed with the idea of having our own bookshop holiday one day. Unfortunately, we never got around to placing our names on the list after we returned home. Life, prior commitments and obligations, and other excuses always seemed to stand in the way. Chalk this one up to an opportunity missed.

Uplawmoor, Scotland and our ‘home away from home,’ a charming apartment carved from a stone outbuilding on a working sheep farm, was calling to us. We were exhausted, nighttime was settling in, and voracious appetites overpowered the atmosphere in the car. Even so, we reluctantly left the beautiful views over Wigtown Bay and the Galloway Hills and headed north to a family run restaurant we’d eaten at two nights before. At this point, familiarity was more important than any culinary surprises we might experience someplace else.

OUR RENTAL CAR IN FRONT OF THE CHARMING
APARTMENT LOCATED ON A WORKING SHEEP FARM

I lost it at the one and only roundabout between Wigtown and Uplawmoor! It was a dark night and the mind was melting after such a long day. When Dan entered the roundabout, he waited for my navigating expertise that had somehow gotten  lost deep within the darkening Scottish hillside. Everyone became dead silent. It was as though the world had stopped revolving with the exception of the four of us inside the car! After his third complete trip around the circle, I yelled out in desperation, “Take the next road!”  Unfortunately, it led us down the B7038, a limited access highway, and in the opposite direction of the restaurant and home.

In his attempt to remain calm, Dan turned off at the first exit nearly ten kilometers out of our way that turned into twenty when you counted our return to the infamous roundabout. Oh, we went there alright. We had to. But, this time I charted our vehicle on the GPS instead of hoping to be able to read the signs ladened with shadows and my pitiful guilt. Giggles bubbled-up from my throat as Dan parked the car near the little restaurant. Don't get me wrong, I love roundabouts and have never feared them in any way. However, that night I learned to respect them more than I ever had before.

SUNSET OVER THE FIELDS OF UPLAWMOOR, SCOTLAND

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

Photos Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved