New Lanark

Whilst not technically a dog friendly attraction, we had a great day at New Lanark. This is one of those funny places for me - I have a childhood nostalgia of New Lanark, and just assumed it was one of those places everyone had done a million times, and for nostalgic sake was never too worried about going back just in case it wasn't as good as I remembered. Well, turns out it's not the place everyone in Scotland has been, perhaps in the central belt, but the hubby who grew up in Dundee had never heard of it until recently and, every time we drive south and pass it, he points it out and states we should go sometime.

Well, sometime was eventually this weekend! The weather has cooled, making a day trip out with Missy a bit more feasible, but it's still nice enough for shorts and t-shirts, meaning that it's still pleasant for us humans to walk about all day. A quick Google trawled up some old TripAdvisor posts stating that dog were allowed in the village, but not the buildings. I can confirm that that is still the case! Dogs are also not allowed on the tours (which was a pity, but fair enough) and apart from that, so long as you follow the usual dog-about-town rules, you're all good for a lovely day!

New Lanark itself is a marvellous little cotton-mill village nestled against the Clyde and is historically important more for the way it was run than the actual buildings (which are now listed and protected). As a quick overview, Robert Owen (the owner of the mill) encouraged the idea that a happy workforce was the best workforce - he had a school and insisted all children until 10 (preferably 12) remain in full time education, and held classes in the evenings for the adults to also learn to read and write. It holds the title of having the worlds first workplace nursery and a workplace sick-fund, so therefore free healthcare. Very forward thinking for 1817!

Missy with 'Annie'

In order to demonstrate what life was like at the mill, they have a 'ride' where you meet Annie Macleod, a little girl who lived at the mill, and she explains how it was different to other mills before getting to walk through part of the working mill. They have restored the schoolhouse, Robert Owens house, the village shop and mocked up some of the tenements so that you can see how life changed from the 1800s to the 1900s. As Missy wasn't allowed inside each of these areas, the hubby and I took turns going in whilst the other walked her. A word to the wise, organise meeting points, the phone signal is pretty non-existent and we wasted a lot of time at the beginning walking about in circles trying to find one another!

With both a race and a wedding on, it got very busy after lunch. There is access to the Clyde Falls (via a lovely woodland walk), so after we had seen everything, we let Missy stretch her paws along the river and all went looking for dipper birds and herons together. A perfect way to end our little impromptu day out!