Friday 26 August 2016

Visit to Coldstream Guards Museum

It's close to the end of our annual holiday; this year, Northumberland. Our base has been Coldstream which is literally just over the border into Scotland, across the river Tweed. Lots of day trips out, remembering an earlier stay when William was about 4 years old (including a visit, if you can see it, to Bamburgh Castle).

We spent the last day around Coldstream itself. William bought some bullets from the Somme and a modern military compass from an army surplus store, and we then visited a very small musuem dedicated to the Coldstream Guards.

I'm not one for studying in detail all of the exhibits, maybe it's a short attention span. Sometimes it all feels overwhelming taking in all of the detail in, and the narrative gets a little lost along the way. What did catch my eye was two displays; you can probably guess why...

The first was a display of the battle of Flodden (1513). Not particularly about the Guards, but the battlefield is only about two miles down the road at Braxton. A well known battle for the fact that it was the last time a monarch died in battle, James IV of Scotland. A nice little display in what looks like 6mm.

The second definetly had more relevance to the Coldstream Guards, the battle of Waterloo. More specifically, the regiment's involvement around the farm of Hougemont.

A nice little museum, particularly as it's free.

 

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