Orkney Image Library

Modelling in Stromness

Pic taken last week. A few years ago, while visiting Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, in the shop in the then newly-opened visitor centre my eye was caught by a cut-out-and-build book presumably intended for kids. What attracted me was the photo on the cover: it was the Crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers, in Syria, which I had visited not so long previously. I had to have the book and build the model shown here - a pretty accurate representation of the real thing. Only afterwards did I read the small print giving the name of the book's designer; it was Iain Ashman, a longtime resident of Stromness. I asked him if he had ever visited the subject of his handiwork and he said no, it was done from reference material. And superbly done too. I can just see myself standing again on the meticulously-drawn flagstones atop one of those towers. Only problem: what to do with the model. It's nearly 2 feet across so won't fit on the mantelpiece. It's perhaps a little too fragile for kids to play with (assuming they play with such oldfashioned stuff as castles). Iain Ashman himself felt it would probably live out its days under a bed. Any other suggestions?