Summer solstice celebrated at Crawick Multiverse – BBC News

The summer solstice has been celebrated in the south of Scotland at a landscape artwork near Sanquhar.

Visitors gathered at 04:00 to watch the sun rise on the longest day of the year at the Crawick Multiverse.

The day started with a “sunrise tour” and was followed by a range of wellbeing sessions and entertainment.

Cathy Agnew of the Crawick Multiverse Trust said they had been delighted to welcome visitors to the site.

The landscape artwork in Dumfries and Galloway was created by Charles Jencks on the site of a former opencast coal mine.

It opened in 2015 and “links the themes of space, astronomy and cosmology with a network of paths navigating features and landforms that represent the sun, universes, galaxies, black holes, comets and much more”.

American artist Barbara Crawford has been on site this week to create a new temporary art installation.

Her work was put in place in time for the summer solstice and the arrival of visitors in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Among them were Hayley, Rachelle, Deanna and Heather who had travelled from Cumnock.

“We have visited Crawick Multiverse before, but this is the first time we have been here for the summer solstice,” they said.

“It is something we really wanted to experience.

“We are here for the sunrise tour and to take part in the wellbeing sessions.”

Sue Siu, from Maybole, was also looking forward to the wellbeing sessions.

“Yoga at Crawick Multiverse on the summer solstice seems like the perfect combination,” she said.

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year – the day of the year that has the most hours of sunlight.

This year it falls on 20 June in the northern hemisphere.