Tag: England

Not a National Trust house!

stitchesoftime2 Comments

One of my lifetime ambitions is to visit every National Trust property,  making very good use of my membership, and discovering lots of gorgeous textiles along the way.

After staying at Kendal Cricket Club, having missed out on a couple the previous day due to bad weather, I was searching the map and was delighted to find one that I hadn’t previously pinned.

Off I set on a wonderfully sunny day, above Windermere to find Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House, on arrival discovering that it wasn’t a Trust house at all, which is why it hadn’t come up on previous searches.

Situated above the lake, with stunning views, it was built as a holiday home for  Manchester industrialist, Edward Holt, in 1901, and designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. It has been beautifully restored by the Lakeland Arts Trust.

In its time it was also a girls’ school, but thankfully its fantastic architecture and interior has been preserved.

The Arts and Crafts movement has always been one of my first design loves, and this house, along with the work of Margaret McDonald Mackintosh, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Evelyn de Morgan, whose work can be seen at the similarly stunning Whitwick Manor, is an amazing example of the work of these design geniuses.

As with many houses of the era most of the rooms are wood panelled, with painting, carving and textiles everywhere.

My favourite room, and one so very different to the others, was the white drawing room. The plaster flowers that accentuate every corner are just amazing. To me they are like something from a Tolkien vision of Elven architecture.

Even the books are beautiful, I would love to have a reading nook like this.

There were some more gorgeous books upstairs.

There of course lots of textiles, tapestry cushions, hangings etc, but my favourite was definitely this whitework bedspread. As usual no information on who made this, but respect to the many hours of the hands that did.

If you love this period, or just want to see a beautiful house in a gorgeous location I can heartily recommend it, at £12 entry it was a bargain, and they have a tea room!

The weather has been really beautiful for the last few days, so I am planning another walk today, for the past few weeks my days off have been a bit damp so very much enjoying the blue skies. My plants are also looking very lovely. 

Hope you are all enjoying life, and are not too hot if you are in one of the many areas with heatwaves. Take care and thanks for visiting. 

Stops along the way, Spring 2026 edition

stitchesoftime4 Comments

I love trying out new stopping places with Katy, and on my recent return to Scotland stopped at some which have been on my map for ages, as well as a few favourites from last year.

The first was Moorside Farm Aire, just outside Market Drayton, a useful halfway point between Ellen’s and my friend in Wales.

The aire costs £10 a night, payable by cash and I rang to book ahead. There is a large grass field for campervans, and a toilet available. It was a very peaceful and enjoyable night’s stay before heading for Attingham.

After I left my friend I headed for the Rhug Farmshop, I have been here before and it is basically just the car park, however it is very good value and they have a great deli and Cafe, as well as toilets open during the day.

My plan was then to get to somewhere nice in the Lakes via a couple of Trust garden visits,  however torrential rain on the M6 meant that I ended up spending the night at Kendal Cricket Club, in their car park. They ask for a £10 cash payment, and there are facilities when the bar is open. Not a brilliant view but a much appreciated night near to all the supermarkets.

I was heading for Moffat, to a static caravan on a beautiful little site just outside the town. The Camping and Caravanning Club have a campsite there as well bit I thought that early March was a little too cold for camping!

The site was built around a small lake, and as well as statics had some lovely lodges and lots of wildlife areas.

After a week of luxury in my beautiful caravan, plans had to change as my caravan tower changed dates, so I ended up driving to Edinburgh to buy a new tent, and pitched on a hardstanding at our Scone Campsite for a week.

It was a little cold, dropping to minus 2 a couple of nights, but I had lots of fleecy blankets, and appreciated the chance to spend more time on the trail of Mary Queen of Scots. More about that in a later post.

I went back to one of my favourite park ups before Scone, this is the third time I have stayed at the Kelpies, now £15 a night which includes a coffee. It is only the first time I have seen them lit up at night though, as the first time they were down for maintenance, and last time it was torrential rain!

After Perth I stopped off at the National Trust spot The Hermitage, near Dunkeld, for a little walk. The recent rain meant that the waterfall near the building was in full flow, the noise was incredible. This is an area that I want to spend a lot more time in, as it’s so beautiful.

Many stopovers offer their services for free if you eat or drink there, and my next stop was one of those. The Apiary is a gorgeous little cafe at Dalwhinnie in the Cairngorms. I forgot to take any photos of the inside, but it was another lovely peaceful night, and very welcome after the rain and sleet of the journey. 

My final one before reuniting with Lotte the caravan at Lossiemouth was the gorgeous Findhorn Aire, run by the community and bookable online for £17, it is definitely one of my favourite places in Scotland.

I am really looking forward to some more overnight adventures soon. I have been busy with friends visiting the last three weeks, but am planning to explore more of this area soon. I want to head over to the west, around Arisaig and Mallaig, so have been busy adding pins to the map.

Meanwhile it has been another mainly wet week, we did have a dry Sunday where we ran around with the mowers, but it is back to mixed weather this week. I am still loving life here, more rain means bonus waterfalls and keeps the midges away, so it is not all bad!

Hope you are all enjoying life whatever you are doing, thanks for visiting and see you soon.