Tag: historic houses

Castles old and new

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Google informs me that Scotland has over 2,000 castles, of which 1,500 are still standing, or there are significant remains. Therefore I was never going to do more than scratch the surface on my quest to visit more of them after I left Speyside. I had naively thought that at least I could do most of the ones in the area around the Tarland campsite, there is actually a castle trail in the area as there are so many, but only managed a few in the week I was there. Lots to do when I go back!

Scottish castles are really unique, as many of them have a very distinctive architectural style, and lots are pink, or greyish pink in hue. They really do have a Disney castle feel, and none more so than the beautiful Craigievar Castle Sadly this was one of the ones that I didn’t get a chance to see inside, as most of them only allow guided tours, and by the time I got there, all were booked up for theafternoon before I had to head to the campsite.

It was a beautiful day for a wander though, and the grounds and surrounding area is just stunning. Not that there are many parts of Scotland that aren’t, except perhaps the motorways around Glasgow, which confused me a lot!

After leaving Tarland I headed back to the coast, to Stonehaven. I mentioned in a previous post that it had been too windy to walk along the coast to Slains Castle, but this was an absolutely gorgeous day, perfect for a walk along the coastal path to see the dramatic ruins of Dunnottar.

I am collecting photos that I particularly love to be printed onto canvas eventually, and I think this will have to be added to that collection. Such an amazing landscape, and I was so lucky to see it in such beautiful weather.

As well as the castles there are so many beautiful baronial houses, and after leaving the Grampian Aire I went to Leith Hall Dating from the mid 1600s, it has been extensively remodelled and is now mainly Georgian inside. Again I had an excellent guided tour of the house, memorable for several curiosities as well as the wealth of textile treasure.

If you visit any heritage house you will come across taxidermy, a favourite pastime of the Victorian collectors, but Leith has a very special display, of boxing squirrels!

This has to rate as the most unusual piece of taxidermy that I have ever seen. No clear idea of the provenance, but I can only assume they were specially commissioned.

Sometimes there are just little things that really catch your eye as well, not only for their beauty, but imagining how they were acquired, and the recipient using them. I like to imagine that this beautiful desk set was a very special gift, and that happy hours were spent here writing letters and journals.

Another really interesting find was this gift of a photo montage of all of the tenants of the estate, given to General Leith Hay in 1902. A fascinating piece of social history, and one that is great for anyone tracing family history in the area, as many of these people wouldn’t have necessarily have had other photos taken of themselves.

One of the members of the Leith Hay family was a very keen needlewoman, and one of the corridors was lined with needlepoint pictures, all from kits popular in Victorian times. There musty have been at least twenty of these, along with all the fire screens and chairs. I know I have marvelled at this before, but how many hours of work does this represent!

I have been thinking about doing some needlepoint again, not that I need another crafting project ! However I used to love it, so am on the hunt for a nice kit that I can do for the caravan.

Someone was clearly a keen collector of embroidery as well, as there was this display case. Sorry for the poor picture, but there is a Georgian waistcoat, as well as shoes and bags.

There were also some beautiful bedspreads, in crochet and lace work.

I have been spending some time here working on my crochet skills, and have successfully made my first hat! After so many years of struggling crochet seems to have just clicked in my brain, which I am very happy about. Pictures of that and other recent makes soon. I have also been doing some writing, so feel like I’ve had a very productive week.

It is a balmy 23 degrees this weekend, and I am looking forward to another lovely week of social activities. We have a packed programme of coach trips to visit Christmas lights, and Christmas celebrations starting this Friday, and I had better finish making the Christmas gifts as there are only 18 days to go! My poker skills are coming along nicely as well, I won 9 hands last night and came 4th out of 8 players, so very happy with that.

Until next time, take care, have fun and thanks for visiting.

Scottish, and Spanish, sunshine!

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Admittedly not all of my weeks after leaving the campsite were beautifully sunny, but the majority of the time I was still blessed with amazing weather, so I was very lucky. Part of my route planning was trying to visit as many National Trust for Scotland properties as I could. There are so many in the areas around Aberdeen, so I could do the interiors of properties on the less sunny days.

Fyvie Castle visit was on a bit of a grey day, the exterior reflected this, looking very somber. Like many Scottish castles, there are a number of towers that have been added to over the years, which gives them this very distinctive look.

Most of the castles I visited you joined a tour, rather than it being a self guided visit, and while I often prefer to be alone, usually as I need more time to look at the textiles than everyone else 😉 the tour guide was really interesting and knowledgeable, and really made the place come alive.

Even though it looks fairly modern from the outside, and the beautiful plaster ceilings are reproduction, rather than original Jacobean, it has a long history. Charles 1st spent time there as a young boy, and Charles 3rd, our current king, had his 70th birthday party there.

There were some great textile treasures there. I have seen so many different interpretations of this embroidered jacket, there is an original one in the V and A museum in London, known as the Layton Jacket, after its owner. This one belonged to the daughter of James 1st of England, Elizabeth of Bohemia, so dates from the same period.

There was also a gorgeous, and very pristine, whitework bedspread featuring the Scottish thistle, no provenance, but I would imagine a member of the family.

On a more modern note there were a set of co-ordinating needlepoint cushions in one of the lounges which all used the same colourway, and which were so pretty.

There was so much needlepoint on my tours of the castles and houses, and while it is so time consuming, I am really tempted to make a cushion at some point. I gave up needlepoint for cross stitch when my children were small, due to time constraints, but am tempted to try it again!

The following day the sunshine was restored so I went to Pitmedden Garden, not only a very good example of different types of planned gardens, but also home to some very interesting sundials. The gardens date from the late 1600s, when the ‘new’ technology of sundials was very popular, and reflects both the historic layout of the parterre gardens, and more modern interpretations featuring less structured planting.

It was a very beautiful and relaxing place to spend the afternoon. I am now back in Spain, so have been enjoying the autumn sunshine here. It is a very nice 22 degrees today, I have replanted all my pots so that I have some colour on the terrace, and am back to my favourite way of spending the early evenings. The sunsets have been so gorgeous this week, such pink skies, and I have been lighting my candles and enjoying a glass or two of wine and a good book.

I have just updated the reading journal that I started when I retired, and I have read 354 books in the last 4 and a bit years, that equates to 88.5 a year, or 1.7 a week, although I read far faster in Spain than I do anywhere else. I just love it, and have so many happy hours of reading on the terrace planned for the next few months.

I will be going on a few day trips with my Mum, but the next few months are all about relaxing, crafting and writing, as well as some cycling. It is lovely to be back, especially after 6 months away. This is the longest that I have spent away from the house since I bought it 19 years ago, and I really appreciate having this lovely place to live. I am looking forward to next year so much, being back in Lotte the caravan, and Katy, but it is lovely to have my own bathroom, and my sewing machine!

Hope you are all having a lovely life, see you next time, and thanks for visiting.

A different kind of history

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As you know, I love visiting historic houses and castles, preferably with lots of lovely textiles. However I also enjoy different types of historic buildings, and though I wouldn’t consider myself particularly into military history, I do love star forts.

These were popular during the Napoleonic era, as their design makes them able to defend against attack more robustly.

I have visited quite a few in Spain, and on the way back from Rosemarkie went to Fort George, on the Moray Firth not far from Inverness. This is more of an elongated star, but still has the distinctive pointed outer ramparts.

Although it was built in 1746, after the Battle of nearby Culloden, to house troops to suppress the Jacobite Rebellion, by the time it was finished it was no longer needed for that. It9 is still a working army base, as well as being a historic tourism attraction, and the site of the Highlanders Museum.

It was quite strange seeing the modern mess, cars parked outside the barrack blocks, and groups of young recruits doing their morning runs, with backpacks, around the ramparts, in and amongst all the visitors.

It has an amazing location on the coast, directly opposite the Rosemarkie campsite, in the photo below you can just see the lighthouse I walked to when I was there. It also famous for dolphin spotting.

It was a really interesting visit, there is some interpretation in one of the barrack blocks, showing aspects of soldiers’ lives throughout the different eras.

These folding beds were really interesting,  this is from one of the rooms for single men in the early 1900s.

At one point in its early usage, wives and children used to live in the rooms with the men, four families to a room, which was also used for cooking.

There is also a beautiful Chapel, the last building to be completed, and a nearby exhibition about Scottish gardens.

Of course there were textiles as well, the modern poppy tributes in the Chapel, as well as beautiful flags and banners there and in the museum.

A really excellent place to visit, for its location, and the sheer scale of the construction, especially when you consider when it was built. It took 22 years to complete and I can only imagine how that was done in the 1700s without the mechanisation we have now. 

The exterior walls and ramparts are so impressive, and it was fantastic to see a fort in almost the same condition as when it was first built, as the restoration really helps you visualise what it was like for those early soldiers. 

Well worth a visit, if you are ever in the area, sadly no dolphins when I went, but amazing views.

I have been on the Yorkshire coast again, just a little further south than the previous site, and still enjoying the fabulous walks in the area. Such an incredible environment, which I will share in a future post.

I have also enjoyed being back in the luxury of a static caravan, which is very nice after a few nights in the tent. I have a very lovely fake fire keeping me warm! However I am now in Wales on my final camping trip of the year, with my sister.

Until next time, have fun and thanks for visiting. 

Welsh wanders and wonders

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I was so lucky with the weather during my time in Wales. Considering it was March, and the reputation the country has for rain, I saw very little of it in the month that I was there. This allowed me to do so much lovely walking, along more of the coastal path, but also exploring other parts of both the Llyn Peninsula, and inland, near the English border.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had two weeks at the Haven site just outside Criccieth, so was able to explore a lot more of that coast. The Lynn Peninsula is very narrow and it was amazing to be able to see both sides of it, while I was doing the circular walk on the cliff top at LLanbedrog.

Part of the walk was closed due to previous storm damage, as many trees had been blown over, which gave me chance to walk around the beach. I was admiring the views of Snowdon, which at that point still had snow on the top, and taking lots of shots of the beach.

I really love how this one came out.

I also visited the beach at Borth Y Gest, which must be one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been. Just such an unspoilt place, with amazing views across to Harlech.

There was also a very warm afternoon at Criccieth, walking along the beach, exploring the town. I had to have an ice cream, it was that hot, 17 degrees that day!

I also got another lovely reflection picture as there was an Airstream caravan, used as a coffee takeaway, next to the beach.

There are lots of National Trust areas in the Llyn Penisula, but only one property. I had a gorgeous day for my visit to Plas yn Rhiw, towards the very end of the land. The property was bought in 1938 by three sisters from Nottingham, Eileen, Lorna and Honora Keating, who restored it to its current state. It was so good to see all of the primroses, daffodils and magnolias, and I had a picnic overlooking the bay. The magnolia tree here was planted by Honora in 1949.

After leaving the Llyn Penisula I spent a brilliant weekend with a friend who I met at Polytechnic, so we have known each other for a mere 42 years! We have met up quite regularly over that time, but not often recently in Wales.

Nia is a Welsh speaker, and passionate and knowledgeable about her country and its heritage. She was very kind and gave me a guided tour of all the canal heritage in her area, including something that has been on my bucket list for a long time, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which is a World Heritage site.

We started at the Chirk Aqudeuct and viaduct, which is nearby.

You may remember that I spent a lot of my time in Scotland visiting canals, and there is so much rich heritage in Wales, built to supply the Industrial Revolution with coal, bricks and supplies for cities like Manchester and Liverpool. Nearby Ruabon was the centre of brick making in the area, and this is celebrated in an innovative sculpture at the aqueduct site.

This celebration of the tools and products of the industries is just brilliant, a fantastic way to celebrate these artisans.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a very unique structure, a real feeling of being up in the air, and such a marvellous piece of forward thinking and engineering, from Thomas Telford and his colleagues. It must have taken such determination to convince people, and especially investors, that they could build this, ‘stream in the sky’.

It can feel a bit scary walking along, as there is only a rail on one side, but I was assured that the water is only 5 feet deep. However you have to be very careful if you are in a boat. There are the holes for railings on the other side, but they were never fitted!

We then went to Llangollen, to do the canal walk down to Horseshoe Falls and the Chain Bridge. You can still experience the horse drawn barges along this part of the canal. This was actually the only real rain I had in the whole of my month in Wales, but that didn’t spoil the day.

There was time for a quick visit to Chirk Castle, another Trust property to cross off my list. Although it was a dull day the gardens were still very impressive, and the parkland is stunning. The castle has a long history, sadly initially of suppressing the Welsh, from the 1300s, but most of the tour was of the Georgian room with their ornate ceilings. One of which has been partly cleaned to show the effects of coal fires on the paint work.

I then continued south, which I will have to tell you about in another post, as I am running out of time and space here. I am now back in Spain, and am off out with my Mum tonight, a belated Mother’s Day meal.

While I have been having gorgeous weather in Wales, they have had four named storms in a month, with another one due this weekend, so they have not been able to enjoy the outdoor life much recently. Hopefully the rest of spring will be better here, and of course summer will be baking!

I will return sooner than a month, lack of Wifi in my last couple of weeks in Wales meant that this post has been much delayed. Thank you as always for visiting, over 1500 of you in March, which is wonderful. Take care of yourselves, enjoy life and I will see you again soon!

Not all who wander are lost…., well maybe only a little bit!

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The first part of the title of this blog post is a popular van life sticker, I don’t have this one, (yet!), but one of my greatest pleasures of my new life is the time to just wander around, and really absorb what I am seeing.

I did wonder if three weeks in Antalya would be too long, would I find enough to see and do here, but I needn’t have worried. I am going to have a busy summer, and so had decided that rather than see a lot in one month, as I did with Morocco, I will spend more time in each city in Turkey. There is so much loveliness to see here, and the Old Town is absolutely brilliant for wandering, without getting too lost.

Unlike the medinas of Morocco, where getting lost was very easy, the Old Town is open to the sky, which gives more landmarks to go by, particularly the many minarets that are in and around it. Also it is bordered on one side by the port, so if you head there you can easily find your way out.

The port still has most of its original features, including the defensive walls. The city walls were demolished in the 1920s.

Most of the Old Town has been beautifully restored. There are so many houses, small hotels, apartments, bars and restaurants here.

At the other side of the Old Town is Hadrian’s Gate, built to honour the Roman Emperor. It is brilliant that this has survived the expansion of the city. You can see in one of the later pictures how two of the columns have been replaced, and one of the crumbling ones supported.

There are also a few museums, and the university has a gorgeous restored painted building which is an Institute for the Study of Mediterranean Culture.

Some of the streets are quite wide, others are narrow alleyways, and each area has its own character. I love all the pots in the Barbaross area.

And of course there are all the doors, and windows. Just so many beautiful examples of woodwork and ironmongery, a real testament to the artisans here.

I think this one has to be my favourite, so far!

I have also seen a couple of the same motifs that I so loved in Morocco. I still have to design an embroidery based on this motif as it is my favourite design.

As most buildings are restored there are few older pieces, but I did find this beautiful carved window cover.

I have been really good and resisted all the many retail opportunities there are here. Turkey is famous for its carpets, but there are also some beautiful textiles and ceramics. However, I only have a very small bag back for the plane to Spain, and Katy is full!

Although most properties have been restored there is still some work to be done. Hopefully there is some additional funding to help businesses do that, as it must cost so much to bring these places back to life.

These were two buildings opposite each other, one has been restored and is now a hotel, and the other is still falling apart. You can just see the sheer amount of work it would take to fix it.

I sill haven’t fully finished exploring the area, I have only visited two out of the four museums, and have yet to go into any of the mosques, so that is on the itinerary for next week.

I did have a boat trip this week as well. It was a glorious day, and we went an hour down the coat to see the Duden Waterfalls, where we were rewarded by a rainbow in the spray as well. A magical trip that I will remember forever.

I also have to give a mention to the many, many cute cats of Antalya. All throughout the Old Town, and the rest of the city, and all of the parks, there are so many cats here. Some lives in the houses and restaurants where people feed them, and there are some little cat hotels in some of the parks, and at the port, where they can also get food and shelter.

I only have six days of exploring left, so will be spending most of my time doing indoor things now, I had wanted to take advantage of the good weather for wandering this week, just in case it rained again. It is due to be fine most of the week, so I am very much looking forward to soaking up as much sun and blue sky as I can before my return to the UK. March’s travels are to a place know more for its wet weather than anything else!

I shall return next week to share the last of my Anatolian adventures with you. Until then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Exploring Andalucía

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On my return to Spain in October I had two trips to Andalucía in the first two weeks, firstly to visit my brother Ben, and sister-in-law Amanda, at their cave house in Galera. I have been to visit once before, three years ago when I first retired, but they have done a lot to the house since, literally creating new rooms at the back of the cave. Their dining room is now just about completed, and they have some steps up to the first floor, which is still a work in progress. The first two pictures below show some of the other cave houses in the town.

The town is so beautiful, with its houses snaking up the ravines of the valley. There are so many cave houses here, due to the rock being soft enough to dig into, and so many different varieties of house to admire. This visit the mirador, or look out point, had been completed, so Ben drove us up the winding tracks to the start of the path. Such amazing views, like looking at a living map of the centre of the town, and the stunning mountains and cloud formations all around.

We had a visit to the nearby town of Huescar, for the weekly market. This is still a very traditional area of Spain, although there are quite a lot of people of different nationalities in Galera who have bought cave houses, the surrounding towns are very much rural Spain, with tiny traditional shops, and most of the weekly shopping done at the market. It is a gorgeous place.

There was one area, next to a wool shop that I was very good and didn’t go into 😉 that was decorated, both with a crochet sunshade, and a painted wall, celebrating local women in different occupations.

Lots of lovely food, and one of my brother’s famous bbqs, as well as drinks at the bar and hotel, and we were back to La Marina, four hours on the coach for a week at home before our next trip.

Jerez and Cadiz have been on my wishlist for a long time, to complete my exploration of the southern cities of Spain. This time we went on an organised coach trip, which meant another ten hours there, through the gorgeous Sierra Neveda, to Jerez where we were based for the three nights. The hotel Dona Blanca was beautiful, and situated right in the middle of Jerez.

We spent the first day visiting Jerez on our own, while the rest of the group went to Seville, as we had been there a few years ago. It was quite wet, but luckily we were able to see most of the things that we wanted to see.

It has such grace as a city, very small, but famous for the production of sherry. I loved the old tiled adverts that were still on many of the buildings. We did end our day sipping sherry at that gorgeous bar that you can see in the photos in the middle of the top row above, while people watching in the main square.

I have never seen as many candles surrounding an icon as the one in the cathedral, and there was some exceptional goldwork as well.

Another notable aspect was the number of speciality shops for sweets and biscuits, this one had the best autumn themed display.

The Alcazar, the Moorish fort with added 17th century palace, was beautiful. The original mosque has been restored, and it is a brilliant blend of the different cultures that have lived in the city. There was an olive press there that must have been at least thirty feet long, it was incredible.

One of my favourite things was the display of fiesta posters in the palace, such wonderful examples of the development of graphic design and art.

Sadly the second day, the trip to Cadiz, was very, very wet. We weren’t able to do much sightseeing, as the rain was torrential, but we did see the cathedral, a beautiful chapel, and have a lovely tapas at the market, which has now become a food hall.

We didn’t realise at the time, but this was the edge of the terrible Storm Dana, which killed so many people in our region of Valencia. While we were in Cadiz, the centre of Jerez flooded, and on our return the city centre was closed. We cut the trip short the next day, due to flooding and more storm warnings, and came straight back rather than visit a mountain village as intended. We were very, very lucky as our area avoided severe damage, and were able to help with fundraising efforts through our local charities when we got back.

I would love to return to Cadiz one day. I am already provisionally planning a return to Spain in Katy, and possibly to Portugal as well, inspired by so many You Tube and Instagram accounts that I follow that are there now. I loved the previous trip I did, and have collected so many more pins on my Google map of places to visit. It won’t be this year though but 2026 is looking promising!

For now though I will concentrate on this year’s adventures, but it doesn’t hurt to plan, it is half the fun if not more, and I have spent some of this week doing the final planning for the next two months. Hopefully there will be one more blog post before I can share that, as I need to show you all of the things I spent the rest of my three months in Spain doing. It was a lovely quiet time, and there was actual crafting going on, a miracle!

Until then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Coming home

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Even though I no longer live in the area, I still consider Yorkshire, and the Peak District home. It is the place that I have spent the most time in, and I just love the countryside. It is also so nice to return to catch up with friends. At the end of the summer I chose to spend my last two weeks camping in the Yorkshire Dales, and the Staffordshire Peak District, between Buxton and Leek.

The first site was a Camping and Caravanning Club certified location, one of the smaller sites, for usually up to 5 vans. They are privately owned, often farm sites and I wanted to try one out. It was a stunning location, in the village of Buckden, not far from Kettlewell, and right in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The park celebrated its 70th anniversary in November 2024, and has always been one of my favourite places to camp. When my children were younger we used to come here all the time.

The certified location was on Heber Farm, with some very cute animals and a friendly cat host. As it was very quiet in the out of season October week that I was there I ended up on the farm campsite section, rather than the certified location in another field a few minutes away, so I could be near the facilities. The owners, Gill and Gary, were really welcoming and I loved staying there. Not only was it a fantastic campsite, with a facilities pod, and a few glamping pods as well, it is right on the Dales Way.

As always it was lovely to meet with other campers, a few walkers and mountain bikers were still around, and I met some lovely fellow outdoor enthusiasts. As I mentioned in my last post, I needed a quiet couple of weeks, and as the weather was variable enjoyed lots of time just reading and stitching my final Christmas ornaments, as well as some walks. I love the walk signs along the routes, both old and new.

I did go to Malham Cove on a beautiful sunny day, the drive there was so gorgeous and I am getting much more used to single track roads now! By the time I got there it had got a little duller, but I didn’t mind. I spent far too much time taking photos of the clouds, and just watching the weather change. I love the contrasts within a few minutes when you are walking, sparkling water to thundery skies, just magic!

My last site was one of the first that I ever stayed at in 2022, Leek Caravanning and Camping Club. This has to be one of my favourite sites, situated on one of my favourite roads for driving, the A53, from Buxton to Leek. Just stunning views, particularly the first stretch when you can see across to Chrome and Parkhouse Hills, known as the Dragon’s Back due to their unusual shape.

That week was spent looking at the clouds a lot. I remember that this site had the most beautiful clouds and sunsets last time, and it didn’t disappoint this time.

I was able to visit a few of the places that I have had on my wishlist for a while, such as Ilam and Dovedale. It was the most stunning autumn day, really warm and the walk was just brilliant, one my best days of 2024. I was just so happy to have been spending another summer doing what I love, and still enjoying living out of a Renault Kangoo and travelling. I can’t wait to get back to this life in March.

Ilam Hall is now a Youth Hostel, but the grounds are open and there is an excellent National Trust tea room or two, so I treated myself to a cream tea after the hike over to Dovestones.

The houses in Ilam village are just gorgeous, it was rebuilt as a model village styling itself on a Swiss village.

Another trip was to Rudyard Lake. Rudyard Kipling’s parents met there, and so he was named after the location. The lake is a reservoir built to serve the canals, but has been used for pleasure trips since the Victorian era, and there was some really good interpretation about the history, as well as some very friendly squirrels!

I also had a very exciting research trip to the Chatsworth House archives. I had contacted them earlier in the year to see if I could access some diaries that I know Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire, the last owner of Hardwick Hall, kept when she was restoring the tapestries. I was told I wasn’t able to access the diaries, due to the 100 year privacy rule, but there was a small notebook they had listed detailing some of her textiles.

When I got there I was told that when they opened the archive box with the notebook in, they found two folders that they hadn’t known about. They were full of Evelyn’s notes about her restoration work at Hardwick, detailing visits from museum conservators, and the compromises that she was having to make trying to care for all the textiles there with little money.

It was absolutely amazing, and the best thing was that it fits perfectly into the timeline I am writing about. It was such a magical moment, and I am so thrilled that I found them. I haven’t done much writing recently but hopefully can catch up over the next couple of months with some writing retreats whilst travelling.

My final trip that week was into the town of Leek, as I had spotted that the local museum had an embroidery exhibition. Although only small, it was a fascinating display. Leek was at one point famous for silk production, like its neighbour Macclesfield. There were many silk mills in the town, and the wife of the owner of one of them, Elizabeth Wardle, as well as being the mother of 14 children, 9 of whom survived infancy, also set up the Leek Embroidery Society.

The organisation produced embroidery for clients, and designed and sold kits. They had some examples of the work, which was stunning, excuse the reflections from the glass cases.

The Leek silk mills specialised in the production of Tusser silk, which is made from the cocoons of the moths, and is a much coarser silk. It was a really fascinating display, and the museum is well a worth a visit, for that and its other textile treasures.

There was also an architectural trail through the town, celebrating the Victorian heritage of buildings such as the Nicholson Institute. This was built to house a library, and training school for textile workers, with friezes above the windows celebrating the various skills. The town has links with William Morris, who worked with many local mill owners. One of the original rows of weavers’ cottages has been turned into a covered arcade with craft shops, cafes and galleries. A really lovely textile filled afternoon.

I will leave you with a quote from one of the displays at Rudyard Lake. One of my favourite poems is by Rudyard Kipling, and it is one which has inspired my love of travel and meeting people from other cultures. It is called, ‘In the Neolithic Age’, and contains the lines, ‘Still the world is wondrous large, seven seas from marge to marge, and it holds a vast of various kinds of man. And the wildest dreams of Kew, are the facts of Kathmandu, and the crimes of Clapham chaste in Martaban.’ I remember having that on my bedroom wall, and vowing that one day I would visit those places. Not got to Martaban, which is in Mayanmar, yet, but maybe someday.

This quote really sums up the way I live my life now. I am so looking forward to more adventures in 2025, the first of which start next week. I am going to visit somewhere that has been on my wish list for a very long time, and am very excited to tell you all about it. There will be mountains, sea, and definitely textiles, which I know doesn’t narrow it down much for me, but all will be revealed in a couple of weeks 😉

Meanwhile I am finishing my second cat sit of the year, poor Dave the cat has been desperate to sit on my lap this afternoon, and keeps giving me upset stares, so will have to go and give him a cuddle now.

See you all again soon. Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Rest and relaxation

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It may sound strange to say that I needed a bit of quiet time this summer, but after all of the excitement of Scotland and the van life festival, I really needed a quiet couple of weeks.

For the first week I chose to visit an area that I have driven past many times, on the M1. We would see the signs for, ‘The National Forest’, and be a little confused, as there seemed to be few trees. However staying at the Conkers Caravan and Camping Club site, right next to the visitor centre, gave me a chance to explore the area, and find out more about it.

On the way from Stratford I stopped off at Charlecote Park. I have visited before, however it was a lovely sunny day, so great for a wander in the deer park, and I don’t need any excuse to admire amazing plasterwork ceilings!

As far as textile treasures there were some beautiful needlepoint chairs, six contrasting designs on marquetry wood bases in the library.

The house volunteers, along with local community textile groups, had created a stunning pumpkin display in the kitchen.

The National Forest is actually an environmental charity, working across a 200 square mile area of the Midlands, helping to reclaim industrial land, repair the effects of industrialisation, and develop tourism and sustainable businesses in the area. The area is centred around Burton on Trent, Ashby de la Zouche, and Coalville, all important centres of industrial development in the 18th and 19th centuries. The area has a well developed canal network, and you know how I love canals!

The Conkers site is a small, spacious and quiet one, and after a day of doing the washing, tidying the van and sitting in the sun reading, I went off on walks the following two days.

My first walk took me to some local ponds, a lot of wildlife habitats have been created in between former industrial areas, and these were now part of a fishing complex and a caravan site. Lots of beautiful autumn colours, and some squirrels!

The second walk followed the path of the canal, through the Moira Basin, to the Moira Furnace, a lime and coal furnace which is now a museum. I love the way that the heritage has been preserved and the paths have been made accessible, and there were lots of walkers and cyclists around as it was such gorgeous weather. The Moira Furnace complex also has a small craft workshops area and café.

I have become fascinated by seed pods along the canal banks, and have taken so many pictures of them this summer.

This one I intend to print off and frame, I just love the way that the pods are curling in on themselves for autumn.

Then it was off back up north to Huddersfield, for our 42nd year reunion with friends who I was at Polytechnic with. A fantastic time, catching up in the pub on Friday with someone I haven’t seen for about 20 years, and then a bbq and night round the fire with other friends on the Saturday. Such a brilliant two days, and I am so grateful to have good friendships that have lasted this long. We already have this year’s reunion date in the calendar.

I am now back in Marsden, house sitting for one of the furriest cats on the planet, the adorable Frankie, and having my dose of winter. It was a very snowy when I flew back, so we were a little delayed, and the Colne Valley looked very pretty for a few days.

Sadly the snow has gone, and we are back to dull and damp, but I am having such a good time catching up with friends, and booking all of this year’s accommodation and flights, that it hasn’t mattered. I have a lovely warm house to stay in, and very importantly BBC I Player so I have been able to watch all of last year’s Sewing Bee 😉

It is amazing that it is nearly the end of January already, time seems to whizz by. It is lovely to be here in the UK at the moment, but I will be leaving again in a couple of weeks, for more adventures. My aim is get all of the summer/ and autumn blog posts completed before I leave, as I then have seven weeks of travel before my return to Spain in April. I have been very efficient and have sorted everything out until this time next year, because of some great bargains available at the moment, so fingers crossed 2025 will be as wonderful as the last three years, in fact it is set to be even more exciting.

Until next time then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Stepping back in time

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One of the things that I spend a lot of time doing when visiting historic houses is to imagine how it must have actually been to live there, without the National Trust interpretation, the carefully staged rooms, and the guided routes around the house. Occasionally there are glimpses of the reality of living in a house that is too big, and too costly to heat properly, or be comfortable, as there was at Chastleton, where I visited in May.

It is more difficult to envisage how ordinary people lived though. The social history museums, such as those that I visited in the Cairngorms this summer, and in Norwich last year. Books help as well, and I love reading biography, and social history research. However these sources only give a selection of what has been kept or remembered.

One of the reasons that I wanted to go back to Northumberland on my trip this summer was to do some more research for my novel. I am so enjoying the process of writing this, along with bits of the others, and I love being able to research things. It is nice to know that those eight years of work on the doctorate have not gone to waste! I am writing my historical character’s timeline now, and am trying to spend a lot of time thinking about how her life would have been, and how she would feel.

Even though I have been to Alnwick before, it was a few years ago, and was more of a tourist trip, so this time I went as a researcher. I went first to the local library, and although they have no archives, they were able to give me access to the British Newspaper Archives, a source I have used briefly before. It was a really productive hour there, and I have managed to get a lot of factual detail that I needed. Later in the summer I also had another brilliant research trip, but that is for another post!

A wander round the town was also useful, thinking about how Dora, my character would have experienced the town in 1947. Would the horse trough and water fountain still be in use? Would there be the same traffic signs outside the town gate? What would she have thought of the street names, Bondgate Within, and Bondgate Without? I know I don’t have to go into too much detail in the book, however the amateur historian and ex-academic in me wants to get all of the details right. Also I am very much enjoying the process.

I stayed at Dunstan Hill campsite, only a short walk from the coastal path, and was lucky enough to have amazing weather. This is such a beautiful part of the country, with so many castles and remnants of early history, such as the development of Christianity, and the invasion of the Vikings. It is definitely an area I want to spend more time in.

On the way back down south I stopped in at Wallington, which has a gorgeous rural setting.

The interior decoration was very impressive as well. This is the unfinished painted central hall, with panels that tell the story of the local area, from the early kings of Northumbria to the industrial boom. The paintings were truly stunning in their detail.

There was also one of the largest pieces of personal needlework that I have ever come across. This panel is embroidery, not woven, and was done over 23 years by Mary Trevelyan, for her husband. It is an amazing piece of work, and I would love to know more about it. 23 years is such a long time to stitch a piece, and I wonder if she worked on it every day, or set it aside at times?

Life here in Spain continues to be very busy and fun. I have been doing a lot of planning for next year, and hope that everything that I want to do comes to fruition. I only have a month left here before my return to the UK, and am frantically trying to get all my sewing projects completed!

I am still very much enjoying making couture for my Barbies, but have other practical things that need to be made for next year’s camping season as well. I hope that you are all busy and happy, and looking forward to the festive season if you celebrate. I have two more stitched ornaments to go, and then on to the ones for 2025!

I missed my blogaversary again this year, but it has been 17 years, (and one week!) of writing here at Stitches of Time. This is my 996th post, so I will have to do something special for the 1000th, which should happen in the new year. I currently have 449 subscribers, and about 200 people visit every week. So huge thanks to all of you for following along, however long you have been here. Whatever you are doing have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Mary, and engineering marvels

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As I mentioned in my last post I had two stops before getting to my very exciting park up in Falkirk. Both had connections with Mary, Queen of Scots,which is not unusual given that we are in Scotland, but both were unexpected. 

When we were visiting historic places when the children were young, we often used to joke that she had slept everywhere we went. She did certainly move around a lot, particularly when she was under imprisonment during the last 17 years of her life.

When I was last at my current campsite, two years ago, I went to Buxton for the day and was surprised to find another, ‘Mary slept here’ plaque on one of the town’s historic hotels. Apparently she had complained that imprisonment was making her ill, so she had been taken to Buxton for the spa waters.

The first stop was Falkland Palace, in the beautiful village of Falkland.  It was a very wet day, and there were no interior pictures allowed, but Mary used to visit regularly, and play tennis on the court there that is still in existence. 

I had been going to visit my stops in central Falkirk that afternoon, but torrential rain meant that I diverted to Callendar House, a gorgeous building which is now the local museum. 

Not only was it a stunning building, modified many times from its original tower house, but it was also owned by a family with very strong connections to Mary. When she left for France, as she was engaged to the Dauphin  she took with her four ladies in waiting, all called Mary. One of them was Mary Livingston, daughter of the family.

It is so fascinating to come across these links, particularly as all of this is part of what I am writing in my novel. In a strange way I feel as if my travels are constantly linking with the book, even if I am not planning it. There was a photo of one of the embroideries I saw last year in Norfolk as part of their interpretation.  I am doing as much writing as I can on the road as well, mainly for the other books, but am determined to finish book one when I get back to Spain.

This is a photo of the whole house in its autumn beauty, from one of the tourist adverts.  There is also a country park surrounding the house, with Roman ruins as well.

I have been reminded a lot of my job while I have been travelling recently, I have driven past lots of places that I visited doing placement visits, and recently we had a reunion, so I was back in Huddersfield again.

The parts of my job that I really enjoyed were the research ones, and writing, even the doctorate…though not the deadlines! It is lovely to be able to use all that now. I was never going to retire and just sit doing nothing, I’m just not that person.

My exciting park up for that night was at the Kelpies! Sadly the interior lights were off for maintenance, so they were only floodlit at night, but they still looked amazing. I visited again first thing in the morning.  This was an excellent park up, it cost £12.50, with 24 hour access to toilets, and a free coffee at the visitor centre, which really made it only £9.50 for the stay.

The first two photos below are of the small scale models that were built before the actual ones.

My favourite photo above, Kelpie and clouds. This is not my photo below, it was at the visitor centre, but isn’t it stunning?

After the Kelpies, the excitement continued with a visit to the Falkirk Wheel! You will know from previous posts that I love canal history and to see this live was incredible. 

The wheel replaced 11 locks, built in the 18th century, which used to take boats a day to go through.  I was thinking about the original engineers and builders of the canal, and how amazed they would be to see this. Photo below from the tourist advert as well.

You can also stay in the Wheel car park overnight, and it gets lit up as well. So many exciting and different places for van life in Scotland. 

I am currently on the last week of my trip, I haven’t had good WiFi or signal for the last few weeks, so I have many more posts to share. From Falkirk I moved on to my last stop in Scotland, the gorgeous Dunbar, which I will tell you all about next time.

Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.