A trip to Rossendale in Lancashire means many things to me. It’s a place where I feel at ‘Home’. I catch up with my family and now and again I revisit aspects of the industrial heritage and it’s textiles stories that had sparked my love of textiles, many years ago. I remember family tales from the Cotton Mills – of clogs sparking on cobbles, the Mee Mawing Language of Weavers and my great-aunt explaining how she used to thread a shuttle. Helmshore Cotton Mill is one of the last remaining Mills in the Rossendale Valley where you can truly experience the full glory of original machinery in working order.
Helmshore Cotton Mill is one of the last remaining Mills in the Rossendale Valley
This video is from a recent visit and shows some beautiful working Carding, Roving & Spinning machines. It’s noisier than you might think!
A little bonus for you are the fabulous Fulling Machines showing how Military Wool Cloth was made.
On Bank Holiday Monday, I was invited along with my fellow Feltmakers to Green Dragon Eco Farm. It’s was a joy to be part of Working with Wool.
Working with Wool
The venue had a huge hall filled to bursting with lots of spinning wheels, wet felting, a table loom and lots of beautiful wool art pieces (many of the artists will be participating soon in Bucks Arts Week).
As part of the Feltmakers ‘team’, I was kept busy, setting up our stand and teaching wet felting ‘make-n-takes’, however, it wasn’t long before long I was distracted and started chatting to the other exhibitors – easily done! Continue reading “Working with Wool – Green Dragon Eco Farm”
What a wonderful visit to Brussels! – something to tick off my bucket list.
I love a good city break. Each place I visit I like to do some of the usual touristy things, then go hunting for something that’s a little bit off the beaten track that makes the trip my own. My Brussels’ highlights included chocolate, beer, an Orange Tour and of course some textiles shopping. Here’s a few things I can recommend.
Starting with a little bit of shopping. I found some scrummy vintage textiles sold by the kilo at Melting Pot Kilo – including baskets and baskets of vintage embroidered linens. Make your selection from all kinds of vintage goodies – clothes, shoes, handbags, coats, and textiles. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of treasure.
On Rue Blaes – on the way to the famous Marolles flea market – there’s a yummy Mid-Century furniture shop and several eclectic, vintage clothing stores. I loved the curated collections of pieces in these shops – lots of inspiration, nice pieces and nice prices. It was such a contrast to the jumbled chaos waiting for me, at the flea market just meters down the road. Marolles Flea Market at La Place du Jeu Balle is on everyday 5am-2pm. I arrived at 8.30am and spent a good 2-3 hours rummaging – there’s treasure to be found, but it takes time, patience and lots of haggling. There’s plenty of cafes in the square, so you can take a break and rest your legs before returning to the rummaging. Lots more about my visit here on my previous blog post.
When I’m not rummaging, I like to look around for inspiration. Around every corner there’s a new surprise. These stunning carved biscuit moulds were on display in the fabulous Maison Dandoy.
Fabulous, colourful yarn bombing – the crochet was weathered and rather wonderful.
Every now and then I find a food place that really stands out. On this visit it was Mer du Nord in Place Saint Catherine with their alfresco tapas style seafood lunch – I had calamari and oysters – all prepared fresh to order. Give them your name & order and find a table – they call out your name when the food’s ready. The place was very busy and had a real buzz.
I then popped around the corner to Gaston for a sit in the sunshine with an ice cream
– the deck chair and view were free.
There are plenty of galleries in Brussels, but for me the Rene Magritte Museum is a must, especially for all the Surrealists out there. I’d seen postcards of his work before, but to see his life and paintings curated in such a beautiful way was a real treat.
Finally beer – it’s everywhere. I can heartily recommend a visit to the Delirium Cafe, (very close to the Jeanneke Pis). With over 3,000 beers in stock you can definitely find a beer to suit your taste buds. My favourite Trappist beer was the Westmalle Triple.
The bartenders here, know everything about everything when it comes to beer. I asked them for two very chocolatey beers – Oh Wow! Barista Chocolate Quad was like very dark chocolate and Pannepot (mine was a 2010 vintage) was like treacle toffee. Delicious and very easy to drink.
I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing some of my city highlights.
I can heartily recommend Brussels, it’s a very special city and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.
