2019 Holiday in Inverness: Days 1 and 2: Journey Up, Dunkeld, Findhorn and Croy

Rob, Brock and I were on holiday last week, staying at The Bothy, near Croy, Inverness.

We set off at 9.30 am, stopping just up the road at Johnstonebridge Services for coffee and a dog walk.

Lunch was at Dunkeld, a convenient half way point for us. It was warm and sunny so we decided to have a picnic in the park overlooking the River Tay, with food from The Scottish Deli. I had a hummus and sundried tomato salad; Rob had the same in a roll.

[Please click on any photo to see a larger version].

Findhorn was our next stop (via a 'Google Special' back route). We had a walk by the sea, then afternoon tea at The Bakehouse Cafe, again sitting outside - all four of the outside tables were taken on this sunny day. This was one of our favourite places to eat on our previous visit, and it was as good as we remembered, with fresh 'real' bread baked daily, homemade food and cakes, including gluten free options. I had a GF cranberry slice and Rob had the citrus cheesecake - both were delicious.

It was time to head to our holiday cottage, and we were soon in and lighting the wood burning stove to warm it up, before giving Brock a walk nearby. I saw a roe deer, and heard another crashing about in the gorse. The Bothy looked to have had a make-over since our last visit, and had a new bathroom and kitchen. All very nice and cosy, with a vase of yellow tulips and a packet of shortbread awaiting our arrival.

The countryside surrounding the holiday cottage is quite flat, and you can see distant views of the mountains and sea. The photo above shows the fields and trees nearby.

On Sunday we headed to Culbin Forest for our morning walk. There are dozens of small trails to follow, including ones that go down to the sea. The pine trees are growing on an area that was once sand dunes, and run to many acres.

Our next stop was at the Findhorn Foundation. We always enjoy looking at all of the eco houses on the site. There are also craft studios, a wholefood and craft shop, two cafes (I recommend heading into Findhorn itself to the Bakehouse Cafe, rather than eating here, however) and The Moray Art Gallery on site.

We headed back to the Bakehouse Cafe for a filo vegetable pasty for Rob and a GF chocolate brownie to takeaway. There was a mixture of bright sunshine and heavy showers, so we could not leave Brock in the car, nor sit on the wet seats, so bought some tomato soup to take home for lunch at the holiday cottage. We had a quiet afternoon reading the Sunday paper, walking Brock, watching tv and generally relaxing.

 

Farfield Mill Visit, Including the International Textile Exhibition 11 Jan - 27 Feb 2019

My friend, Margaret, and I had an enjoyable trip to Farfield Mill in Sedbergh today. Many thanks to another friend, Babette, who mentioned it to me following her own visit!

The Mill is about five miles off the M6 at Junction 37, and has plenty of parking on site. There was a road closure in the town centre today, so we had a bit of a diversion, but made it there eventually!

The entrance cost is £4.05 per person, or you can visit Level 3 and the cafe for free.

There are many, many things to see over the four Levels, including:-

• demonstrations and 'have a go' areas
• 2 second hand book shops - including a huge variety of craft books, other topics and fiction
• Artists' studios - there were a number of artists and makers 'in residence' and hard at work
• gift shop (of course!)
• heritage displays
• 2 galleries with a changing programme of exhibitions
• a cafe

We began in the cafe with coffee/tea and cake - always a good start!

Then we made our way to the top level and worked down from there. Here are some of the items on display. Click on any image to see a larger version.

What a wonderful project for the children, and the person who put the whole thing together was a genius! It reminded me of the cardboard looms that my Mum used to make for me as a child to weave on. (And, indeed, there were some of those available to 'have a go' on).

Tapestry Weaving by Rita Quick

Cabinet of beautiful woven fabrics from The Shetland Islands

One of the many working looms on site

Then it was on to the two galleries of art quilts that formed the International Textile Exhibition, which runs until 27 February 2019. The theme was the four seasons. This is a small sample of those on display.

This lovely quilt make me think of traditional Japanese woodcuts and I loved the plum tree with the added surprise of the little green bird in it, and Mount Fuji (I think!) in the background.

This was such an unusual subject for a quilt, that it caught my eye, and then the brilliance of the three-dimensionality of it struck me, together with the great fabric choices.

This quilt vibrated with colourful machine stitch and applied rhinestones and made me think of nerves tingling and brain cells being activated.

This stunning quilt glowed and shimmered like a subtle kaleidoscope pattern. The three dimensional insect was beautifully realised and there was also a layer of hand stitch in places that only became apparent close up. I think that this was made with silk fabrics.

This quilt was a beautiful representation of a snowy woodland, with many textures and details to discover.

I think that this had to be my favourite piece out of a very strong exhibition. The individual units making up the quilt, looked like ploughed autumn fields. These were interspersed with suspended, marbled, felted wool balls to represent the gourds. We wondered if the green and orange fabric had been hand dyed specially. A really amazing and surprising piece of work that certainly represented autumn in its subject matter and colour palette.

This is a view of one small section of the exhibition, showing mainly autumn-themed art works.

If you are visiting the Mill, it is well worth while paying a visit to Sedbergh town centre, with its many independent shops selling books, arts, crafts, food, clothing, hardware, kitchen utensils and more. We had a delicious lunch of soup (made with beetroot and red wine!) and sandwich in the Three Hares Cafe and Bakery. We also bought some cake slices to take away. They have vegetarian and gluten free options available, and they aim to use high quality and local produce.

A final point of interest was the local community charity shop, where I foraged out some wool fabrics, yarn and a new top, all very reasonably priced. They had drawers of ribbons, tapestry wools, fabric remnants, and jars of buttons, so for anyone interested in textile crafts, there were plenty of bargains to find.

Political Caricatures - Hand Hooked Wall Art

I have started a small series of hand hooked wall art pieces, that are based on my caricature drawings of politicians.

I start by making numerous small, representational drawings of the person in question, then start to evolve a more cartoon-like version (examples of the latter, below):-

I sometimes make a digital version of a black and white line version so that I can explore different colour palettes. I make a full size template to work from, although both colours and other features may change at the hooking stage!

 
I source appropriate textiles (many recycled or off-cuts) and other materials (such as yarn or wool tops) to suit the chosen colours. The fabrics are laundered, and hand cut into strips for hooking. Each loop is individually pulled through the backing fabric (hessian, in this case) using a tool with a hook on the end.

After the hooking is completed (I normally take a week or two of evenings to complete a piece of this size), further embellishments (such as the paper string 'hair', and glass bead eyes in the piece below) are attached.

Next comes a stiffening, double layer of mount board, and thick wool felt for the backing. A label and hanging loop are also added before the sides are neatened with a yarn or fabric strip and hand stitched border.

I have made two versions of 'Trump': the first, a papier mâché one, has already gone to its natural home in the US, the second one is a hooked version.

"Trump" hand hooked wall art

"Rees-Mogg" hand hooked wall art

"Johnson" hand hooked wall art

"May" hand hooked wall art

I don't very often work with figures/people, so this has been an interesting challenge!

Dodd Wood and Bassenthwaite Walk

Rob, Brock and I had a beautiful walk in The Lake District this morning.

The walk was number 4 from the book "Pathfinder Guide No 13: Lake District Walks" ISBN 0-7117-0463-5. It is around three miles long, and takes in woodland, fields, farm tracks and a small amount of road walking. The woodland part is a bit steep in places, but otherwise it is a fairly flat walk. You can also visit the stately home: Mirehouse when it is open during the summer season.

Dodd Woods

Sheep, seen walking down to Bassenthwaite Lake

First view of St Bega's Church

Rob's photo of the stained glass windows

Mirehouse with Dodd Fell in the background

We drove back into Keswick afterwards and had a tasty jacket potato and salad for lunch at Abraham's Cafe.

A Walk Near Hoddom

Rob, Brock and I had a lovely walk on Sunday, around the Hoddom estate, along the River Annan, around small back roads, and back to the car park (about 3+ miles).

 Eagle swooping on a salmon, wood carving

Repentance Tower
 

Brock meets a tall, new friend

Trees on the golf course, with Hoddom Castle seen at right

Beautiful, old tree

There was a children's bicycle race event on, around The Castle grounds, so we had to make a slight detour back round the golf course rather than through the woodland.