Hello Lovelies,
It's taking me a while to get around to these posts, but two weeks after that great weekend I'm determined to record the rest of our visit. Here's some of what Mum and I got up to on the Sunday.....
The day was rather dull, so after breakfast we decided to head back into Skipton for a look around and to see how the day developed.
I loved this towns pretty cobbled streets and individual shops...........
Even the cake shop had got the yarny bug............Knitting was celebrated.........
and even crochet :0)............
Look at those moulds for crochet flowers....brilliant.
It was around 10.30am and the shops were only just beginning to open. It was quiet inside the delightful Craven Court shopping centre............
We were happy to window shop and these traditionally printed cards made us smile..........
Derdlab Press
As the charity shops opened up we enjoyed a browse......OH LOOK, we even spotted Bert in the Oxfam shop............
He looked even better in real life.
As we wandered back to the car more shops were opening.........including this one in Craven Court.........
I made a small purchase here.
I couldn't resist as this little metal hook was one of the many things I had loved and admired in Lucy's studio :0)
As the day was still dull by late morning we decided to head for the next town, and specifically somewhere that Mum brought my brother and I to explore LOADS when we were small............
Cliffe Castle
As kids we mostly loved the outdoor spaces here.... the park lands, greenhouses and pets corner.
This "Castle" is really an imposing house. It was owned by a fabulously wealthy Victorian textile manufacturing family, most notably Henry Isaac Butterfield. Today the building looks a little odd, with it's flat roofs and strange proportions.......
I never thought it looked beautiful.
Nowadays, with that wonderful resource....t'internet..... it's easy to discover what it actually looked like in it's heyday.......WOW............
source
The outside may have lost much of it's impact, but..... through lots of restoration work....the interior is once again stunning...........
All the beautiful details in this hallway were amazing.
And through those interesting old doors was THIS.......DOUBLE WOW............
I could sort of remember this space from my childhood......but I'm sure it never seemed as stunning.
Just inside the entrance is the only remaining conservatory........a wonderful, light filled space...........
Mum can remember when the castle was just an empty shell in the 1950's.
When I was a child many of the rooms were sparsely furnished and used as art galleries , or filled with displays of military uniforms.
Now some of the remaining original spaces have been restored to their Victorian glory.............
I loved this room and was impressed by the attention to detail............
Here you can see what the rooms would have looked like in their original state..........
These chandeliers are very accurate replicas...........
This room houses cases full of taxidermy which I could remember well......what I couldn't recall was the beautiful vaulted ceiling...........
I guess I just never looked up!
Part of the house is an interesting museum of local industry..........
I was interested by the loom of the last hand-loom weaver in the local area, who lived very close to where I grew up...........
you can read a bit about him HERE
and I really liked this display of vintage dresses in another part of the building..........
But the part of the house I was most looking forward to seeing again was the octagonal gallery.
When I was about fourteen years old our visits to Cliffe Castle had died down. I expect I was just like my own fourteen year olds are today.........reluctant to do things with their parents!
Mum brought me here as she knew I had an interest in sewing. I can still clearly recall entering this space to find it filled with marvellous patchwork quilts...........
They were early American quilts with wonderful names like Flying geese, Wedding Rings, School House, Lone Star, Bear Paw and ( my all time favourite ) Log Cabin
I loved the colourful fabrics, but more than that I loved discovering the whole tradition of making quilts. A group of women working together on one piece, often using the tiniest scraps of otherwise useless fabric to create a practical and beautiful heirloom.......wonderful.
Do take a look at THIS pinterest board of antique quilts for a flavour of these designs.
That visit triggered a lifelong love of patchwork.
On this visit there were no quilts on display, but I did love the artwork we saw........like THIS and THIS and THIS
There are so many more photos and stories I could share of Cliffe Castle, but I'm afraid this post would never end!
It really is a wonderful and FREE museum, left to the town by the generosity of this Keighley man, who went on to become Lord Mayor of London......
Sir Bracewell Smith
It was amazing to visit again with Mum, after all these years, and to see it looking so well maintained and even improved on what I remembered.
Jacquie x
p.s. I've also made a little Flickr gallery of Cliffe Castle photos HERE