Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
Our destination for today was Saltaire, the huge mill and model village built by Sir Titus Salt. Just 50 minutes away if we were in a hurry. We weren't. It really is a spectacular World Heritage site. Workers houses you would want to live in, lots of cultural and recreational facilities, and these days lots of independent shops and cafes. On exiting the car park we chatted to a local who pointed out to us a peregrine falcon atop of the mill chimney. Houses... The Art Centre.... And the Mill At its peak there were 300 workers and 1200 looms turning out up to 18 miles of worsted a day..........the only difficulty we had, however, was finding a way in, which with such an enormous building is a bit of a surprise, but it wasn't just us - other people asked us the way. The railway line was the problem. You had to cross over it on a bridge leading to a dead-end road, and make your way in at the side. No helpful signage. Unbelievable! The first Hockney painting to greet us was this impressive view of the mill itself. We bought a large framed print of this later on. The mill contains not only the largest collection of Hockney paintings anywhere, but also fantastic shops, cafes and restaurants. It was a real pleasure to just be there. At one time due for demolition and in a totally derelict state, it was rescued by the Bradford entrepeneur Jonathan Silver who knew Hockney from his Bradford connections. And what a job he has done.....just as much a hero in my opinion as Sir Titus himself. Hockney painted him just before he died tragically young of cancer. In one of the main halls was this Hockney chair which stems from his period as an operatic set designer. He was experimenting here with trying to involve the audience more closely by playing with scale and perspective and putting larger objects at the back of the set. His brilliant mind has never ceased turning over new ideas ever since. The friends series of portraits were intriguing..... This one fooled me if not Frances. It purports to show a painting of sunflowers side by side with the Photo from which they weretaken. In fact bth halves are painted. Here, a Hoockney postbox..... Everything was on an enormous scale. Here the bookshop. Morning tea and crumpets was nice.... The homeware section was full of design excellence....some items at horrendous prices, some not. Here is another Hockney experiment........nine i-pad videos showing side by side. We bought the poster. You can't resist! 'The Arrival of Spring' all done on i-pad was captivating.... On floor 3 there is a docu-history of the mill and many exhibits, here the boardroom. And Saltaire is never just about Hockney. There was an exhibition of another Yorkshire artist - Simon Palmer which we wished we had more time to see. And, in the background always Sir Titus Salt. Since we were in the area, we visited the National Trust's East Riddlesdon Hall. Yet another terrific building saved from demolition (in 1934). You encounter the lake immediately after entering from the busy main road and are thrown into another world. The tithe barn was as impressive as tithe barns are...... ....and the Hall itself full of interest. It was built by wealthy Halifax clothier James Murgatroyd in 1642 of all times at the start of the CIvil War. And engaging with the room guides proved very rewarding. We admired a lot and learned a lot. This part of the building was initially a temporary structure thrown up over the yard, and with the first floor never completed as can be seen from the upper fireplace. The panelling varied and some was obviously fitted in (just) from other locations, as so often in these houses. The chest had a secret key hole (not at the front) and was designed with blades to slice the fingers of unsuspecting thieves. The plasterwork was what Londoners might call 'provincial', craftsmen from Wakefield, but I thought it was rather good and very lively. We looked at our map and went home via back ways and the views were stunning. All in all a day worth repeating.
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We parked near Valley Gardens which we walked through to get to our intended destination of Betty's. The gardens were at their best, as was the whole of Harrogate...everywhere looking prosperous and well-kempt, just as I like. Unfortunately the queue was too long for us at Betty's, and we had to make do with a poor second best in the chic Montpellier quarter. Still, we enjoyed our drive and our brief time in Harrogate. Next stop Skipton Woods..... Followed by a lovely Birthday meal at the well known Coach and Horses at Bolton by Bowland. Nice day.
We were going to Leighton Hall near Silverdale , so were looking forward to stopping off at Lancaster castle and its excellent cafe. Worth a visit on its own. We did enquire about the free tours, but these have to be booked in advance, so another time...... We were able to view all the buildings externally from the Shire Hall - Joseph Gandy’s ten-sided masterpiece to the Norman keep. 'The Keep (also known as the Lungess Tower) is a four-storey tower, 20 metres high and with a shallow buttress at each corner and halfway along each side. Its outer walls are about 3 metres thick, and it is divided internally by a central wall into two rooms on each floor. The upper storey of the Keep was rebuilt in the reign of Elizabeth I in 1585.' It only stopped being used as a Prison in 2012. However the Crown Court, 'the oldest continually sitting Crown Court in the country', continues. A fascinating building. And not the least impressive aspects of the castle is its setting - surrounded as it is by a marvellous streetscape. Next on to Leighton Hall. We arrived early, explored the beautiful gardens, and had tea and cake on the lawn. How nice! It is described in Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh’s Murray’s Lancashire Architectural Guide as ‘a picture of magic beauty, with the distant fairyland of Furness beyond’. If you subscribe to the free newsletter of Country Life you will be able to access a superb overview of the house and its families.....'The whole scene is the very quintessence of English Picturesque taste, with the early-19th-century castellated façade, built of finely dressed white limestone, looking like an opera set against the sublime landscape backdrop. When the sun shines and the white stone gleams, it seems a barely credible vision. This remarkable house has been the seat of the Gillow family, descended from the famous furniture manufacturers, since 1824.' Suzie, widow of the late Richard Gillow Reynolds showed us into the Music Room to wait for our tour as we were a little early, a personal touch reflecting the whole ethos of the house. An earlier email had been answered immediately by daughter Lucy. A typically good article on the house is in Country Life which you can access by signing up to their free newsletter. I wasn't expecting to be both amused and impressed by the wild bird display (put on for free), but I certainly was. It was great from the lovely Barn Owl to the Harris Falcon. The keeper utterly wowed by getting the birds to fly onto the balcony where we were standing.
The Yorkshire Dales....fantastic. We drove through Grassington this time and parked just outside Pately Bridge and walked into town along the peaty Nidd, seeing quite a lot of fish activity in one spot (no angler there). We were very impressed with the beauty of Pately Bridge with its steep High Street and brilliant shops and cafes. Quite a few 'snickleways' too. We couldn't resist buying a pork pie and a sausage roll from the very high-class butchers/deli and sat behind the shelter here at the top of town to eat..... Purely by chance we diverted on the way home to Ripley Castle and were very glad to have done so. The village green was marvellous, and it was nice to peek at the castle although we were too late for entry. The houses and cottages were elegant, but all estate owned and therefore for rent (beyond our levels) and not purchase. The Boar's Head did a nice pint and seemed to have a good reasonably priced menu for another time..........
A really nice walk of about 10,000 steps with great views of Pendle and the Ribble. This Hydro Lodge is being restored, and very nice it will be too when finished....constructed circa 1910 with later extension and built as the lodge house for the then well known Hydro Lodge hotel (now Bowland School) You can just see an intrepid salmon or trout dry fly female angler wading in the margins of the river...... On our way back we stopped at the pretty village of Worston at The Calf's Head pub, nice interior and beautiful gardens....
we are members of Historic Houses (HH) and get to visit some fantastic family homes. Martholme near us was one of them. Originally the manor house of Great Harwood, Martholme is a stone medieval house. It has a timber framed kitchen range (stone clad 1577), Elizabethan gatehouse, walled outer courtyard and dry moat. Martholme is referred to several times in Gerards Herbal as John Gerard was a visitor to the house. On a bleak day we were welcomed by a member of the family and given a personal tour. Terrific. The de Fitton family owned the house in the 13th Century until it passed by marriage into the Hesketh family and it was Thomas Hesketh who had the house rebuilt in 1577 adding on an east wing and a gatehouse. Parts of the house still date back to medieval times. Constructed of sandstone rubble now rendered and with a slate roof, Martholme was originally surrounded by a moat of which there are still traces. Hesketh’s son, Robert added another arched gateway and after his death and after the marriage of his second wife Jane to one of the de Hoghton family, the house went into his ownership. It appears that the house was never lived in by the Heskeths and was leased out to tenant farmers. After the Civil War the Heskeths were very heavily fined because of their Catholic faith and Martholme grew into a state of disrepair. Although parts of the house have been demolished the part that is left has been lovingly restored by the present owners and it is now a private residence. The gatehouse now used as a residence by the father of the family. Here service doors..... Here a simply ginormous fireplace..... and upstairs part of the medieval structure covered over in the various rebuildings and 'improvements'.
Samlesbury Hall, only 20 minutes away was a place we had never visited. Now was the chance. It certainly lived up to its billing as 'one of the most beautiful historic homes of Lancashire'. By the mid 1920s, the Hall had become unkempt and was bought by a building firm, who intended to pull it down and erect a housing estate. Fortunately, local meetings were called and money was raised to buy the property for the benefit of the public. It has been managed by the Samlesbury Hall Trust ever since. An incredible survival. A brief history, what a history, is shown on the Samlesbury Hall site. Inside is magical, not only in the quality of the building and its contents (everything available to touch or sit on), but also in the range of things to see and do. This magnificent fireplace was installed by Sir Richard Southworth in 1545. .....and everywhere so child and adult-friendly You could do maths in a Victorian school room... act the part of Lord of The Manor in trying an unfortunate peasant... ...play with old toys.... introduce yourself to some of the characters... read old stories and poems...I did love this to bits... Outside the setting was beautiful and the play area exceptionally good....with course... pirate ship.... stocks..... but next was the waffle house........ mmmmmmm.............. Our next stop today was Haigh Woodland Park....beautiful location (and just outside Wigan of all places)...... Adventure Golf was on the menu for us...... and there was yet another rather good play area.... All told, a great day which we would be more than glad to repeat anytime.
Climbing Pendle We had been up the 'easier' slope of Pendle but now tried the more difficult bit from near Barley. Aiisha pooh poohed my idea of lambs having to slow down... With ice cream in hand (hut at the bottom), a good start.... Unfortunately soon left Frances behind (retired)... No need to go on the steps... Now here's a good bit of scree... That's enough (half way up)... A sit down anyone?
A small art gallery 15 minutes away from us on the edge of Accrington. The best overview is in their own teaching resource The house itself is ‘an Edwardian Tudor-style house in its own park with lovely views across the surrounding hills. It has an oak-panelled entrance hall and an Arts and Crafts staircase and delightful wood and plaster decorations adorn the main reception rooms. From 1909 to 1920, it was the home of cotton manufacturer William Haworth and his sister Anne; it was then bequeathed to the people of Accrington and has been a public art gallery ever since. The Haworth Art Gallery houses the largest public collection of Tiffany glass ion Europe. It was given to the people of Accrington by Joseph Briggs who in 1891, aged only 17, left Accrington to seek his fortune in America. He worked with Tiffany in New York in various jobs all his working life and sent his collection back to his home town in 1933. The collection is displayed over four rooms and includes some of the finest glass Tiffany ever produced.’ We visited on an absolutely awful day teeming with rain and with a wedding taking place inside the hall which precluded us visiting some parts and prevented us visiting the tea room which I had particularly wanted to see. The staff were very helpful indeed in giving us a peek at some of the 'off' areas. What we found was that the inside was very 'museum like' and stripped of most of its character as a proud Arts and Crafts house. For goodness sake with a bit of imagination some of it could surely be refitted with appropriate funiture and made to feel what it was. There were some really good local paintings but in truth just a handful all told, so again for an 'art gallery' this is almost inexcusable. There was an impressive display of the 'Accrington Pals' but no explanation. and a handful of interesting resources...... A lot is made of the internationally important Tiffany Glass collection, but we found it rather dull although with some stand-out pieces.... We'll visit again when we can have tea visit the gardens and see how we feel second-time round!
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August 2023
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