Saturday 11 October 2014

Yorkshire and Yarndale :: Part 4

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..........


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............


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............

Cliffe Castle - Keighley

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......


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


21 comments:

  1. That sounds like a great day out! xx

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  2. Hi Jacquie, thanks for pointing me at your photos of Wycoller - it really is a beautiful place and it was great seeing it through your eyes and also with all the spring flowers. My favourite photo though was the fish and chips!
    I've been to Skipton a few times but not to Cliffe Castle. It looks really interesting so I'll be adding it to my places to visit. Along with Haworth which I've shockingly never visited either! x

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  3. Thank you so much for your travelogue - this armchair traveller enjoyed it immensely!

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  4. Hello there...

    What a lovely pictures! xxxxxxx

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  5. wow! I'm off to Yorkshire in a couple of weeks to visit Grannie, we never normally get time to visit other villages but Skipton isn't very far away I don't think, looks lovely!

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  6. Fab photos Jacqui. I have never heard of this place so it was nice to have a virtual tour. x

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  7. Wow! I loved seeing this place! I could spend hours there looking at everything! You are so lucky to have castles to walk through! I might have to visit out local Pittock Mansion, which is the closest thing we get to a castle. GREAT shots! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  8. Another lovely day indeed. That interior is amazing. I especially like your second picture of it, with the stained glass orange tree - beautiful. It looks like you had the most wonderful weekend, and how nice to be able to share it with your mum. CJ xx

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  9. This installment is another wonderful display of the lovely places and treasures your country has to offer, thank so much for sharing I've truly enjoyed them all. That little hook would have to come home with me as well, if I'd been there. lol My first memories and love of patch work quilts are from being tucked in at my grandmothers house under the many beautiful creations she made. (and she saved every little scrape of fabric for that purpose.) The other memory that stands out is on a trip to visit her sister, and she had a quilt in a quilting frame hanging up near the ceiling (out of the way when not working with) and when it was bedtime I asked to sleep in the "bed" up high. lol Needless to say, a lifetime love of quilts for myself as well.

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  10. Thank you so much for sharing your lovely day! I can't wait to visit your side of the "pond" some day! I so enjoy your blog!

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  11. Wonderful pictures and I did get a giggle from those cards lol

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  12. what a great time you had, love the cakes and wool sheep dreaming of getting there next yearx

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  13. Jacquie, thank you so much for sharing this Yarndale...and beyond, reporting with us. What a beautiful part of the world you've seen and shown us.

    It can be so interesting to re-visit a place that you originally visited as a child, like Cliffe Castle. It was fun to read of your memories and then to see how the renovations and redecorating have made changes.

    Many thanks. xo

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  14. Thanks for sharing your day with us. Sounds like you had a great time. Awesome post. :)

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  15. Thank you for sharing the photos and descriptions of beautiful Yorkshire, even though I live in Switzerland now it's a place I love to visit.
    Also many thanks for the tutorials especially the one for sewing granny squares together, it has been a great help.

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  16. What a beautiful tour... Thanks for taking us along... It was a lovely journey :)

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  17. Cliffe Castle looks amazing, defiantly one to put on the To Visit list.
    Thanks for sharing your photos :-)

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  18. The ornate details inside are spectacular - so opulent! It is nice that such a significant building in the area is receiving love and care.

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  19. On this rainy Thanksgiving holiday Monday in Canada, may I add that from an armchair way across the ocean, that your Yarndale posts have been loved, LOVED!! I revisit them and love them again!

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  20. This castle is an amazing place to visit. I'm sure you really enjoyed seeing it again with your mum and with older eyes. I'm afraid my holiday posts are also taking a long time - I've only covered the first week! The holiday seems like a long time ago now though it's only a couple of weeks.

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  21. Did your visit spark your quilting bug again? It always looks so fiddly and time consuming but the end results are wonderful. What a lovely trip. Oh and I LOVE that little hook! You must show us where you hang it :)
    Jones x

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