Christmas Stockings – well they have to be red don’t they! And when it comes to natural dyeing nothing does red like cochineal. Cochineal is expensive, it always has been. Highly prized for centuries as producing the best reds for textile dyeing. When it arrived in Europe following the Spanish conquest of Mexico it was…
Eeles Pottery is in the village of Mosterton, on the road between Beaminster and Crewkerne. Despite having driven past it countless times this was the first visit (they were open as part of Bridport Arts Week) – long overdue. It is a truly family affair. David and his wife Patricia set up their home and…
Bonfield BlockPrinters is a the sort of place that you either have to seek out or you stumble upon by accident when you least expect it. Cameron Short and Janet Tristram set up in the old stores in Thorncombe, a hidden away village tucked into the furthermost corner of West Dorset. Off the beaten track…
The Weald and Downland Living Museum is a bit of a trek from Dorset, a few miles north of Chichester in the South Downs National Park. But it made a great stopping off point on a trip to Kent. It’s an open air museum, where they have rescued old houses, cottages and other rural buildings…
Samplers – real proper, really old ones – are a marvel to behold. Montacute House in Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset is the home of the Goodhart Collection – one man’s gathering of 17th and 18th century needlework gems. Needing a breath of fresh air on Boxing Day it was a treat to discover that Montacute House was…
Smith & Smith of Bridport is a classic gentlemen’s (and ladies’) outfitters, every town should have one. As they say : “We have been supplying the people of Bridport with fine quality clothing since 1884.” It’s one of those shops where nothing seems to change – in the best possible way. Smith & Smith began as a…
The gardens at Wayford Manor haven’t been open for the last couple of years. New owners have ‘had the builders in’ in a big way. But this year they were back on the case with the NGS last Sunday – a chance not to be missed even on a drizzly afternoon at the end of May.…
Barrington Court is just a hop over the border into Somerset. It’s a splendid Tudor manor house, now a National Trust property. And it’s empty – of furniture anyway. In its stripped back state it’s easier to appreciate the bones of the place, although all is not as it seems. By the early 20th century…
