Last week we started out on a new activity: volunteering for the National Trust.
In our village there are two separate National Trust properties. One, standing at the top of the hill is a huge tithe barn related to the ancient Cistercian Abbey. When I first moved to the village this was in a terrible state of disrepair, but a trust was set up and a local building firm took on the massive task of renovating the whole thing. Now it is owned by the National Trust and much used for craft fairs, weddings, real ale events and so on.
The second property is a wool merchant's house built in 1509 by one Thomas Paycocke.
The building was presented as business premises to show off the woven wool for which the town was famous, and no expense was spared on the carved woodwork of the building.
As the centuries passed, so the house fell on hard times, being divided into three small cottages and the exterior plastered over. Then, in the Arts and Crafts period, it was bought and a period of restoration began, using the expertise of a local woodcarver, Ernest Beckwith. So now it is an astonishing display of carved wood within and without.
Last week my husband and I did our first half-day shifts as volunteers there. My husband worked in the garden, alongside a dedicated team of about a dozen established hands. He was set on to dig over a vegetable patch, ready for it to be used for growing flowers for the house.
I was inside the house. Earlier residents and visitors recorded how cold the house was to live in; this is still true today, particularly as the principal rooms are North-facing. It's too early to record what I made of the opportunity. Will I master how to use a till and give change, or will I have forgotten even what little I learnt by the next time I am on shift? Only time will tell.
Knitting
A little matinee jacket for the Pine Ridge Reservation. This is a free pattern called Gidday Baby, published by an Australian pattern-writer promoting an Australian yarn. It is knit from the top down, the advantage being that once the sleeves have been knitted on with dpns there are only two buttons to stitch on and it is finished, without any seaming to do. I used a Stylewise acrylic with a small amount of Jaeger Langora for the contrast colour. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.
In our village there are two separate National Trust properties. One, standing at the top of the hill is a huge tithe barn related to the ancient Cistercian Abbey. When I first moved to the village this was in a terrible state of disrepair, but a trust was set up and a local building firm took on the massive task of renovating the whole thing. Now it is owned by the National Trust and much used for craft fairs, weddings, real ale events and so on.
The second property is a wool merchant's house built in 1509 by one Thomas Paycocke.
The building was presented as business premises to show off the woven wool for which the town was famous, and no expense was spared on the carved woodwork of the building.
As the centuries passed, so the house fell on hard times, being divided into three small cottages and the exterior plastered over. Then, in the Arts and Crafts period, it was bought and a period of restoration began, using the expertise of a local woodcarver, Ernest Beckwith. So now it is an astonishing display of carved wood within and without.
Last week my husband and I did our first half-day shifts as volunteers there. My husband worked in the garden, alongside a dedicated team of about a dozen established hands. He was set on to dig over a vegetable patch, ready for it to be used for growing flowers for the house.
I was inside the house. Earlier residents and visitors recorded how cold the house was to live in; this is still true today, particularly as the principal rooms are North-facing. It's too early to record what I made of the opportunity. Will I master how to use a till and give change, or will I have forgotten even what little I learnt by the next time I am on shift? Only time will tell.
Knitting
A little matinee jacket for the Pine Ridge Reservation. This is a free pattern called Gidday Baby, published by an Australian pattern-writer promoting an Australian yarn. It is knit from the top down, the advantage being that once the sleeves have been knitted on with dpns there are only two buttons to stitch on and it is finished, without any seaming to do. I used a Stylewise acrylic with a small amount of Jaeger Langora for the contrast colour. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.
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