Thanks, MDK and Jeni Hankins! I’ve been anticipating a trip to the UK for about a year now, so I made special note of MDK posts on places of interest. Trip just completed, with two very successful MDK-inspired outings, both from Jeni Hankins’ posts.
First to the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. From London, it’s a short train ride to Hassocks and from there, a pleasant mile-and-a-half walk to Ditchling. I wasn’t in time to see the Double Weave exhibition, but stumbled onto a fun exhibit about Raymond Briggs, author-illustrator of the children’s classics, ¨The Snowman” and “Father Christmas”—and many other graphic novels that I didn’t know about! Rounded out the day walking through the village, and having a delicious welsh rarebit at the Nutmeg Tree Tea Shop
Then, while visiting a friend in Glasgow, I hopped the train to Edinburgh, where I visited Dovecot Studios, just in time to catch the next-to-last-day of the fun exhibition of textiles designed by Andy Warhol in his early years. After a tasty lunch in the cafe, enjoyed Pauline Caulfield’s textile art in the large gallery surrounding the tapestry workshop (and you can watch the artists at work below you between noon and 3:00, fascinating.)
For my own textile-related recommendation, try New Lanark, a former cotton mill, now a UNESCO heritage site with a lot of historical insight, and a lovely 2-mile walk along the Falls of Clyde, the waterfalls that originally powered the mills. (They still spin wool with the machinery—available in their shop!) Short train ride from Glasgow to Lanark; city bus to New Lanark. https://www.newlanark.org/
And a total coincidence— I also visited Tobermory, and discovered that Isabella Bird (featured in Adrienne Martini’s Knitters of Note MDK post) visited her sister there often. A clock still stands on the main street along the harbor that Isabella funded in her sister’s honor. Connections to MDK are everywhere!
Has anyone else followed in the footsteps of an MDK travel contributor?
