Wednesday 14 August 2013

Taking inspiration from Kelmscott Manor.....

Finally today Trude (life long friend. bridesmaid and curtain maker extraordinaire!) and I visited the home of William Morris, Kelmcott Manor - in the hope of gaining a little insight into his design and providing inspiration for the interior of Crafty Cottage.



Having already decided on the William Morris Strawberry Thief fabric for the interior of Crafty Cottage, we were interested to take as much inspiration from Kelmscott as possible.  -  The Manor itself was a mini-museum to the Arts and Crafts, in its decor and furniture - and unsurprisingly Trude spent most of the time checking out the different fabric design of the faded textiles! - recognising many I am sure from her curtain making history.

Strawberry Thief


Me, ? .... as sad as it sounds - I was interested to see the "privy" famously a "3 seater !! and managed to get a photo which will take pride and place in the loo (privy) at Crafty Cottage! (although of course that's where the similarity ends:-)



The Village of Kelmscott is beautiful,  -  it sounds "corny" but you don't have to think too hard to imagine the horses and carriages bouncing down the lanes, - from the farms - the to Manor, - to the church etc....    ....  idyllic on a day like today.

It was interesting to see the Exhibition in one of the Barns, which gave details of how after his death, William Morris's coffin was transported from Paddington Station to the Cotswolds, and then on to Kelmscott by a brightly painted cart for him to be buried in the village churchyard.



  


.....  and this encouraged us to visit the small church in the village, which was lovely :-)

    





William Morris's grave was set a little distance away from others for some reason,  which seemed a little sad to me :-(

On the way back to the car we passed the village hall which was playing host to a Craft Fayre,  -  this was lovely - a good selection of local arts and crafts, knitted items, jewellery, soap, wood turning, etc...  it reminded me of the Craft Fayre that has returned to Chipping Campden.

Leaving Kelmscott, we headed for Lechlade - and to our delight an abundance of antique shops to mooch around!  -  we also had lunch at a lovely restaurant which I would highly recommend :
Colleys - Lechlade  - Trude had an impressive Fish & Chips, and I had the squid!


It started to rain a little, so Trude and I headed for home, we had planned to call into the cottage to measure up for the curtains, - but it was getting a bit late in the day and I remembered the plasterers had returned to the Cottage to finish the walls above the fireplace, - and the ensuite - so we decided to let them get on with it, and call it a day.

So,  -  yes we thoroughly enjoyed our day at Kelmscott Manor, - we are still going with the Strawberry Thief fabric for curtains & bed throw etc...

The latest news at the Cottage is:

We have our first curtain pole !!

  

Telephone and Broadband being connected tomorrow, - website nearing completion ...

Will of course,  be keeping you posted !

Kelmscott post box



-S-



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