Now, before you all start shouting at your computers that I am supposed to be using up my stash, not adding to it ........ it was Malcolm who was buying for his stash today (ok, I did get a little bit of fabric, more about that later!). We set off this morning to travel west through Peebles and on into Lanarkshire (the county I was born and grew up in). We were heading for Lanarkshire Hardwoods ...... Malcolm had seen an advert in the paper, and having had a look at their website, wanted to buy some offcuts to play with make wonderful things with. This was the sight that greeted us
the labels show where each piece of wood comes from
even I was getting excited at all this wooden loveliness!
So what did he buy? Here it is back home in the garage, leaning against his workbench
lots of beautiful elm
I want something made from the piece!
it will be interesting to see how this knobbly bit is used
Also on the workbench is the latest cracket - this one is bigger than the last one, and just needs another coat of oil
The smaller one has come to live in the house until it is sold!
On the way back, we stopped at Dawick Botanic Garden (it's pronounced Doik). First, of course, we had lunch! Wonderful leek and potato soup - it had a lovely deep flavour, almost like French onion soup
This is the beautiful chair I sat on to eat my lunch - at £700 slightly dearer then Malcolm's crackets!! (but having seen the price of the wood that Malcolm bought, I can now understand why handmade furniture costs so much!)
After lunch, we went for a walk round the gardens, but I'll save those photos for tomorrow. Our last stop was in Peebles - we always enjoy a potter round the shops there, as they have some excellent craft/gift shops. We went into a recently opened one - Jelly and Icecream - only to discover it is owned by a lovely lady who had owned a shop of the same name in Hawick! That's when I added to my stash ..... well, could you have resisted this fabric?
I forgot to tell you that I have already posted off Leenie's parcel and I have now heard from WandaFish, so her parcel will be posted off asap ...... once they receive them, I can show you the goodies I sent them!
I'm off now to sort throught the dozens of photos I took In the Botanic Garden and choose which ones to show you tomorrow - and there's a good programme on tv later all about baking .......