Tuesday 30th July
Kate drove me to Islay Woollen Mill near Bridgend, and I met
the owner who originated from Yorkshire and had his training in Huddersfield
and ran a Welsh mill in Pembrokeshire for several years. He was head-hunted to
reopen the mill on Islay after it had fallen into misuse, and has stayed ever
since. His tweeds and tartans are sold world-wide to high-end prestigious
clients including tailors in Saville Row, London. He showed me the antique
weaving equipment in action, as a tweed fabric in a colour combination he had
designed was being created before me. However, I noted that the mill’s water
wheel had fallen into disrepair, and other dusty machines were there for
display only, as processes like washing, dying, combing and spinning were done
elsewhere, and the cones of thread bought in, ready to go.
One of the culinary delights of Islay is its seafood, but
most of it is caught and exported off the island, so sourcing any for sale is a
matter of who you know! A detour en route to the Laphroaig distillery led us to
the back of beyond and resulted in a
triumphant Kate emerging from a remote farmhouse with a beautiful box of Islay
oysters for our meal that night. We were led via the pretty harbour at Port
Ellen, onto the Laphroaig distillery by the characteristic aromas on smoke and
peat which typify the Islay malts. Set in a small, pretty cove, this is the
producer of Prince Charles’s favourite whisky, and is world famous. More
tastings followed and I bought a 10 year heavily peated malt to take home.
That night Kate, a talented cook, created a wonderful meal
that starred Islay oysters subtly infused with a prize-winning Port Charlotte
whisky, chicken stuffed with porridge oats
and rolled in streaky bacon (a recipe Kate had tried on Orkney), and a
conjunction of Scottish raspberries and egg custard to finish.
Another wonderful day, but tomorrow it is onto a new
Hebridean paradise island….
It was very interesting reading about your journey through Scotland, especially about Islay Woollen Mill. The owner of the mill seems to have a very interesting history and story about how he became the owner of this mill. I would love to be head-hunted and have an amazing weaving career. For a employer to want to hire me based on my talent of weaving rather than avoiding me because of my mental health problems. Every trip that you go on and you tell us about makes me more and more jealous, of you, Julia! This is because you always find some form of weaving and you are shown how it gets made. I might create my own weaving tour of the UK; I think that is a good idea of mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interest Stacey. Both Wales and Scotland have wonderful traditions of weaving, although Scottish weavers are perhaps more successful today, and iconic names like Harris tweed have moved into new modern markets and even have their fabrics used in trendy trainers! Start your weaving grand tour in Wales and then extend to Scotland and beyond our shores one day like I did when I went to the village of Tenganan in Bali. A wonderfully rich heritage awaits you and can inspire your own work in the next exciting part of your education at Uni' as a professional weaver. I love your passion for this craft... you can make a real impact in this field using your knowledge of past weaving traditions and then reinterpreting these designs and principles for contemporary tastes.
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