A stitch in time

Mono Monday: Secret sewing skills

It is Bank Holiday in England, so of course, the forecast was for persistent rain until early afternoon.  Realising this, Cathy and I planned to take advantage of our National Trust membership and go and visit Tyntesfield House.  There has been a lot written about this Victorian treasure in the press, which I won't regurgitate here, but it really is a gem and if you are ever in this part of the world it is well worth a visit.  It is relatively easily accessed from the M5 as it passes Bristol.

The house and much of its contents were acquired by the Trust roughly 15 years ago and as the years pass they are gradually restoring more and more of it to its former gothic glory.  There is something about Victorian gothic that is both tremendously appealing and entertaining.  This is a shot of two specialist volunteers repairing the linings of curtains which have suffered ultraviolet light damage.  As you can see, the work is done by hand, no sewing machines allowed here, only the skills of these nimble fingers.  Skills which, to those of us that can only just sew on a button (whilst drawing blood in the process), seem arcane indeed.

I spent some time agonising over what to blip today, as I took about 30 usable shots on our visit. The flowers in the garden were spectacular.  There was also a mini American War of Independence going on in the garden to keep people entertained.  In the end Mono Monday and the seamstresses won out. I was indecently pleased with the wasp desperately trying to shelter from the rain and nearly blipped in colour :-o 

If you are interested, my photos from the day are in this Flickr album.