Ji came round this morning. We dod Otis’ flea treatment and then set off for Welbeck. Annoyingly my SatNav decided to stop working 20 minutes into the journey- and I only had it fixed about a year ago. Ji navigated using Google maps and all was fine. We were however held up as a huge tree was being felled - it was growing by the side of road so the road was completely closed whilst it was cut down and then cut into pieces to move it onto the verge. We were second in the queue of cars so at least we could see what was happening. The tailback of vehicles was very long and those at the back would have had no idea.
We had coffee and a snack when we arrived, browsed the farm shop and gallery shop and then tried to find out where the studio tours started from. We had to ask in the end - they never seem to put enough signs up. The meeting point was actually very close to where we were so we browsed the drop- in crafts in the museum. There was a potter and furniture maker (blipped) working, but the embroiderer was missing- disappointing.
The tours started and we walked round to the studios situated in the old estate stables. We visited a classical guitar maker, an organ restorer and a place which I’d heard about which collects old textiles and haberdashery and runs workshops with some very well -known people as tutors. They were all fascinating- so much more interesting than we were expecting. The guitar and organ makers are now part of an extremely small pool of people who still practice these old skills. It was do good to see that they still had a home here , though they both said that they couldn’t employ apprentices as they couldn’t afford to pay the wages needed. Unfortunately photos weren’t allowed in the studios- goodness knows why. Drove home through some very high winds.