Rainy Day Out in Saltaire and Shipley

Monday was the day the UK was warned a huge storm would hit the South and Midlands and leave a trail of devastation in its wake...luckily for Yorkshire all we got was yet another bloody wet day!!!
Anyway I'd planned a trip over to Saltaire to see an exhibition at Salts Mill with Harry and Kia, Evie talked her way out of it and wrangled a day at my Mums with Hermione.
Anyway apart from feeling really crappy because of a stinking cold I had a brill day, the exhibition was interesting and deserves a blog post all of its own, so i'll write that later in the week.
We had a quick glance around another exhibition there of photographs of pop/rock stars of the 60's...but as we only whizzed around this one, we've yet another reason to go back soon!

After a good couple of hours spent in the mill we decided to walk up into Shipley and take a trip down memory lane!
Kia couldn't remember the flat my Grandma lived in for almost all of my life, but she remembered the hill with the rock on it outside her flat, she played on the hill with Mica when they were little much like Marc, Jody and myself did when we were kids too...

Walking down the hill into Shipley town centre I pointed out various points of interest to me, the church where I vaguely remember going to a playgroup, The road where the best fish 'n' chip shop in Yorkshire was (maybe even still is!) that my Dad would drive over from Manchester to when he fancied decent fish and chips.

A pub that was always the big Co-op, the shop that used to be the toyshop where I bought Famous Five books, the Underground market and (I couldn't believe it was still there) the best second hand book stall in the world.
I used to live for my trips to visit my Grandma in Saltaire so I could go into Shipley and spend all my money on books!
Sadly after my bragging to Kia about this amazing stall, it was closed, apparently it only opens on Fridays and Saturdays now.
But we did find a great wool stall with a guy who would win gold in the talking olympics!
Amazingly I didn't buy myself any wool at all...Kia got a couple of nice balls for her pink blanket though.
All in all it was nice to get out and explore without having to worry about Evie getting bored, we had time to wander at leisure around the exhibition and linger over coffee and a very late lunch!

Thats all for now...back soon with the exhibition photos.
Em x

Saltaire.

Evie's project this week is Saltaire and Sir Titus Salt, the wool manufacturer and philanthropist from Yorkshire.

Sir Titus Salt built the model village Saltaire on land he had acquired near to Shipley, he decided to relocate his mill and workers out of the it's of Bradford after a cholera outbreak killed over 300 people in Bradord.

 Salt built houses for his workers, a church, school, hospital, an educational institute and almshouses for retired workers as well as his magnificent mills.

Saltaire had everything a good village in the mid 19th century should have except a pub! Sir Titus Salt was a strict teetotaller   and insisted that his workers remain sober as well.

The streets of Saltaire were mostly named after members of the Salt family and two architects who contributed to the design and building of Saltaire, a few notable exceptions include a trio of streets named after flowers popular at the time and some streets named after royalty.

These days the mill hosts an exhibition by local artist David Hockney and some excellent historical information.

 



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] David Hockneys Art at Salts Mill.[/caption]
 



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] A Mural of The Process of Woolmaking.[/caption]
A brilliant restaurant and some rather lovely shops! 

 



And the houses once occupied by mill workers are now highly desirable properties and the shops are mostly either speciality shops or sadly empty, although we did see one, 'Salts Village Bakery' where my Grandma worked a long time ago, and where they make and sell the most deeee-licious spinach and feta pasties! 

We also found the street where my Dad lived when him and Mum first met and where my Grandma still lived when I was first born and we spotted houses where various relatives have lived over the years.

 



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] Memory Lane[/caption]
 

We had a yummy picnic in Roberts Park and a good walk around it, culminating in a run around (for the kids) in the playground...although I had a quick bounce on a trampoline and our friend Helen slid down the slide a few times, looking out over the river Aire from the playground we could see a weir in the river where as a child I begged and begged to be allowed to play with all the lucky kids who were allowed to play in the water...I was never ever allowed though!! 

 



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] Around Saltaire and Roberts Park.[/caption]
 

The weather was on our side yesterday too which helped make it yet another lovely day out! 

Until next time 

Em xx 

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