Clarice Cliff: 2015

I don’t often watch ‘Antiques Road Show’ or ‘Flog It’ but when I do, I get very excited when any piece of Clarice Cliff comes up.  I love the work of Clarice Cliff, the unusual shapes of pottery, the flower designs, the Bizarre Collection, the yellows and oranges, blues and greens.  I always wonder why anyone who owned a piece of Clarice Cliff pottery would ever want to get rid of it and not want to keep it on display.

I was given these two tea towels, produced by Past Times before they went into liquidation, by one of my bosses as a retirement present.  She knew that my ‘Retirement Project’ was going to be about blogging about my tea towel collection so thought this would be an appropriate gift.  The colours of the tea towels just capture Clarice Cliff and her pottery.  Those tea pots are just fabulous.  Oh! to have one of those or the amazing shaped cups.

I could give my Readers a brief history of Clarice Cliff’s life but you can all look that up on Wikipedia, just be content with the fact that she lead an extraordinary life, unconventional.

I’ve never owned a genuine piece of Clarice Cliff; the nearest I’ve got is to own a few pieces of ‘The Bizarre Collection’, produced by Wedgwood, as modern replicas.  They, in themselves, are beautiful and worthy of collecting.   But what I do have is two tea towels that I can admire and think how wonderful it would be to own a Clarice Cliff tea set.  One day, maybe!

Merry Christmas: 2019

A few days ago, I got out my first five Christmas tea towels for use.  They hung beautifully on the kitchen door; I photographed them for my Instagram account and listed their titles.  This is a process I go through every week but it is the first time I’ve done Christmas tea towels.  Looking at them closely, I realise that they are, in fact, quite old, well used and generally not pristine.  The problem is that I know what the next five look like and some of them look grimy; they aren’t, they are clean but stained.  I’ve looked further into the Tea Towel Cupboard and most of my Christmas tea towels are in this state.

I have to ask myself, why?  Does Christmas washing up create stains?, more stains than the rest of the year?  Is it that most of the tea towels are really old and have been subject to excessive wear and tear?  Or perhaps, I have relatively few Christmas tea towels so they get disproportionately used?  Are Christmas tea towels made of cheaper materials so stain easier? Maybe the answer is ‘yes’ to all those questions.

It is strange that my Christmas Collection is actually made up of so many tea towels that did not start life in my hands.  Con’s Collection added three to mine, two of which were well used; three of Jean’s tea towels joined my collection, all towelling (which gathers stains more easily) and all well used; Liz gave me three of hers, that would otherwise have found themselves in the bin; I inherited five of my mother’s, all of which I bought her and there are a number that started life in Wilko and Paperchase, not well known for quality tea towels.  I am not ashamed of them, I was just interested in how this happened.

The other thing is that I am less likely to buy myself a Christmas tea towel; I use them for a short period and I don’t often see new designs.  I could still buy ‘Snow Buddies’ (originally bought in 1996) today.  The Christmas Collection has grown very slowly over the years although there has been a sudden ‘burst’ recently.

This beautiful Merry Christmas from Rudolf’s Reindeers tea towel was a present to me from my cousin Amanda last Sunday, when we met up for lunch.  This is a MollyMac design; I have followed MollyMac on Instagram since I joined.  They do some wonderful designs but I haven’t seen a Christmas one before.  I think I am very lucky to be able to add this clean and unstained one to my collection, to remind me of that great Sunday lunch, sharing memories and exchanging news.  Thank you Amanda.

Felixstowe: 2019

I remember Felixstowe.  It was 2002 and I was on a mission to find the best tea rooms in Britain on behalf of Margaret Thornby, a tea room researcher.  I’d do the initial research before she whittled down the very best for publication in ‘Margaret Thornby’s Guide to the Tea Rooms of Britain’.  A wonderful publication and very useful.  I thought Felixstowe might be a good place to find a tea room, on the coast, a haven for holidaymakers.  How wrong I was.  At that time, there wasn’t a tea room that would make ‘the cut’.  I remember the steep hill that made it’s way to the coast, a hill which would challenge anyone but the fit (Bent Hill).  At the time of my visit, I didn’t find a tea towel but I suspect I didn’t look very hard.  In the days of the tea room research, there was not a lot of ‘hanging about’ souvenir hunting; if I failed to find a tea room, I needed to quickly move on to another town or village.

However, for me, this tea towel is more than just about Felixstowe, although I need to add that this is a beautiful, traditional tea towel with views of Felixstowe in a blue tone colour.  I love the picture at the bottom ‘Container Ship leaving Port’ and ‘Docks’, not what you would normally expect on a touristy tea towel.  Maybe Container Ship captains look out for one to take one home to their wives or husbands, mothers or fathers, brothers or sisters and friends.  Nice thought.

Back to why this tea towel is special.  I was given this tea towel, yesterday, when I met up with Catherine (my aunt who is really not much older than me), Amanda (cousin) and Wade (cousin’s husband and, for anyone who remembered the blog about Nuclear Races, Wade crazily takes part in Nuclear Races).  Catherine bought it for me when she had recently been to Felixstowe for a day out, probably watching Container Ships.  I am delighted that she thought of me, and the tea towel collection, while in Felixstowe.

I spent a lot of my childhood holidays with Catherine.  We were bridesmaids together, when I was 7, went to the Lord Mayor’s Parade in pretty awful fancy dress.  We went to the same school but as adults we did not meet up, except on rare occasions.  The last time I met with Catherine and Amanda was in 1986, at a birthday party for Catherine and my mother who shared the same birthday; there are photographs to prove it.  That was the last time, until 2018 when Amanda invited me to a surprise party for Catherine.  There I met Wade for the first time, met up with family from Italy and Wiltshire.  We promised to meet up again.  I kept in contact with Amanda, on a regular basis, through WhatsApp.  She also has become a great supporter of http://www.virtualteatowelmuseum.com by suppling me with some really unusual tea towels (and also persuading her friends to buy me tea towels on their holidays!!).

I didn’t expect the next meeting to be when Catherine’s husband had died suddenly, nor the following meeting to be at Bruce’s funeral but it was really good to meet up at a pub in Bedfordshire for Sunday lunch, several weeks later.  The birthday party did raise some questions, questions I wished I’d asked a long time ago: when did Catherine and Bruce get married, why did Amanda have an operation on her back and when did Amanda and Wade get married?  It was good to have the answers, to be able to fill in the gaps in my family history.  It was lovely to meet up, talk and laugh over a nice meal.

This tea towel will remind me of that Sunday and give me hope that it will happen again, by which time there will be more questions I want answers to.

Benllech: 2012

Benllech is a large village on the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon) and is now the fifth largest settlement on the island although it is now renamed Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithal.  The village and bay is a popular holiday destination.  It has held a Blue Flag since 2004; the beach is shelved and has clean yellow sand which looks out to the Great Orme.

Benllech is on the north coast of Anglesey within easy travelling distance of the Menai Straits and the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford.  The Anglesey Coastal Path runs through Benllech.

I stayed near Llandudno in 2012 and took a trip to Anglesey, the seventh largest island in the British Isles and the fifty-first largest in Europe.  We drove through Beaumaris and took a ride on the Big Wheel, went to Llanfair… station, travelled to Holyhead and visited Benllech, which had a tea towel and saw South Stack, even though we didn’t visit it.

Anglesey is a most beautiful place, the sort of place to spend a quiet, but interesting, holiday.  However, if I think of Anglesey, the first thing that springs to mind is my friend Gwyn, whose father came from Anglesey, who has relatives still living there, who visits every year, if not twice a year, revisits some of those wonderful places and has bought me back several tea towels.  For Gwyn, Anglesey is ‘home’, where her roots are.  She looks forward to those visits each year.

But did you know that Dawn French was born in Anglesey?  There is always something new to learn about Anglesey.

Elizabeth of Glamis, a celebration of Summer Flowers: 1985

If you think of ‘Glamis’, surely Shakespeare’s Macbeth springs to mind.  “All hail Macbeth!  Hail to thee Thane of Glamis” says the first witch in Macbeth, in act 1, scene 3.  A Thane is a man , often chief of a Clan, who held land from a Scottish king.  When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, or any other of his plays, they were not written as accurate historical plays; they were a creative exercise, using bits of history, melding them together and creating a story.  ‘Macbeth’ is based in Glamis Castle, although many people think the location of the play is actually nearer Inverness.

I was looking up ‘Macbeth’ in ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’ when I spotted the inscription on the front cover “Dear Barbara, love and best wishes for the future.  Julie and Amanda xx”.  I realised that this book was over 45 years old; I have photographs of my cousins giving me this present for my birthday.  What a great present, a book in a thick cardboard sleeve.  Then I look at the tea towel, a present to my mother, from her cousin Elizabeth, who lived in Scotland.  My mother saw her quite frequently, both in London and Aberdeen.  On a visit to Aberdeen they both went to Glamis Castle and Elizabeth  bought this as a souvenir of the visit.  Five years later I inherited this tea towel.

Elizabeth of Glamis was The Queen Mother, mother of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2002.  Her father was heir to the Earldom of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Lord Glamis.  During World War I, Glamis castle was a convalescent home where the Queen Mother worked.  After the War, Elizabeth of Glamis was ‘presented’ at court and at her ‘Coming Out’ Ball she met her future husband; they were married in 1923, at Westminister Abbey, the first wedding there since 1382.  “There is not a man in England who doesn’t envy him” wrote Sir Henry Chatham.  They honeymooned at Glamis Castle.

I imagine this tea towel came about because the ‘Elizabeth of Glamis’ is also a bush rose, with repeat flowering and is very fragrant.  It is of a soft but rich salmon colour, upright and of medium height.  I am not sure I understand the link with ‘Summer Flowers’.  On the tea towel the Elizabeth of Glamis rose is represented but why the rest of the flowers? Not for me to worry about, after all, this tea towel is about 35 years old.  While the pattern is not necessarily of my taste, I love a tea towel that brings back memories.

 

Home Grown: 2019

“What shall we plant next year?” Liz asked, as I pulled up the last of the courgettes.

“Don’t know.  But I know we shouldn’t bother with beetroots.  We didn’t get a single beetroot this year”.

“The runner beans were good.  We had loads; they’re worth investing in again” says Liz.

“What about courgettes?  They were good and from just three plants.  The freezer is full of courgette and potato soup”.

“Yes.  Good idea.  But we had loads and loads of tomatoes.  First time we’ve tried outdoor tomatoes in pots.  It’s the south-facing wall that does it.  It protects them from the wind.  The small plum tomatoes were the best and we could cut down on the number of pots” Liz says.  “What about peppers?  They did well.”

“Sounds good” I say “but can we try chillis?  We didn’t this year but it would have been good”.

“I think we could miss out on the potatoes.  We used bags this year but they aren’t big enough.  The garden isn’t really the right size for potatoes.  Let’s leave them out.  We could do onions; they’d be good”.

“That sounds like a plan” I agree.  “I’d like to give broad beans a go.  Never tried them before.  I’d want to avoid cabbages, can’t bear watching the Cabbage Whites eating away at them”.

Liz agrees.  We didn’t want to just have raised beds, we wanted some herbs as well as flowers.  “What about fruit?”.

“Sounds good to me.  We could have some blackcurrants and blueberries; the soil’s right for blueberries and what about a tree?  We could try an apricot.”

“That’s a good idea”.   It’s good to have a plan for the garden for 2020; if you don’t plan in advance, there is a danger you don’t get the right plants in time.  The back garden now feels like home and we’re ready for 2020.

This tea towel is from Ulster Weavers.  I bought it from Fords of Oakham, from their ‘closing down’ sale.  I wanted it to remind me of Fords, a great department store which I was sad to see go.

44 Scotland Street: 2015

I was in Edinburgh in 2015, walking past one of my favourite tea towel shops on Victoria Street, and I saw this tea towel pinned on the wall.  I am a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith; I especially like the ‘Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ series.  I like the fact that he does write series of books.  There’s nothing more annoying than finding an author whose style of writing you like, and characters you become familiar with, only to find they haven’t written anything else.

44 Scotland Street is the first book of a series about the residents of Scotland Street.  However, it started life as a serial in ‘The Scotsman’.  The first episode was on 26 January 2004, published every weekday for six months.  The book retains the 100+ short chapters of the original story.  The ‘Scotland Street’ story has been described as an ‘Episodic Novel’.  It is a delightful story which is gently satirical and wonderfully perceptive, about people and about Edinburgh.  Bertie Pollock is at the centre of the story, although I have to admit that Bertie is not my favourite character.  He’s an annoying little git, I am much fonder of Big Lou.

However, Alexander McCall Smith was not the first author to write a novel in this way.  It started with Armistead Maupin’s ‘Tales of the City’.  He wrote nine novels from 1978 to 2014; the first was serialised, in San Francisco newspapers, before ‘novelisation’.  ‘Publisher’s Weekly’ described Armistead’s work as “episodic, amusing and people with characters both endearing and benignly problematic”; that could describe Alexander McCall Smith to a tee.  ‘The Bookseller’ said “the writing style is understated and humour subtle but, at times, devastating”, that too describes him.

It is an amazing skill to be able to write short chapters every day before being novelised, without changing the wording or style.

This is a tea towel which offers a pictorial image of the characters and the actual house, together with a list of the first seven novels.  There are more and if you haven’t read any of them, you should.  They are great and it is unique to have a tea towel to remind you of the books.

Eggs, Soldiers and Pigeons: 2019

This was a pack of two, encased in cardboard, designed by Cath Kidston.  The ‘multi-pack’ is obviously a clever marketing idea; if you like one of the designs, you have to buy both. I don’t like the ‘multi-pack’ idea.  I like to be able to chose individual tea towels, the ones I like or the ones that I associate with a place or memory.   The ‘multi-pack’ is a great idea if you are not a collector and just want some new cheap tea towels.  There are certainly bargains about and often of reasonable quality.  But ‘designer’ tea towels, no, it’s a rip-off.

I was in London, at St Pancras Station, with some time to spare, so I popped into the Cath Kidston shop.  She has so many tea towel designs, changing all the time, so if you are a fan of her style then there is always a new one to buy.  I was stuck because I wanted the ‘Pigeon’ one but could only have it by buying the two.  I gave in but I have learnt; I’ll never do it again.  I resent having the ‘Egg and Soldiers’ one because I already have one of the same theme.  In fact, if anyone wants the ‘Egg and Soldiers’ tea towel just let me know, it’s yours.

By the time I spent my resentment at having a tea towel that I don’t want, I’ve forgotten why I wanted the ‘Pigeon’ in the first place.  In fact, if anyone wants the ‘Pigeon’ one that’s yours too.  I’ve got my photos for http://www.virtualteatowelmuseum.com.

Mr & Mrs Snow People: Acquired 2019, vintage

Last week I needed a new pair of pyjamas, to be more accurate, pyjama trousers.  The problem is that I am very fussy about pyjamas and, if I need a new pair, I have to start looking early.  I only wear pyjamas, not a nightdress or some kind of one-sy thing.  I can’t stand trousers that are elasticated at the ankles or in that jersey, stretchy material.  I like straight legs, definitely to the ankle, not short or those that never started off the right length.  Then there is the problem of the pyjama top.  If you have, and I trust you don’t, advanced kypho-scoliosis then it is impossible to buy a pyjama ‘set’.  If the trousers fit then the top will be four or five sizes too small; if the top fits then your trousers will not stay up, unless attached by a pair of braces.  The trend of being able to buy trousers and tops separately meets the needs of people like me.

I do like brushed cotton pyjamas; it give you that cosy feel, where you want to get into your pyjamas at 6pm and curl up.  Last Saturday, I started the search and, blow me down, the first shop I tried had just what I was looking for.  It’s not often I get excited about Sainsbury’s.  When I got them home, they were such a good fit and comfortable and brushed cotton and I loved them.  On Sunday, I returned to the shop to buy a second pair (take the opportunity while it is there and I didn’t care if it was in the same pattern) only to find there wasn’t another in my size but there was a Christmas pair.  “It’s nearly Christmas” I thought so I bought them with a view to wearing them on 1 December.

Christmas, for me, starts when my aunt Catherine’s Christmas card arrives; she’s always early, very early, usually around 28 November.  When it comes, I know I can put up my decorations, use my Christmas tea towels and wear ridiculous jumpers.  I thought this year might be different.  The first Christmas after your husband dies is often not when you want to start sending jolly cards and pretending everything is the same; maybe she will but I needed to think of something different.  Then, on 13 November, Ivy’s card arrived.  I have only met Ivy once; she is Liz’s mum’s cousin’s wife.  I have no idea why she is sending cards early, it has never happened before.  But I thought, to get Christmas off with a bang, I’d wear my new Christmas pyjamas.

If I’m wearing Christmas pyjamas, this is time to get the Christmas tea towels out.  To do that, there are a couple of new Christmas tea towels to blog about!  This one came from Con’s Collection which I acquired in August this year.   I’ve known Con for many years, not well but we have met up at Gwyn and Pete’s house at Christmas time.  From what I know of Con, I don’t think she would have bought this herself; it’s not her style.  This must have been a gift to her, and one that she has used a lot.  This was not a tea towel she had kept in a drawer, unused.

In a couple of days time, I will be using my Christmas tea towels big time.  They will go with the Christmas tablecloth that I have just put on the table!  Happy Christmas in 38 days time, according to hannahberridgeceramics on Instagram!

 

National Trust: 1984 to 2019

I have travelled far and wide, Europe, Asia and the Americas as well as all over the British Isles.  I have enjoyed every single minute of it.  When I was at work, I would plan all my holidays for the following year, on New Year’s Day.  I’d work out where to go, when to go and, on many occasions, actually book it there and then.  Most of my colleagues saw me as a ‘Workaholic’; but for me, work was the means of being able to pay for all the holidays that I wanted to go on.  Holidays were the break I needed, to be able to work long, hard hours during the year; if things were tough at work, the holidays, already planned, were something to look forward to, a light at the end of the tunnel.   I usually had four weeks holiday a year, enough time for the ‘big’ holidays but I couldn’t rely on just four weeks as enough time to enjoy myself.

In 1976, I married for the first time.  One of my favourite wedding presents was a National Trust ‘set’ consisting of two tea towels, a tablecloth and a waste paper bin; it had a navy blue background decorated with rows of acorns and their leaves.  Sadly, when I divorced Dave, six years later, that was not one of those things I took with me, especially since I later found out that Pat Albeck, my favourite tea towel designer, designed that set.

One of the best things I did, in 1984, was to join the National Trust.  It was one of those ‘deals’, join up at a property and you could get in free.  John and I were in Cornwall and there were so many properties to visit, joining was bound to save money.  I have been a member ever since, and never once considered ending my membership, or thought that it wasn’t value for money.  There hasn’t been a year when I haven’t used my ticket.

As a member, back in 1987, I was eligible for a ticket, one day only, to walk round the newly acquired Calke Abbey, in a dreadful state, to see what a challenge they had on to make it a property worth visiting.  I loved it; the birds and animals stuffed and standing in large glass cabinets in every room in the house.  There was a room covered entirely in topical cartoons, some gold chairs that were vibrant because the curtains had never been opened in that room.

I’ve stayed in numerous holiday cottages around the country, owned by the National Trust, everywhere from Arlington Court to Acorn Bank.  I’ve enjoyed Bedruthan Steps, one of my favourite places in the whole wide world, and enjoy the memories even though I’m not fit enough to manage the Steps these days.  There was Souter House, in Northumbria, a fantastic lighthouse with a wonderful tea room, serving some of the best soup I have tasted.  On the recommendation of @nt_scones, I tried Christmas Pudding scones at the Treasurer’s House in York and have recommended them to everyone I’ve met.  There’s A La Ronde, with all its quirkiness and walls covered in shells or Lindisfarne Castle designed by Edward Lutyens; Hardwick Hall and its beautiful tapestries.

When Liz needed to start using a wheelchair, we tried the Tramper at Wallington House, a wonderful experience for her, the freedom, not being reliant on an ageing ‘pusher’; now that’s a memory that I will hold with me for many years.  But we’ve tried other NT Trampers, each as good as the other (although, in my opinion, Calke Abbey have made a huge mistake in not allowing you to book the Tramper in advance and I’m sure will lose them a lot of custom).  Killington House and Clumber Park have been great places to visit on a Tramper.

I have some great memories of visiting National Trust properties with friends and family: we went to Killington with Fee, who I remember as being a terrible map reader, to Calke Abbey with Andrew, my cousin from Italy, who sang ‘Hot Cross Buns’ in the nursery to the surprise of other visitors, to Fountains Abbey with Gwyn and Pete (and I have hundreds of photos to prove it), to Laycock with Uncle Chris and Stourhead with my mother.

The National Trust owns some wonderful gardens that I love visiting.  There’s Hidcote and Trelissick, Lanhydrock and Trerice.  Then there was Cragside where the first house with electricity was built.  I could go on forever but your membership also extends to free entry to National Trust for Scotland properties.  My favourite Scottish property has to be the Isle of Canna and staying in a National Trust cottage there for a week but Pitmedden Gardens and Crathes Castle are amazing.

What all these places have in common is that they have tea towels.  Going back to 1970s, the National Trust has sold tea towels of its own properties; in time they changed in style.  Initially they were very traditional, like a picture on a canvas, by a few regular designers (Pat Albeck, David Parry, Lee parry, Katrina).  More recently, some tea towels have taken wallpaper and china designs, that are more difficult to pinpoint where they have come from.  The two more recent changes have been (a) two-coloured line drawings of the particular building, with a strap-line and (b) County or regional maps locating National Trust properties, so clever.  So far, I only have three (East Midlands, Northumbria and Devon), so many more to collect.

On Wednesday, we went to Calke Abbey, purely to shop for Christmas presents, and found the tea towel that is at the top of the page.  Couldn’t resist that simplicity.  The two at the bottom of the page were bought in the National Trust shop in the centre of Sidmouth, back in 2015.  They reminded me of the ones I had for a wedding present but slightly more garish.  I love the National Trust, 35 years a member and enjoyed every minute.