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Join Carolyn Forster in Yorkshire on this fantastic quilting retreat, enjoying three full days of quilting workshops using our Bernina sewing machines. You’ll also get to widen your knowledge of Yorkshire’s fascinating textile history with visits to the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles Collection and Halifax Piece Hall, which is the only remaining Georgian cloth hall in the world. With other highlights including discoveries of Queen Street Mill and the UNESCO-listed Saltaire Village, this holiday is guaranteed to leave you feeling inspired.
Please choose your preferred 8 day itinerary
Project information: Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt Exploration, three ways and almost endless possibilities. Using sewing machines, we will be discovering the fun in sewing the simple Nine Patch block and then looking at three different ways to cut and recreate the blocks into something very different. As well as being able to set the blocks altogether into one quilt, you will see lots of examples of other quilt settings for the blocks. Lots of ideas to spur your creativity!
Meet Carolyn Forster and your tour manager at the Leonardo Hotel Bradford. Enjoy dinner this evening at the hotel and get to know your fellow stitchers.
Today, we will leave the hotel and drive to Halifax to visit the Grade I listed Piece Hall. This architectural and cultural phenomenon is the only remaining Georgian cloth hall in the world. Delve into its 250-year history on a guided tour with one of the knowledgeable heritage guides. There will be some time at leisure to explore and enjoy a bite to eat before we continue to Saltaire Village. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is named after Sir Titus Salt, who built a textile mill – known as Salts Mill – and this village on the river Aire. The village was famous for producing high end luxury fabrics, and samples of Sir Titus Salt’s cloth can be seen in Salts Mill. Enjoy free time to explore.
Today, your first workshop with Carolyn takes place at the hotel.
The walled city of York has Roman roots, a Viking past, and is home to the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles Collection. After breakfast at our hotel, we will be transferred to York, where we will begin the day with a guided walking tour. This tour will take you through York’s ‘Snickleways’, uncovering rich history and taking you to some of its fabric shops. Enjoy some time at leisure for lunch before we walk to the Quilters’ Guild to see some of their historic collection. With one of the curators, we see how the collection shows various styles and techniques across the ages.
Enjoy a full-day workshop at the hotel with Carolyn.
The Queen Street Mill is the last surviving 19th-century steam-powered weaving mill in the world. During a guided tour, we will meet one of the weaving technicians who will demonstrate weaving on one of the Lancashire looms. Enjoy exploring this Grade 1 listed building and relive the days when cotton was king. After a soup and sandwich lunch, we’ll return to Bradford for a free afternoon.
Enjoy your last day with a full-day workshop at the hotel with Carolyn and dinner this evening.
After a leisurely breakfast, it is time to return home.
Tour notes: You will need to have a reasonable level of fitness to get the most out of this holiday. On excursion days you will need to walk a short distance from the hotel/ship to the coach and you should be able to board the coach unaided. On arrival at the excursion destination, you should be able to alight the coach unaided and there may be a walk between the coach drop off point and the excursion venue. By their nature, walking tours, museum visits etc involve being on your feet for a significant amount of time. Whilst our excursions are taken at a leisurely pace, for the enjoyment of everyone in the group you should be able to keep up with your fellow travellers.
You will stay for 7 nights at the Leonardo Hotel Bradford.