Broadlands

Wow!! What a long way. I am sure there are parts of France that are closer than this. It was a six hour drive to get to this venue, but it was glorious sunny weather all the way (after the sun came up).

http://www.broadlands.net/

At about 9.30am on the Friday morning, after driving around in a few circles (this seems to be obligatory at new venues - for me anyway), I saw a yellow sign saying "craft fair exhibitors this way". It pointed to the left so I duly followed it. As I turned I noticed the local Sports Club on my right and then the road began to narrow. The feelings of Deja Vu were creeping over me. At least the ground was flat, not like Gatcombe Park a few weeks ago. My fears were realised a few moments later when the single track road ended in a barred gate. On the other side of the gate, slightly to the right, was a Caravan Club camp site. I must have turned to early, it must have been the next left turning I thought. I reversed back to a point where the road was slightly wider to attempt a U turn. Two thirds into the turn it was obvious that I was not going to get round so I decided to go into reverse gear and back out of the manoeuvre. My trailer has a mind of its own and has a tendency to decide by its self which is the best direction to go. This was a one of those moments. I hadn't turned the wheel or altered anything so logic said to me the vehicle will go out the way it came in. Nope! The trailer immediately decided to go the opposite way and jack-knife me in up against the fence. Not to worry because the good people in the caravan site had jumped into their huge 4x4 and were heading over to the fence. Help was on the way. They must have seen my Caravan Club sticker in the window and felt the primeval urge to help a fellow camper in distress.

"Oi, your going to have to move that! We need to get out!" the occupant shouted.

Not quite what I had hoped for. While they looked on I unhooked the trailer and heaved it through 90 degrees. This left me just enough room to reverse the motorhome back a few feet and then move out of the way. The 4x4 driver then got out of his vehicle and produced a key to open the gate. He opened the gate and drove through a few feet and then came back and locked it before driving off. He never spoke a word.

Well at least I had managed to turn the van and trailer around. All I needed to do now was hook them back up together and drive back down the lane and see if I could find the correct road. Ten minutes had passed and I had just got the trailer attached when another camper came over.

"It's alright", I shouted, "I'll be out of your way in no time".

"Don't worry", he replied, "I'm not going anywhere. Just out of interest, are you here for the craft fair?".

"Yes, but I've taken a wrong turning. I'm sure it will be obvious which turning it should have been when I get back on the main road" I answered.

"You are in the right place" he said. He pointed to his right, my left, to a field on the other side of the locked fence. "It's just in there. I've got a key but I am not allowed to let you in!"

I looked at the Motorhome and freshly hooked up trailer that I had just spent half an hour turning around to face the other direction. I couldn't speak.

"Why don't you climb over the fence and ask the organisers when they are going to open up?"

"Good idea" I said, and climbed over the fence. As I walked around the first corner there it was, the marquee city that was to be our home for the next few days. Having found Billy, one of the organisers he told me that he had a few things to do but he would be around to open the gate an half an hour or so. I walked back to the van. That meant that I had half an hour to drive down the lane, do a U turn and then sit at the gate and pretend that nothing had happened. At 10.45 Billy turned up and opened up the gate and let me through. I drove through and found our tent. It was right next to the dirt track road in. I opened up the side of the tent and weighed up my options. Reverse the trailer between the tent posts was the most obvious. I worked out that there was about 6 inches clearance on either side. The big question now was did the trailer want to go into the tent or not!! I had already seen what had happened when It didn't want to turn round in the lane. I went over to it and stroked it gently saying,

"Nice trailer, nice trailer. You really do want to go inside don't you? It is going to rain and be horrible outside this weekend. Be a good girl and go inside!"

With this little pep talk over I jumped into the drivers cabin, put the gears into reverse, and drove straight in between the posts at the first attempt. She had obviously taken my advice about the weather. It was a shame I hadn't taken her hints about not turning round in that little narrow lane earlier.

For the record it did rain that weekend, my god did it rain. There was only one thing to do from where I was. I plugged in the PA system, chose the appropriate track on my MP3 and turned up the volume. Moments later Gene Kelly was "singing in the rain".

Woburn Safari Park

You can probably tell but we have been very busy over the last few weeks and I am way behind on these blog entries. From the amount of people who have called me and asked when is the next entry going to be posted, I know they are popular. So if you will accept my apologies I will do some rapid catching up today.
http://www.woburnsafari.co.uk/
I do try to find something out of the ordinary to write about in these blog entries and the major event at our trip to Woburn safari park was extremely moving and caught a number of us by surprise. The week began strangely because I needed to take the mobile furnace down to Woburn very early. Our middle son Tim had a very important doctors appointment on the Friday so I had arranged to take the equipment down early on the Thursday, come straight back home and go to the appointment with him the next day. After the appointment I jumped in the car and drove down to Woburn to begin setting up, Margaret would be following in the motor home later in the evening.
All of the exhibitors had to leave the site by 5.30 on the Friday so that he Police sniffer dogs could sweep the area before a famous after dinner speaker arrived for a function on the estate. I don't know who it was but the rumors were flying round. The nearest I got to finding out who it was when I heard someone angrily say "Its a former Prime Minister who put this country on its knees and in the brink of f****ng bankruptcy!" That still doesn't really tell me who it was, there still seems to be a number of potential candidates that fit that description. As Margaret had the Motorhome I had to wait for her in the local pub. Shame!!
When Margaret did arrive at the pub there was a strange function going on in the opposite side of the pub. There was a psychic evening going on with palm readers, tarot cards, tea leaves and everything else you could imagine. I asked them if they knew who the dignitary was at the function in the safari park but they had no idea. They said that they would need to read the palm of the actual person to give me any information. I told them that if I could see the persons palm I could probably work the rest of it out myself.
The Sunday of the show was November 11th, remembrance Sunday. The organiser, Marge, came up to me early that morning and asked me what I was going to do at 11am. I had completely forgotten, to my shame, that it was remembrance day and I didnt really understand what she was asking me. I thought that maybe she wanted a demonstration to start at that time because of some important visitor, maybe a former Prime Minister. Then the penny dropped. I had the loudest PA system so Marge was hoping I could help with the two minutes silence. I know that you dont have to have a loud PA system to be silent but it helps to inform people when it should start. She had also had a word with Mal from the Strings Puppet Show and at a few minutes to 11am they turned up at out marquee with a very large crowd and two drums. I tuned my radio to Radio4 and the announcer spoke for a few seconds before the chimes from Big Ben began. At this point Mal and his friend began a steady beat on the drum, a heart beat. As the chimes continued this heart beat echoed around the estate. The chimes stopped, three more beats on the drum and then silence. The silence was stunning and painful at the same time. As the two minutes drew to a close I played Eva Cassidy's Fields of Barley, and the empty echoing sounds of the opening line "You will remember me.........." drew the last bit of emotion from the assembled crowd. People were in tears. I have never been moved by a remembrance event before, but I will never forget the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 2007.

Sandown Park

Sandown Park is a rare event on this tour as it is a non marquee event, taking place in an exhibition hall under the main stand of Sandown Park race course. This presents us with new and different challenges that are symptomatic of the UK in the Twenty First Century. The health and safety issues surrounding our demonstration taking place indoors, even though I normally work indoors at the work shop at home, are always interesting. However a new challenge of coping with a number of overzealous security guards who were intent on not getting caught watching the local fireworks display whilst leaving important entrances and exits unattended was something I had not encountered before.

This was our second visit to Sandown with Living Heritage this year and although the numbers attending the show were less than expected, those who did attend were educated crafts collectors and a number of exhibitors had their best show of the year so far! We had particularly good sales at this show and also have a number of ongoing projects that have stemmed from Sandown Park.

Each morning, when we are at these shows, there is essential maintenance that has to be carried out on the furnace between 6.30 and 7am to be ready to do the demonstrations at 10.30am. At this time in the morning it can feel like you are the only person awake but the strange stillness and the stunning views are truly inspiring!

This next picture which was taken onSunday morning, and a few others like it, have been the source material for a new body of work about sunrises which I am currently working on.

A number of our fellow exhibitors have been expressing their wishes to have a go at blowing glass. Bob and Andy have been the first to be brave enough to have a go.

Gatcombe Park

What a weekend! What an adventure!

We decided to continue with our new stress reducing measure for these shows where I travel down to the venue a day early and Margaret follows on with the kids after school on the Friday evening. Gatcombe Park is not too far from us, 100 maybe 120 miles, so a couple of hours and I would be there. I plugged in my trusty Sat Nav and off I set. "Prepare to leave the motoryway soon" she said (the Sat Nav) as I aproached junction 12 of the M5. From my brief look at the map before I set off I thought that it would be junction 13 but if Sat Nav says J12 I will follow her advice. After a few miles she told me to get on to the A46 and "follow the road till further instruction". There was a sign on the road saying Road Closed Due To Flood Damage allowing local access only. There were a few other signs saying single track access only and business as usual so I made an assumption that the road would be passable with care. What a mistake!! The road got narrower and narrower and then after about a mile and a half there was a barier across the road stopping all traffic. It was single track at this point and I had the motorhome with a trailer on it. There was no where near enough room for a U turn or a 3 point turn. There was only one thing to do. I pulled the motor home over onto the verge at the side of the road and unhooked the trailer. I then reversed the Motorhome past the trailer for about a half mile till the road got wider. I did a 3 point turn and then reversed back down the lane. Our trailer is not a small lightweight thing, it is a twin axle 2 tonne trailer with a glass furnace on it. I extended the jockey wheel to raise the front axle off the ground and then basically tugged at the trailer for about 20 minutes till I had turned it round. I was shattered. I wouldnt normally attempt to turn the trailer on my own, I would ask two or three people to help. I had no choice; it had to turn round.

I hooked the trailer back up and set off on my way, cursing the Sat Nav and my own stupidity!

Things were going fine now, trundeling along the A419 when she who must be obeyed chirped up with a new set of instructions. " Turn left in 300 yards and then turn left immediately!" I began to turn left and stopped part way round the corner. "Where the hell is she taking me now?" I thought. The first road was small but the second left was tiny and went under the main A419. I got out the map and looked for Gatcombe Park. It wasnt there! I was later told that it is not on the map for security reasons. So I had a close look at the Sat Nav. It was showing one mile to go. I pressed the zoom out button and it showed no other alternative roads. Faced with what seemed to be no choice I followed the Sat Nav's route and went along Knapps Lane. After going under the A419 the lane narrowed dramatically. The trees were touching both sides of the Motorhome. It is also Autumn (Fall for my American readers) so the lane was deep in wet leaves. I crossed a small canal and then the lane went almost vertically upwards. I could smell the clutch burning as I struggled up the hill. Then suddenly the grip on the road was gone. The wet leaves had won and I was rolling backwards down this tiny lane. I mannaged to stop the roll by getting the trailer off the road and stuck in a mud bank. I turned the wheels of the Motorhome as far as I could, left it in gear, pulled the handbrake as hard as I could and turned off the engine. I then got out and pulled the handbrake on the trailer as hard as I could. My heart was pounding as I looked around only a few feet away was the edge of the canal! I wasnt taking pictures at this point so you will have to imagine the scene. I decided I needed some proffessional help. With the insurance policy for the Motorhome came a free AA membership but where on earth was the details. I had to phone home to Margaret to ask het where the membership pack was. "In the black wallet in the cupboard at the back of the van" she said. I looked back in the drivers cabin and down the inside. The van was on a near vertical slope and I was going to have to get back in and go to the end cupboard. I climbed back in and began to move slowly down the main cabin. As I reached half way I could hear the brakes begin to creak as the Motorhome tried to roll further backwards to the canal! I dropped flat to the floor and the rolling stopped. I crawled along the floor like a commando out of some awfull B movie to the back cupboard, grabbed the wallet and scrambled back up the hill to the drivers door and got our quickly. I called the AA and waited. At the bottom of the hill was a white transit van. There was no way he was going up the hill in a hurry with me blocking the road so I decided to advise him to find an alternative route. He said he was in no hurry and it looked as if I was in need of some help so he walked up the hill to survey the scene. While we were looking we could hear the brakes on the trailer groan as it tried to roll into the water! The Good Samaritan (I never did get his name) ran down the hill, got in his van and reversed it up till it touched the trailer and pulled on the breaks. "That 'll stop it rolling" he said, "Do you want a cup of tea?". He opened up the side door of his van, filled up a kettle and put it on a gas hob. He told me, as we had our cuppa, not even the locals would use Knapps Lane and it getts even steeper round the corner. After abou 40 minutes a very nice man from the AA arrived in a 6 wheel Four by Four. I know that cant be right but he told me it was a 4x4 and it had 6 wheels, so who knows what it was. He fastened a chain onto the front of the Motorhome and winched it down the hill. Then he did the same with the trailer. It probably took about an hour and a half to sort out after he arrived. The Good Samaritan then lead me the safer way to Gatcombe Park. Remember that this is supposed to reduce the stress involved in getting to these shows.

The set up for the show went very smoothly. For this show we had the end of a very large marquee rather than one on our own. Because of this we needed a few minor alterations to our normal set up but nothing too significant. At ten o'clock the doors opened and the crowds streamed in and it stayed busy till the show ended at six o'clock. During the four o'clock demonstration i was showing how hot the molten glass was by resting a bit of tisue paper on it. I do it all the time. The paper bursts into flames and everybody goes "Oooooh!". This time after it burst into flames it blew away and landed on the grass about four feet away from me. I made some poor joke about Windsor Castle going up in flames a few years ago so we had better be careful about the daughters house at the bottom of the hill! I looked up and at the back of the audience was Princess Anne!! If a hole had opened up just then I would have jumped in it! At the end of the show She came over for a chat with Timothy Lawrence. They were asking lots of questions about us and our business for around 20 minutes or so. Princess Anne commented that our prices were very reasonable considering the quality and the amount of work that had gone in to each piece. I said that Margaret has always wanted to make things that her Mother could afford. Princess Anne looked at us with a little twinkle in her eye and said that she thought her mother could afford them also!! After she had gone I went up to our 13 year old son Tim and said "do you know who that was?"

He looked blankly back at me.

"That is Royalty, that is the Princess" I said.

"Really?" answered Tim, "I thought David Beckham had blonde hair and that guy's hair was dark"

My jaw hit the floor, I was speechless.

"Its a joke Dad, it's a joke." said Tim.

I really fell for that one!!

That evening I told Margaret to phone her mother up and tell her. She is a fan of all things Royal. They were talking for ages.

The following day Princess Anne came back and bought a few bits and pieces. As Iwas carefully wrapping them up she commented, "Dont worry about the bubble wrap, I havent got far to to go."Then she said "Actually in this weather I could easily roll down the hill. Keep wrapping!" That little twinkle was back in her eye again. Just before she left this time she came up to me and said, "Give me some details so we can stay in touch. It looks like I've got a wedding coming up soon. How long does it take for set of glasses to be made?"

How many glasses are in a set and who's wedding she meant I dont really know, but I can guess!

Thoresby Park

Thoresby Park was the desination of this weeks Living Heritage Event. This is the first of a series of Craft Shows circuit having done a few of the Country and Game Show events. This stunning building is now a Warner Hotel (http://www.warnerbreaks.co.uk/) having been previously owned by the Coal Board.

Margaret and I had decided that a new aproach was needed to try and reduce the amount of last minute rushing around preparing these shows. The answer is for me to go a day earlier to the event to begin setting up whith Margaret following on after the kids had finished school the next day.

By the time I had got to Thoresby Park it was about 8pm and very very dark. I had a quick look around but couldnt see anyone or anything. I decided to settle down for the night just exactly where I was and sort out everything in the morning. After cooking myself a meal I decided to settle down for the night in the bed above the drivers cabin of our motor home. I dont know how long I had been asleep when I heard the the engine turn over. A few seconds later I heard it rev up and then I could feel the vehicle rock from side to side as it drove off across the grass. "It cant' be moving" I said to myself, "there is nobody else here!" I wondered if I had left the keys in the ignition. I decided to pull back the curtain of the sleeping bunk and peer outside. I could see the trees rushing past quite close to me. Carefully I climbed down the ladders to the main cabin and then opened up the curtains to the drivers seat. There I saw a Polish guy who I recognised as one of Marge, the organiser's staff. "What the **** are you doing!" I shouted at him. He calmly turned round and said in broken English "Marge say move the van!! you are blocking entrance!!". I looked forward and saw that we were now hurtling through a small town at about 60mph. and the trailer was still attached. "Where are you going?" I demanded. "we have to go through the town to the back of the field" he said. Faster and faster he drove the van. "Don't worry we are nearly there" he said. At this point he slammed on the breaks and I was hurled forwards. The next thing I new I was sat bolt upright in the bunk above the drivers cabin. A dream! it was just a bloody dream!! I must cut down on the cheese before I go to sleep at nights!

Belvoir Castle Country Show

The weather was kind to us this weekend at the Belvoir Castle Country Show. It was overcast but dry; ideal if you are stood in front of a glass furnace. The mixture of events and attractions is phenomenal at these Country shows. We found ourselves sandwiched between a stick maker and weather vane blacksmith on one side and a laser beam clay pigeon shoot on the other. We were also a "bus stop" for the horse and trap rides.

On Saturday the audiences for our shows were good but started to drop off in the afternoon. I soon realised that a lot of people were desperate to watch England get battered by the Aussies in the rugby world cup. I decided to put the radio on and listen to the match. Word must have got round about the radio because our marquee began to fill up, mostly with the male gender it has to be said. Then the unbelievable happened. England won!! The euphoria turned into sales and normal service was resumed.

My cousin and his children were visiting us at the show. They had taken a little time out of a rock climbing holiday to help us out. In the evening we watched Harry Potter on the large screen that we use for close up shots during the demonstrations. We turned it into a huge TV dinner by having a barbecue at the same time. It was wonderful. The evening ended in terror as our youngest son Josh had a horrendous asthma attack. The worst of the attack lasted for about an hour and a half, but he had breathing problems all night.

I have to get up at 6.30 in the morning to get the furnace ready for the first show at 11. That was very difficult after almost no sleep, but the show must go on.

Sundays crowds were constantly large and very appreciative all day.

A familiar scene

This is a very familiar image for us at craft shows this year, tired children , up to their knees in mud. Don't get me wrong, the kids have loved it. Jumping around in mud puddles and getting absolutely covered in it has been great fun for them! Not so great for the rest of us however.

I must have missed that lesson in college all of those years ago: the one where they teach you to blow glass under water!

Well summer is all but over now and the kids are back at school. Just about time for the weather to improve! We have a heavy schedule of shows ahead of us. It should have included one this weekend at Cholmondley Castle near to our home on the Welsh /Cheshire border. You pronounce it "Chummley". Bizzarrely it was called off due to foot and mouth. The last time that I checked foot and mouth was over 200 miles away. The Cholmondley estate are still allowing visitors to the gardens and it is still being used as a bus terminus. There was a steam rally 2 miles from the estate just a couple of weeks ago with over 30,000 visitors and a circus has just come to town, so I don't understand why estate decided our show had to be cancelled.

Well its Belvoir Castle at the weekend and we are really looking forward to it. You pronounce this one "Beaver"!! I think most of these places were named by dyslexics. Last time we were there we watched Oliver Cromwell and a buch of round heads walk past us and head for the beer tent. Strange things always happen at these shows!!!