A Taste of the
Peak District
Peak District, Derbyshire residential leisure holidays in spinning and weaving …
Cromford Mill is generally accepted as being the birthplace of the factory system, but spinning and weaving was a widespread cottage industry throughout the county of Derbyshire before Arkwright built his mill. In Bonsall Village for example, you can still see the cottages with the large upper-storey windows to let in sufficient light to enable the home spinners and weavers to carry out their trade.
Although Arkwright's mill at Cromford killed off waving and spinning as a cottage industry, the skills have not been lost in the county - there are plenty of courses for hobbyist spinners an weavers to choose from.
For example, Skylark Holidays, near Sutton on the Hill in the south of Derbyshire, within easy reach of Derby, Burton and Ashbourne and close to the Peak District and the National Forest, offer both spinning and weaving courses. These can be just a quick weekend in which you learn the basics or a week stay, learning these crafts in more detail. The spinning skills leisure breaks will take you through the basics - selecting, sorting and preparing fleece; selecting and preparing your wheel; spinning a singles yarn; plying and finishing whilst for more experienced spinners can learn how to spin fancy yarns and work with exotic fibres like camel, alpaca, angora rabbit, mohair, cashmere, silk and much, much more
After one of the residential weaving courses you will come away with the satisfaction that you have given your creative juices a chance to flow. You may even get the bug to want to learn how to get creative with luxury fibres like angora and silk or get trendy with eco-yarns like bamboo and use natural dyes to help the environment. There are courses for all abilities in which you can learn the basics or find out how to push your skills to the limits on your specialist 'rigid heddle' loom!
Follow these links to find the full details of the spinning courses and weaving holidays
Other recreational and special interest holidays and courses in Derbyshire and the Peak District: