Rams head poker

A few months ago I was watching Ade Edmundson on 'The Dales'. Required viewing for me as a newcomer to the Yorkshire Dales. He visited a Blacksmiths and throughout the episode the editor cut back to the creation of a lovely fire poker with a rams head handle. I commented at the time to Judith that 'its lovely, what craftsmanship, isn't it good that such skills still exist' or something along those lines. Now Judith is a canny lass and filed this away up top. For my birthday this year I got a small carrier bag with a picture of said poker and a promise to have a similar one made by our very own Blacksmith at his smithy here in Settle.

This is a local sheep (ok its a ewe, not a ram, but they have similar horns) You can see the way the horns curl out and away from the head, making a circle round the ears, Its a breed called Dalesbred. Our neighbour Joan who wont mind me telling you is in her 80's, prefers these sheep to all others as apparently you can wrestle these beggars by their headgear, whereas a Texel sheep has no horns and so is a lot harder to handle.

So, yesterday morning we arrived at the forge and David Clements was waiting for us . He's a lovely bloke and very very accommodating with his explanations from everything from how the forge works through the history of blacksmithing to what was going on with the poker he was creating for me . No question too stupid it seemed.

This is the forge, the heart of the smithy, Its at a slight angle to the room walls. In times gone by this was to accommodate a set of bellows, hand operated to blow air into the coke fire, increasing the temperature and allowing the metal to be worked .Today, in a nod towards mechanisation, there is an electric blower doing this job, which can be adjusted to allow the fire to become hotter or cooler, depending on need.

 

The forge room itself is a thing of beauty, its festooned with a million bits and pieces hanging from the rafters. There are many metalworking machines: presses, drills, welders and one beast of a piece, an automatic hammer.

This is David firing up the Forge for us. He usually wears a leather apron. You don't wear wellies in the smithy, in case hot bits of metal find their way down there. Imagine. He tells a very funny story told to him by the previous blacksmith about an unwelcome visitor who got some red hot metal down his open necked shirt. It travelled all the way down his clothing until it fell out his trouser bottoms. He didn't come back.

 

So this is the beginning. Its a 1/4 inch rod of iron produced in Orgreave (remember the miners strike, yes that Orgreave) I wanted a poker about 2ft long, so he cut it to about 18 inches. the pointy end is drawn out by about 6 inches.

 

The handle end was heated up to red hot and split down the middle for about 4 inches using a hammer and cold chisel. This would become the horns later.

 

Below the split the rod was flattened and bent and folded in over itself to form the head proper. This was done at a much higher temperature to weld the iron to itself. This is the best way to join metal to metal. If you were to then saw this in half , you would not see a join. Problem with this is, the horn spikes were in danger of getting too hot and burning off, so they had to be cooled at regular intervals.

 

So, once the head and horns had been formed, the detail could be added. the horns were drawn out and twisted and the facial features added.

The shaft was beaten using the beast of the automatic hammer and the pointy end drawn out and beaten into a spike.

 

The whole thing took about 2 hours, David even made us tea.

 

 

 

Here's an awful picture of me holding my birthday present. I'm almost wishing for some cold weather so I can use this in anger. We had my initials and the year stamped on the shaft for good measure.

 

Its funny, we have walked past the smithy many times and wondered if it was still working. Question answered. David has many commissions and is a true artist in metal. We learned that he is responsible for the iron gates to the friends meeting house here in Settle which look like they may have been wrought in the forges of middle earth. Judith tracked David down from there, he has no website. He's also done some work for a friend of his in St Lucia (nice gig!) where he cast some iguanas in bronze to decorate the stairway he also created.

 

Settle never fails to amaze me. local arts and crafts are thriving. We have a cobbler who will make me a pair of walking boots for about £100, guaranteed not to leak. Then there are the farming brothers who produce 'Blue pig bacon' .

I just hope our venture into the hostelry business stack up against these artists in metal, leather and Pig!

 

The walking wounded.

Well, Judith got back safe and sound from her parents, Dad seems to be on the mend and she probably wont have to go down again until her mothers op in September, hooray.
The electrician arrived early on Monday morning and set about doing all the snagging, but it was all rather fundamental stuff if you ask me, powering up hot water return pumps and putting in lights as per the schedule are not snags. Laurence arrived on Thursday, with hurty ankle and scabby elbow, but otherwise ok thankfully . He does however have to undergo a small op next week down south for an old shoulder injury (jujitsu) so is coming back here on Tuesday we think, to recuperate.

Here he is with his Ma, on a short walk to the river at Litton yesterday. It was a lovely day and the walk was ostensibly to work up an appetite for lunch at the Queens arms pub. Despite lots of rain the river bed was bone dry, but I took some nice shots of the surrounding countryside.

 Mother and son headed for pub

 

I love the lichens on this old signpost.

 

The vegetation in this lane make me think its probably a stream at some times too.

A small downside was that Judiths seafood platter was almost completely tasteless. If you closed your eyes and ate one of the shrimp it was like eating a small piece of slightly chewy rubber, but not as tasty.

There was a bit of untoward excitement caused by me forgetting to fill the car up with diesel and running on fumes on the way back. We spluttered into Settle a bit like a clowns car at the circus.

 

We are now officially in decorating defcon one phase. I had a bit of trouble mounting the small chandelier in the new front bathroom, lath and plaster all being a bit crumbly to work with. Ordered this Pattress of the net, it sort of matches the toilet seat (mahogany) and with a bit of luck and a following wind, it screwed in to the laths quite well. Not a bodge job in sight. And I just love the word Pattress. Pattress, Pattress, Pattress. All right Martin, don't wear it out.

 

We have a lavender plant in the garden that has been full of cabbage whites when the sun shines. The garden is looking a bit dusty, truth be told, it seems that most of the plants are early flowering, must rectify that and put in some late flowering plants.

 

The new front bathroom is now undercoated and the shower burnished to gleaming . Just need to put up the 'Borrowed light' F&B paint so that John can finish the fixings when he gets back off holls.

 

This was me this morning after painting the ceiling of the shower.

Think i'm turning into a turkey, look at that bloody neck! Gobble gobble gobble.

 

Off to deliver Laurence to Gig in a bit (short for Giggleswick apparently) and thence to his Dads in leatherhead prior to his op on Monday, good luck Laurence.

Then we are off to Lancaster to the Dukes Playhouse for the RSC's 'live' film of Branagh's Macbeth. Going with Sister Sally and hopefully fixing her lock at the same time.

I have I-tuned the original cast soundtrack of Calamity Jane so that I can practice my bits whilst we decorate the house. There are no rehearsals until 27th August and we have been asked to be book-free by then. Of course Judith may have actually done away with me before that!

Morecambe visitors

This is just a short post, mostly to do with a visit from Cass my nephew and his lovely partner Lynsey, who have just left (its Sunday afternoon on 28/7.)
Since the last offering the building work and bathroom fitting has all but finished, Hip Hip Hooray!
John the main contractor has packed his van for nearly the last time and gone on holiday, having worked like a Trojan for the last week, above and beyond his remit. I found him putting chrome shrouds on the bathroom rads , something we were expecting to look ok if painted, but he is a true craftsman and wanted it all to look 'correct' as he put it.
We had a bit of a run in with the narky sparky again, he was quite rude to us and is definitely off the invite list for the opening bash. I cant understand why some people are so bad at customer relations. I suppose 20+ years in customer service in some capacity or other will make you expect a certain level of politeness, I don't want deference just good service. Rant over, on with the blog.

This is the 'Green room' which has the partitioned off bathroom. We have had the coving done so that when its decorated it will look a bit less like someone has robbed a room for the sake of an en-suite. Which is exactly what we have done. I've cleared out all the rubbish, taken off the old gripper rods (ouch they are sharp) and now its ready for decorating. Sister sally came round last Friday to give us a hand. She and Judith set about polishing the bathroom tiles with baby oil. John asked if he could watch.

This is the existing bathroom , now the en-suite for the 'Yellow room' it is also just about complete , just needs decorating and curtains/window seat cushions. I say 'just', but am I that delusional? I reckon that it will take the two of us a week to do each room properly, to a good standard. We are getting a bloke I met down Settle social club to do a weeks decorating for us (thanks here to Jean and Harry for monetary assistance). Me and Paul have a mutual love of all things Manchester united, so I'm tempted to have a red devil motif in the hallway. Just kidding Judith.

 

We have been busy making 'our' bathroom a bit less like a British rail lavvy by putting up, in my usual jaunty- angled way some home comforts and mirrors , posters etc. There are now two mirrors on opposite walls and if you look at a certain angle you get that infinity effect so beloved of the Doctor Who visual effects department circa 1960. Trippy.

 

Poor cat has had to have her own parasol. Its funny how in hot weather they seem to elongate themselves .

 

 

And finally, Lynsey and Cass my dear nephew came over today with young Siberian Husky Rudi. We went for a short walk down to the river to see if any Salmon were leaping yet. Its quite amazing how a few days rainfall can have such a huge effect on the river, It was in full spate and very brown with peat deposits. There is a green HEP plant just to the right in this picture. Its a reverse Archimedes screw and was rotating like the clappers. It supplies power via cells to the houses by the river and any excess is sold off to the power companies. Very impressive and quite low-tech, down side is it only works when the river is at a certain level.

 

View over the Ribble towards Langcliffe and the school sports fields.

 

Judith is off again to see her parents tomorrow for a few days leaving me to deal with the sparky. Cheers.

See, I told you it was a short edition.

Cornish visitors

Hello everyone. Its Sunday afternoon and our guests Alexander and Meg have just gone back to Cornwall , we hope they have a safe drive back and are not too hot in any traffic jams.

The bathrooms are nearing completion, this one has its bath and is just waiting for the boards to go down . Amtico suggest 18mm hardboard with screws to the floorboards every 20cm. In the new front bathroom that was 530 screws. This room is about twice the size. So leaky plumbing is not an option! We have had to identify where the traps for the bath and shower are in the rooms downstairs just in case we have to take out any ceiling to rectify future errors. Doesn't bear thinking about.


'Yellow room bathroom'

Our personal bathroom is now complete, all the pipes boxed in and white undercoat applied. Its a bit too clinical so we are going for some more muted tones for the top coat. Amazing to think there was a large cupboard where the bath is.

Actually, the bathroom is now a light yellow and looks much nicer.

 

Our bathroom takes shape

Judith's son Alexander came to stay with his girlfriend Meg on their way back down from a short holiday in Edinburgh. We barbecued and got the fire pit out for the first time here. Got ever so slightly squiffy.

 

Also have been eating outside, having to use the parasol as the sun has been too much. The new bit of lawn now looks ok, its as patchy as the rest of it so blends in well.

 

For some reason Alex decided to wear the slow cooker as a hat.

Sally came over and brought her best Victoria sponge. Her and Judith spend a lot of time in this chair plotting.

Raz decided that our favourite festival chairs were far too good for us and requisitioned this one.

 

Judith has to go see her mum next week down south, so im left at the mercy of the builders for a while.  Laurence added to the general stress by doing what was expressly forbidden: hiring a motorbike in Greece.  William's wheel fell off (the bikes are SO well maintained) and Tom and Laurence veered off the road.  Fortunately the injuries to the boys were minor but Laurence's bike was fatally injured.  Judith's wallet was struck a mortal blow.  Laurence is paying back the debt by being our painting slave.

 

See, the bathroom is now yellow.

 The new en-suite is now complete for the 'Green room' and I had a shower in it at Johns request, so I know it doesn't leak.

 

 

 We seem to have a Song thrush set up a nest in the Wisteria. Its been so hot lately that I have left a few windows open at night. One morning I got up early and heard this incessant cheeping coming from the first floor. Seems like one of its young has flown in and couldn't figure out its escape. Whilst fending off the cat with one hand I managed to scoop the little fella up in t'other (see, im nearly Yorkshire now) and release him into the garden, phew.

 

 Looks more like a small frog than a Thrush. Size of them feet!

Judith eventually got back from looking after her Dad, and on Monday we took some time off to go sight seeing. We had heard Kirby Lonsdale was pretty and its on the way virtually to Sedburgh and the Howgill hills, where we had planned to do a big walk, Judith's bad back allowing (too much wheelchair lifting).

 

 

 

 

 

This is us walking. It was far too hot so we had a stroll along the river Rawthey, a tributary of the Lune and ace trout stream. Judith got very annoyed because her untrained fisherman's eye initially couldn't spot them lurking in the shallows. But dogged determination won the day and now she can spot them better than me.

This is the Parish church of St Mary in Kirby Lonsdale. Its

got a fine self-closing gate that is very Heath-Robinson.

Kirby is lovely and has a bridge over the river that you can swim off. It was packed that day and there were loads of bikers cooling off there and in the pubs. Lots of antique shops and nice upholstery and gals clothing places.

 

 

This is the Rothay, Its clear and shallow at the moment, not much rainfall for a while. There is a plethora of beautiful wildflowers, many of which only grow up north so we had to get the book out to ID them when we got back. Giant Bell flowers do exacty what it says on the packet.

 

 Giant Bells

 

 

These are the Howgill hills at Sedburgh. They aren't very high and on a cooler day they make very good walking. There are several of them, all about the same size, so you can do as many as you want, depending on your level of fitness. We didn't do any that day!

 

 On the way back Judith drove and gave me the map to navigate. Foolish woman! I decided we should head back via the little white roads on the map instead of the red or yellow ones. They are quite narrow the white ones. This one took us back via Dent and dentdale and lovely views of the Dent Viaduct. Its not as long as the Ribblehead Viaduct but its in a fairly steeply sided gorge and is probably prettier, given the setting.

 

Raz has been at the kitty crack or Catnip as its known round here. I made this little chicken wire net to go over it so she can only destroy little bits at a time. I do feel a bit like her dealer sometimes though.

 

two quick last pictures taken from roughly the same angle .

This one is the new front bathroom after John had laid the hardboard, making it nice and flat for Chris the Amtico man.

 

Before,

 

 After.

 

 

Draughts anyone?

 

Paloma Faith and Dalby Forest

Well, when I finished up last weekend we were just off to Pickering and Paloma Faith in Dalby Forest. Really looking forward to it. It was a great gig only slightly spoiled by the very tight security on the way in. They searched EVERYBODY'S BAGS. Several thousand people were queuing up to get in, and we started to have a sense of humour failure. It took about an hour of queuing to get in.

 

But once we were in it didn't seem to matter much, especially as we managed to smuggle some vodka and pimms in!

We stayed in a small hotel just outside Pickering and shared a cab with a young couple going there, and had to rely on the hotel owner to pick us up at the end, bless you Liz. The venue is deep into the forest, about 4 miles from Pickering. No public transport, no help from the forestry people. Lovely setting but crap security and bad access. Probably wont be going there again.

 

We went for a short walk up on to the town trail, mostly to try out my new walking boots and came across this sight. Probably the horse with the best view ever, in a meadow of  wild flowers.

 

It was my birthday on the 4th July,I got some lovely presents including this rather natty waistcoat from Judith. She has also booked me in with the local blacksmith to have my own Rams head fire iron made. Sally came up for the day and the 3 of us went off to Carlisle and back on the train. What a journey, you go over numerous viaducts, including ribblehead, the big one, and as the line skirts the dales to your right as you travel north, you get fantastic views of the 3 peaks, Whernside, Pen-Y-Ghent and Ingleborough. Have to admit that Carlisle wasn't really that lovely, we only had about an hour there and somebody tried to sell me their dog whilst sitting on a man-bench in the town centre.

For the journey Judith had made a lovely picnic, complete with gingham tablecloth, Champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries. This is the sort of thing we are planning to offer our guests as a packed lunch.

 

I know, Ozzy Osbourne look a like!

.

Model for the fire Iron

 

Only slightly blurred view from train of Whernside

On the following Friday we went on a sojourn south to see Judith's father who is recovering well in hospital, then on to stay with good friends Dan and Robert in Kent (thanks boys),

 

before going to Laurence's prize giving day at St Edmunds in Canterbury. This is him in the middle with mates Tom on the right and William, left. They were off to the leavers ball and are soon off to Greece island hopping together.

 

Laurence actually agreed to pose for this one , taken at Tom's parents house near Canterbury where we stayed the night after the prize giving. Many thanks to Julia and Peter for their wonderful hospitality and looking after Laurence like second parents.

Then it was a race back up the motorways ahead of the arrival of Judith's other son Alexander and his lovely girlfriend Meg. Alex hasn't been here before and seemed suitably impressed until Monday morning when a full compliment of plasterers, electricians, plumbers and bathroom fitters arrived to shatter the rural idyl. We have had a few set backs with the building, not least the discovery that some of the plumbing in the existing 1st floor bedroom runs uphill aways. This and extra plastering means we are just about double our original estimate for the work. Ho Hum.

 

To escape we took the kids (kids! he's 6ft 9in!) on our fave walk from Austwick to Feizor and back again , a circular walk of about 4 miles with a stop at Elaine's Café in Feizor for thunder and lightning ice cream.

It was the hottest day so far this year, a bit warm for a hike. Alex took this one of us meandering back through the corn fields towards the (closed on Mondays, dam it) Game Cock in Austwick.

 

 

I have spared you so far this blog, but the house moves on apace, the Amtico blokes arrive on the 20th July (its the 10th today) so most of the work has to be completed in the next 10 days. Then there is a small matter of decorating, which we reckon may be 4-6 weeks and me and Judith are going to do the bulk of this.

This is the existing 1st floor bathroom with re-aligned doorway and new plaster.

 

We have had a few problems with hairy arsed men using our bathroom, so John put up a quick sign, which was promptly ignored. The locksmith arrives today, that should sort the problem out.

And the small en-suite is nearly done.

So its been a full and interesting 10 days since the last blog update, and I cant see it getting any quieter any time soon. My role in Calamity Jane has been changed to 'Wizened old prospector/cowboy' and I have speaking (drawling) parts. I have lines to learn!
See you in a bit.....