Last year I had the very great pleasure of meeting Rosemary Champion. As well as producing wonderful local yarn and meat from her own Rosedean Ryelands, Rosemary is a huge source of inspiration and advice to folk all over Scotland (and beyond) as The Accidental Smallholder. If you have any sort of interest in raising livestock on a small scale; in growing fruit or vegetables; in keeping bees; and in creating sustainable, household-supporting businesses from any of these endeavours, you are likely to have come across Rosemary. She is completely brilliant (and her Ryeland yarn is pretty special too).
Rosemary is involved in many aspects of smallholding in Scotland, including the Scottish Smallholder Festival and I was really honoured when she invited me to attend this year’s festival as a judge (of the crafted fleece section).
I dearly love a country show, and the distinctive nature of this one — small Scottish producers, coming together to celebrate what they do and share their expertise — makes it particularly appealing. Tom and I had a fantastic day meeting smallholders of all kinds, and it was great to run into other friends from the local world of yarn and knitting, like Jo & Mica of Edinburgh Yarn Fest and Louise of KnitBritish. Throughout the day, Lanark agricultural centre fairly bristled with the passion and energy of folk who just love what they do. There were seminars and demonstrations on a wide range of topics (from keeping alpacas to processing fleece and fibre), some lovely local yarns to try (from New Lanark and Hawkshaw Sheep), and generous skill-sharing from groups like the Lanarkshire Beekeepers Association, and Lanarkshire Spinners and Weavers.
As you can imagine, we all enjoyed meeting the sheep, among which the Ryelands (a favourite smallholding breed) were particularly well represented.
Though there were some wonderful Shetland and Hebridean sheep to be admired as well.
I am very fond of pigs . . .
. . .Tom enjoyed photographing the poultry (including this very zen, self-possessed, and really striking silkie) . . .
. . . and who can resist an opportunity to spend some time with such amazing goats?
In the judges’ enclosure, it was down to business.
The array of eggs was glorious…
. . . there were some extraordinarily beautiful carved sticks and crooks . . .
. . .and many tasty home-baked treats (I love bourbon biscuits so was very envious of those who got to sample these!)
My own job was very difficult.
As well as judging several different classes of finished woolly items (among which there was some lovely work, such as this impeccably-finished hand-woven cushion), I had to assess samples of hand-spinning. There was some beautiful spinning on display using combed tops, and hand-dyed fibres. . .
But the examples I most enjoyed were those where I could really appreciate the whole process from raw fleece to finished skein.
It was a hard task to have to pick a winner!
It was a real privilege to have been involved with the Scottish Smallholder Festival this year. If you ever find yourself anywhere near Lanark during the last weekend in September, I highly recommend a visit. I certainly hope to be back!
Thanks to all the organisers, and especially to Rosemary, for a brilliant day.
I absolutely love your posts. Thank you for sharing your life and Scotland with us. It’s really amazing and beautiful.
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The photos are truly magical; congrats!
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Thanks for the kind words, Kate. Very humbling. The Festival was concieved as acummunity event – we jyust put together the framework and the folk that come along make it work, with their passion, commitment, knowledge and skills – and the will to share them. OUr tag line is “inform, educate, inspire” – if we do that, we’ll be well pleased.
The skills and crafts area is one that we hope to grow in future years. Watching folk try spinning, willow weaving, rolling candles was fantastic! Once the dust settles on this one, we’ll be starting to plan fro next year. No rest for teh wicked and all that :-)
Look forward to seeing everyone at future Festivals!
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Kate…thank you for taking us places we would never get to see otherwise. So interesting! I love the pigs.
Julie
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Thanks to a last-minute lift to the event I was able to attend and it was absolutely amazing. I loved the alpacas but my favourites were the pygmy goats! I hope to make it back next year and hopefully will have an entry or two of my own in the fibre categories.
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I would like to be there
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Thanks for your report and Tom’s photos. I’d love to have seen this festival myself, but this blog is the next best thing.
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Thank you again for taking us on a wonderful trip and for sharing this festival with your readers. Wow – what fun.
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Ahhhhhh, what a treat! I got a Ryeland fleece a couple of years ago from Kate Graham of Shankend farm and made your Hap for Harriet from it. Great pictures!!
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Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful day with those of us in another country. Wonderful pictures!
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CAn you give the address for Lanark in September…last week end but where exactly ?
Many thinks for your photographies, nice, living…
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Lovely photos
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What a wonderful event!!
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I had the pleasure of visiting the Scottish Smallholder Festival a few years ago–and brought home a Ryeland fleece, of course. It was a delightful time. I’m fortunate this weekend to be at the North Country Fiber Fair in South Dakota–another special event of manageable size combined with lots of good people and fibers and things to discover.
Judging is *hard*, isn’t it?
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That picture of the little girl lying with her goat shows why I love festivals and fairs like this one. Just perfect. Thanks for all these pictures. And your job as judge must have been nearly impossible, but fun.
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What a special time for you and Tom, to be able to see all the wonders at Lanark. We should all try to see some of the festivals in our area and appreciate the work and love going on with small holders. I especially like to see the young children who’ve raised a lamb or goat and proudly parade them around the show ring.
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Great images…….and those little goats ❤️ ❤️
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