Summertime sun!

Hello everyone!
Well as the weather has been so wonderful here, the quilt has taken a bit of a "back seat".
I did quilt a few blocks the other day, but it was so hot, I decided to go out in the garden and do a bit of cross stitch instead!

I thought it might be an idea to talk about other things in my life.

As I have mentioned, we have a spaniel/labrador cross dog called Toby and one of his favourite things is going to the beach. Now we live in Leicestershire, which is right in the centre of the country, so it is a bit of a trek! Our favourite seaside place is Old Hunstanton, where dogs are allowed on the beach.
One of the things Toby loves most is digging in the sand & making a big hole that he then sits in. It must be cool for him.

It always makes everyone laugh who sees him!

Recently we visited our friends who have recently moved to a new bungalow with a paddock. It was always their dream to have alpacas & so they are now the proud owners of three gorgeous young alpacas.

Aren't they lovely?

I hope to get some of the fleece next time they are clipped, so I can have a go at felting it. 

Readers of my blog in the UK will perhaps remember a television programme a couple of months ago, in which Tony Robinson walked through Britain.

Well, we decided to visit somewhere called The Magpie Mine. This is situated in a field not far from Bakewell, Derbyshire and is amazingly unspoilt.

 It was a former lead mine and has a very interesting history.

The earliest recorded workings date from 1740, and the Magpie Mine was one of several working different veins of lead in the same area.
Magpie Mine was also troubled by disputes with neighbouring mines over who had the right to work each vein. Miners from Magpie Mine and Maypitt Mine were both working the Great Redsoil Vein, and would light fires underground to smoke out their opponents. The arguments raged for years, both underground and in the courts.
In 1833, three Maypitt miners were suffocated by the fumes, and 24 Magpie miners were put on trial for their murder. Several were freed immediately, and eventually all were acquitted because of the difficulty in identifying the individual culprits, and the provocative actions of the Maypitt miners themselves. It is said that the wives of the "murdered" men put a curse on the mine, and the effect of the disputes was to ruin the mine, which closed in 1835.

Production of lead continued on and off into the 20th Century.

There is an interesting website http://www.pdmhs.com/magpiemine.asp

The replica horse gin.

Me at the mine

Next time we are Derbyshire way, we hope to explore Cromwell village. Another place with an interesting history.

Well, that's all for now. A bit different, but I hope you enjoyed it.

As always, please feel free to leave a comment!