This is the third year we have visited the studios at Allanbank Mill Steading, in the Borders, which opens it's very special doors to the public over the first weekend in August, every year.
Allanbank Mill Steading is the home and studios of Pauline Burbidge (quilter extraordinaire) and Charlie Poulsen (sculpture and drawings) http://www.allanbankmillsteading.co.uk It is a beautiful place. Apart from Pauline and Charlie's skills as artists, their home offers clever gardening, tranquility, attention to detail and masses of creativity. It really is a treat to visit.
Everything in and around the steading buildings is decorated and painted in an interesting way. Even the door mats have been given a little extra something!
Despite all the human effort to display so much creativity, for me the whole show was stolen by these little chaps! Five fledgling swallows, all lined up on a rafter in one of the steading outbuildings, eagerly awaiting the next flying visit from their parents with afternoon tea in their beaks!
It barely seems possible that, in a few weeks time, these young birds, hardly out of their nest, will be embarking upon a journey of thousands of miles to spend wintertime in South Africa. These little fellows will travel across western France, over the Pyrenees, down eastern Spain into Morocco, and then across the Sahara. Little miracles.
Allanbank Mill Steading is the home and studios of Pauline Burbidge (quilter extraordinaire) and Charlie Poulsen (sculpture and drawings) http://www.allanbankmillsteading.co.uk It is a beautiful place. Apart from Pauline and Charlie's skills as artists, their home offers clever gardening, tranquility, attention to detail and masses of creativity. It really is a treat to visit.
Gorgeous photos as always. I thought the bees on the thistle heads couldn't be beaten, but those baby birds waiting in line for their food, then the exact moment that a parent bird stuffed food down an eager throat - outstanding!!!! Thank you.x
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos but those swallows are just so cute.
ReplyDeleteOn my walks here in Oz, they are swooping and diving around me as the dogs and moi walk our regular haunts. I love them...so quick and so sweet....great photos of them. Well done you.
xxx