Chance meeting

We were in Carlisle for an exhibition but also to see the newly enlarged and refurbished Tullie House - very impressed (see  extra 1).

The exhibition is Winifred Nicholson - Cumbrian Rag Rugs. Soon after Winifred Nicholson, and her husband the painter Ben Nicholson, moved into a farmhouse in Cumbria in 1923 she saw a neighbour Mrs Warwick making a rag rug. They soon had one of her rugs on the wall in their bedroom - Two Cats by a Fire (extra 2). And so her interest in these rugs began. 

In the 1960s Winfred began designing rugs for local makers to create. The exhibition has a collection of these rugs, e.g. Tiger by Janet Heap (my blip) and Highland Cattle by Mary Bewick (extra 3). One special one, Tractor and Haycart (extra 4) was designed by Winifred’s grandson Jovan Nicholson - remember that name! There are many more rugs, some later ones, such as Hyacinths on the Window-Sill by Emma Tennant (extra 5).

An excellent exhibition, which we both enjoyed. I was of course keen to buy the book written by Jovan Nicholson - the grandson. But I was told the shop was awaiting more copies from the publisher, I was disappointed. By then Gordon had wandered off to look at other things so I returned to the entrance and decided to have a look in the beautiful new shop anyway. And there on the display was a copy of the book! As I purchased it, I mentioned to the guy at the counter that the exhibition curator did not know there were copies now - he said they had only come in the previous day, not a good answer I thought. 

So I decided to do the right thing and go and tell the lady, who had been so helpful, that there were copies available. When I returned she was talking to an elderly gentleman and she introduced him as Jovan Nicholson, Winifred's grandson and author of the book. What a delightful man. We had a chat about the exhibition and the book - ‘a labour of love’ he called it. And he was very pleased to sign the copy I had just bought. A fortuitous encounter. 

After all this we went for lunch at our favourite Carlisle restaurant - Alexandros (Greek of course). An excellent meal. Good to see it busy whilst the centre of the city is so chaotic. Next door to the Deli to buy Hummus and home via M&S in Penrith.