Visiting the Incline Press

 

What, no green fields or pastoral hills? No, occasionally we go urban. This is Oldham, 'up North', on the outskirts of Manchester, the weather typically grey. We'd been warned by our host to take the tram as 'there's a lot of roadworks in town'. He wasn't kidding.

 

 

 We were here to visit the Incline Press (whom I've met over the years at various Fine Press fairs and Wayzgooses, blogged here, here and here) which we found tucked away in a little side road, looking very unassuming.

Until you get inside, that is and breathe in the inky aroma. What treasures are piled ceiling high - what delights are being printed!

 

 

At the moment Graham is producing 'Danger and Destiny in the Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm' written by David Blamires, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the first printing of Grimms' Fairytales. It will be a limited edition of 300 copies and when I say producing, I mean that he is setting the entire text by hand, printing it on the traditional press and binding it - again by hand. Pre-publication price as I write is £48, which I consider to be reasonable in the extreme.

When we arrived, Graham was typesetting and had noticed a tiny fault in a 'J' block. He printed off a page to show us.

 

 

 

 

Although he was clearly busy with setting up the book, he kindly took us on a tour of the studio - I dawdled and took lots of  nosey photos.

Down the stairs, carefully now!

 

To the basement - heavenly.

Packets of minty fresh type bought up from Stephenson Blake, the last working type foundry in Britain before it shut down at the end of the Twentieth century.

 

So many corners filled with *stuff* - I asked Graham if he knew what he'd got and where it all was and he said yes.

 

 Towers of type cabinets. My not-very-secret passion.

Various jobs in various states.

 

 We had a brilliant and informative time - and Graham gave me some sound advice on what to do with my salvaged Adana gear, which is stored down in the Forest of Dean until we find our new home. 

 Town or country, one thing remains true - Andy is always many strides ahead of me.  

Thank you Graham for a lovely visit and our very special souvenir. 

 'Letterpress Printer's Essential

MARMALADE

May cause stickiness so eat responsibly

Do not use while operating machinery

Hand Made at Incline Press 36 Bow Street Oldham'

Little houses

I've got  a few things going on at the moment, life-wise  - and an ongoing order list for full sized toys. But it's nice to go AWOL sometimes and sneak a bit of playtime in.

So when I can, I've been making little things. Such as tiny houses - as we seem to be having a house oriented year.

Which *only* take 3-4 hours to make.

These 'Wee Housies' were going to be popped into my Etsy shop for £30 each.

But the entire village was snapped up before I could list them. Sorry!

On Hergest Ridge

This is part of the Offa's Dyke path, which leads up to Hergest Ridge, in our neighbouring sister county, Herefordshire. This is an old drover's path and it becomes beautifully broad and inviting as you proceed up and along it.

It's a nice gentle climb to the top, just right for out of condition types like ourselves and even better - a bench handily situated halfway up.

 

Where one can study the map and try to work out where the heck we are in relation to everything.

We like to know where we are in a landscape Just beyond the hills, a dim blue hump on the horizon, we spot Caer Caradoc, whose more taxing slopes we went up the other week. Now we can place ourselves. There's Shropshire, just a few miles away -

 - and there's two humped Caer Caradoc, the furthest hill we can see, keeping a watchful eye on us, in case we stray too far.

If you recognise the name 'Hergest Ridge', then you may be thinking of the Mike Oldfield album of the same title. It was written round about here, and somewhere in our packed up things I have the original vinyl, picked up second hand when I was about seventeen, so visiting the actual place was a  landmark journey for me.

We made our way to the flattened top, where the winds whistle and sheep graze quietly with ponies. Then we strolled back down hill, finding shelter behind a big gorse bush where we could eat in peace - the local cheeses we bought in Ludlow a few hours earlier - Wrekin White, Monkland and Ludlovian Cheddar. With ripe Victoria plums and water. Apart from the ciabatta (although also locally baked) it was about a traditional a picnic as we could wish for.

We ate overlooking the heart of England - which may look like a flat bit of land here, but there across are the Malvern Hills and beyond them unseen, the Cotswolds, our old stamping grounds. Back then, we would see them and imagine Herefordshire and Shropshire behind them, wondering if one day we'd be living on the other side. Border country.

Ludlow snaps

 

A much needed mini-mini-break in Ludlow, arguably the food capital of the UK. We love Ludlow. We always buy a good wodge of local bacon and sausages from our favourite butcher. As always, it was rammed with customers; there is only a small shop space inside, so buying is a bit of a 'shouting your order over the tops of someone else's head' affair.

 

Ludlow is a pleasing architectural medley, not too regimented, not too eccentric. Everywhere there is something interesting or quaint to admire, Georgian and Mediaeval styles nestling happily with Victorian and Tudor.

And you can usually glimpse the generous green hills of the surrounding Shropshire countryside from some peep hole.

Tempting alleyways and narrow streets that follow the original  Mediaeval layout of the town.

It was pleasantly odd wandering around this time, realising that we only live on the other side of the county and this time would not be making the journey back to the Cotswolds. 

 

The basket weaver who always seems to be on the same market corner, no matter what day we visit.

 

The penny whistler who has been on this corner every time we've visited was also in his usual place. He's definitely improved over the last two years.

 

Buying some local cheese for a picnic later on.

And some naughty Chelsea buns for breakfast - as we are on holiday.

Eaten soon after, overlooking an appetising  view of lovely Ludlow.

Up Caer Caradoc

 

Shall we forget about the stress and headaches of house buying? Shall we post off the last deadline and get out for some sun and air? Let's go over to one of the famous Shropshire Hills and climb up into the blue.

 

 Up Caer Caradoc, which we see on our drives out and about. From the ascent we can see towards it's smooth sloped sister, the Lawley and beyond towards Shrewsbury.

After three weeks of stuffing inside trying to meet deadlines, my calves were screaming by the time we got to the top. Oh look, there's another bit to it...

 So I found a sheltered spot to flop down in and gave Andy the camera, so that he could show me what it was like from the top. There is the Lawley again, but smaller and my favourite hill, the Wrekin - a distant blue lump in the background.

 

 Sitting in the sun, listening to the wind riffle the grasses, the faint bleating of sheep and the sharp swish of air as swallows dive low over the hillside. Finding the tiny things in a landscape of huge things. Dozing off.

Hey, wait for me Andy! 

Wait for meeee!

 

Affordable art

 'Horse Ball 1' for sale on Etsy

It's been a long time since I had any artworks for sale at roughly £25 ($39) - these are small sweeties,  4 inches squared, in 6 inch square bevel cut mounts.

TOPIARY 1  (SOLD)

  This topiary one is my personal favourite. Anything with a house in!

 

Wheelie Goose 1 (SOLD)

Although geese run a close second. The next week is going to be spent working on one of those 'proper jobs' which I'm not able to talk about yet. But which is very exciting! 

 

 Kitten 1  (SOLD)