A Good Friday Adventure

With Easter being this weekend, the last day of school this week was Thursday. This means having a free friday! After sleeping half the day away, I decided this was an excellent opportunity to get out, get some sun and explore. I went to Saltaire. I have to say, I was surprised at how many places were open today considering it is a bank holiday.

I've been there once before. I was only my way back from Skipton in January. It was all snowy and gross. To be honest, I didn't really like Saltaire when I was there the first time. I took the train (which I do like) but you don't get to see much when on the train in Bradford. So this time I took the bus. The weather was sunny, the temperature was fairly warm compared to what it has been lately. All in all, it was a good trip and a good day.

Off for a walk!

I spent the first hour just wandering about random streets enjoying the nice weather. I took a little walk in Robert's park and even saw some early spring flowers starting to make their way into being a colourful part of the world.

Evidence that it is Spring!

River in Saltaire

 Once bored of being outside I headed in to see what Salts Mills had to offer. I was aware that there was a book store in there, but I didn't really explore inside last time. Turns out there is a lot more. I spent a good portion of time in the book store area. The I found several books that I was very tempted to get. The book I really wanted was a knitting book. The Big Book of Knitting is quite thick, very heavy and full of absolutely gorgeous full colour glossy pages with instructions and information. I want it so much. It is a beautiful work of art about knitting. I didn't get it though, because even though I wanted it, and the price wasn't all that bad it is far too heavy to take back to Canada with me, whenever I go. I think that also, it would be too much of a shame for me to leave something like this behind when I move too. Therefore I shall forego owning it until I am more settled in the world.

 There was a section in the store that was on grammar, writing and literature. I even found a book on literary theory. I picked it, read the front and back covers and seriously thought that I should buy and read it. The crazy thing is that literary theory and criticism was the bane of my existence in second year of university. It was hard (not challenging), confusing and incredibly frustrating. It was like reading hundreds of pages of nonsense that was important for me to know about. But now that I'm done university (still have the books from that horrible course) I'm looking at a book on the exact same topic and considering buying it? I must have lost my mind.

Cool giant hook centred over one of the book tables. I assume it is a leftover from the original mill (trying to create ambiance) 

 In addition to the book store, I found a shop with things for the home. It is really a very gorgeous shop. There are a lot of really quirky things in it as well as kitchen gadgets, furniture and other things. My favourite thing that I saw in this shop was the teddy bear banks. The sign encourages people to stop saving their money in old fashioned piggy banks but instead be more modern and use a bear bank. I like that they were decorated in fun colourful designs. There were mini bear banks on the other side of the display, but I thought the full size ones were cuter.

"Off-side coat rack" for all those football fans. 

 In another area of the building is a gallery that has watercolour paintings of scenes in Saltaire. Some of them even depict Sir Titus Salt, the founder of Saltaire.

Here are a few snapshots of the history exhibit that was in the gallery just off of the one with the paintings. They have some interesting facts in them and some scary ones....no main drainage until 1863? No wonder lifespans were short and there was a lot of disease!

 There are two things that I like about this second snapshot. One: "the squalor and filth of Bradford" is a very flattering way of saying that Bradford was a really terrible place to live (locals no use a more colourful term that I won't put in writing). Two: "The bowl of Bradford was not the living embodiment of Blake's "Dark satanic mills!" Again, very flattering isn't it? Yup, this is where I live. These descriptions do not fit Bradford now, however I wouldn't have wanted to have been about in the 1850s since it sounds pretty disgusting and terrible.

Beyond the historical gallery, there was an antiques shop. It had a lot of interesting things in it. There was also a lot of what I thought was junk. I guess though there is always that saying that one man's junk is another man's treasure. There were some neat pieces of furniture, some very nice and unique jewelry and some cool looking pottery. I also saw an coat stand. I had to take a picture of it. I really liked it. It's one of those things that I look at and think "some day when I have a house or a place that is mine permanently then I'll have a coat stand just like this."

Check it out, a giant chair! The seat of the chair was at my eye-level. 

 Now naturally, as a part of the textile industry, the mill would need to have a tribute not just to its history, but also to the industry. On this wall is a mural collection that depicts the journey that wool goes through from fibre to fabric. It's quite neat. I don't think that the pictures do the art work justice, but you get the general idea of what is going on.

Post Salts Mills I decided that it was getting late and I needed some tea. So I stopped in at the Victoria Tea Rooms.  It's a cute little place. It's now on my places to return to. It was fairly quiet when I went since it was the end of the afternoon and they were soon to be closing. It has a really nice atmosphere, calm, cheerful and warm. I had tea and a slice of chocolate fudge cake. It was really good. The cake was very fudgey and rich and the tea was warm and perfect. 

Well that's it for today's adventure of exploring really. I have to say, taking the bus to Saltaire definitely allows you to see more of the Bradford countryside and the layout of the area. In this instance, I preferred the bus to the train. With the better weather, and the lack of snow, I much enjoyed Saltaire. Its a niice place to go for a relaxing afternoon outside or just wandering about.