Tag: cake

Cakes, beer and crafts – a joyous May Open Day in the sunshine!

Our third Heritage Crafts Day was the warmest and sunniest yet, with visitors taking particular time to enjoy the garden. The tours in the house offered a welcome coolness, and of course our tearoom volunteers were on hand to offer refreshments! This time we were joined by The Heritage Bakehouse in the tearoom providing an array of tasty cakes including this lovely chocolate and banana loaf and of course, their famous Coventry Godcake. The Heritage Bakehouse have made over 25k Godcakes… not all for our Open Day, but in the last five or so years!

Coventry Woodcarvers Association joined us once again to showcase some of their amazing creations including an on site demonstration of carving. Spot the Coventry connection!

We were also delighted that Coventry brewers Byatt’s returned to talk about brewing methods and invite visitors to sample this year’s special Motofest Multigrade. Just released, and only available until Motofest, we were among the very first to sample it (and it was delicious). As one of the cottages in the terrace was once used as a workshop to make cars, it also seemed very fitting to have it on site!

Jane Cobbett brought beautiful textiles including quilting to display, and we are excited that we will be hosting a special exhibition of work by Jane’s textile group in June. The War & Pieced Patchwork Exhibition takes place on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June 2018 from 11am until 4pm at The Weaver’s House. It’s part of Warwickshire Open Studios and is free to visit… and there will be cake! Find out more here.

So that was May then, a very busy day, for volunteers, guests and visitors, who made full use of one of the first hot days of the year! Roll on June, when our next Open Day is on Saturday 16, for tours and talks, tea and cake, heritage and history!

May 14, 2018
Bringing history to life at The Weaver’s House this May

Sunday 6 May will see crafts of the past brought to life at The Weaver’s House. Our Heritage Crafts Open Day returns to showcase traditional trades such as woodcarving, spinning and textiles – the same crafts that the former residents of the house would have recognised in medieval times.

Shelley from Byatt’s

Guest craftspeople will include local businesses Byatt’s Brewery and The Heritage Bakehouse alongside Jane Cobbett Textiles and Coventry Woodcarvers.

Woodcarving

The Open Day is also special as it marks a departure from the usual Open Days, as it takes place on a Sunday. Last year we noted that some people commented that they were unable to attend our usual Saturday Open Days due to work and other commitments. So we’re hoping that holding selected Sunday openings this year, will make it possible for more people to attend.

It’s free to attend, and remember we’re within walking distance of the city centre, Earlsdon and Spon End. We’re open from 11am until 4. Pop along and join us, and at the moment, the forecast is looking sunny!

May 2, 2018
News: Open Days in 5, 4, 3, 2…

This Saturday, 14 April, will be the very first Open Day this year! We open at 11am and close at 4pm, so pop by and see us any time, though we recommend arriving by at least 3.30pm to have a look around. We’ll be honest, there may well be no homemade cake left by then!

We are a compact site so it is possible to drop in and have a quick look around but many visitors stay a good while longer delving into the history of the house and chatting to our knowledgeable volunteers. In fact, that’s how many of our volunteers got started, by attending an Open Day and being drawn in to the fascinating story of the life and times of this singular little house.

If after your visit, you are interested in finding out more about becoming a volunteer you can find a brief overview here. Who knows, if you really love the house, you might even like to move in! (We currently have one of our flats available to rent, these do not come up very often, details are here.)

If you are visiting us and heading in from Coventry city centre, be sure to check out a couple of things along the way…

New art installation The Bench of Unity:

Find this bench right at the top of Spon Street, before heading into the subway through to The Weaver’s House.

New Post-It comments as part of the Spon End Subway Consultation:

You will spot these as you make your way through the subway, as we did a few weeks ago. We’re liking the suggestion of a history mural, yes please! There’s lots more to enjoy on your way to or from visiting us, take a look at some nearby public art, see the ruined medieval chapel and the Sherbourne.

This particular Open Day enjoy a perfect pairing of events with a visit to us followed by an exhibition of handwoven textile artworks by Coventry based weaver, Theo Wright. This exhibition takes place at the CET Building, less than ten minutes walk from us, and runs until 21 April.

See you there!

April 10, 2018
Goodbye 2017, hello 2018!

2017 was a massively successful and memorable year at The Weaver’s House, so without ado, here’s a whistle-stop tour of the highlights. From a sunny start in April with a day of fun and Tudor Games we enjoyed consistently good visitor numbers and fantastic feedback. The ‘Old May Day and Crafts’ Open Day featured guest stalls throughout the house and garden, welcoming craftspeople from Warwickshire Craft Circle, Quite Contrary Baskets and Byatt’s Brewery. The June Open Day coincided with World Wide Knit in Public Day, so knitters convened in the garden for sociable crafting.

Woodcarving

Knitting central in the gazebo!

Visitors enjoying the sun in the garden.

July was non-stop, with stalls at both Godiva Festival and Lunt Roman Festival. Plus not one, but two open days, including our big celebration of ten years of the house being open to the public and a well-earned party for volunteers.

Heritage Open Days in September is always a big weekend for us and on the Sunday we had the finale of our tenth anniversary weaving project Coventry Blue. Throughout this year, visitors to The Weaver’s House contributed to this hands-on project, run by the Weavers’ Workshop and on the Sunday it was finally finished. Coventry Blue then took second prize on the Spon Spun Art Trail, even though it wasn’t on the official voting list!

Coventry Blue

Godiva Festival

Volunteers’ Celebration

What a fantastic year! Last night we convened on a misty and mysterious looking evening to discuss plans for the upcoming year… there are a few plans in the works that we will be revealing soon!

The Weaver’s House

The ruined chapel a few minutes walk away

This year sees us offering some Sunday dates in response to demand from people who would like to visit but work or have other commitments on a Saturday. We do hope that if this is you, you will be able to join us this year, whether it’s for a tour or tea and cake!

Dates for the 2018 Open Days are: Saturday 14 April, Sunday 6 May Heritage Crafts Day, Saturday 16 June, Sunday 22 July Tudor Games Day, Saturday 18 August (all 11am – 4pm) and Heritage Open Days, provisionally scheduled for Saturday 15 September and Sunday 16 September.

January 11, 2018
Happy Birthday to us!

In July 2017 we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the restoration and opening to the public of The Weaver’s House and its garden. We had a fantastic Open Day with lots of happy visitors, many of whom spent several hours exploring the site. When you consider that we have no rolling acres of land and the house itself has basically three rooms – this just goes to show that there is still much to discover and enjoy!

Whether it was trying out our Tudor games…

or just enjoying the garden…

We had a steady stream of visitors all day.

The weaving project, which has run throughout our Open Days and pop-up events this year, was an Open Day feature and it is nearly finished. We’re wondering if the upcoming Open Day on 12 August will see it completed?

A nearly-finished piece of Coventry Blue!

As it was our tenth anniversary, we were pleased to see some visitors drop by who had been involved in the project over the years. One of these was David Gaut, who worked on the restoration of the house. Here he is standing on the path that he built on the day before the house had its very first Open Day!

David Gaut revisits the house after ten years. He approved!

One of our special events for the anniversary was a walking tour exploring the medieval architecture of Spon Street, led by our trustee Dr Nat Alcock.

There was much to learn about these medieval buildings. Visitors commented that they discovered things that they had never known despite a lifetime living in Coventry. “I thoroughly enjoyed that tour through medieval Spon Street. Amazing facts I never knew and I’m a #Coventry girl.”

One of the buildings that was moved from its original location

Most of the courts (developments behind existing houses) were pulled down

It might not look it, but there’s a medieval building here! And the Watch Museum too.

We hope to rerun these walking tours as they were extremely popular and booked up very quickly. In the meantime why not try one of the Priory Visitor Centre tours?

We received lots of lovely comments, not only in our visitors book but also online:

“I love this little house with its gardens, a great place to visit with lovely volunteers and yummy cakes ⭐️”

“Fantastic visit. Thoroughly enjoyed and thanks to all the volunteers who make this house so welcoming. The cakes were lovely as well. ?”

“Had a lovely time at the Weaver’s House, and also a lovely chat with a new friend :)The place is definitely worth a visit!”

“Fantastic local historical site. My children who are 4 and 6 loved it. Lots of activities to do. Tea and refreshments available. Happily spent hours there.”

“We ate cake, wove a snake, played quoits & had a go at weaving! A good afternoon.”

After we said goodbye to our visitors, we closed our little wooden door, downed tools and then downed a refreshing drink. Our volunteers work really hard maintaining the house and garden, giving tours and weaving demonstrations and ensuring that the tea and cakes are flowing! It was time to relax with suitably medieval drink in the form of ale from Byatt’s Brewery and tasty offerings freshly cooked by The Seventy-Five Company, and we even had a visit from Lady Godiva and Lord Leofric!

And of course, there was cake!

Thank you to all our volunteers! We couldn’t do it without you – Happy Anniversary!

August 9, 2017
Come and celebrate with us!

On Saturday 29 July, there will be a special Open Day to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the restoration and opening to the public of The Weaver’s House and garden.

Enjoy a tour and find out all about the house including its Tudor history and how it was rescued, from certain destruction, by a dedicated group of local people. Try your hand at weaving and add to our anniversary weaving project being created by traditional methods. Experience how medieval weavers lived and see demonstrations by weavers and spinners as well as the full size replica loom (accessed via ladder).

The weaving project, come and have a go!

There will also be special guided walks*, traditional games and birthday cake alongside all the usual tours and activities.

The Open Day starts at 11am and runs until 4pm. Say you’ll be there!

* Please note these are now fully booked

June 20, 2017
Knitting and weaving and cakes and sunshine!

Our June Open Day coincided with World Wide Knit in Public Day, so we invited knitters to come along and take part alongside our usual activities. It was a warm day, but it was pretty windy, so we tethered the gazebo securely and ensconced the knitters and their handiwork inside.

Knitting central in the gazebo!

The knitters brought plenty of examples of their wonderful work, (and yes, there was also some crochet).

After the success of our previous open day it was really lovely to again share the space with more creative crafters.

We had a fantastic day with enthusiastic visitors leaving fabulous feedback:

“Had a great time worth a visit. Lovely people beautiful building and gardens”

“Fascinating 15th century medieval terrace house in Spon End. The staff are welcoming, friendly and informative. A lovely garden with weavers and knitters showing you how to make craft work. The tea room again has friendly staff selling a lovely selection of cakes and hot / cold beverages. We had a tour of the house which was informative and fascinating. Well worth a visit.”

Visitors enjoying the sun in the garden.

The weaving project, come and have a go!

More homemade cakes.

“Had an absolutely wonderful time, interesting conversation & demonstration of spinning and very informative & lively talk by Tina in the Weavers House itself. Great time in the garden too ?”

“Fantastic see you all soon, and thank you again for giving me a new place of interest and new interests ??”

The garden is certainly looking full of life at the moment. Plenty of time to see it in full bloom over the course of our next few Open Days, including our Tenth Anniversary celebrations – details soon!

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June 12, 2017
June Open Day – World Wide Knit In Public Day!

Our June 10 Open Day coincides with World Wide Knit in Public Day. Enjoy sitting in our lovely Tudor garden and join in with the time-honoured practice of sociable crafting.

We will also have our usual weaving activities so there’s also a chance for knitters to down needles and have a go at weaving as well. We will have a covered space in case it is wet or hot.

All this alongside the usual tours of the house, a children’s trail and of course our delicious homemade cake. As usual we’re open 11am – 4pm.

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May 24, 2017
The merry merry Open Day of May

A fantastic turnout for our ‘Old May Day and Crafts’ Open Day, with a steady stream of visitors – from even before the doors officially opened until they finally closed at 4pm.

We squeezed as many guest stalls as possible in throughout the house and garden, welcoming return craftspeople from Warwickshire Craft Circle alongside new guests from Quite Contrary Baskets and Byatt’s Brewery.

Shelley from Byatt’s

The cask of Urban Red

Hops, malt and other ingredients

Visitors were invited to enjoy a free sample of Byatt’s Urban Red, the patterns on the label of which pays tribute to Coventry’s textile heritage. A taste of the city’s culinary past was also on offer in the triangular form of Coventry Godcakes. Of course, the usual delicious array of homemade cakes supplied by our volunteers was also available and completely demolished by the end of the day!

Cake

Cake

Caaaaaaaake!

Younger visitors enjoyed the challenge of a trail all about growth in springtime, and making flowers to decorate the cabbage tree ‘maypole’. All ages enjoyed playing the Tudor games introduced on our previous Open Day, skittles and Nine Men’s Morris.

A fine day meant that the garden was used to full advantage. Mary from Quite Contrary Baskets demonstrated the art of willow weaving, with beautiful and complex structures made from this simple material.

Guest woodcarver Peterson arrived with a large chunk of timber which visitors who lingered at the house were able to see carefully being transformed into a carved owl during the day.

Woodcarving

Meanwhile inside The Weaver’s House itself, textiles expert Jane was on hand to discuss the art of patchworking, alongside the Weavers’ Workshop who made progress on the tenth anniversary weaving project.

Jane with textiles

The weaving on the loom

A tour in the Weaver’s House

The next Open Day is on Saturday 10 June, which will see full steam ahead on the anniversary weaving project with a piece of cloth being created by weavers and visitors throughout the year. Pop along and have a go and weave yourself into the history of The Weaver’s House!

Find out more about our special guests:

Jane Cobbett, textiles
Peterson Cobbett, woodcarver
Quite Contrary Baskets
Byatt’s Brewery

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May 15, 2017
News: May 13 Open Day: Crafts & Old May Day!

A-Maying we will go! Our next Open Day for May will be on Saturday 13 May, which is ‘Old May Day’.*

In recognition of this, the theme will give a nod to the old tradition of ‘ales’ – fundraising events which took place at this time of year towards upkeep of the parish church. “As the name suggests, this was a day of merry-making, with food, drink, dancing and games.” *

The Open Day will therefore include some medieval cake to taste and a guest stall from Byatt’s Brewery alongside the usual homemade cake.

In addition to this there will be an emphasis on crafts and the garden with additional guests including woodcarving, beekeeping and willow-weaving (beekeeping afternoon from 1pm only UPDATE 13/05/17 we regret that the beekeeper is unable to join us today). There will be a children’s trail, all about the growth in springtime. Plus we’ll be continuing with our weaving project on the table loom.

We’ll be open from 11am -4pm. As usual, admission is free, but in the spirit of the ‘ales’ donations are very much appreciated. If you would like to donate your time, we are always looking for new volunteers!

May we see you there?

* The English Year by Steve Roud, 2006, Penguin

April 11, 2017