A Quilting Life Behind the Scenes: England

Hello, friends! Today I’m sharing an A Quilting Life Behind the Scenes: England travel log. I’ve just returned home from an incredible trip to England. This was a trip I’ve wanted to take for so many years, and I’m beyond grateful that I was able to go and do so many things. I was able to host a tour with Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique, and we traveled with our Craft Tours tour director Cherry and 29 amazing quilters from around the US and Canada. I’m sure I’ll be sharing more later, but I want to get some of my thoughts in writing before I forget 🙂

A Quilting Life Behind the Scenes: England

Birmingham Quilt Festival, London for a Day, and Stratford Upon Avon

I flew with Vanessa from Las Vegas to Amsterdam where we had a short layover and then flew on to Birmingham, England. The purpose for starting the trip here was to enable us to attend a bit of the Birmingham Quilt Festival which we loved. It was fun to see our Moda colleague Janet Clare along with many other friends in the industry who were there exhibiting or attending.

While in Birmingham, Vanessa and I took the train to London where we enjoyed high tea at Fortnum & Mason, Matilda in the West End theatre district, and a lovely dinner at The Palomar followed by the train ride back to Birmingham. It was a fun day where we got to experience a little of London before we would head back there later in our trip.

The next day we traveled on our bus to Stratford-upon-Avon where we were able to tour William Shakespeare’s birth home, see the church where he was baptized and buried, and also walk through the lovely village and along the river.

Cotswolds Area

We stayed for a few days in the Cotswolds area where we were able to travel to Cirencester for some shopping and a lovely lunch at a little Italian restaurant. We also were able to take a wool felting class in another city and visit the lovely village of Bourton-on-the-Water for shopping and another delicious little lunch at another lovely Italian spot.

Castles, Cottages, and Palaces

We were also able to visit some incredible homes of all sizes! We loved visiting Blenheim Palace, Highclere Castle, and the William Morris home, Kelmscott Manor. I loved each of these incredible homes and found inspiration everywhere. Blenheim Palace and Highclere Castle are currently occupied by their owners, and we so appreciated them being open for the public to tour.

On to London

We were able to spend two more days in London at the end of our tour, first being able to drive by the incredible Stonehenge! Upon arriving, we took a bus tour to see sights in the city and then were able to visit Buckingham Palace before heading off for an incredible production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theater. We also were able to visit the Burroughs Market and eat at Arabica before the play that night.

More London

On our third day in London, we were able to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum where we saw incredible exhibits including the world’s oldest coverlet and art and objects from cultures all over the world. The afternoon was spent shopping at the iconic Liberty of London and exploring the city streets in the shopping district.

Takeaways & Thoughts

First, I’m so grateful for Craft Tours, Cherry Hill (our tour director), Vanessa Goertzen, Sam our bus driver, and all of the incredible individuals who traveled with us. Quilters are the most wonderful people, and I thought it was so incredible how we became fast friends with people we had only just met. I will always treasure the days in England with our group.

I’m thankful to have been able to take part in this incredible adventure–to see the landmarks and the sights is incredible enough, but I truly appreciated getting to understand the British culture a bit more, to travel the city and the countryside of the home of so many of my favorite poets and authors, and to see a bit of life across the pond!

Thanks so much for stopping by to read today…I’m already dreaming of another adventure!

Happy quilting!