An Unexpected Adventure in Penrith

Out of the Wind and Rain - our stall at the Penrith Gathering

Sometimes things don't turn out quite as planned!

We'd travelled all the way from Wiltshire to Carlisle, ready to take part in the Winter Droving, an event I'd been really looking forward to. But with severe weather forecast, the organisers had to make the difficult decision to cancel it.

After such a long journey, we thought we'd come all that way for nothing.

But then something rather lovely happened.

Two years ago, at the Winter Droving in Penrith, I'd sold a little Green Man badge. The person who bought it had seen my rather sad social media post about the cancellation and got in touch to tell me about the Penrith Gathering taking place the following day.

The Gathering was itself a remarkable achievement, organised by local people in just four weeks following the Winter Droving's move to Carlisle.

We contacted the organisers and, before we knew it, Valerian Fibres had a place at the market!

With a little improvisation, we managed to arrange our hand-felted masks across two tables, and what a lovely day it turned out to be.

We met so many friendly people who were interested in the masks, the characters behind them and how I make them. Best of all, five masks found new homes: two Dryads, a half fox mask, a rabbit and a white goat.

There were a couple of unexpected moments in the spotlight, too! While I was fetching tea, Robin was interviewed by ITV Border News and appeared briefly on the six o'clock bulletin.

I also had the pleasure of talking to Cumbria Guide about my work in an impromptu interview, which I'm delighted to share here, with their kind permission.

Impromptu internview with the Cumbria Guide at the Penrith Gathering

A weekend that began with such disappointment turned into a wonderful experience. Thank you to the organisers of the Penrith Gathering for welcoming us at such short notice, to everyone who stopped to chat or took a mask home, and to Cumbria Guide for taking an interest in my work.

And a special thank-you to the owner of that little Green Man badge. Without their thoughtful message, we might never have known about the Gathering.

It just goes to show that sometimes the unexpected adventures are the most memorable.