Beautiful tweeds at Andrew Elliott mill.
Day 4. Wednesday, May 11, 2022: We meet up with our drivers Kenny and Phil of AE Chauffeurs Ltd (AEC) and say goodbye to Edinburgh. We cannot say enough about how wonderful Kenny and Phil were. They took amazing care of us, were very knowledgeable and were just nice, interesting people. On the last day, we realized we had driven 1100+ miles and hadn’t stopped for gas once! Of course, that’s because they took care of things like getting gas and picking up snacks and drinks for us early in the morning or late in the evening. AEC is a small company with two vans and two BMW 7 series, so if you want to tour Scotland in style, we highly recommend checking AEC out.
We depart Edinburgh and head south into the Scottish Borders region to visit two mills. The countryside is beautiful rolling hills filled with stone-walled or hedgerow pastures full of sheep. May is a wonderful time to visit. The fields have greened up and are full of wildflowers, and it’s after lambing seasons, so there are many adorable lambs everywhere you look. There are lots of bright yellow gorse along the roadsides and fields full of shockingly yellow rapeseed crops. We spot pheasants along the way.
The Selkirk/Galashiels area has a rich textile history. Andrew Elliott is a small family mill in Selkirk with older equipment. Very cool place to visit. Managing director Robin Elliott takes us around, and we get lots of neat stories from lifetime weaver Rob, including how he used to make money poaching salmon from a trap door in the mill floor. Shetland tweed from this mill was part of the costuming for Matt Smith’s version of Doctor Who.
Next we visit Lochcarron, a much larger and more modern operation. We are privileged to be the first visitors to their updated visitor center after closure during the pandemic. Lochcarron is one of the biggest tartan manufacturers. They source British wool and other fibers spun around the wool. Dyeing, weaving, and finishing all occur at Lochcarron. They use modern rapier looms (1990+). We love the big drum warping machine. Darners are considered the most skilled positions in the mill. For every new project, a darner inspects and signs off on the first bit of woven cloth before full production commences. They also inspect every inch of woven cloth and fix any mistakes by hand. “Never doubt a darner!” as the saying goes. Lochcarron gives us each a gift package of cloth samples – so sweet!
In the afternoon, we visit the Herriot Watt University School of Textiles and Design where Marnie Collins gives us a tour and discusses the comprehensive program. They have tracks for weaving, knitting and printing, with very well stocked labs. We get to see the senior student installations, though we could not take pictures as they had yet to be graded. So much creativity! We visit the textile archives, and the archivist shows us two different original Paisley shawls.
We stop for a quick visit to Melrose Abbey and a walk along the River Tweed, then traveled to our hotel the Buccleuch Arms, an 1836 hunting lodge.
