Yorkshire Break: Saltaire

As mentioned in my previous post OH and I went to Yorkshire on holiday. We spent the weekend with our friends in York before driving over to the cosy bolt hole we'd booked near Skipton. On the way we went via Saltaire which is a village built by mill owner Titus Salt for his workers back in the 1800. OH and I's first ever holiday together was meant to be a boating holiday down the Leeds to Liverpool canal with Saltaire being our final destination. Sadly there was a drought that year and the canal was closed so we switched had to navigation and while we had  a great holiday we missed going to Saltaire. We'd waited a long time to see it but boy was the weigh worth it!

 So this is the canal side view of Salt's Mill which used the canal to transport the final product (cotton made from alpaca wool)

 And yes of course there were reflections galore for me to relish in!

On to Saltaire which is the village he built for his workers. This believe it or not is the church. It looked great from the outside but it wasn't to my taste inside I'm afraid. 

OH and I spent an hour or so wandering up and down the streets of this incredible UNESCO World Heritage site 

Modern day living.... Bin day must be a nightmare! 

Titter ye not! Many of the streets in Saltaire are named after Salt's relatives and sorry I couldn't resist this shot..... 

Loved this proud lion lording it over everyone.

The Mill closed in 1986 and was bought by a local business man in 1987 and is now an incredible heritage / arts centre. This floor alone was an amazing bookshop. 

I was delighted to find a painting of the mill by local boy David Hockney 

 But was blown over to find an exhibition of his work on the top floor. 

It was work made on his iPad over Spring. I'd missed his exhibition at the Royal Academy featuring this work so was delighted to find that OH and I had the space to ourselves, it was free and I could take pictures. Amazing!

I can't recommend Saltaire and Salt's Mill highly enough. An incredible space and village - well worth the wait!