Botantical Dyes

I have been on my travels over the Easter holidays and I found myself up in beautiful Durness, which is famous for its stunning beaches, including one of my favorites – Balnakiel, as well as it’s craft village. The craft village is the perfect respite from windy or wet weather as it has cafes and … read more…

Extra Craft Course Dates for 2017

Due to a busy start to the year we have added a few extra dates for 2017. Dye to Spin, Eco-printing & Felting Our July Dye to Spin week is now full so we have added a shorter spinning course in August. Our August course will be running from 14th-19th August. Guests will have a … read more…

Wild Rose News & Course Dates

Wild Rose News & Course Dates It feels as if the Spring is creeping up on us slowly, even though this morning it was still -5 degrees. We did see the first Primroses and we have even started having the occasional lunch outside, a sure sign! We have had a busy old winter…After our courses … read more…

Craft Holiday Special Offer!

£50 off if you book before January 1st 2017! If you like the look of our week long craft holidays and fancy joining us in 2017, book before January 1st 2017 and get £50 off per person. Our week long craft holidays include; Our Fleece to Needle Felt week..enjoy a relaxing week of craft, stay … read more…

Fi Oberon teaching Needle Felting -with us!

Fleece to Needle Felt craft week May 20th-27th 2017 Next year we have Fi Oberon joining us in May to teach on one of our courses. Fi will be teaching two days of needle felting at the end of the course. The first half of the week will be spent mostly outdoors; watching a hand-shearing … read more…

How to hand wash fleece

Finally I have managed to put it on our site! Washing/Scouring fleeces Washing a fleece removes lanolin, which will impede the dyeing process if it is not washed out, as the natural grease of the fleece will act as a barrier to the dye. Some spinners like spinning in the grease and leave the fleece … read more…

Dye to Hand-Spin Course

We just finished running a wonderful week, our dye to hand-spin course was great fun to run and everyone achieved so much. We managed to wash our fleece, forage for dye plants, make our dyes, dye our beautiful Shetland fleeces and finally spin it! Bridie started off showing everyone how to use a drop spindle … read more…

Learn to hand-spin (£150 off per person)

Calling all crafters with an interest in learning to hand-spin….We have a couple of places left on our dye to hand spin course left and we are currently offering £150 off per person. It will be a wonderful craft holiday, with time to relax, be creative and learn or improve on a skill. We are … read more…

Dye to Hand Spin course

Wild Rose Escapes Dye to Hand Spin week July 9th-16th £50 off if you book before the end of April 2016! Enjoy a relaxing week of craft, learn a new skill  and have a wonderful holiday at the same time. Over the week watch our Shetland sheep being hand-sheared, wash and sort fleece, forage for … read more…

Hand spinning

Hand spinning is such an ancient craft which has been going on in its many forms for thousands of years all over the world. Drop spindles are the most accessible way of learning to spin and there is archaeological evidence of hand-spun yarn as old as 20,000 years, which is remarkable to think it has … read more…