Well what can we say about our very first guests to St Marks Stays, apart from we may have to name them, The Fabulous Quilting Ladies! We love them so much we are dedicating this blog post to them and know they won’t mind us sharing their talents with you all.
To take you back to last year, before we had even signed the contract for St Marks, this group of ladies contacted Damian to say they had been coming to St Marks for 13 years and would we still be opening as accommodation for guests as they did not want to miss out on their annual stay in Cautley. Firstly we were surprised at a request so early on in our house buying, but also very nervous because after all, we had never run a hospitality venue before. We did not need to worry, because Morag, Margaret, Norma, Gill, Kathleen and Susan are absolutely lovely ladies and it was an honour that they trusted us with what is clearly a special week in the calendar for them.
This wonderful group of friends met through their talents for quilting on a course in Scotland and have been getting together for a creative retreat every year. For the past 13 years, they have come to stay at St Marks because they can have ensuite bedrooms, the stunning scenery of the Howgill Fells, a dining room to all eat together in, the local art community places to visit and most importantly the studio to set up their sewing machines to spend a week having their ‘me’ time and be creative.
They won’t mind me saying that their ages ranged from 68 to 81 years of age, because these ladies could run rings around so many younger people. Between them they walk munros, have social lives that are busier than mine and Damian’s put together and fully indulged us with our last-night party games devised for them. One of them is a Singapore citizen with a fifth generation living there, one lived in the Republic of Ireland, one had an antiques business that involved travel to Chicago, one ran a catering business for over 20 years and one lady had starred in a movie as a child and even won a bronze medal as part of a curling team in the European Curling Championship in Norway! These were retired ladies who had amazing lives and were still living life to the full.
It was great to see their quilting work being shown at the end of the week and we are very grateful for all the quilting groups that they have passed our names on to, because it was wonderful to see our studio in full creative use. Exactly why we bought St Marks in the first place.
So Norma, Kathleen, Gill, Margaret, Susan and Morag, we thank you for making our first week of hosting an absolute pleasure and we are already thinking about how we can make your stay even better for you next year x
