Visit to Salts Mill in Saltaire

Saltaire was built as a model village and now is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was created by the Victorian textile mill owner and philanthropist Sir Titus Salt. The housing which was much superior to the living accommodation for mill workers in nearby towns, architecture and parks are really interesting but the biting cold wind prevented us from wandering around on this occasion.

We made for Salts Mill, now a huge art gallery which was set up by someone I knew, a young entrepreneur called Jonathan Silver who bought the mill in his early twenties and set up the gallery. Being a personal friend of the famous artist David Hockney meant that a lot of his work could be displayed there. Sadly, Jonathan passed away at a very young age and now the mill is run by his wife Maggie and brother Robin.

On the approach to the mill there is a railway line, the River Aire and the canal, a more modern textile factory, a large bike company and a music school and shop. On the website it said that dogs were allowed as long as they were carried and my husband said he was up for that so the dog came too. It was not our first visit to the mill but it had been a long time since our last visit. The Hockney works took up the walls of the ground floor long gallery. Some of the work was painted and some was produced on his ipad and all were annotated. The flooring, windows and radiators are all remains of another era.

Down the middle of the long room were tables of art books, prints, notebooks and other mementos. There were also huge vases and other ornaments made by Burmantofts pottery and wooden seating which looked like old pews from a church which came in handy when the dog became too heavy to carry. There are a further two floors of cafes and galleries and we could smell something appetising emanating from there as it was lunchtime.

At the entrance to the mill is a stunning 8 ft ceramic mural of Bradford by German artist Grete Marks. For many years the piece which was was hidden behind a false wall in a city centre office, was restored and now has pride of place in the foyer of Salts Mill.

I loved this chair

We tried to find the little light railway which takes you up to the top of the glen where there are peacocks milling about, or at least they used to be when we used to go with the children. We found the start of the railway which only runs on weekends and ate our picnic lunch in the car as we hadn't dressed for such cold weather. The flask of hot coffee was very welcome.

On the way home we saw woods absolutely carpeted in bluebells giving the floor a wash of colour.