Garden in July

I know. You're looking and you're thinking it's Andalucia, but it's not. It's our little bit of heaven in an outer London borough.

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Enter to win Glenda Young signed book with chocolates

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Enter to win a signed book of your choice from my books pictured.  If you're drawn at random from all the correct entries, you'll also win a Galaxy Smooth Milk bar of chocolate 180g.  UK entries only please.  Deadline for entries is Friday 24 April 2026. Good luck, everyone! Loading… __ Glenda Young BlueSky:  @Glenda Young Facebook:  GlendaYoungAuthor Website:  GlendaYoungBooks.com
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Clippy Mat Making at Beamish

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Researching for my novel Pearl of Pit Lane I spent the day at Beamish Museum on a clippy mat workshop. And if you're wondering what a clippy mat is, it's also known as a proggy mat or a rag rug. The BBC puts it like this: Proggy mats were a common sight in working-class homes in the North East of England until the mid-20th Century. Made from old sacks and recycled fabric they were an economical option to keep feet warm and toasty in an era before fitted carpets were the norm. I remember my grandma had proggy mats in her house and I also remember her making them, but I was never interested back then in learning how to make my own. As Ione of my characters in my novel makes proggy mats, I could have read about how to make them or even watched on YouTube, I wanted to discover for myself what the process felt like, smelt like, sounded like. And so I booked myself on to a workshop at Beamish Museum, a place I love to visit. There were six of us on the proggy mat workshop...
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