Local Production of Textiles
Historically, the Stroud Valleys were the heart of a productive and international woollen cloth industry. This heritage has been preserved and kept alive by the Stroudwater Textile Trust http://home.clara.net/clempson/.
They also keep the traditional skills alive through workshops and training sessions, as well as preserving the machinery, some of it in working order.
According to the Cotswold Sheep Society, the Cotswold sheep is 'a breed which has helped shape the economic history of this country, achieved outstanding success as both wool and meat producer, plummeted from the dizzy heights of world-wide acclaim to the brink of extinction and has survived and is flourishing. It is a story spanning two thousand years, historically significant, rich in detail and exciting in its triumph.'
Find out more about the exciting adventure of this breed that made our local environment and economy what it is from The Cotswold Sheep Society http://www.cotswoldsheep.org/
Support our local producers
Local producers struggle to survive in competition with poverty wages and supermarket prices. Their clothes are beautiful and demonstrate their skill and love of textiles. Here are some local producers to support:
Angie Wilmot from Nailsworth who sells hand-dyed wools (many natural dyes) at the farmers' market
Beautiful hand-crafted knitwear from Fran Webber http://www.fran-webber.co.uk/
http://www.madeinstroud.org/shop.htm
The woollen industry still survives, mainly in niche and tourist markets.
There is a lovely working mill at Filkins near Lechlade (http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/plaza/hk67/)
Cotswold Woollen Weavers have an online shop: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/plaza/hk67/lineshop.htm
You can buy Monmouthshire sheepskin rugs at the farmers' market in Stroud, or from the producers, Yule Organics (http://www.yuleorganic.co.uk/)
Abbey Home Farm: http://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/