The view from the tea room at Betty Fold
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Braveheart
is the resident cat at the Jumping Jenny Tearoom
at Brantwood, Ruskin's home overlooking Coniston
Water. The last time we were here, a few years ago on a cold wet
February afternoon, I started drawing Braveheart, who was sitting
in the log basket by the cast iron wood-burning stove, but before
I managed more than a few lines he decided that he'd feel warmer
sitting under the stove.
Today he stays settled in his cat basket by the stove as I draw,
only occasionally twitching an ear and taking a cursory look around
him.
Jumping Jenny isn't a cat: it's Ruskin's rowing boat,
preserved alongside his coach in the outhouse adjoining the café.
Betty Fold
The
dog, a border collie, was a visitor to Betty
Fold, a tearooms near Tarn Hows. The lady who runs the
tearooms told us that the house had originally belonged to a stained
glass maker (Arthur Thornton?) who had been influenced by Ruskin,
although he was of a younger generation. Digging in the garden,
she discovered a quantity of Victorian painted glass - stacked horizontally
in a pile - which she has had restored and incorporated into the
adjoining cottage. |