Edinburgh: Tartan Weaving Mill?
Hi Everyone, I'm wondering if anyone here has been to the Geoffrey (Tailor)'s Tartan Weaving Mill & Exhibition; Edinburgh Old Town Weaving Co., 555 Castlehill, on the Royal Mile.
I realize it's 'mostly' a store, but I thought I read somewhere that you can try out a loom for fun and that there are a few exhibits too?
Any info? Good fun or a waste of time?
Thanks!
Gretchen
Andover, MA USA 3/21/10
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Hi Gretchen,
I did visit the Mill and it was a little corny to me. I didn't see anywhere that a person could actually try a loom, but there were several exhibits throughout the upstairs. It's mostly the store and it is very spendy. If you are on the Royal Mile, you can just pop in for a few minutes. That's about all it is worth....to me. :)
I think these things are scattered all over the place, probably run by the same outfit. Big stores, little exhibits, few bargains.
I agree that it is mostly store. I don't remember a loom that could be tried either. I finally popped in a few years ago and found it mildly interesting. There are so many things to see on the Royal Mile that unless you're rolling in time, I wouldn't recommend it.
Pam
Does anyone know if there are any other weaving mills around to tour?
I think my feeble memory may have screwed up my first post. I could have been thinking of "Woolen Mills" which are all over the place. The one at Ft William has some kind of a tour of the history of weaving with an emphasis on tartans, wich was interesting, but not worth treating at a destination. I'm not knocking Ft William, it's a great place in itself. So is the small town of Ft Augustus which is along the way if you take the Great Glen/Caledonian canal route.
I have not been in the place in Edinburgh.
On a mad google for "weaving mills" I found one listed at Dundee, but not much about it. Do NOT drive all the way up there to see it. It is not without reason that the place is called "Grey Dundee". Ugh!
Sounds like Ed got confused with The Edinburgh Woollen Mill which is just a (pretty old-lady-ish) chain clothing store. They're nation wide but you do quite often find them in touristy places. In fact they're always a quite popular stop when we have US visitors, a lot of the stuff they sell fits in with a certain American stereotype of 'typical British' clothing so are a good source for that souvenir scarf etc.
Hi Gretchen, I visited Edinburgh in 1999 and went to Geoffrey Tailor's on the Royal Mile. I did purchase a kilt there, and also looked through the exhibits. Yes, I actually tried a loom just for fun over there! It's not really there for anyone to hop on whenever they wish. At the time of my visit, there was a gentleman there who was operating the loom, and explaining all the while his feet were working the loom. He asked if I'd like to give it a try, and of course I did! Again, over a decade ago, things could have changed since then.....
When I was on the Isle of Harris I was able to visit a weaver in his workshop. He was weaving tweed, of course. It was very interesting.
Locharron of Scotland has a visitor center, gift shop and factory tour in Selkirk. Selkirk is in the Borders area about 2 hours southeast of Edinburgh. We drove there, did the tour and went on to Melrose for lunch.