Old Mill Café

 

Quite a few old mills here and there in Sweden have been preserved by turning them into cafés and tourist attractions. This one at Vänga, a half hour drive or so to the north of Borås, still produces some flour to be used and sold in their own bakery. Their popular café also offers options for a light lunch, so we went there for lunch on Saturday (3 August). We sat on the small terrace to the right (overlooking the stream) and had a piece of pie + salad. (They also have tables outdoors across the stream.) Afterwards we went for a little stroll around the place. We've both been there before, but it's one of those places that it's always nice to return to in the summer.

 

Vänga Kvarn   (kvarn = mill)

They also have a souvenir shop where they sell various arts and crafts.
I did not buy anything, but it's always fun to have a look...

 

 

The old copper kettles are not for sale (I think) but just for decoration.
And the same goes for the rusty old objects on display outside...

Cows were grazing in a field across the road.

 

Tapestry

The arts and crafts shop that arranged the event in yesterday's post also has a small gallery for exhibitions. What is on display there varies from time to time. Earlier in September I popped in one day to have a look at some tapestries - woven wall hangings. The artist's name is Birgitta Jönsson and her theme for the exhibition was "summer".

I especially liked the big one of a small tortoiseshell butterfly.

These were made with bicycle tubes!

Editing my photos now, Carole King's song Tapestry came to mind for me.
(The album is an old favourite of mine , I have it on CD.)

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

https://youtu.be/JM07lUytXA0

Flax Processing

Walking into town on Saturday, I passed by an arts and crafts shop, where they were having a kind of exhibition outside, demonstrating the process of turning flax into textile fibres. 

 

I'm afraid I did not stick around long enough to pick up all the details, but here is a short YouTube video from the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm, showing the process, and including the correct terminology.

 

I hope the link works; if not, you'll find it here:
https://youtu.be/2_ToT0dxX-g 

 

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