The road through Cookley in Worcestershire is lined with plain brick houses and bungalows set behind spacious front gardens. Everything is quiet and ordinary except at one driveway where Kay Dalloway stands in wellies, hosing a large pile of white, curly sheeps’ fleeces with a pressure washer.
“Some people think that you have to treat fleece gently,” says Kay, getting straight to the point as she splashes through the puddles to turn off the water. “But I buy these fleeces from two local commercial farmers who have sandy, slightly orange soil and so the fleeces come coloured!” She grins, tucking a strand of her own bright blonde hair behind her ear. “I bring it home, sort it a bit right here on the drive and then just wade in and wash the soil out with the hose.”
The rinsed fleece usually ends up in the kitchen where it is washed with very hot water and lots of Fairy Liquid. However, with the need to stay outdoors for social distancing, Kay carries her wet armful around into the back garden. Washing lines strung across the lawn droop under the weight of a rainbow of fleeces — some natural colours, some brightly dyed.
“The neighbours think I’m a bit mad, probably,” chuckles Kay. “But once the washed fleece is hung out, all clean and scented with essential oils, they tell me that it’s really pretty to look at.”
Kay has always been “fibremad”.
This story is from the November 2020 edition of Country Smallholding.
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This story is from the November 2020 edition of Country Smallholding.
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