Hi Lyn, You're not that far, perhaps an hour down the A1/A421 from the Cecil Higgins now known as the Higgins
http://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/ they have a lovely reserve collection of lace, including the Lester collection: not much on show but if you contact Curator Lydia Saul there (details on the contact page) you may be able to book a visit to see the reserve stuff. A bit further away in Luton Wardown House has a reserve lace collection: I don't know the curator or how to get in contact there but they have a Luton Culture web page. They seem to be concentrating on hats in displays. Likewise Northampton Museums again about an hour away down the A605/A45 have a reserve lace collection, but are focussing on shoes. Lace at the V&A is supposed to be at Clothmakers Hall Blythe House but I read a while back it is all being slowly moved offsite as they plan to relocate in 2023. Again a query to them will tell you more, and you can book a study visit. https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/the-clothworkers-centre-for-the-study-and-conserva tion-of-textiles-and-fashion incidently the V&A just remodelled its main entrance to make it "less scary" and more approachable to much fanfare this week. Karen suggests hiring an automatic. This is a great idea just be aware they are not that common a hire car in the UK (don't know if it is the hills or the hangover from when automatic transmissions used to be much more expensive). I would'nt recommend trying to get to either Luton Bedford or Northampton direct by train from Peterborough, but London is a only an hour on East coast mainline, nonstop. Oh and Peterborough cathedral is rather fine, and is the resting place of Katherine of Aragon. The Norris Museum in St Ives, (Cambridgeshire) has a small fragment purporting to be from a lace shroud found over her coffin when her vault was opened. I'll see if I can find the picture. It looks like Italian 17th century gros point or some such. needlelace to me. I don't know what happened to the shroud or if it is still in the cathedral. The Norris is tiny and has little else, so not worth a special visit. Have fun planning Louise - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
