Welcome to Jane Greenoff's Studio
The Mill at Fairford
Bill and I moved to Fairford when our son James was under a year old and he is now thirty three and a married man! We are almost locals after all this time. Bill was moved by Lloyds Bank and we found our little cottage just before my birthday - I thought we had won a million! To move from Reading to what was then a sleepy village was a dream come true.
If you look at the far end of the bridge you can see a light coloured mound. This is one of our village swans who nests next to the road every year.
St Mary's Church
This is our world famous 15th century church- famous because of the remarkable set of stained glass windows. The west window recently restored has been featured on the television - this is the only complete set in the country and they are very beautiful.
My first cuppa of the day
We have lived in Pinks Barn for 17 years and have almost finished the work on the house. I do like a project! When I started my cross stitch business, we lived in a cottage called Inglestone which is how we came up with the original name for our wholesale company, The Inglestone Collection. This is now all part of the same thing: The Cross Stitch Guild
When Bill was diagnosed with cancer and my office manager told me she was emigrating the time had come to make changes. Some things just concentrate the mind, don't they? We coverted space at Pinks Barn so that everything was under the one roof. I was warned that I would end up working all the time and turn in to a workaholic but who was kidding who? I was doing that already and often late at night in a cold and creepy warehouse! As I am really scared of the dark, this is a much nicer place to work and if I want I can go to work in my PJs!
Pinks Barn in Fairford, Gloucestershire
The window at the front is a recent addition and you cannot imagine the improvement this has made. When the hole was knocked through the stone walls (which are three feet thick) we had three steel props holding up the front wall! The dust was beyond belief! Now I can sit and stitch and look out on to the garden - Just bliss!
The Studio
This was built as a double garage, but was converted in to the Studio when we made the final decision to move all parts of the business under the one roof. It opens on the the courtyard garden one side and our lovely oak barn on the other - now it could not be better. The stork scissor weather vane was from my husband as a 50th birthday gift.
You can see my dear old dog, Bumble keeping an eye just behind me. Sadly we lost him in 2014.
This is our new green oak barn where we hold our linen classes - I can seat 10 students with a bit of jiggling and a big table. My office is at the far end so it is simply stitcher's bliss!
Visitors to the Studio
We live in Fairford which is in the Cotswolds and is a lovely part of England. There must be disadvantages of living in the country, but as I write this I cannot think of them! We have lots of visitors to the area and I thought you would like to see a picture of some of them.
This fabulous dragonfly was spotted in the front garden drying his wings - Simply beautiful and about six inches long!
This blue tit was pictured last spring frantically feeding the family just outside the Studio door - even when the door is wide open and we are chattering and the phone is ringing and there is constant noise. Last spring, I watched the baby blue tits taking their first flight from our bird box and the young blackbirds robbing my pretty vine - I think they stripped the grapes completely!
This is Spike who wanders past the Studio door about 6pm and then wanders back again
I found this little vixen in Bill's study checking out his box files!
No really! I went back the office one morning and a fox was sitting under his desk! I have no idea where she had come from but after some coaxing she went in to the garden where she played with our dogs! It took me half an hour to persuade her to go out in to the lane outside the gate - she was so tame and eventually left to tackle our neighbours black bags.
What happens on Mailing Day
This is what actually happens when we do a mailing here at HQ! I go in to town to collect dozens of mail bags and bring back the best chocolate brownies in the history of the world! I defy anyone to find any better! Go to 7A Coffee Shop. On this occasion, Daphne and Sarah were eating brownies with Crunchie or with Smarties baked in to the mixture! What can I say!