A promising start to 2021 despite Covid 19 & 3rd lockdown.

Like many others we came back to work in January, tentatively looking ahead at what 2021 may bring with its many personal & professional challenges. After a slow start in early January we have since been reassured by a healthy flow of enquiries and orders, that have certainly kept us on our toes and we are excited about  some interesting work projects over the next 2-3 months.

This work will take us north to Northumberland for work at Etal Castle (circa 1341), both a Grade I Listed building and official ancient monument and south to Doncaster for work at Brodsworth Hall, another Grade I Listed building with a rich and chequered history; both owned by English Heritage. We also have a job at a Grade II Listed Church, medieval in origin & rebuilt in 1770, in a local village that Bill Bryson mentions in his book "Notes from a Small Island" as being a place that he'd like to be buried - mainly because of the quirky village name.  As usual, we have other jobs covering our normal North Yorkshire area, to domestic properties, both interior & exterior and a first for Ryedale Plasterers where we be using Hot Lime.

The photos on this post are of a project we completed in January - Pickering Methodist Chapel, where we restored the decorative plasterwork above the altar as it was badly damaged. This lovely church dates back to 1885, and was designed by Thomas Howdill in an ornate Italian style. After being stripped back to bare masonry, with various pieces of plasterwork retained for our reference, it was up to Ryedale's craftsmen, Ben & John, to complete the jigsaw and reinstate the plaster detailing as it would have been 250 years ago.

It looks to be a fascinating year so watch this space for more project photos and progress reports.