Nancy Nicholson

Hand Woven Cumbrian Wool Rugs

£850
Style:
Quantity:

Heidi & Hilda are all about texture. The Rough Fell wool they are woven with is spun especially from the flock which tread the fells where Nancy grew up. The wool has a beautiful feel, a soft jute quality, and Nancy wanted to play to that even further by creating two designs which will offer a delicious texture for your feet to walk over. 

HEIDI is a rug of oscillating soumak braids which tell stories of small feet on frozen ploughed fields, furrows and clods pressing gently through wellies.

HILDA is a surface of looped pile and dances with the rustle of straw strewn pig pens and moss licked walls. It is the scatter of bird corn and the rhythm of raindrops.

Handwoven using Nancy’s family own Rough Fell wool on a jute or linen warp with jute caps

The yarn Nancy has created from this flock she grew up with is monastic in its whiteness. It carries the texture of the softest of jutes, worn silvery over time. It is a fibre that polishes the soles of your feet.

The Cumbrian Wool Rugs are the product of a love story many years in the making, a romance between childhood memories and wool industry heritage.

Nancy Nicholson grew up on a hill farm perched in the Cumbrian Fells. Her mother still farms it to this day. Nancy’s was a windswept childhood steeped in rainwater and lanolin and slate. These South Lakeland fells are the home of a very old and sadly now endangered breed of upland sheep called the Rough Fell. It was these tall, hardy animals which grazed the fields that surrounded her. 

The Rough Fell produces a thick shaggy fleece that protects them from the worst of a bitter, northern winter. The long, coarse fibres are perfect for rug yarn. Back when the British Wool Industry ran with gold, it was for this exact purpose they were often bred.

From the start, Nancy has dreamt of using this wild northern fibre in her work, filled with all the rain-lashed resilience of her childhood home. It has been a long and rigorous process. Rug yarn is very specific and the UK sadly has very few mills left that have the knowledge and ability to spin it, and fewer still that can spin small batches. Together with The Natural Fibre company she has now achieved this.

Both rugs measure 80 x 120cm.

Lead time is currently 2-4 weeks from order.

Larger sizes are available to order, please email susanna@themerchantstable.co.uk or call 01394 610958 to discuss.

Images by Ellen Hancock and Anya Rice.

We aim to make ordering from us as straightforward as possible.

Once your online transaction has been completed your order will be confirmed by email within 24 hours. If your order is placed on a Friday, or over the weekend, your item will be shipped within 3 days from the Monday.

Using Royal Mail our shipping rates are calculated based on the estimated weight and size of the items. 

You have the option of First Class Delivery (which cannot be tracked), or Tracked delivery ( to enable you to track your package through all stages of the delivery process)

UK CUSTOMERS

Please allow 3-5 working days for delivery in the UK. In most cases it will be less.

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS

We do ship outside of the UK and are delighted to do so, but we ask you to email, susanna@themerchantstable.co.uk, so we may give you an accurate shipping cost to your destination.

Any customs or import duties are charged once the parcel reaches its destination country. These charges must be paid by the recipient of the parcel. Unfortunately, we have no control over these charges, and cannot tell you what the cost would be, as customs policies and import duties vary widely from country to country.

DUTIES

We recommend contacting your local customs office for current charges before you order, so you are not surprised by charges you were not expecting.

Please be aware that your parcel can be also delayed by customs and subsequent charges can be applied. We have no control over this, and cannot supply any details why or for how long your parcel will be delayed.

If you wish to return a purchase please notify us at susanna@themerchantstable.co.uk

If you are unhappy with our products in any way, they can be returned provided they are in saleable condition.

If you wish to return your item and receive a full refund items need to posted/couriered back to us within 7 days of being received by you.

Please note refunds to Debit/Credit Cards normally clear in 1/2 days after receipt of the returned goods.

Returns received outside the above time frame will not be accepted. For all returns you will be required to arrange and pay for the return of the products to us.

We will only accept returns provided the goods are received by us in the condition they were in when delivered to you.

ADDRESS FOR ALL RETURNS & EXCHANGES

Please returns items to: 

The Merchant’s Table
10 Church Street
Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 1DH

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