Dear Friends,

When I took my Ian Firth Clarsach to be restored by the Pilgrim Harp Makers in Surrey last year, I was greeted by a friendly team of dedicated, humble and inspiring artists that work there. They took me on a tour of their workshop and I immediately fell in love with their harps and was struck by the incredible craftsmanship that goes into making of these beautiful  instruments. During the tour, I had the chance to play the large pedal concert harps, which was a first for me  - and VERY exciting. I can tell you that 'Ocean' sounded fabulous on a 47 string Salisbury Pedal Harp! Anyway, I actually fell in love with the Ashdown Lever Folk Harp, which I have spent the last year manifesting ... I returned to the Pilgrim Harp workshop last month to place my order for an Ashdown, and I'm really pleased to announce my connection with Pilgrim Harps. I will be collecting my new harp in mid August, but in the meantime, here are some photos from my tour of the Pilgrim Harps workshop.

x Iona

John, one of the harp makers giving me the grand tour! ...

The Pilgrim Clarsachs in the making ...

Beautiful gold decoration for the concert harps ...

The brass pollishing machine for the levers and brass pegs/parts ...

 Me - holding the neck of my new Ashdown lever harp to be : - ) !!!