Branching Out - Kettering Food Festival

As it wasn't possible to make an intervention for the Boughton House walk we decided to create silk paintings inspired by the gardens to hang at The Kettering Food Festival hosted by Groundworks at The Green Patch.

Carole brought three long silks to SWAG in Corby

as many of the group have also been involved 

as members of Back To Books Projects.

They were so inspired that Carole outlined

more designs on hoops for the group to paint.

Everyone found the process relaxing

and produced gorgeous results

Our lovely silks adorning The Real Junk Food Cafe Marquee

Kate Williams greeting Mark Lane, Health, Wellbeing and Community Ambassador Groundwork UK who is also a presenter on on BBC Gardeners World and who is a firm advocate of the therapeutic benefits of gardening and sees it as a doorway to mindfulness and wellbeing.

For more information about the flavour of the Kettering Food Festival read this engaging Post by Mark Lane, Health, Wellbeing and Community Ambassador Groundwork UK 

Mayor of Kettering, Scott Edwards

The painters were very excited to see their work in situ and many came to sample the delights at the Food Festival. They also had plenty of walking that day as there was much to see on site and were able to connect with friends both old and new.

To find out more about food waste projects and cafes in Northamptonshire please visit Fruitful Abundance

More about SWAG  Meeting at Stephenson Way Community Centre every Monday from 11.30am until 1.30pm, the S.W.A.G group get creative! Occasionally, the group have special projects but are open to all types of art during their sessions – you can bring your own project or experiment with club materials. To join S.W.A.G you can just turn up, pay £2 for refreshments and have fun whilst learning new skills. See the group here helping to create panels for the back To Books Brampton Valley Way mosaics 

To find out more about The Green Patch please follow the link

Five garden tweaks that will help health and wellbeing

How walking can help wellbeing

To see more photos follow the link

After the Food Festival the round silk paintings 

became part of the decorations at the wedding 

celebration for Back To Books Chair Meriel White 

and were later returned to the makers to take home or to keep at Stevie Way.

Craft and Industry - Visit to Newcastle-Under-Lyme and Clarice Cliff's House

 Professor Flavia Swann welcomes the group to her home

We were asked not to take photographs inside the house but the postcard below shows the beautiful Arts and Crafts interior which remains intact. The original decor was probably a bit old fashioned for Clarice Cliff and were were told that in some parts of the house the timbers were painted bright red. This has all now been beautifully restored, the gardens were once stepped over seven terraces but the house and land were bought by a property developer and the garden is now much smaller but very beautifully kept.

Piano becomes garden

Sir Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker 

A notable example of one of their earliest collaborations at Clayton, Staffordshire, is dated to 1899, and was originally called the Goodfellow House after the man who commissioned it. Parker and Unwin were involved in designing many of the interior fittings, which remain in the house to this day, and the initial layout of the large gardens. Goodfellow sold the house in 1926 to Colley Shorter who ran the nearby pottery works of Wilkinson's and Newport. He renamed it Chetwynd House and when he married his star designer Clarice Cliff in 1940, she moved into the house and lived there until 1972. 

You can see early black and white photographs of the house soon after completion here

Colley Shorter & Clarice Cliff

"Colley and Clarice were having an affair and in 1936 Clarice moved into a flat at 20 Snow Hill, Shelton - the principal visitor to the Snow Hill flat, according to Clarice Cliff's biographer, Lynn Knight, was Colley Shorter and their affair was observed with much eyebrow-raising; although, Ms Knight writes, the relationship was "widely known within the industry by this time". Clarice married Colley Shorter in 1940 when his wife died, and she moved to the Shorter family home - Chetwynd House in Clayton."

It was wonderful to meet up with artists Kate Lynch - A Conversation with the Green Man - maker, mender and grower and Joyce Iwaszko - Stoke-on-Trent artist exhibited her work in Middleport Pottery's newly-refurbished Prince of Wales Studios between May and July 2015 - the first artist to use the studios' gallery. 

For a more detailed walk please follow the link to "in the footsteps of Clarice Cliff" by local historian Fred Hughes

We also visited Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Museum and Art Gallery

Hidden in Brampton Park less than half a mile from the town centre lies Newcastle-Under-Lyme’s local history museum featuring over 800 years of Borough history.

Set in beautiful parkland the Museum and Art Gallery has something for everyone. Alongside temporary exhibitions programme there are galleries depicting the rich and diverse history of the area. 

Highlights include a Victorian Street scene, which allows you to take a step back in time as you discover the wares of Mellard’s the ironmongers, the treasures of the pawnbroker’s shop, the fascinating cures of the chemist’s and the gruesome collection of doctor’s surgical instruments.

Early tea wares

Medals

There is a toys gallery with teddies, dolls and games up to 150 years old and the 1930s/40s house allows a glimpse into what life was like during the wartime years.

Hand sewn sampler and a 70's chid's sewing machine

A sea of teddys

A child's hand crank sewing machine

These two Sindy dolls are from the 1980's

Palitoy Tressy in a Tri-ang Mam'sell Sindy dress

Sindy's sister Patch was a doll from the 1960's

Phlomis - name derived from Greek word for flame, possibly because the were used as lamp wicks.

Branching Out - Boughton House

Together Tree by Carole Miles

In the first of our new Branching Out Wellbeing Walks we visited the gardens at Boughton House

Our group gathered at the Green Patch and made our way to Boughton House where we shared a marvellous picnic under the shady trees.

We were then met by one of the Garden Guides who took us on an informative, inspiring walk through the grounds. The gardens were originally laid out to impress by the 1st and 2nd Dukes of Montagu with stunning vistas, tree lined avenues and bold water features.When the house passed to a different family in 1749 it was used mainly for hunting and the once formal gardens remained untended and almost lost for 200 years.

Recent generations have returned the gardens to their present splendour through an ambitious and far sighted restoration programme and the canals, waterways and reflecting pools conjure other times, other people.

Map of the gardens and link to it's history

“Ralph first Duke of Montagu has so much embellished by the grand gardens, by an extensive canal, by the large ponds, by the extraordinary water jets, by a waterfall that outshines any in Italy and in France.” – Michel le Vassor – from his Histoire du Regne de Louis XIII ,  1705

Our group gather to admire the water feature

Grand Etang - more about the restoration here

Ralph Montagu had supported the cause of William III and became a member of his Privy Council. The new Dutch King of England was a passionate garden lover, particularly keen on architectural evergreen shrubs, and on his visit to Boughton in July 1695 Ralph would have been keen to impress the monarch with his developing gardens and his Stateroom ceilings, painted by the Huguenot artist Louis Chéron to co-incide with the royal visit.To create the water gardens Ralph Montagu diverted the River Ise into a canal system flowing through various complex features all linked by terraces and tree-lined walks and ending in a great cascade.

“Ralph first Duke of Montagu, polished Lord, magnificent, zealous defender of the freedom of his country, has so much embellished by the buildings, by the grand gardens, by an extensive canal, by the large ponds, by the extraordinary water jets, by a waterfall that outshines any in Italy and in France.” Michel le Vassor - from his Histoire du Regne de Louis XIII, 1705.

Heading towards

Two of our group deep in conversation

perhaps they are discussing the Orpheus Project which 

forms part of the vision for a 21st Century garden

Sue wearing her Kettering Food Festival tee shirt

This was one of the group's favourite garden features

they were a little less sure about Life-flow as it has

such a disturbing, visceral quality.

Although Boughton House is close to both Kettering and Corby very few of the group had ever visited. For some it was lack of awareness that such glorious outdoor spaces were just on their doorstep, but for many funds and transport would have made a visit difficult.

Having had a taste of what the property has to offer some said they would love to return to view the house as well. 

It was a beautiful day, surprisingly hot and the walk was further than some had anticipated, those with minor mobility issues felt that a few more benches along the route would have aided them greatly. Nevertheless they were delighted by the gardens and inspired by the planting in the Rose Garden and the Walled Garden.

We were unable to see the Gardens Exhibition - Vistas of Vast Extension, but it is possible to access the exhibiton boards in a downloadable PDF which gives fascinating insights into the importance of plants, plant collections and gardens of this intriguing story of both history and landscape at Boughton House.

Some of the group thought they might go home and watch the film A Little Chaos which follows Sabine (Winslet), a strong-willed landscape designer who challenges sexual and class barriers when she is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV’s new palace at Versailles, causing her to become professionally and romantically entangled with the court’s renowned landscape architect André Le Notre (Schoenaerts).