aldeburghliving
ISSUE 007 Autumn 2018
FREE
Sitting Pretty The Suffolk Chairmakers | Tipping Point Balanced Interiors! Cover Story Meet The Aldeburgh Bookshop | Jam Session High House Fruit Play Time HighTide | A Secret Garden Spellbound at Alde Valley
Thinking of letting your holiday home?
Find your perfect hideaway whatever the season
Suffolk Hideaways, based in the bustling coastal town of Aldeburgh, offer a fantastic and ever-growing selection of cottages throughout this glorious county – from hidden gems, perfect for a romantic weekend for two, to larger properties for family holidays. The cottages, many of which are dog-friendly, vary; but what they all offer is a chance to relax in total comfort. Your Hideaway heaven awaits‌ Thinking of letting your holiday home?
Suffolk Hideaways are here to help you every step of the way and advise you on how best to let your holiday property. Why not give us a call?
Visit www.suffolkhideaways.co.uk, call us on 01728 666 300 or pop in to the office at 161a High Street, Aldeburgh
Welcome to aldeburghliving magazine THE AUTUMN ISSUE In this issue we anticipate the slowing down that autumn brings. As we wave goodbye to the ‘summer people’ we prepare to welcome those that enjoy the slightly different face of Aldeburgh that appears during this changeable but culturally charged season. We become more introspective as we move our gaze from summer’s big blue skies and mill pond sea down towards our wet boots on the grey High Street pavements. Share in the creations that have come from the minds of others at one of Aldeburgh’s extraordinary autumn festivals like DocFest, Poetry in Aldeburgh and HighTide. Visit some extraordinary places with us, that are the realisation of the imaginings of some very special people: Marie and Mark at Alde Garden, Mary and John at The Aldeburgh Bookshop, Piers and Suvi at High House Fruit Farm and Jason Gathorne-Hardy and the Suffolk chairmakers. This also being the season to celebrate the very best of Suffolk produce at the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival, we are honoured to welcome acclaimed food writer and journalist Tessa Allingham and her team as guest writers for this issue. We hope you enjoy the flavour they bring!
Stacey Paine
COVER IMAGE Nick Paine Marshes at Sunset
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
1
aldeburghliving Living Publishing Ltd. 31 Fawcett Road, Aldeburgh, Suffolk IP15 5HQ Registered in England no. 10383720
Stacey Paine EDITORIAL AND DESIGN stacey@aldeburghliving.com 01728 453323 07800 566174
Nick Paine ADVERTISING AND BRAND nick@aldeburghliving.com 01728 453323 07967 508006
This magazine is free and contains no sponsored content
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA aldeburghliving
@aldeburghliving
facebook.com/aldeburghliving
Subscribe Aldeburgh Living is a quarterly magazine published in March, June, September and December. Also available online at livingpublishing.co.uk, or by email (visit the website to subscribe). To have all 4 issues posted to an address of your choice simply subscribe via our website aldeburghliving.com or by email info@livingpublishing.co.uk. A subscription is only ÂŁ19.50 a year.
Disclaimer: Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither the publisher nor the editor, nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. All artwork is accepted on the strict condition that permission has been given for use in this publication. Aldeburgh Living does not officially endorse any advertising material included within this publication. All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of Living Publishing Ltd.
www.valedesigns.co.uk 01728 830581 Visit us at: The Workshop Forge Cottages Thorpe Road Aldringham Suffolk IP16 4QX
EXPERTS IN FINE HOUSES SINCE 1966
For professional, knowledgable advice and a personalised marketing strategy call our Aldeburgh oďŹƒce on 01728 454 505.
bedfords.co.uk
{Painting by Tessa Newcomb (detail)
contents
06 Play Time
38 Tipping Point
HighTide Festival - part of
The dramatic modern interiors of
Aldeburgh’s cultural fabric
The Balancing Barn
12 This Season’s Diary
48 Jam Session
Your guide to autumn in Aldeburgh
Tessa Allingham visits High House Fruit Farm
14 A Secret Garden Alde Garden and The Sweffling
54 Sitting Pretty
White Horse
The Suffolk Chairmakers
20 Autumn Style Edit Animal, camouflage or checked?
24 Cover Story
62 Designing with Grasses Landscape gardener David Forestier-Walker writes
Mary and John James welcome us to The Aldeburgh Bookshop
30 Happenings This autumn’s most important news
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
5
PLAY TIME The annual HighTide Festival is an essential part of Aldeburgh’s rich cultural fabric. By Polly Allingham
A
B
C
D
E
F
8 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
Innovation, diversity and fresh talent are at the heart of the HighTide Festival which enriches Aldeburgh every September with its programme of readings and performances of new plays. It’s mid-September, and three playwrights nervously wait for the response to readings of their first commissions. How will Guardian writer Harry Davies’ dystopian drama, You Can Run But You’ll Only Die Tired, stand up in the Church Hall? Will the estranged queer lovers of Isley Lynn’s play, The Swell, move the Aldeburgh audience? What will they think? Tim Foley with The Goblin Glare joins Davies and Lynn as the three emerging talents chosen to develop their theatrical ideas into full-length plays with 18 months of support from experienced artists, associates of Aldeburgh’s annual HighTide arts festival. The scheme, First Commissions, embodies the ethos of the Festival: to pioneer adventurous theatre and diversity. HighTide’s Aldeburgh-based outreach programme for young people, Summer Connect, nurtures this sort of talent even earlier. It brings together 11-18 year-olds from Aldeburgh and nearby towns once a week after school in the Aldeburgh Community Centre with the aim of inspiring and educating through drama. Weeks of sessions later, the group presented a ‘workshare’ for friends and family, performing excerpts from Songlines, the coming of age love story set
in Reydon by Suffolk writer Tallulah Brown that headlines the 2018 Festival. In a first for HighTide, this same group is scheduled to open the 2018 Festival. Elizabeth Downie, in her first year as producer of HighTide, is full of praise for the programme. ‘Beyond providing undoubtable fun, the dramatic arts give young people the opportunity to make friends, develop life and team-building skills, confidence and a love of the arts beyond school,’ she says. Elizabeth is aware of some of the challenges young people in rural areas face, one of these being lack of transport which is often a significant obstacle to them seizing opportunities. To combat this, HighTide has for the second year in a row put some of its outreach funding into providing free transport to the Festival, enabling groups from 4YP and Iceni, two charities that support disadvantaged young people and families in Ipswich, to attend performances. ‘Everything is within walking
distance, and we are going back to using the fantastic venues that the town provides. As well as introducing the new, the Festival has to respect Aldeburgh and Suffolk’s way of life in order for it to work’ Locality is essential to HighTide’s mission and Elizabeth says it is something the team are trying to build on. The organisers have
Images Left: A Busking It by Danusia Samal, B Songlines by Tallulah Brown, C Sparks by Jessica Butcher, D Thor and Loki by Harry Blake, E Luke Wright, Poet Laureate, F The Last Woodwose by Thea Smiley.
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
9
succeeded in creating out of Aldeburgh an idyllic, homely and quirky festival location, Elizabeth says. ‘Everything is within walking distance, and we are going back to using the fantastic venues that the town provides. As well as introducing the new, the Festival has to respect Aldeburgh and Suffolk’s way of life in order for it to work.’ The established art and culture scene in Aldeburgh also helps draw audiences – permanent residents as well as holidaymakers – to HighTide events. Families and children are catered for too – Mrs H Sings performs in Aldeburgh for the first time, a musical production for parents and young children that has captivated audiences every time it is performed, regularly selling out shows in London. ‘It’s always a sell-out wherever they go,’ Elizabeth says, ‘and it’s a performance we are all looking forward to!’ Visit the Jubilee Hall or Aldeburgh Cinema to experience an eclectic mix of theatre and comedy; pop down to the Garage Gallery Festival Hub to sip on a HighTide Festivalthemed gin and samphire cocktail, made by the local Fishers Gin distillery, and chill out and enjoy a ‘festival friendly’ menu, provided by Aldeburgh’s East Coast Restaurant. After hours it’s to Ye Olde Cross Keys for the first year of late-night programmes with free jazz, soul and funk from Hugely Problematic with singer Danusia Samal, a pub quiz, readings, and more.
‘We are also delighted to be featuring a range of artists who will be well known to many in Suffolk.’ With HighTide expanding to Edinburgh this year, having established itself successfully in Walthamstow in 2017, the Festival’s vision is
by no means parochial. Indeed, five of this year’s Aldeburgh headliners are plays first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. ‘It’s a city connection that positively challenges Aldeburgh,’ Elizabeth says, ‘with diverse subject matters and performers, and highlevel production and direction that is often nationally acclaimed.’ The extraordinary performer Apphia Campbell exemplifies this, returning to the Aldeburgh stages this year with two shows: Soul Sessions, a one woman cabaret celebration of Nina Simone, and Woke which stages the fight for Civil Rights in America. Elizabeth adds, ‘We are also delighted to be featuring a range of artists who will be well known to many in Suffolk.’ Luke Wright, the East Anglian performance poet appears on opening night with his sparkling new show, Poet Laureate; Jeffrey Holland of ‘Hi-de-Hi!’ fame brings his one-man show And This Is My Friend Mr Laurel; and Diana Quick will be taking the lead in The Last Woodwose by Thea Smiley, for the final event of the Festival. HighTide is always looking to expand its outreach programmes. A £40,000 award from the Foyle Foundation, as well as funding from the Arts Council that will continue until 2022, has enabled work to begin on a Lowestoft edition of the Festival – its fourth location – scheduled for 2021. As Aldeburgh Living went to press, plans were well underway to start touring HighTide productions to the town, a project that would begin with Songlines, the performance that headlines its sister festival in Aldeburgh this year.
The HighTide Festival runs from 11-16th September with performances in various locations in Aldeburgh. hightide.org.uk
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
13
Diary Heritage Open Days 8–9th September The Red House
HighTide Festival 11–16th September Various venues, Aldeburgh
brittenpears.org
hightide.org.uk
Henry Blofeld: 78 retired 8th September Jubilee Hall
Aldeburgh Triathlon 16th September Aldeburgh Beach
jubileehall.co.uk
aldeburghtriathlon.co.uk
Exhibition: Tessa Newcomb ‘Understanding Snape’ 8th September–2nd October Snape Maltings
!Cornucopia!: Alde Valley Autumn Festival 15th September– 7th October (weekends only) White House Farm, Great Glemham
Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival 29–30th September Snape Maltings aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk
William Alwyn Festival 3–6th October Snape Maltings snapemaltings.co.uk
snapemaltings.co.uk
aldevalleyspringfestival.co.uk
Vintage & Makers Market 9th September Snape Maltings snapemaltings.co.uk
Harvest Past 23rd September Peak Hill Farm, Theberton longshopmuseum.co.uk
12 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
Prometheus Orchestra 14th October 4pm Jubilee Hall prometheusorchestra.co.uk
Britten Weekend 19–21st October Snape Maltings snapemaltings.co.uk
Photograph by Sarah Stacey
Enjoy Pizza at the White Hart this Half Term 20–28th October White Hart, Aldeburgh
Children’s Pumpkin Trail 22–26th October Snape Maltings
Farmers’ Market 3rd November Snape Maltings
snapemaltings.co.uk
snapemaltings.co.uk
Easton Farm Park Half Term/Half Price 20–28th October Easton Farm Park
BBC Radio 3 Big Chamber Weekend 27–28th October Snape Maltings
Documentary Festival 2–4th November Various venues, Aldeburgh
eastonfarmpark.co.uk
snapemaltings.co.uk
Final Fling 21st October Long Shop Museum
Autumn Craft Fair 27–28th October Jubilee Hall
longshopmuseum.co.uk
jubileehall.co.uk
Between You and Me Ian McMillan & Luke Carver Goss 22nd October Jubilee Hall
Poetry in Aldeburgh 2–4th November Various venues, Aldeburgh
aldeburghcinema.co.uk
Fireworks 3rd November Heveningham Hall suffolk-fireworks.co.uk
poetryinaldeburgh.org
jubileehall.co.uk
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
13
A SECRET GARDEN Immersed, peacefully, in its natural surroundings, Alde Garden is the realisation of the imaginations of two very special people By Tessa Allingham
Photograph by Rob Marrison
Photograph by Rob Marrison
In the heat of the exceptional July of 2018, the water on my body is welcome. The black bag suspended above me in the Jungle Shower delivers sun-warmed relief in its own trickling time. It is hastened by nothing and nobody; I can’t intensify the flow, adjust the temperature, speed things up.
Mark Sealey who left office jobs in Southend to buy the boarded-up White Horse pub in Sweffling in 2008, seduced by the opportunity to create the site of their dreams. ‘We weren’t looking for a pub,’ says Marie, ‘but over a few cups of tea in our campervan after we’d viewed the place, we found ourselves saying ‘wouldn’t it be sad if it could never be a pub again’.’
And so I have time to listen to the cockerel crowing outside the wooden cabin (the wall is high enough to preserve modesty, low enough to look out over neighbouring fields), I have time to inhale the fragrance of surrounding pine trees, leaves dampened and scent heightened, taste freshness. It’s not like back home where the morning routine is a swift affair slotted between tea and the start of a working day relentlessly connected, plugged-in, urgently answerable to Apple. Alde Garden is a magical glamp-site, an ecofriendly place whose only demand is that you disconnect for a while, unplug and – it’s perhaps ironic to use the word – recharge. It is the result of the vision and determination of Marie Smith (pictured on the pub sign) and
16 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
And so the couple brought it back to life. They learnt the publican ropes and over the years created a CAMRA-feted real-ale pub with character shaped by gentle lighting and wood-burners, traditional board games and conversation. Locals take their glass from a hook as they arrive, and have it filled from a rotating selection of draught ales from independent East Anglian brewers, or choose a local bottled beer. The food is simple but thoughtful: a ploughman’s comes with Fen Farm Dairy’s Baron Bigod brie, tangy Shipcord from Rodwell Farm Dairy, and the pork pies from the Marlesford Farm Café are made with Blythburgh free range pork.
But you get the feeling that the campsite is where Marie and Mark’s hearts lie. Paths, fairy-lit at night, meander through gorgeously wild shrubbery, leading to tent pitches under fruit trees or by the duck pond, and tuckedaway glamping accommodation. The space under a restored Romany caravan is a favourite shady spot for the runner ducks – all named – that quack and flap their way around, often accompanied by Frankie and Rhoda, the inseparable pair of geese, and some busy hens. The two yurts (hand-built, frames made from locally coppiced wood) and bell tent are utterly comfortable, warmed by a wood burner and heaps of blankets, while the Hideout (it’s Marie’s favourite) is a cosy, low-roofed retreat on stilts where you can gaze up at a starry Suffolk night through skylights. ‘The campsite is a wonderful space for children to be free,’ says Marie. ‘You forget when you’re surrounded by nature as we are, that many people have never fed a hen or duck by hand, or heard such birdsong, or seen a barn owl.’ It’s particularly peaceful midweek, she adds, livelier at weekends and peak holiday periods.
We talk as Marie carves letters – they will read ‘alde garden’ – into a piece of wood that will decorate a throne for two that she’s making. ‘It’s a bit rustic,’ she says, ‘but I imagine people cosying up in it, telling stories.’ The throne will be part of the furniture in a remarkable sedum-roofed cob roundhouse that has been some two and half years in the making (Marie taught herself how), and will take another six months to finish. Wherever they sleep, campers are drawn to the Shelter where they can cook, borrow books, and buy dry goods via an honesty box. Nearby, a cast-iron kettle hanging from a tripod over the communal campfire heats the water for many a cup of tea as stories are shared, new friendships made and old ones rekindled. ‘I love it when I overhear someone asking ‘is this your first time?’,’ says Marie. ‘Some people have been back eight times. It’s the sort of place that if it’s your cup of tea, then it really is your cup of tea.’ Tessa Allingham was a guest at Alde Garden. Visit aldegarden.co.uk or call 01728 664178.
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018 17
129-131 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AS www.ocbutcher.co.uk
A
Are you animal, camouflage or checked? This autumn Aldeburgh’s High Street mixes prints with metallics.
B
C
The Aldeburgh
Autumn
Style Edit
A Part Two Metallic Skirt - Fleur - £89.95 B Inwear Mercer Trousers - Fleur - £109 C Barbour Oxer Shirt - O&C Butcher - £64.95 Model wears Rixo London Jamie Leopard Print Shirt Collen & Clare - £175
20 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
D
E
D Bellerose Lexo Check Midi Skirt - Collen & Clare - £170 E Jumper1234 Folk Yoke Jumper - Collen & Clare - £255 F Maison Scotch Belt - Fleur - £54.95 G Cara Jury Boot- Fleur - £130 H Cara Rowan Black Patent Shoes - Fleur - £100
Model wears Jumper1234 Camo Sweat Collen & Clare - £220
F
G
H aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
21
Phase Two Properties (Released August 2018) WOODEND Four Bedrooms, Two Bathrooms RUSTON Four Bedrooms, Four Bathrooms WHEELHOUSE Three Bedrooms, Three Bathrooms LUCAM Three Bedrooms, Three Bathrooms
Prices from £495,000
Rural views that will be there for centuries more Indoor pool available to residents every morning and evening Estate fitness suite opening winter 2018
Ancient English agricultural estates are rare jewels, at the Chillesford Lodge Estate contemporary barn conversions offer modern living in a timeless and unspoilt environment. An enviable place to retreat, rest and relax. The Chillesford Lodge Estate is a private escape only six miles from a daily train service to London and two miles from the Suffolk Coast.
chillesfordlodgeestate.co.uk
bedfords.co.uk
01394 450555
01728 454505
Cover Story Mary and John James welcome customers into the colourful, engaging world of books at the High Street gem that is The Aldeburgh Bookshop By Polly Allingham
As The Aldeburgh Bookshop prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary, owners Mary and John James reflect on the enduring appeal of the shop and its associated Literary Festival – and the importance of taking your time when choosing a book. Amidst the fresh blue shelves of the Aldeburgh Bookshop is a sea of colourful books. The orange of Orlando the Marmalade Cat flickers through the bookshop in posters, books and mugs printed with Orlando prancing down Aldeburgh beach. On one table sits the dotty paintbox cover of The Secret Lives of Colours by Kassia St Clair; beside this, Alan Power’s book on Enid Marx, designer of the London Tube seats, pops with a vintage pattern; then there’s the glowing, moody cityscape that encourages you to pick up Jennifer Egan’s latest novel, Manhattan Beach. It is a far cry from what Mary James, who owns the High Street bookshop with her husband John, calls the ‘uniform greyness’ of the Kindle. The rooms are filled with tables that are covered with books displayed face up; ‘This is how books are supposed to be
displayed’, says Mary, ‘It is very much helped by publishers’ increasing efforts with design’. She recounts how the owner of Warren Antiques in Leiston commented that this is the highest quantity of tables they had ever sold to one person. The whole shop invites you to flick through and leisurely browse, to judge a book by its cover, and it draws your attention to unmissable books that are still often missed. John says that visitors to The Aldeburgh Bookshop are left to browse undisturbed. ‘You need time to really read and absorb,’ says Mary. Mary and John have spent the past 20 years running the bookshop. They have created a large scrapbook to document their working lives, and it is filled with photographs, letters of thanks, newspaper clippings, and drawings and paintings, from visitors and friends. The history in its pages speaks of Mary’s belief that ‘we are just one in a long chain’; it is clearly a chain that is laced with local affection and national recognition. The Bookshop itself will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2019. ‘I think we’ll have a carnival float and have Johnny dressed up as Dickens,’ jokes Mary, ‘and me as Austen - or the other way around. Or would you rather be E. M. Forster, Johnny?’ He might
need some persuading, but the idea chimes with the bookshop’s unique vibrancy and longstanding history. For now, though, the couple’s focus is less on party planning, and more on the day-job of selling books of all types to all ages. Two small rooms form the sweetshop of The Aldeburgh Bookshop’s children and teens’ section; it is intentionally without school books because, for most, Aldeburgh is a place for holiday. Mary flicks through the local author-illustrator Emma Chichester Clark’s latest children’s book and identifies several drawings as real life Aldeburgh visitors, including the dog, Plum.
The rooms are filled with tables that are covered with books displayed face up; ‘This is how books are supposed to be displayed’, says Mary. Indeed, the local presence is strong in the bookshop’s shelves. The James’ host book launches, most often for local writers – the likes of barrister Sarah Langford whose acclaimed debut book, In Your Defence, tells the human stories behind eleven reallife criminal and family-court trials. The freedom to stock local authors like Langford beside chart-topping fiction, national and international names, cookery books, historical biographies, fascinating explorations of art and philosophy, academic works, is unique to independent bookshops like this. It raises the awareness of the abundant Aldeburgh talent, and provides a range with personality, Mary explains. At The Aldeburgh Bookshop art, philosophy and academic works occupy considerable shelf- and table-space. ‘We don’t want to be intellectual snobs, but at the same time we do want people to find things 26 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
they haven’t heard of before,’ says Mary. This aim is reflected in the annual Aldeburgh Literary Festival, now in its 18th year. The festival is the brainchild of Mary and John, and runs over a long weekend in early March. Its reach is vast: where else could you go from considering the kaleidoscopic nature of The Waste Land, the role of memory in Proust, and the relationship between electricity in the body and hereditary diabetes, to the fascinating life of bees? It all began when Mary and John happened to sit next to crime writer P. D. James at a lunch for a friend’s book launch. The encounter led to James speaking at the inaugural Festival in 2002. She was joined by such luminaries as Craig Brown, Alan Bennett, Libby Purves, and Paul Heiney, among others. The event was held in Aldeburgh’s 250-capacity Jubilee Hall, and still is, despite the fact that many talks would fill the space several times over. Tickets are rigorously sold only via postal application as a way of giving locals the first chance to take part. While the threat to independent bricksand-mortar bookshops from Kindle and the like is well-documented, this business is thriving. It’s no doubt helped by Aldeburgh’s holiday-town identity and the fact that many customers have the leisure time to read. The popularity of Mary’s monthly book club (the current read is Manhattan Beach) is no doubt also a factor, and, as John says, ‘Aldeburgh has lots of clever, creative, artistic people living here’. Maybe it is also because The Aldeburgh Bookshop shop and its contents are welcoming, colourful, vibrant and interesting, making one want to linger longer. For information on upcoming events and the Aldeburgh Literary Festival, visit aldeburghbookshop.co.uk.
Photograph by Eamonn McCabe
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
29
Design Design || Build Build || Renovate Renovate
Chapel Properties of Woodbridge is a local construction company specialising in high quality new builds, residential refurbishments and extensions, experienced in work on listed buildings Our experienced team of builders, tradesmen and designers delivers exceptional service, overseen with excellent project management to ensure each project is delivered to the satisfaction of our clients Director Mark Crisp is a fully qualified Chartered Construction Manager and MCIOB
01394 610 526 chapelproperties.co.uk 33 Quaypoint, Quaypoint, Station Station Road, Road, Woodbridge Woodbridge IP12 IP12 4AL 4AL
!Cornucopia! Festival 15th September – 7th October (Weekends)
Jason Gathorne-Hardy welcomes us once again to White House Farm for a seasonal celebration of food and art. This year’s festival showcases Jason’s collection of local antique chairs and the craftsmanship of Suffolk’s current chair makers. For information about dinners, talks, and workshops visit aldevalleyspringfestival.co.uk
Happenings ALDEBURGH FOOD & DRINK The Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival is now in its 13th year and is going to be better than ever. Over 100 producers take part in the two-day event, focal point of a two-week food-related fringe programme. The popular Hill Farm Family Meadow will be at Snape again this year as will the Adnams’ Drinks Experience and the Wild Suffolk area. Tommi Miers, Dan Doherty, Melissa Hemsley, Chetna Makan and Maunika Gowardhan are on the list of exciting chefs confirmed so far! 29-30th September Visit aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk for tickets 30 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
Poetry in Aldeburgh A weekend festival of poetry, film and art by the sea. 90 poets, artists, filmmakers. Four venues: Peter Pears Gallery, Garage Gallery, Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh Baptist Church Curated by Poetry School / Paul Stephenson 2-4th November visit poetryinaldeburgh.org for tickets
A Feast of a Book
Doc Fest 2-4th November The Aldeburgh Documentary Festival opens with the extraordinarily powerful documentary, Against the Tides, which charts the experience of endurance swimmer Beth French who challenged herself to conquer Oceans Seven, the world’s seven most dangerous sea-channels. On Saturday evening, take your seats for Under the Wire, the gripping story of the final steps of American war correspondent Marie Colvin who was killed in 2012 while reporting from Syria. Her photographer colleague, Paul Conroy, injured in the attack, will answer audience questions after the film. Journalist Nick Robinso returns to front the hugely popular Sunday morning political slot, and the weekend will finish with the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to eminent documentary film-maker, Nick Broomfield.
If you love eating out in Suffolk – and who doesn’t? – then Suffolk Feast: One County, Twenty Chefs could be just the companion you need! Written by this issue’s guest writer Tessa Allingham, this new cookbook and food lovers’ guide is packed with gorgeous photography and irresistible recipes. It delves into the foodie and non-foodie lives of some favourite Suffolk chefs, and champions Suffolk produce from field to fork. Check out some familiar coastal places – David Grimwood at The Froize, Chillesford, shares his love of game, and Oli Burnside at the Plough & Sail, Snape, suggests a delicious dish using local rarebreed English longhorn beef. Yum! Available to buy from The Aldeburgh Bookshop £24.50. Find out more on the Feast Publishing Facebook page
Visit aldeburghcinema.co.uk for tickets
Aldeburgh’s Fun Relay Triathlon For the fourth year in a row, Aldeburgh will open (or more appropriately close) its streets for our ‘Aldeburgh Fun Relay Triathlon’! 16th September 2018, starting whistle 12pm. The event has raised an impressive £5,000 for local charities over the last three years. Visit en-gb.facebook.com/aldeburghtriathlon/
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
31
Becoming the best we can be…
ORWELL PARK SCHOOL
Leading Independent Prep School Co-educational Boarding and Day 2½ to 13 t: 01473 659225 admissions@orwellpark.org www.orwellpark.co.uk Orwell Park, Nacton, Ipswich, Suffolk IP10 0ER
80+
PROPERTIES ALREADY UNDER MANAGEMENT
We market your holiday property on the largest holiday letting platforms:
more bookings | better service | lower fees
01728 677989 | airmanagesuffolk.com
The Red House, Aldeburgh Open until Sunday 28 October Explore Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears’ creative home where music was written and performed, art collected and two lives shared.
Beautiful seasonal handpicked flowers from our farm in Dennington arranged for your wedding, event and home Growing and floristry workshops Frances Boscawen 01728 638 768 moatfarmflowers.com
Admission £5.50 | 01728 451700 | brittenpears.org Golf Lane, Aldeburgh, IP15 5PZ
Quarter_Page.indd 6
14/08/2018 18:53:10
Life | Land | Business
Whatever life brings we’re always there for you Our friendly, local solicitors are on hand to advise you on a host of legal matters, including buying and selling property, family breakdown, making a will or developing your business.
Call 01473 611211 barkergotelee.co.uk
41 Barrack Sq, Martlesham, Ipswich IP5 3RF Free parking
TIPPING POINT The Balancing Barn in Thorington treads a clever line between thrillingly dramatic modern architecture and conventional comfort. By Tessa Allingham
The Balancing Barn may defy all notion of a traditional Suffolk country cottage with its sleek lines, designer fittings, shimmering exterior, and seemingly precipitous cantilever – and yet it feels rooted deeply and comfortably in its immediate rural location. The swing moves silently, its initial slow, shallow trajectory letting my feet graze through long grass, clouds of cow parsley, feathery thistle heads. Hot, parched earth puffs up dustily and butterflies and insects quiver in the heat. Curving up higher, as momentum gathers, it feels as if my toes could touch the boundarymarking beech trees, oaks and ash that are thick with summer foliage; even higher and I’m touching the sky, I really am. I lean back as far as I dare, hold tight to the chains, stretch out my legs, feel air whizzing and that nostalgic, stomach-leap of speed. That’s where obvious nostalgia ends. This swing isn’t knotted round the crooked bough of an ancient apple tree in the garden of a cutesy thatched cottage; it hangs beneath a futuristic, reflective panel-clad, oblong building at the end of a dramatic 15m cantilever that teeters thrillingly at the point where higher ground tips down a steep slope. The symmetrical walls of the building glimmer, shimmer in the sun, reflecting the landscape’s every mood, and vast windows drink in light; it is a captivating, playful, somewhat miraculous place. The Balancing Barn at Thorington was commissioned by Living Architecture, an enterprise created in 2008 by philosopher
38 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
Alain de Botton. The mission was to change public perception of contemporary domestic architecture by building a portfolio of modern properties for holiday rent. De Botton and his colleagues want modern architecture no longer to be considered the poor relation to conventionally appealing timbered Tudor buildings, or high-ceilinged Georgian ones, or rose-clad cottages – but to be appreciated, admired, and to challenge and excite. Designed by Dutch architecture firm MVRDV with interiors by Studio Makkink & Bey, also from the Netherlands, the 30m-long Balancing Barn challenges conventions – half of it is not even attached to the ground! – and yet melds with its surroundings, seems to dissolve into them with ease.
‘The magnificent sitting room that cantilevers over the edge of the high ground is at the end. A reinforced glass floor can be covered with multi-coloured carpet tiles should the idea of walking over space leave you feeling vertiginous, but most guests enjoy stepping, gingerly first perhaps, on the glass and looking down at the swing in full swoop.’ Approaching along a rough, tree-lined country lane, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Barn was insignificant; the visible elevation – more shed-like in its dimensions – is shimmeringly clad like the rest of the building, but the scale of the whole structure is only apparent when you walk round it, or along its internal corridor. aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
39
An airy, double-height kitchen is anchored by a table and chairs by London firm Unto This Last. Illuminated by a cluster of pendant lamps by Dutch designer, Hella Jongerius (there’s more by the same designer in the sitting room), it’s a place to gather around and socialise. Cupboards are discreet, there’s a home for everything (and there’s everything you’ll need), and the vast prep and cooking space is such that those at the stove won’t feel left out of conversation. Four bedrooms – they are all off the full-length corridor – have supremely comfortable oak-framed beds with inviting Paul Reed white linen; an Eames rocking chair fits the simple, clean lines, but is a nod perhaps to conventional country style. Bathrooms are unfussy, and while one room has the de rigueur bath in the bedroom, the others cater for those preferring the convention of a door. The magnificent sitting room that cantilevers over the edge of the high ground is at the end. A reinforced glass floor can be covered with multi-coloured carpet tiles should the idea of walking over space leave you feeling vertiginous, but most guests enjoy stepping, gingerly first perhaps, on the glass and looking down at the swing in full swoop. Look up and you can see the sky through a glass ceiling; look around you and vast picture windows give views over the peaceful countryside. You really do get the sensation of being suspended in the location, hanging in nature. Enjoy it from the colourful Dutchdesigned furniture which, while very cool and modern, is as comfortable as you like, in particular the pale green Polder sofa by Hella Jongerius that just invites you to stretch out. At cooler times of year, light the woodburner and cosy up with a book (there are plenty on the shelves, from glamorous architecture
40 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
and design tomes to the more predictable ‘things to do in Suffolk’ pamphlets). Or play a game. The Balancing Barn isn’t so cool that it can’t provide well-loved boxes of Monopoly, Scrabble and even, incongruously perhaps, a 1000-piece Downton Abbey jigsaw puzzle. Some design tropes continue throughout the building. Walls and floors are ash-clad, the same wood covering the steel frame of the building in such a way as to create interesting angles and shapes, while the local heroes of 18th and 19th century art – Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable – are recognised in canvas panels that echo in abstract their famous works. Constable’s Farm Cart with Horse in Harness is referenced in the kitchen, panels in the corridor and second bedroom suggest his famous Mill Stream, Willy Lott’s House, while Gainsborough’s View Near the Coast is captured in bedroom four. The block-colour panels suggest the work of abstract artist Piet Mondrian, but details of the original English paintings and the colour palette used in the panels root the canvasses deep in Suffolk. Outside, paths cut through undergrowth that is left deliberately wild to encourage bats, birds and insects, lead to a firepit area with rough-cut benches, and tucked away seating spots perfect for reading a book close to the boundary with Suffolk Wildlife Trust land. Stones mark the outlines of the dilapidated buildings that once stood on this site in respect for the ‘memory’, Living Architecture says, for what came before. For all its sharp design and striking looks, the Balancing Barn is a place with humanity and character – certainly as much as any cutesy thatched cottage can boast. To book a stay at the Balancing Barn go to living-architecture.co.uk.
A
C
B
D A Vitra Polder Sofa Golden Yellow - Nest - £4370 B Handmade Suffolk Settle by Jim Parsons Galloper Sands - £1450 C Vitra Star Wall Clock - Nest - £289 D Vitra RAR Eames Plastic Armchair - Nest - £495 E Grey Knitted Stool - Snape Maltings - £145 F Louis Poulsen PH 5 Pendant Light - Nest - £660 G Northern Dahl Pendant Light - Nest - £344 H Fritz Hansen Pouf - Nest - £340 I HAY Colour Carpet 01 - Nest - £699
E
42 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
F
G
Balanced Interiors
H
I
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
43
VOLENTE b e a u t i f u l b at h r o o m s
volentebathrooms . co . uk 01525 211955
One Five Seven Antiques & Interiors 01728 454575 157 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AN
A FAMILY RUN BUSINESS BASED NEAR ALDEBURGH We carry out services throughout Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex
Henry Paul Construction Ltd has a wealth of building and construction experience including project management, new builds, conversions, extensions, renovations, restorations, landscaping and more. We all strive for perfection and enjoy taking a clients unique visions and building them into reality.
HENRYPAULCONSTRUCTION.CO.UK INFO@HENRYPAULCONSTRUCTION.CO.UK 01728 830222 Leiston Enterprise Centre, Unit 22, Leiston, Suffolk IP16 4US
1 in 5 of our patients’ care is paid for by a gift in a will
Jill
Andy
Linda
Can you help? Our aim is to improve life for people living with progressive illnesses, and offer the best care to them and their families. People such as Jill, Andy and Linda and 2,000 others every year, but the fact is we can’t do it without your support. Next time you update your will, and after your loved ones are taken care of, please consider a gift to St Elizabeth Hospice. It’s easy to do, and a small gift can make a big difference.
48 AUTUMN 2018 LEG1117
aldeburghliving
01473 723600 stelizabethhospice.org.uk/legacy
Poetry in Aldeburgh 2018
2nd - 4th November A weekend of poetry, film and art by the sea With over 100 visiting poets, artists and filmmakers at 45 events and workshops Curated by Paul Stephenson and the Poetry School for Poetry in Aldeburgh Events taking place throughout Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, Peter Pears Gallery, Aldeburgh Baptist Church, Aldeburgh Beach Lookout, Cinema Studio and the Garage Gallery
For tickets visit poetryinaldeburgh.org, snapemaltings.co.uk, Box offices at Snape and at Aldeburgh Cinema @PoetryAldeburgh @poetryschool
poetryinaldeburgh.org
50 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
JAM SESSION By Tessa Allingham As summer relaxes into autumn, the seasonal abundance of High House Fruit Farm is gathered in and sold – fresh or preserved – to customers hungry for a taste of local. Head there to pick your own, or buy by the punnet, bottle or jar. The loganberries blurt and bubble in the preserving pan, a slow-moving, syrupy, crimson concoction whose fruity smell curls through the farmhouse kitchen and down the corridor to wrap itself round me in greeting at the front door. It’s a delicious welcome, almost as embracing as Suvi’s. She has a lot to get through, though, so turns quickly to her jam and talks as she works. While one batch cooks, she funnels another into jars with the swift accuracy of a seasoned jam-maker. Lidded, cooled and labelled, the jars are taken by the tray-load to sell in the tiny farm shop a few steps from the back door. They won’t linger there long, Suvi thinks – loganberry jam is one of her most popular preserves, up there with raspberry, blackberry, and redcurrant jelly. They are all, of course, made using fruit grown at High House Fruit Farm in Sudbourne, the tiny parish just a couple of miles north of Orford. Suvi McCreadie and her husband Piers Pool have grown fruit on this 100-acre patch of Suffolk since taking on the farm from Piers’ father who returned to his native Suffolk to live the peaceful life of
an apple grower having survived the unimaginable horror of a WWII Japanese prisoner of war camp. His original Worcester, Cox and James Grieve apple trees no longer exist of course, but Piers and Suvi have cuttings.
‘I can’t imagine doing anything but growing fruit here, and at this time of year it is very special.’ We meet at midsummer on one of those giddy June days that brim with warmth and abundance. It’s appropriate: Suvi means ‘midsummer’ in Finnish, and Suvi is part Finnish. She is just back from a trip to her homeland, and talks animatedly about the food there, the bilberries, cranberries, lingonberries and mushrooms – ‘we picked 80kg of chanterelles one year,’ she recalls – that grow in wild abundance in untamed forests. ‘But I love this place too,’ she says. ‘I can’t imagine doing anything but growing fruit here, and at this time of year it is very special.’ It is the gentlest of places with a frostaldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
51
free microclimate perfect for fruit-growing. The red-brick farmhouse with its jumble of farm buildings looks out over the cattlegrazed Alde River marshes towards the shingle spit of Orford Ness; its precarious lighthouse is just visible on the horizon. The immediate surroundings are laden with fruit trees. Scrambling rows of summer-fruiting loganberries, blackberries, raspberries and currants, prickly gooseberry bushes that burst with plump fruit, rhubarb and asparagus beds (resting now that their season is done) are all protected by belts of native trees. The last glossily plump cherries are about to be picked, while the late summer harvest of Victoria plums and the first apples – Discovery, and Piers’ favourite eater, Ribston Pippin – is yet to begin. These will give way to Cox, Bramley, Russet and several heritage varieties in due course. The apple season is Piers’ favourite. ‘I love the first misty mornings after the summer, the dew, the weather that coincides with apple picking,’ he says as we walk the orchards accompanied, bouncily, by the couple’s springer spaniel, Scout. He – Piers, but probably Scout too – likes the first really cold days of winter too, associating the dip in temperature with harvest being in, a thankful moment that is marked without fail at the harvest festival at Sudbourne’s All Saints church. Trees are picked twice, some of the fruit sold fresh, some stored for year-round sale, some sent to be pressed at Maynard House Orchards in Bradfield Combust near Bury St Edmunds. Those apples are returned in some 20,000 slender green bottles of naturally cloudy apple juice, a refreshing Cox-Bramley mix, crisp Discovery, or sweeter Russet. All High House fruit, along with jams and
50 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
juices, is sold fresh or frozen in the farm shop, or through local shops, farmers’ markets, delicatessens and restaurants. Suvi and Piers have never had the ambition to build the business to anything bigger than they can comfortably manage. ‘It makes sense to keep it local,’ says Piers. ‘We can pick the fruit when it is fully ripe because we know it’s going to be sold and eaten within two or three days. There are enough people around here who choose flavour and freshness for us to be OK with that!’
‘I love the first misty mornings after the summer, the dew, the weather that coincides with apple picking.’ Back in the house, we chat in the conservatory. In the kitchen another batch of jam is underway and the radio murmurs. ‘I’m addicted!’ says Suvi. ‘There’s a radio on in every room, usually tuned to Radio 4 but with the news being so dismal these days, it’s sometimes Radio 3.’ We talk about real food, Finland and foraging, about youth (‘we’ve got to get children interested in food early’), community, the weather (‘a little bit of rain overnight would be nice!’), and the couple’s ‘make do and mend’ approach (‘our tractors are held together by optimism’). Suvi recalls her previous career with the British Council that took her to Egypt where she hungrily absorbed the local culture, but, a few cups of tea and a meandering conversation later, we find ourselves back where we started, looking out over this very special part of Suffolk, and glad to be right here. For details of High House Fruit Farm’s opening times visit .high-house.co.uk or call 01394 450263.
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
53
Gain a clear perspective on your financial future Non Electric
Based in Woodbridge, I provide a comprehensive wealth management service, offering specialist face-to-face advice tailored to you. My services include: • Investment Planning • Inheritance Tax Planning • Retirement Planning
• Care Fees Planning
Boiler Friendly
10 Year Guarantee
For further details please contact:
Claire Rowell Tel: 01394 389369 Email: claire.rowell@sjpp.co.uk www.sjpp.co.uk/clairerowell The Partner represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The title ‘Partner’ is the marketing term used to describe St. James’s Place representatives. H2SJP27913 01/18
www.patmorewatersofteners.co.uk
WHITE HART INN 01728 453205 222 High Street Aldeburgh Suffolk IP15 5AJ
Pub opening hours Mon-Sat 11.30 - 23:00 Sun 12:00 - 22:30
07980 151 109 01728 663 888
LANDSCAPE & GARDEN DESIGN Ed Hopkins is Suffolk’s leading landscape and garden design company, building gardens of exceptional quality and providing an unrivalled service. Please get in touch to discuss your project. EDHOPKINS.COM
Ed Hopkins_150x208mm_About Fram_FINAL.indd 1
10/02/2017 15:30
56 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
SITTING PRETTY By Zoe Hardy Determined to help preserve a fading piece of rural heritage, Jason Gathorne-Hardy encourages us to look again at the Suffolk tradition of chair making and its influence on contemporary design.
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
57
Jason Gathorne-Hardy’s eyes light up as his hands sculpt the planes of the intrinsically Suffolk Ball Back chair. It looks quite at home in one of the many barns at White House Farm, sturdy but beautiful with turned elm spheres nestled between the slats of its back. It is the ‘farmhouse chair’ that led Jason to start building the Suffolk Chair Collection back in 2006 as a way of bringing a new lease of life to the disappearing tradition of chair making in East Anglia, and to ‘hold on to our heritage’. 56 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
Rewind. In his thirties, Jason turned to the crowds of people and oddities for sale at Campsea Ashe Market, the traditional Monday auction of Victoriana. He was hoping to fill the void left by leaving London and the life drawing classes taught by Maggie Hambling which had been an outlet for his artistic talent and keen eye. Whilst his pencil sketched the auctioneers and bidders, his eyes settled upon the numerous chairs that passed through the sales rooms; typically for sale alone, but sometimes in twos or threes, the Ball Back chair emerged from its ‘natural habitat’, the sales room. They caught Jason’s eye: the chairs never had a maker’s mark or a label, suggesting they weren’t masterpieces but the result of conveyor-belt production. ‘They were cheap, to the point of being
neglected,’ Jason recalls. And yet every chair in the collection has worn differently, revealing its own personality, begging the question ‘why?’ ‘There are simpler ways to make a chair,’ Jim Parsons (pictured pg.66) muses, pointing to the spherical elm knots.
‘A part of Suffolk heritage was at risk of being slowly reduced and drained away over time. It feels important that the chairs are still used and loved.’ The Suffolk Chairmakers group was founded upon Jason’s passion for the antique. His collection, which numbers some 50 Ball Back chairs mostly picked up at auction, serves
as an archive of this aspect of Suffolk’s 19th century artistic heritage, tracing not only the rustic techniques and materials used (most commonly elm) but also how they share design elements with Thames Valley and Herefordshire makers. With the growing disappearance of elm trees and the loss of Ball Back chairs, Jason felt that ‘a part of Suffolk heritage was at risk of being slowly reduced and drained away over time. It feels important that the chairs are still used and loved’. The collection went from strength to strength, seamlessly becoming the Suffolk Chairmakers Group as Jason introduced local artists to the forgotten art, encouraging them to use the archive as inspiration for aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
57
their own contemporary designs. Walking around White House Farm in festival season – whether it be !Cornucopia! in October or the Alde Valley Spring Festival in April – you can play I-spy with chairs from the collection, finding them nestled in corners of pop-up shops or at home around tea-room tables. With the support of the festivals and the workshop spaces available at White House Farm, members of the group have been able to experiment with making new versions of old chairs, making the art relevant to today.
‘Chair making isn’t just the art of sculpting, it’s also about knowing your timber, a knowledge we seem to have lost.’ Jon Warnes (pictured pg. 57), one of two artists to have full-time workshops at the Farm, runs courses to raise awareness of the fragility of our woodlands too. ‘Chair making isn’t just the art of sculpting, it’s also about knowing your timber, a knowledge we seem to have lost,’ he says. Jon not only teaches craftmanship but an awareness of production, treasuring his work from start to finish. ‘Your chair is growing out there, you just have to go and find it.’ Jim Parsons, meanwhile, recently completed a set of 14 Ball Back carvers for a Suffolk home. Supported by the archive, Jim’s work has flourished. When asked ‘why chairs?’, Jim’s answer is simple: ‘I needed chairs, so I made some bad, but beautiful, chairs!’ This sentiment of beauty in a necessity is apparent in his work today. Jim doesn’t like having ‘too many rules’; he’s an inventor, improving and tweaking as new ideas form. Even his Wenhaston chair, inspired by the traditional Windsor, is organic – the
58 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
legs aren’t turned but resemble branches, tapping into Jim’s inspiration from the natural world. This is something seen further in his signature Sandling chair with its fluid shape which, though made from elm and ash, brings chair making bang up to date.
‘I needed chairs, so I made some bad, but beautiful, chairs!... Your chair is growing out there, you just have to go and find it.’ This year’s !Cornucopia! centres on the work of Jim and Jon, but also showcases chairs made by other artists with works for sale and to commission. Look out for Dylan Pym’s signature oak stools, Raymond Hopkins’ benches made from oak and ash harvested from Jason’s family farm, the elegant steambent lines of Dan Hussey’s collection, Stewart Goldie Morrison’s modern take on a classic carver, or new editions of traditional Ball Back chairs by Tim Whiting. Chair Talks discussions and open workshops are also on the programme. Through a combination of skilled craftmanship and Jason’s guidance, these talented artists are rekindling an excitement about the art we are literally all sitting on – it’s worth having a look! See contemporary chairs made by members of the Suffolk Chairmakers Group, and plenty of original Ball Back chairs, at !Cornucopia! Festival held in the farmyard and barns of White House Farm, Great Glemham. Weekends 15th September – 7th October. Visit aldevalleyspringfestival.co.uk for more information.
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
59
JACK PRICE Agricultural Domestic Commercial Repairs & Gates
LANDSCAPES 01728 833118 | 07896 766719 adamblowers@btinternet.com
of Aldeburgh
T: (01728) 453313 M: 07581 683 720 E: colour-magic@hotmail.com of Aldeburgh
T: (01728) 453313 M: 07581 683 720 E: colour-magic@hotmail.com
TEL 07932 221739
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
63
DESIGNING WITH GRASSES by David Forestier Walker
The popularity of ornamental grasses has soared over the last decade. When chosen wisely and used with care, grasses can offer showstopping appeal, requiring remarkably little work in return. The extraordinary heatwave we’ve just experienced highlights one of the great benefits of grasses, requiring water only once a month, remaining disease and bug free – and no pruning or dead-heading required! Suffolk offers ideal conditions for grasses as the soil is often poor and sandy, which most grasses love. With over 450 species of garden grasses, rushes and sedges, most areas and soil types are generously catered for. The wilder landscapes of Suffolk, particularly the coastal areas, offer a great backdrop against which the adventurous gardener can experiment with a whole pallete of grasses, from taller, more upright species for structure, to the more delicate, flowering species that ripple in the wind.
62 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
My first foray into grasses was as a result of meeting Neil Lucas, the multi Gold Medal winning creator of Knoll Gardens, in Kent. Through his extensive knowledge and boundless enthusiasm I have learnt invaluable skills and principles. ‘Right plant, right place’ is one of Neil’s mantras – and this is as applicable to grasses as to most other plants. For example, a majestic Stipa gigantea that ought to reach 2m tall within the first two years might stall at 30cm if planted in clay. Similarly, the temptation to overcrowd beds must be resisted, as grasses will treble in size in a very short time. I generally recommend a gap of half a meter, dressed with small pea-shingle to retain moisture and keep out the weeds.
Grasses actually work very well with other plants, giving height and movement to more structured shrubs such as lavender angustifolia, the larger sedums and even topiary such as buxus or taxus balls. I tend to favour this more naturalistic approach, blending grasses and wild-flowers together, around a basic structure of evergreens and greys. It’s less regimented than the ‘blockplanting’ design principle, though the latter works very well for a more contemporary garden. Wild-flowers in particular are a natural bed-fellow to grasses, weaving their flower heads through the rhythmic swathes of grass and adding pops of colour. Some of my favourites are the scabious family, the subtle cream scabiosa ochroleuca, or the pale blue scabiosa caucasica. This gentle mixture can be punctuated by slightly bolder types, such as Echinacea, Verbena
bonariensis (flowers all summer) and even the dramatic Persicaria ‘Fat Domino’ for a dramatic blood-red. As with many things, less is more – and I generally recommend no more than 20% of colour to 80% grasses in any one design. Working with grasses is working with nature, rather than trying to control it. The result is less work, allowing you more time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour. With the wonderful displays throughout summer and the beauty of the frosted tops shimmering in the winter light, grasses really earn their place in the garden. David Forestier-Walker is landscape and garden designer with offices in Aldeburgh and Chiswick. Visit dfwgardendesign.com for more details
aldeburghliving AUTUMN 2018
63
stockists
Collen & Clare
O&C Butcher
164 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ 01728 454976
129–131 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AS 01728 452229
collenandclare.com
ocbutcher.co.uk
Fleur
Snape Maltings
166 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ 01728 454822
Snape IP17 1SP Box Office: 01728 687110 Retail Reception: 01728 688303
fleuraldeburgh.co.uk
snapemaltings.co.uk
Galloper Sands White House Farm, Great Glemham IP17 1LS 01728 663531
Volente Bathrooms
galloper-sands.co.uk
Whiteley Works, Watling Street, Hockliffe LU7 9NB 01525 211955
Nest.co.uk
volentebathrooms.co.uk
9 Parkway Rise, Sheffield S9 4WQ 0114 243 3000 nest.co.uk
64 AUTUMN 2018
aldeburghliving
Window Shopping Our Window, Your Opportunity Our brand new office in the heart of Aldeburgh is perfectly positioned to get your holiday home into the hearts of many a holidaymaker. Letting with Suffolk Secrets has never been better. Benefit from prime position offices, a dedicated homeowner service team, expert local and national marketing teams and customer sales support seven days a week, plus a full cleaning and maintenance management service. To find out how we can work for you, please call us on 01728 452425 to make a homeowner appointment, or visit suffolk-secrets.co.uk/letting-your-property for more information. 152 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AQ suffolk-secrets.co.uk • 01728 452425 • recruitment@suffolk-secrets.co.uk