The Bath Magazine June 2024

KING OF STAGE AND SCREEN

IAN McKELLEN

FROM THE EDITOR

The character of Shakespeare’s Falstaff is a complex one to capture. Many great actors have taken on the role in film and on stage – among them Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Anthony Quayle, Simon Russell Beale, David Warner, Michael Gambon and Simon Callow. One missing from the line-up until this year was Sir Ian McKellen, who told me that he has spent a lifetime (and that’s now 85 years) avoiding playing Falstaff – until he was asked to join a new interpretation by Robert Icke of Shakespeare’s two Henry IV plays, called Player Kings. McKellen says, “I’m not alone in thinking it’s a tricky part. He’s a complicated fellow and certainly not just a jolly Santa Claus type of rascal. He’s dangerous –he can be violent emotionally and physically, he’s a liar, a hypocrite, he lets people down badly and yet audiences like him.” We feel confident that this production, coming to the Bristol Hippodrome in early July, is going to encompass all this with a generous thespian dollop of Ian McKellen artistry. See our interview on page 22.

This month also previews other resonant performances on stage with If Opera’s summer programme. Productions include a gothic thriller with ghostly apparitions (Lucia di Lammermoor), an operetta with an array of gorgeous melodies and stirring waltzes (Die Fledermaus), and a hilarious musical interpretation of fairy-tale classic Little Red Riding Hood. On page 34 we hear more from If Opera’s Michael Volpe and Oliver Gooch.

I also talked to clothier and businessman Patrick Grant –and co-judge of the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee –about his new book Less. An outspoken critic of the fashion industry, he explains his view of how we are all at the mercy of the fashion bulldozer where ranges are released in some cases every day and we are persuaded through aggressive marketing to buy a stream of manufactured things of poor quality. The answer? To be more selective about our clothing choices, to buy less and ensure it is made with skill and with pure, natural materials. Patrick is appearing in Bath on 26 June. (One idea to embrace this is to take a look at Albaray’s sustainable range of womenswear, introduced on page 18.)

Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf once said, “The board is set... the pieces are moving.” It’s just the same for June in the Shire of Bath.

Emma Clegg, Editor

Watch out for Asian hornets

There have been a number of sightings of the invasive Asian hornet in 2024. In 2023, Asian hornet stings led to the deaths of at least five people in France. It is a highly effective predator of insects, including honey bees and other beneficial species, which can cause significant losses to bee colonies, and potentially other native species. Also known as the Asian Predatory Wasp, the insect can consume 50 honey bees a day, with a swarm of insects capable of killing a hive of 30,000. It is most likely to be seen near bee hives.

The hornet has distinctive yellow legs, a velvet brown or black body and its abdomen is almost entirely dark except for a dark yellow segment. If you think you have seen an Asian Hornet you can report it via the free app Asian Hornet Watch.

ON THE COVER

We have immortalised Sir Ian McKellen on our front cover. See our interview with him on page 22.

The Bath Magazine 2 Princes Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2ED; 01225 424499 www.thebathmag.co.uk

Editor Emma Clegg 01225 424592; emma@thebathmagazine.co.uk

Financial DirectorJane Miklos jane@thebathmagazine.co.uk

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5things to do

As part of the Fringe, Roberto Pla & His Latin Jazz Ensemble are playing at Komedia on 4 June. It remains one of Britain’s hottest Latin bands –as they were 30 years ago when they first played the Fringe. The top players of the day in the Pla band went on to fuel the Latin music explosion that followed. The current band is a bigger, 20-piece band. Komedia, 8pm. Tickets £25. bathfringe.co.uk

Discover creative sparks

Visit and explore the Undergraduate Degree Show for the Bath School of Art, Film and Media at the Bath School of Design. Includes the work of graduates for Creative Arts Practice; Digital Animation; Fashion Design; Fashion Photography; Film, Television and Digital Production; Fine Art; Furniture and Product Design; Graphic Communication: Interior Design: Photography; and Textile Design. Bath Spa University, Locksbrook Campus, 15–22 June, 10am-6pm. bathspa.ac.uk

Wander the gardens

These beautiful gardens in Combe Hay, nestling in a valley just south of Bath, have been lovingly restored and nurtured by Phil and Amanda Honey. Their vision and ethos has created a sustainable landscape that is visually stunning and rich in thriving wildlife. The gardens are open on selected days (1, 7, 12, 21 and 22 June) for public viewings by arrangement.There will be tea and delicious homemade cakes. Prebooking essential. Caisson House, Combe Hay, BA2 7EF; Open days 10am-4pm. caissongardens.com/events

Get the rhythm ‘n’ blues

The Manfreds, featuring both former lead singers of Manfred Mann, Paul Jones and Mike d’Abo, will be recreating their fabulous Maximum Rhythm ‘N‘ Blues 2023 show on 27 June at 7.30pm at The Forum Bath. Celebrating a remarkable 60 years as one of Britain’s most respected bands, The Manfreds’ music still retains a timeless quality. £30. bathforum.co.uk

On 14 July there is also the chance to spend an evening with the lead singer of Manfred Mann Paul Jones and Fiona Hendley Jones at the Forum. Come and

Dress up ‘fancy’

join this wonderful couple and listen to their life’s journey interspersed with songs. Free, but booking required. bathboxoffice.org.uk

Bath Assembly Rooms is holding ‘Dressing Fancy’, a programme of events in June, as part of a research project into Georgian fancy dress. The main event takes place on Saturday 15 June from 6.30pm, when the Assembly Rooms will host a grand ball. The evening will start as a Georgian fancy ball where people can try 18th-century dancing, Georgian card games and embellish their outfits at the accessories wardrobe. From 9pm onwards the Ball Room sees a DJ taking over for guests to dance the night away. Booking essential. Tickets £15/£9.

There is also an afternoon of specialised workshops teaching Georgian dances and cardgames before attending the Fancy Ball. Tickets £55, including entry to the Fancy Ball. Find out more at nationaltrust.org.uk

City updates

SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING

Albaray, the womenswear fashion brand has opened a second retail store in Bath on New Bond Street. The shop will be a destination store and will deliver the sustainably focused Albaray brand experience. Supporting its commitment to operating more sustainably, the brand worked with the Jungle Fit collective, a commercial store fitout company that takes a carbon-neutral approach and uses eco-friendly materials. The store offers an inviting, paired-back environment, and the team will create a welcoming atmosphere for customers to explore the collections. To help drive greater awareness of the brand and the way it consciously operates, Albaray plans to work closely with the local community to enhance the store's offer and help create a positive local impact. albaray.co.uk

INTERACTIVE NATURE TRAIL

The Dorothy House Interactive Nature Trail in Winsley is a perfect spot to take a pause this summer and learn more about the incredibly bio-diverse species found in the calcareous rich grassland meadow. From impressive yellow ant eco-engineers to fireflies, Bechstein bats and cucumber-scented grasses, there is much to wonder at whilst enjoying the stunning views across the Wiltshire valley. Throughout the trail, on or off the interactive app, you will be able to dive deeper into nature’s weird and wonderful secrets. From amazing owl eyes, to how fireflies glow, there is plenty to discover no matter how old you are. You can find the nature trail just off the public footpaths from the Kennet and Avon Canal at nearby Avoncliff or Limpley Stoke.

As a Hospice, Dorothy House’s vision is of a society where death is part of life. Through its seasons, nature reminds us of the fragility of life and offers peace and solace from sadness and feeling overwhelmed. The Dorothy House Interactive Nature Trail opens up the site to anyone wishing to find a wellbeing space to reflect in nature, or to find serenity in grief. dorothyhouse.org.uk

ONLINE ART TRADING

As the Bath Contemporary Artists' Fair (BCAF) celebrates the 30th fair at Green Park Station on 9 June, they have also announced the launch of a brand-new online sales platform, BCAF Online. Exclusively available to BCAF artists, the new platform offers a dynamic opportunity for artists to showcase and sell their artwork to a wider audience. By embracing the digital age alongside the physical exhibitions, the fair aims to enhance visibility and accessibility for its talented arts community. A first for Bath and a first for the UK, BCAF Online bridges the gap between live events, ensuring artists can sell their amazing work all year round. Here's to another 30 events of creativity and innovation at BCAF! bcaf.co.uk

FOREST LIVE 2024

Forest Live, the summer concert series presented by Forestry England, set in stunning, unique outdoor settings, is coming to Westonbirt Arboretum from 4–12 July.

The confirmed line-up includes Irish folk-pop icons The Corrs (6 July), Northern Irish musician Van Morrison (7 July), American jazz, blues and soul singer Gregory Porter (4 July), multi-platinum popstar Anne-Marie (5 July), and disco icons Nile Rodgers & CHIC (12 July).

Forestry England uses the money Forest Live raises to maintain beautiful natural areas for everyone to enjoy, run important conservation projects and keep growing trees. Last year they planted some 7.4 million trees, caring for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests sustainably and welcomed 291 million visits in 202223. Over two million people have enjoyed the Forest Live gigs over the last 23 years. Tickets from forestlive.com

by

Photograph

Johnny Hathaway

Chalkhill Blue butterfly, photo by Steve Smailes/ Wiltshire Wildlife Trust

Above: artwork by Craig Askew and Frances Cooley

Bridgerton season three, part one, which launched in the middle of May, sees Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) make her society debut. Yet the heart of these first four episodes is the romance between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and his neighbour Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Reviews have been mixed. “The series has struggled to give its romances real depth” (vox.com); “Colin is, well, a bit dull.” (Independent); “Lacks the giddiness of earlier series” (Hollywood Reporter); and “I confess myself exhausted by standing at the edges of all these endless ballrooms, watching these sumptuously dressed rich people do their dancing.” (slate.com). There is certainly dissatisfaction with the splitting of the series into two parts: “It’s a transparent ploy to keep

FUTURE PROOFING FOR BPT

Bath Preservation Trust (BPT) has announced a new theme for the organisation and its museums: Future-proofing. This will underpin exhibition and events planning at BPT’s four museums, plus its advocacy and campaign activities. BPT campaigns for and promotes the conservation, sustainable enhancement and celebration of the unique historic built environment and amenity, green setting and global contributions of Bath. At the heart of the charity’s objectives is the goal of future-proofing heritage, architecture and culture in and beyond the city. At a time when people are feeling the impact of the Climate Emergency and the general heightened awareness of conservation as a whole, BPT is striving to increase the scale and pace of change in Bath by advocating for positive and sustainable development of the city. This news comes after His Majesty King Charles III has retained his Royal Patronage of Bath Preservation Trust, following a detailed review of patronages held by the Royal Household. bath-preservation-trust.org.uk

viewers subscribed for longer” (I Newspaper); “Viewers can be certain the fourth episode will end in such a way that you will be screaming at the TV, wondering why Netflix is forcing you to endure an entire month to finish a season that you’ve already spent two years waiting for.” (The Huffington Post).

Other comments are more uplifting: “It is more lush and enticing than audiences might remember” (Variety); “So far, Bridgerton season three is worth the wait.” (PureWow); and “It’s an immaculately constructed dreamland; the pinnacle of comfort TV.” (Guardian). How has your Bridgerton journey been? The final four episodes of season three will be released on Netflix on 13 June.

GARDEN PLANT PLANNER APP

Hota is a new gardening app that has been developed by tech-savvy gardener (and Bath-born) Toby Gale and landscape architect Hannah Shaw. Hota has been created to guide new gardeners looking for inspiration on what to plant in their garden. The app begins by collecting environmental information from the user. Orientation and soil type are identified from the phone’s location and bed size and light levels are entered manually. The next stage is to select your favourite style or colour theme. Based on environment and style preferences, Hota will then generate the perfect plant mix. The user can then tell Hota when a plant has been ‘planted’ and the app will generate bespoke maintenance advice for that plant throughout the seasons. Hota is available for iPhone on the app store now. apps.apple.com

Bath profile

PAUL MANCINI

British Sign Language interpreter Paul Mancini signs at selected performances at Komedia, including Krater Comedy Club. He made interpreting his career after growing up as a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA).

Tell us about your relationship with Bath I was born in Bath, and lived not far from Moorland Road, where my mum still lives today. I attended South Twerton and Culverhay Schools. I moved to Bristol when I was in my 20s, where I stayed until nine years ago, before moving to Frome. I love it there –it’s a very vibrant town, with a great mix of music venues, theatres and live events.

What is your training and background?

My first job was at Duck, Son and Pinker on Pulteney Bridge. After a few years in retail, I started working at the Poolemead Centre in Twerton, supporting Deaf and Deafblind people with additional needs, which is where I used my signing skills for the first time in a professional capacity, and first thought about interpreting as a career.

When did you first start signing and why did you make a career out of it? I come from a Deaf family, so I’m known as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). I started supporting students as a CSW (Communication Support Worker) before beginning my formal interpreter training. I was never particularly academic, so instead of university I chose the NVQ route, allowing me to gain valuable hands-on experience while training.

Have the opportunities for signing professionally expanded?

Absolutely! There’s more demand than ever for interpreting, particularly within performance interpreting. The equalities act has made provision for interpreters a requirement (if deemed ‘reasonable’, which is a murky path), but Rose Ayling Ellis’ appearance on Strictly Come Dancing has helped to push BSL (British Sign Language) into the British consciousness. A lot of festivals and theatres now have interpreted events as a core part of their programming.

How demanding is signing?

Signing and interpreting are two very different things. Holding a conversation in BSL is no more taxing than holding one in spoken English. Interpreting, on the other hand, is quite demanding, as you’re listening to what is being said, understanding not only the words, but also the context and intent, then interpreting that into something culturally appropriate, conveying all that using not only your hands, but facial expression and body language, while simultaneously listening to the next sentence and repeating the process.

What areas still don’t cater well for the deaf and hard of hearing?

So many things are still difficult for the Deaf community to access, but technology is helping to change that. People can access interpreters on mobile devices, the government provides interpreters in workplaces via the Access to Work scheme, but there’s a huge shortage of interpreters, with roughly one interpreter to every 60 people, so often Deaf people are denied equal access, particularly for emergency medical appointments.

What are the best and worst things about being an interpreter?

The best thing is the variety of work. We interpret in every situation you can imagine, from birth to death, and it’s a privilege to be a part of people’s lives, and hopefully make a difference. The worst bit is the amount of travelling, and it’s not unusual to drive two hours to interpret a 10-minute doctor’s appointment.

What are your favourite parts of Bath?

I’m contractually obliged to say Komedia (luckily, I love it)! I’ve always enjoyed the music venues, particularly The Bell on Walcot Street and the much-missed Moles. I recently visited the Abbey for the first time in my life, and was blown away, so I’m determined to go to all the tourist spots you never visit because you’ve grown up with them.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I play bass in a Slade tribute band, and love playing live. I’m also a huge sports fan and particularly enjoy watching football and cricket.

What would you choose as your motto?

I only need one more guitar (I have 21).

Paul Mancini: paulsli@icloud.com

Notes on a small city

This month columnist Richard Wyatt luxuriates in the sun, imagining a dazzling June for Bath’s visitors, and considering just how much they have to see.

Idedicated a couple of hours to the task of writing this column on a sun-drenched Saturday morning filled with birdsong and a touch of hay fever. Hopefully, June will be blessed with similar weather.

What’s happening in the heavens is important to the prosperity of our WorldHeritage city as we enter the main tourist season. With al fresco dining and attractive green spaces, parks and gardens, sunshine and clear skies are paramount. They also produce perfect conditions for showing off the beauty of our Bath-stone-built Georgian buildings with blue and yellow being complementary colours.

All the current indications are that we are gradually returning to pre-pandemic visitor numbers. We’ve been a holiday destination for centuries, although today our international visitors fly in rather than arriving by stage coach.

Looking back even further, our Roman invaders were the first to exploit the naturally heated waters that well up from 2.5 km beneath our city and the remains of their bathing complex continue to stand out as Bath’s main must-see attraction, with over a million visitors last year. The hot springs also feed the nearby Thermae Bath Spa where you can enjoy the wellbeing experience of actually bathing in the mineral-rich waters.

Whether it’s from the Americas, Europe, the Far East or Australasia, our visitors also can’t get

enough of our 18th-century architecture and elegance. There’s everything on offer from stepping back 250 years to explore the interior of the Georgian townhouse at No 1 Royal Crescent to dressing up in period costume to join the Jane Austen Festival parade celebrating just one of our former famous residents.

We are a city of museums, big and small, and it’s good to see these repositories of the past also reflecting the present and the future. Among the independents, the Holburne Museum currently offers both the novelty of Henry Moore sculptures that can fit in your hand and the ‘graffiti spaghetti’ of a social media sensation called Mr Doodle. The museum is also holding its first Pride weekend and hosting Forest of Imagination, an inter-generational reminder of our responsibilities to the natural world.

Elsewhere, Beckford’s Tower may have been around since 1827 but, having been closed for major restoration and refurbishment works, it’s about to re-open with re-designed museum rooms that will confront the reality of how the building’s original owner, William Beckford, gained his wealth from the transatlantic slave trade.

Elsewhere, I love the fact that, just doors away from each other on Gay Street, you can take tea and explore all things Regency in the Jane Austen Centre –and scare yourself silly in Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein. New ideas and new treatments!

Other museums may be small in size but they are big on the story they tell. In Combe Down, the Museum of Bath Stone explains how all of the 18th-century crescents, avenues and squares you might look down on from Alexandra Park, were built with the limestone extracted from mines under this prominent ridge. Meanwhile, almost hidden from sight alongside the Cross Bath, the Bath Medical Museum preserves and promotes the history and importance of medicine in the city with everything from a cabinet of curiosities to an online virtual tour of Bath’s historic and former Mineral Water Hospital, which is due to be transformed into a five star hotel.

I have my personal favourites, of course, which include the Museum of Bath at Work –a place that reminds us of the city’s industrial past and the people who both created and worked within it.

Another is the city’s unofficial museum –the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) in Queen Square. This year it’s celebrating its bi-centenary as the custodian of 150,000 scientific and historical objects, and the venue for countless lectures on everything from quantum mechanics to who owns the moon...

The only thing missing from Bath –in my opinion, but it’s one shared by many –is the lack of a tourist information centre, providing that point of contact for those getting off the tourist coaches. This is left to the online information provided by visit bath.co.uk, the street-walking Welcome Ambassadors from Bath BID and the Postcard from Bath publication to make up the deficiency.

Overall, Bath is an amazing place to visit and as far as l am concerned, an all-year-round lovely place to live in too. n

Richard Wyatt runs the Bath Newseum blog: bathnewseum.com

Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein

The Museum of Bath at Work

JODYCORY.CO.UK 01225 460072

JODY@JODYCORY.CO.UK

9 ABBEY CHURCHYARD, BATH BA11LY

Handmade in the Heart of Bath

Portrait of Bath

Stephen Green, surveyor and founder of Future Heritage, Bath

Stephen Green specialises in restoring listed buildings and carrying out new schemes in conservation areas. There are few places of note in Bath that have not benefitted from his planning expertise.

Stephen Green has lived and worked in Bath for over 40 years. After moving to the city in 1982, he and his wife Philippa formed the company Future Heritage to respond to the challenge of restoring old buildings to accommodate contemporary uses. The company name was chosen to reflect the dynamic tension inherent in adapting and restoring historic buildings to give them a new lease of life.

“My main focus has been on restoring listed buildings and carrying out new schemes in conservation areas. We have completed schemes in Bristol, Cheltenham, Marlborough, Salisbury, Torquay, Truro and Winchester, but our roots are in Bath, where we have completed 40 schemes”, says Stephen.

“After London and Edinburgh, Bath is one of the best cities in Britain for anyone with a passion for historic buildings,” Stephen explains in his publication Future Heritage: A Property Odyssey. He also says how in the aftermath of World War II there was a legacy of ugly post war buildings hastily erected in the 1950s on bombdamaged sites. These buildings presented an opportunity for those with the right vision to replace them with new, more appropriate buildings, such as the south side of Widcombe Parade, Queen Square House in Charlotte Street, Circus Mews and Seven Dials next to the Theatre Royal.

After setting up Future Heritage, Stephen completed more than 40 schemes in Bath, ranging from single buildings to schemes such as The Tramshed, a mixed use scheme of c.60,0002ft. Other notable projects over the years include the restoration of Somerset Place; the Arts and Crafts interpretation of St Michael with St Paul Church House (now Pomegranate Meze Bar) in Walcot Street; Bath’s former Post Office in New Bond Street, along with newbuild schemes in conservation areas such as Walcot Street, Crescent Lane and Henrietta Road.

Stephen says his favourite projects are Seven Dials by the Theatre Royal and the entire Crescent in Somerset Place (“…this encapsulates the work we have done in both restoring listed buildings and creating new buildings in conservation areas”).

Stephen finds a great release in painting historic buildings and gardens – where he doesn’t have to worry about dry rot, damp, subsidence, conflicting regulations, delays and increased costs…!

“People and place are intrinsically linked”, says Stephen, who in his work has done his utmost to reinforce these connections.

Stephen Green, 10 Bridge Street, Bath BA2 4AS

Portrait by Joe Short. Joe is an award-winning photographer based in Bath. joeshort.com

Take 5 hats

The Bath Hat Company in Bath has an amazing selection of hats catering for women and men –perfect for any event. Conveniently situated in the heart of Bath, you can drop by

Trilby

The Hat Company 9-11 Walcot St, Bath BA1 5BN 01225 339009 thebathhatcompany.com

Lockstock

Indiana Fedora

Sinamay & Silk Ivory Mother of the Bride

Hatinator Perfect for Royal Ascot Ladies Day

Panama hat Hand made in Ecuador

Introducing Albaray

Albaray is a contemporary, womenswear brand on a mission to make stylish dressing more sustainable.

The brand has recently opened a new store in Bath, located on New Bond Street, and is an exciting addition to one of Bath’s most prestigious shopping streets.

Launched in 2021, Albaray offers versatile and effortless collections that are always thoughtfully designed and responsibly made. From everyday dresses, perfect fit jeans, easy to wear separates and elevated basics, all designed to mix and match with your existing wardrobe.

For summer you will find seasonal fabrics, including 100% linen and organic cotton, a natural and sophisticated colour palette as well as bold prints and sunshine ready hues. Thoughtfully Designed, Responsibly Made

Albaray 24 New Bond Street, Bath Albaray.co.uk _albaray

Linen Twill Button Top £591

Linen Twill Pencil £651

Ticking Stripe Top £597

Ticking Stripe Drop Waist7 Skirt £797

Jersey and Woven Mix. Tank Dress £69.

Drop Waist Bandeau. Dress £110.

Animal Print. Trousers £69.

Waistcoat £655

The power of less

“We’ve been sold this idea that life has to be full of consumption and fancy living”, says Patrick Grant. “As a result we’re at the mercy of the three-trillion dollar fashion industry.” It’s time to make a stand, he explains to Emma Clegg.

Successful clothier and businessman Patrick Grant might at first come across as an establishment figure – because of his years on Savile Row, notably turning around the failing bespoke tailoring business Norton & Sons after he purchased it in 2005, combined with his gentlemanly, tailored, modest appearance. Known best as co-judge (with Esme Young) on BBC1’s The Great British Sewing Bee since 2013, Grant is in fact an outspoken critic of the fashion industry and his new book Less, which has already hit the Sunday Times bestseller list, propounds these criticisms.

“Lots of people are now beginning to question the wisdom of building an economy and a society around an increasing volume of consumption of increasingly cheap and increasingly bad-quality things,” says Grant.

“There has been a very deliberate policy from the fashion business to shift from the prevailing modern orthodoxy that existed before the rise of mass consumption when people were encouraged to live with as few things as possible. We were all told that was the way to live in a godly and moral way – to not want too much, to not be envious, to not be greedy.

But once those with lots of money discovered that they could make more money by making us want more stuff, that message was quickly and quietly dropped. We were encouraged to buy things all the time, and this was a very deliberate manipulation of society.

“There was a time when most of us would have lived our lives with just one set of clothes and really it was only in the late 19th century that most people could afford more than a couple of bits of clothing. I was born in 1972 and when I was a kid I never felt growing up that I didn’t have enough clothes, and yet today there is five times as much.”

I wonder how long Grant has felt these concerns. He says, “I have been concerned about fast fashion for around 20 years, but it’s really only in the last five years that the pace of it has gone completely bananas. History shows us that the level of consumption has only ever got faster and faster, with more and more things that are cheaper and worse quality.”

This is in fact an age-long debate. “There were people talking about the pace of change within fashion back in Roman and Greek times. Even in Tudor times fashions were changing just every half a century. The pace of change now is daily – there are fashion brands that release outputs of new products every single day. It has become such a hamster wheel that it’s impossible to keep up. It’s almost like fashion is dead because it’s just become a constant whirl of stuff. How can you have fashions if they change every three and a half minutes?”

Surely the increasing awareness of the need for business sustainability has had a positive impact on the industry. Not according to Grant. “The UN reckons that the fashion industry needs to reduce its carbon footprint by over 90%. Even by moving all its production to the very lowest carbon footprint you would probably only reduce it by 30 or 40%. The fashion industry is a three trillion dollar industry. The owners of the biggest fashion brands are some of the richest people in the world and they do not want to admit that the real problem is the whole idea of selling us more stuff all of the time.”

Grant says that those fashion brands claiming sustainability are just greenwashing. “If you are a business trying to encourage people to buy new products every week, it doesn’t matter what you claim about the sustainability of the material that you use; you’re still encouraging the overconsumption of something that’s not needed, and that is not a sustainable way to live. Those brands have huge power. They are not going to come out and say it’s all a load of bullshit. But we can.”

Tailored Savile Row outfits are sold at premium prices, but Grant maintains that the ethic of this business is highly sustainable. “It is an incredibly sustainable way of creating and living with clothes. We only produce the clothes that are needed. And we don’t create new collections every six months or every year. We make everything by hand and in a way so that it can be repaired infinitely. We make using the best natural materials that are long lasting but also at the end of their life can be returned to the soil in a way that doesn’t do anybody any harm.”

What Grant has done in response to his frustrations is create a new business called Community Clothing. He bought a clothing factory in Blackburn in Lancashire that was closing down in 2015. “There is plenty of good-quality clothing in the UK but none of it is affordable. There is plenty of affordable clothing, but none of it is good quality. And that’s what we do, we make good-quality affordable clothing. ”

The business operates online, with all clothes made in the best UK

“It’s almost like fashion is dead... How can you have fashions if they change every three and a half minutes?”

factories. “It’s not Primark prices; it’s top-end John Lewis prices,” says Grant. “We are making the same quality as some of the best designer brands, but we sell it at a fraction of the price. We do that by cutting out all the normal costs of doing business. In our model if you spend £100, £65 goes to the people that make it –in most businesses it’s less than £25. And most of the clothes we make can be recycled into something else at the end of their life, unlike synthetic clothing.”

Handmade things were the default until industrialisation, says Grant. “The transition from products made by skilled humans to a reliance on the power of machines required a change to those objects to make them machine makeable, which led to a reduction in the quality. That reduction has gone through wave after wave to the point where the quality has never been as low. Not just clothes, but the everyday objects in our homes. That lovely work that people used to enjoy doing that gave them a sense of pride and fulfillment has been taken away.

“There is a point of balance that we can find. There is a place in the world where creativity and craftsmanship meet – we are really good at this in this country and it does bring a lot of people a lot of joy. But it has to be small – it has to be 10% of what we buy, not 90% of what we buy.

We need to think more about who we are and establish our own personal style to express our own personality through our clothes rather than following what we are told is the fashion.

“Many people are in a position where they can choose – instead of buying five crap things, three of which aren’t ever worn, we can buy one good thing and make sure that the money goes to the makers and to those who have produced the beautiful materials. We have made changes around our food to make it local and fresh and in some cases that’s ended up costing us a lot more money. We have been prepared to do that, but we haven’t done the same thing with our clothing. And we can do. Spend the money in a way that increases the overall happiness both of the people involved in making it, you and the planet. That would start to make things change. n

Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish: How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier by Patrick Grant, William Collins, £22. Patrick Grant visits Bath to talk about his book Less on 26 June at 7pm at St Swithin’s Church, The Paragon, Bath, £10; batharts.co.uk; communityclothing.co.uk

Player Kings

We know him as a host of unforgettable characters –from Gandalf in Lord of the Rings to Magneto in X-Men, and on stage there are few major roles that he has not brought to life in his own inimitable way. Falstaff, however, has not been on his acting biography, until now. Emma Clegg catches up with Sir Ian McKellen ahead of the production of Player Kings at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Bringing together Shakespeare’s two great history plays (Henry IV, parts 1 and 2), Player Kings, currently running at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End, visits the Bristol Hippodrome from 3–6 July. The three hour and 20 minute reimagined modern-dress production is adapted and directed by award-winning writer and theatre director Robert Icke. The star and antihero of these plays is Falstaff, and the role in this version has been taken on by stage and screen legend Ian McKellen.

McKellen, who is 85, says that he has deliberately never taken on Falstaff before, and for good reason: “Academics often write about Falstaff; they are very intrigued by him, and through the generations Falstaff has been a huge success with audiences – he’s part of the culture really.

“And yet when you come to look at him he’s a complicated fellow and certainly not just a jolly Santa Claus type of rascal. He’s dangerous – he can be violent emotionally and physically, he’s a liar, a hypocrite, he lets people down badly, and yet audiences like him. I couldn’t ever quite land on what it was that kept him going – and I must say I was right to be doubtful because it’s a very difficult part. I’ve talked to others who have

played Falstaff, and they said the same. The late great Mike Gambon said to me, “Ah, I didn’t understand a word”, so I’m not alone in thinking it’s a tricky part."

McKellen compares Falstaff to Shakespeare’s other tragic characters: "In the other great parts like Macbeth and Coriolanus and Iago in Othello, the characters are very clear, they look after themselves really, but Falstaff, mmm, complicated. But I’m getting there and I think that by the time we reach Bristol I might have something to show you!"

We like the idea that the production is being finessed especially for Bristol, and the city scores high in McKellen’s estimation: “When I was starting out as a lad I wanted to go to a repertory company. Of all the companies, the one everyone wanted to go to was Bristol. It’s partly because of the theatre itself and its history, but the standard was recognised as being as high as you could get.”

If Falstaff is a tricky character to unravel, what has been the process of getting inside the role? McKellen explains, “Rob Icke spoke to me very clearly about what he thought the part was like –he kept saying that this is a character out of The Sopranos. He saw the role as someone who was

IMAGE: Manuel Harlan

Ian McKellen as Falstaff and the cast of Player Kings

not just jolly, but dangerous –you couldn’t quite be certain what he was going to do next. This made him an attractive figure for Prince Hal to be spending time with, but he was the last person to be training up a young man to take over the monarchy when the time came.”

Past stage and screen productions have featured great names as Falstaff, including Antony Quayle (1951), Hugh Griffith (1964), David Warner (2008), Robert Stephens (1991), and Antony Sher (2014). On screen roles include Laurence Olivier (1944), Orson Welles (1965), Robbie Coltrane (1989), and Simon Russell Beale (2012). Did these offer any inspiration?

“You have to be careful about doing that, because as an actor you have to get inside the character, and the character ideally has to get inside you.

Simon Callow has written two books on Falstaff –he played him, and he’s analysed every scene. And it’s very interesting to read but you have to think, ‘hang on, this is not Shakespeare’s Falstaff I’m reading – this is Simon Callow’s reaction to Falstaff’, so in the end you don’t really want to go digging into what somebody else did and instead work it all out for yourself”, says McKellen.

“When Falstaff cries out to the audience on the battlefield, ‘Give me life!’, you imagine there are people in Gaza shouting the same”

“Falstaff is a tragic comic character and our approach has been to look at him and believe in him as a real person. If the audience finds that funny in parts, terrific. If they are moved, equally great. I’m just showing them what I’ve discovered about Falstaff and they can react as they will. I feel that I have been inside Falstaff when I’ve been rehearsing but I haven’t quite let him take me over yet. You always hope that by the last performance you’ve got it as right as you possibly can.”

McKellen speaks highly of his supporting cast, particularly of Toheeb Jimoh as Prince Hal. “The central character really in the play is the young Prince Hal, played by an amazing young actor who I didn’t know before, from Ted Lasso, and I think he’s going to be a major theatre actor. He did a wonderful Romeo in London a couple of years ago and now he’s doing Prince Hal, and next stop Hamlet, I would think. He’s pulled between the relationship with his own father the king, and with this other father figure, Falstaff, who he meets in the East End of London. But he shouldn’t be bothering with Falstaff –he is not a good influence.

“TJ (Toheeb Jimoh), our Hal, and I get on very well as friends and I’d say he knows a little bit about what I’ve been up to and I know a little bit about what I hope he’s going to be up to. We have got a mutual admiration going, and to be friends with Hal is a good thing if you are playing Falstaff. I’ve always thought that one of the most wonderful things about being an actor is that you work with people with such wide experience, older than you and younger than you, and yet when it comes to the rehearsals on stage you are all equal –although it’s true I’m in dressing room no 1!

Falstaff is known for his physical size, so for this production McKellen sports a fat suit. “That is the first thing people say about Falstaff in the play, that he’s grossly overweight, and they go on and on about it in a way that today would be thought unthinking and unkind. But when the play was written, to be fat was something very unusual because their diet wasn’t as generous as it is in the 21st century. He clearly was a glutton.”

There is laughter and tragedy within Shakespeare’s two Henry IV plays, and also in Player Kings. There's a moment during the Battle of

Shrewsbury where Falstaff has been playing dead (to save his skin), and suddenly resurrects himself, which gets a big laugh. “There are so many laughs in this show, I hadn’t realised when we were rehearsing it. And that’s been fun to do,” says McKellen.

However he also comments on the portrayal of war: “In the middle of the play there is a civil war on stage and I’ve never seen a battle so immediate and dangerous as Rob has created. When we are seeing on the news nightly what is going on in Ukraine or Gaza, we don’t experience the battlefield. The war is a serious matter in the play and in the middle of it, striding around the battlefield, robbing the corpses, avoiding the danger whenever he can, recruiting quite inadequate soldiers all of whom die under his command, is Falstaff, and you wonder, ‘is this what it’s like in the real world?’ And when Falstaff cries out to the audience in the middle of the battlefield, ‘Give me life!’ You think ‘there must be some people wandering about Gaza shouting the same at the destroyed buildings’. That’s why we like Falstaff, he’s on the side of life, of survival.”

Given that McKellen has featured as the hero within many Shakespearean productions, I wonder if Shakespeare feels like someone that the actor knows well. “I like the idea that the most celebrated person in Britain who ever lived was not a monarch or a prime minister or a politician or a solider, he was an actor who wrote plays. I don’t know his ghost, I don’t talk to him late at night, but I like the idea that I am in the same line of business and have the same concerns. I do have a sort of personal relationship in that I want to do my best for him, because he deserves the best, he was the best. And of course Shakespeare is still very much alive in his work –think about the emotional content of Player Kings – it’s about a young prince called Harry who falls out with his father and the whole system of the royal court. I’m not saying that our play is actually about the current Prince Harry, but I’m just pointing out that these aren’t just old stories, they are relevant and the relationship between father and son and the other relationships in the play, they all ring very true. We are all living in a Shakespeare play, whether we know it for not.”

The Player Kings, 3–6 July, Bristol Hippodrome; bristolhippodrome.net

Ian McKellen as Falstaff and Toheeb Jimoh as Prince Hal

Browse and discover

It’s independent bookshop week from 15–22 June and to celebrate we’re featuring books with a strong local flavour. From the story of Jane Austen’s father to a historical civil rights tale...

Read about Austen’s father

Jane Austen Daddy’s Girl: The Life and Influence of the Revd George Austen is a poignant and pertinent examination of a relationship which became the cornerstone of Jane’s life, the bedrock of family and faith. The Reverend George Austen has often been painted as just a quiet, country clergyman, but he was so much more. Within this revealing biography of George is a thorough interpretation of fatherhood as a theme, as outlined in Jane’s novels, with scrutiny of the fathers of all her most beloved fictional families. Through an examination of this unique father-daughter bond, Jane Austen fans everywhere can become further united in spirit with their beloved novelist. Pen & Sword Books, £22

A thrilling adventure

Deep in the soul of the world a being is growing, feeding on the destruction of the natural world. The Forgetting is seeping through the Rings of Time, bringing dark rain, poisoned mists, and deep fractures in the earth.

Escaping the torment of his neighbours, the twins, Jack runs to the woods and the Ancient Tree Council see their chance. They ask him and his dog Stan to undertake a dangerous journey to help restore the balance, to bring about a remembering. The trees also bring Mia, one of the twins. The adventure takes them beyond their wildest imaginings, meeting wise elders, facing tempestuous primal worlds, turbulent rivers, and a mighty storm - with near tragic consequences.

Dione Orrom lives on the edge of Bath with an array of animals including her dog Obi, growing vegetables, foraging wild food, and planting trees. Troubador Publishing, £9.99

Adventurous detective series

D is for Death is local author Harriet Walters’ first novel in a brand-new historical crime series under the pen name Harriet F. Townson. It is an adventurous detective series that pays homage to bookshops and libraries and features a masterfully written heroine with the spark and gusto of Enola Holmes and the detective skill of Miss Marple. The book has major author endorsements including Marian Keyes (‘D Is for Death is an instant classic. I loved it so much’), Lucy Diamond (‘a glorious, stylish story of passion, poison and peril’) and Veronica Henry (‘a masterpiece!’). Publishes 6 June.

Hodder & Stoughton, £20

Overlooked Civil Rights story

Black Yanks: Defending Leroy Henry in D-Day Britain tells the story of Leroy Henry as the build-up to D-Day escalates. This allows us to view a pivotal point in history with an entirely new perspective, making race, the ‘special relationship’ and the British people’s collective power key considerations.

Local author Kate Werran unearths archival material to reveal the story behind the first significant – if uncelebrated – win in the civil rights movement, a story that has been overlooked for nearly eight decades. The History Press, £22

Battling demons

Beating Against the Current by Kenneth Grimes tells the story of a successful British academic in the US, Jay, who is accused of sexual assault by a colleague when he thought they were in love. In the shadow of the emerging #MeToo movement, he struggles with the enormity of the accusations made against him, and the agonised question of his responsibility.

Torn between the man he thinks he is and the predator he’s now perceived to be, Jay is forced to re-examine his past. He makes a tortured journey back to the UK, battling demons that lay deep within his past.

Troubador Publishing, £4.99

Wed-Fri 10.00 - 4.30pm | Sat 10.00 - 1.00pm (by appointment only)

Tel/Fax: 01225 464013 www.nigeldando.co.uk

What’s on

MUSIC AT GREEN PARK BRASSERIE

n Green Park Brasserie, Green Park Road

Enjoy live jazz/funk/soul/swing at Green Park Brasserie on Weds and Thurs from 6.30–8.45pm and Fri and Sat from 6.30–9.45pm. Music includes dynamic duos, modern trios and a Hot Club style quintet. greenparkbrasserie.com

PANE E VINO SUPPER CLUBS

n Pane e Vino, 5/6 St James Street, Bath Pane e vino is open every Saturday evening for intimate and delicious candlelit dinners. Chef Darix prepares three-course set menus that change weekly and are priced according on what's on offer –including coffee and limoncello, prices can range between £34–£45 per person. Book by calling 01225 698063 as the dining room only seats 22 people and places go fast. For more information and menus follow Instagram @panevinobath, or pop in for a chat.

AMERICAN ROAD TRIP EXHIBITION

Until 31 December

n The American Museum & Gardens, Claverton Down

The American Museum & Gardens celebrates an epic journey through the diversity of American landscapes, history and culture in a family friendly exhibition. American Road Trip presents the origins and stories behind the cultural phenomenon, and transports us thousands of miles on the ultimate journey of discovery along Route 66 and beyond. americanmuseum.org

TUESDAYS@1 ORGAN RECITALS

4 June and 11 June

n Bath Abbey

Every Tuesday lunchtime at 1pm Bath Abbey welcomes an organist to perform in Bath Abbey on the magnificent Klais Organ. 4 June: William Forrest (Bristol Cathedral) 11 June:Alex Hemple, Bath Abbey Organ Scholar. bathabbey.org

IVYBANK HOUSE OPEN DAY

5, 12, 19 and 26 June

n Ivybank House, Ivybank Park, Bath Ivybank House provides residential, respite, day care and soon specialist dementia care, situated in beautiful grounds with stunning views over Bath. Pop in any Wednesday in June between 10am and 2pm to meet the professional team and take a tour. 01225 837776. ivybankhouse.co.uk

U3A: RUNNING THE ROYAL UNITED HOSPITALS

6 June, 10.15am–11.30am

n The Pavilion, North Parade Lecture by Cara Charles-Barks. Cara will be sharing the reasons why she joined the NHS and how she became a Chief Executive of an acute hospital, along with her views of managing the RUH, their achievements and ambitions for the future. Doors open at 9.45am for coffee. Admission free for members; donation of £2 for non-members. u3ainbath.uk

BATH FRINGE: DESTINATION:

‘OLD HAG’

9 June, 2.30pm

n The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn Street

A tale of life backstage before going on stage. Told by witches. With music. Set in the theatre broom cupboard, next to the building’s only toilet, the three ‘Ladies of the Chorus’ are getting ready for opening night of a small-scale adaptation of Verdi’s Macbetto. Tickets £7–£9. bathfringe.co.uk/ event/old_hag; ticketsource.co.uk

RACHEL PARRIS: POISE

11 June, 7.30pm

n Komedia, 22-23 Westgate Street

Rachel Parris is back with her biggest tour yet, presenting a dazzling new hour of her signature blend of stand-up and songs. The BAFTA-nominated comedian is best known for both her viral satirical segments

Leaving South Dakota for a new start in the Pacific Northwest, Montana, Arthur Rothstein, 1936. Library of Congress. The American Road Trip, American Museum & Gardens

on The Mash Report and Late Night Mash which have had over 100 million views. £18. komediabath.co.uk

ALDRIDGE’S OF BATH AUCTION

11 June, 10am (viewing Sat 8 Junre) n Online

Fine art and antiques sale, including silver, jewellery, ceramics and glass, oil paintings, watercolours and prints, European and Asian works-of-art, clocks, rugs, antique and later furniture and furnishings. aldridgesofbath.com

VIKING CRUISES INFORMATION SESSION

11 June, 2.30pm n Miles Morgan Travel, 8-9 New Bond Street Place, Bath

Come along and join Marie and her team in Bath as they welcome Sabrina Piscioneri from Viking Cruises. Viking Cruises are known for their award-winning river and ocean cruises. They have destinationfocused journeys on all seven continents. So, with so much to learn about what Viking Cruises have to offer, why not find out more? Availability is limited so reserve your space today by emailing bath@milesmorgantravel.co.uk or call 01225 486800.

WINE DINNER WITH CANTIN CAMPAGNOLA VENETO

12 June, arrival drink at 7.30pm n La Terra, 2 John Street, Bath

A wine dinner with four courses, with a matching wine flight. £85. Featured wines focus on the art of wine-making of the Campagnola family. The Giuseppe Campagnola winery has its heart in Marano

Rachel Parris at Komedia

di Valpolicella, where it produces and vinifies the grapes, both from suitable land owned and from historical suppliers. laterra.co.uk

BATH RACECOURSE LADIES DAY

15 June

n Bath Racecourse, Lansdown Hill

A stand-out day in Bath’s social calendar. Join fellow racegoers for a show of style and beauty at Ladies Day 2024 at Bath Racecourse. The one day of the season when the fashion is as important as the racing, and stylish outfits and headwear will take centre stage. Live music by DJ, producer and presenter Marvin Humes. Children 17 and under go free to the races when accompanied by an adult. bath-racecourse.co.uk

THE THERApIST SALOn COFFEE

MORnInG

15 June, 10am–1pm n Bath Clinic, The Assembly, 2 Brock Street, Bath

A coffee morning for local psychotherapists and counsellors from and around Bath. Join and be a part of a thriving therapeutic community that shares best practices, war stories and serves as a supportive and educative addition to your practice. This event will host a special guest speaker Dr. Sam Carr who will speak about his book All the Lonely People Book by emailing: monika@audreystephenson.co.uk

pARAGOn SInGERS: SpEM In ALIUM –TALLIS 40-pART MOTET

15 June, 6pm–7.30pm n Church of St Alphege, Oldfield Lane

A choral collaboration between Paragon Singers and Dutch chamber choir Het Lelikoor from Amsterdam, featuring Thomas Tallis’ 40-part motet and music by Howells, Sweelinck, Panufnik, Bruckner and Obrecht. Tallis’s memorable piece is a landmark in the repertoire of Renaissance polyphony. Tickets £18/£5. paragonsingers.co.uk; bathboxoffice.org.uk

DOROTHY HOUSE MIDnIGHT

WALK 2024

15 June, from 9pm

n Starting from Bath Pavilion

Join Dorothy House Hospice Care for a night of walking, talking and dancing to raise much-needed funds for end of life care in the local community. . And, for an added challenge this year, we’ll have both our usual 5K walk as well as a brand new 10K route for those looking to push themselves! 10km: starts 10pm; 5km: starts 11pm. Sign up online: dorothyhouse.org.uk

FATHER’S DAY BBQ

16 June, sittings from 12.30pm–4pm n Bailbrook House Hotel, Eveleigh Avenue, London Road West, Bath

Make Dad’s day truly special and join The Bailbrook Hotel for a BBQ celebration with the whole family –practise your archery skills, enjoy a complimentary local ale for all the fathers. £42.50 per adult; £20 per child. handpickedhotels.co.uk/bailbrookhouse

WInKLER: THE FOnz & BEYOnD

16 June,7.30pmpm

n Bath Forum

Join the legendary Henry Winkler as he shares stories of his life. Told he would never achieve, the Emmy-award winning actor, bestselling author, director and producer treads the boards with his heartwarming story of success to celebrate his memoir, Being Henry fane.co.uk/henry-winkler

pERFECTLY FRAnK: HITS FROM SInATRA'S SOnGBOOK

16 June, 4pm

n Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon Songs made famous by ol’ Blues Eyes arranged for soloist, a handpicked all stars band and community chorus including That Ol’ Black Magic, Fly Me to the Moon, I’ve Got You Under My skin, Come Fly with Me and of course My Way. Crooner Denny Ilett joins the party. £22/£10. wiltshiremusic.org.uk

THE COUnTRY BROCAnTE SUMMER In SOMERSET FAIR

21-22 June, 10am-5pm

n Yarlington House, Yarlington, Wincanton BA9 8DY

This year the Country Brocante will be filling the parkland at Yarlington House with pretty whites tents, overflowing with beautiful things for your home and garden. The finest decorative antique dealers, vintage homeware collectors, small independent businesses and artisans and garden galleries brimming with perfect pieces for your home

and charming finds for your garden. Food and drinks and tea and cake available on the lawn. thecountrybrocante.co.uk

BATH CAMERATA: EnCORES

22 June, 6pm n The Guildhall

A concert with compositions from the 16th to the 21st century. Includes a charming collection of chansons by Janequin, Francaix and Poulenc, as well as Britten’s masterful Hymn to St Cecelia. Watch out for the strident chords of James MacMillan’s Strathclyde Motets and the soaring suspensions of Matthew Ogelsby’s Sing Music director Benjamin Kirk. Tickets £25/£15. bathcamerata.co.uk; bathboxoffice.org.uk

CAppELLA nOvA: GLORIAnA

22 June, 7.30pm–9.30pm n Christ Church, Julian Road, Bath

Local choir Cappella Nova in a concert of music written during the times of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II. Celebrating English choral music, sacred and secular –madrigals and motets by William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and Thomas Morley and works by Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams and James MacMillan. Tickets £15/£8. cappellanova.org.uk

TORIA RICHInGS BAnD pLUS

SUppORT, MATT OWEnS

22 June, 8pm–10.30pm n Chapel Arts, St James’s Memorial Hall, Lower Borough Walls

Americana singer songwriter Toria Richings’ music is a rich blend of folk and Americana. Her evocative lyrics captivate audiences and critics alike earning her a dedicated following in America. £14.£15. chapelarts.org

Archery for Father’s Day at Bailbrook House Hotel

Ladies Day at Bath Racecourse

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA BY CANDLELIGHT

22 June, 7.30pm–9.45pm n Bath Abbey

London Concertante presents a sensational evening at the opera with an array of the finest opera arias and overtures, performing works from Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, and Mozart. Enjoy some of the best from Madame Butterfly, Turandot, Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Così fan tutte and so much more. Tickets from £22.38. Book tickets here: londonconcertante.com; bathabbey.org

IFORD MANOR: JAZZ LUNCH

WITH THE KAREN SHARP DUO

23 June, 11.30am–2.30pm

n Iford Manor, Iford, Bradford-on-Avon

Enjoy a three-course lunch accompanied by sublime jazz from Karen Sharp (saxophone). She and pianist Gareth Williams will perform largely from the Great American Songbook, focusing on tunes that inspire interplay, invention and exploration. Afterwards, head into the Iford Manor Gardens until the gardens close at 4pm. ifordmanor.digitickets.co.uk

SECKOU KEITA & BATH PHILHARMONIA: AFRICAN RHAPSODIES

25 June, 7.30pm n Bath Forum

Bask in the musical sunshine of Senegalese virtuoso kora player, Seckou Keita in African Rhapsodies, a sublime poetic journey sparked by his fascination with crossing cultural borders, and gleam in the daylight of Max Richter’s re-imagining of Antonio Vivaldi’s seasonal masterpiece. £10. bathphil.co.uk

PATRICK GRANT: LESS

26 June, 7pm-8pm

n St Swithin's Church. The Paragon, Bath

The respected fashion designer, founder of Community Clothing and Great British

Sewing Bee judge talks about Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish, a passionate and revealing book about loving clothes but despairing of a broken global system.Tickets £35/£30/££25/£5. batharts.co.uk

STYLING EVENT: GET CONFIDENT WITH COLOUR

27 June, 7–9pm

n The Bath Townhouse, Coppa Club. 18-19 Old Bond Street

For women, in particular mums, feeling stuck in a style rut, this event will help ladies who might shy away from colour because they're unsure what flatters them. Led by the award-winning personal stylist Jennifer Jones and her Bath-based stylist Charlotte, the workshop will equip attendees with the tools to embrace colour with confidence. £27. jenniferjonesstyling.com

WINE & CHEESE EVENING

28 June, sittings from 12.30pm–4pm

n Bailbrook House Hotel, Eveleigh Avenue, London Road West, Bath

Visit The Cloisters restaurant for an evening celebrating fine wines and local Bath cheeses. Wines selected from the boutique winery Villa Saletta in the heart of Tuscany. £55 per person.

handpickedhotels.co.uk/bailbrookhouse

YOGA IN THE CHAPEL

30 June, 10am–12pm

n Gainsborough Bath Spa hotel

Held in the tranquil setting of the Chapel at the Gainsborough, a perfect Sunday morning wellness experience. Combining their teachings and experience, Bex and Lana offer a full rounded session, starting with QiGong and Breath, followed by Yang and Yin style yoga practice and closing with the beautiful sounds of the crystal bowls and a guided sleep meditation. £25. eventbrite.co.uk

BATH & COUNTY CLUB EVENTS IN JUNE

FILM: LADIES IN LAVENDER

4 June, 5.30pm or 6pm £20 to include buffet supper.

SUNDAY LUNCH

9 June, 12.30pm for 1pm £26 per person.

BLACK TIE WATERLOO DINNER

14 June, 6.30pm for 7pm

This dinner also includes a military speaker. £26.

LUNCH AND FILM MATINEE

26 June, 12.30pm for 1pm

Lunch and a screening of The Duchess £28.

Event venue: Queens Parade,Bath BA1 2NJ. To book, email secretary@bathandcountyclub.com or telephone 01225 423732.

LOOKING AHEAD

SHAKESPEARE LIVE: MACBETH

1-6 July, 10.30pm n Cleeve House, Seend, Wiltshire SN12 6PG

Manipulated by ancient, stone-hearted creatures, the brave Macbeth is driven to dark deeds. Haunted by their consciences, isolated and friendless, Macbeth and his wife spiral down into despair and madness. A talented cast directed by John Jameson-Davis, supported by original music, sound, lighting effects and puppetry. shakespearelive.com

BAT TOUR

3 July, 10.30pm n Dorothy House, Winsley Join local bat enthusiast, Richard Mann, who will have a bat detector to help hear the local bats. He will also share fascinating facts about the bats. There is no need to book a place on the tour. –just meet outside Dorothy House Hospice Care reception at 9:30pm. dorothyhouse.org.uk

The Karen Sharp Trio at Iford Manor

Yoga in the Chapel at Gainsborough Bath Spa Hotel

CONCERT IN AID OF DOROTHY HOUSE

4 July, 7.30pm

n St Luke’s, The Wellsway, Bath

The programme features Brahms’ Piano concerto No 1, Bizet Symphony in C and Svendsen’s Romance for Violin. Entrance by programme on the door, £10, cash only. Pianist Brenda McDermott has been a frequent soloist with the orchestra playing concertos by Beethoven and Mozart. Conductors: Tim Robb and Linda Stocks. Proceeds to Dorothy House.

IFORD SUPPER CLUBS: SIX COURSE TASTING MENU

5 and 19 July, 7.30pm–10.30pm

n Iford Manor, Iford, Bradford-on-Avon

Book your table for a fantastic foodie experience, with expertly crafted food and drink largely sourced and made on the Iford Manor Estate. Arrive from 7.30pm, with dinner at 8pm. Seating is at tables according to your booking. 10.30pm finish. £65pp (tasting menu, welcome drink, tea and coffee and live music. ifordmanor.digitickets.co.uk

ALL-AMERICAN SUMMER PARTY

7 July

The American Museum & Gardens, Claverton Down

Join a fun day out celebrating American Independence Day with a backdrop of stunning views across the museum’s award-winning gardens. americanmuseum.org

CHINA, GEOPOLITICS & OUR WORLD

6 July, 10.15am–11.30am

n The Pavilion, North Parade Lecture by George Magnus, author, economist and commentator, as well as an Associate at the China Centre, Oxford University. Doors open at 9.45am for coffee. Free for members, and a donation of £2 for non-members. u3ainbath.uk

HINTON CHARTERHOUSE ANNUAL VILLAGE FETE

6 July, 1pm–5pm, plus evening party 7pm–10pm n Millennium Green, Hinton Charterhouse

The fete includes a dog show, brass band, various children’s events, stalls and afternoon teas in a rural setting. The evening party includes music by The Clones. All are welcome to this village event which is sponsored by Homewood.

BATH BACH CHOIR: LAUDATE!

6 July, 7.30pm n Bath Abbey

An exciting and inspiring evening of orchestral and choral music by J S Bach and Marianna Martines. The choir will be joined by the virtuoso Geldart Ensemble to perform Bach’s Magnificat in D major, marking the 300th anniversary of the first performance of this splendid work. bathbachchoir.org.uk

SWEET PEA ART WORKSHOP

13 July, 10am–4pm n Caisson House, Combe Hay, BA2 7EF

An ‘art from the garden’ workshop, celebrating the sweet pea, led by gardener and artist Jacky Mills. Lunch and afternoon tea included. £120. caissongardens.com/events n

If Opera: setting the tone for summer

We’re counting down to the summer season at If Opera: expect a gothic thriller with ghostly apparitions, gorgeous melodies and stirring waltzes, and a hilarious twist on a fairy-tale classic. We hear from If Opera’s Michael Volpe and Oliver Gooch.

Michael Volpe OBE, Executive Director

If Opera has been on quite a journey since it first formed. How do you look back on its development?

Artistically we have produced some fantastic work during our two seasons as If Opera and have really changed the perception of the company among longer-term patrons. Financially, things are tough for everybody in the opera and arts world, but our audiences are growing with hundreds of new patrons and ambitions to expand the repertoire.

If Opera aims to improve the way opera works –why is this important? We need to regularise the industry so that more opera can be performed to a high-level right across the country in many communities. This is how we will build new audiences –by making it accessible and ‘local’.

We also have very strong policies on things that bother singers a great deal: bullying, feeling afraid to speak their mind for fear of being thought of as ‘trouble’, and sexual harassment, still an issue for many singers.

If Opera uses a repertory ensemble cast. Why do you use this model? Opera is inherently expensive given the numbers of people involved, but also important is the way singers and other artistic and technical personnel fit into the company. The lives of artists can be incredibly precarious with long periods of low income. We want to try to return to the old days of repertory ensembles where singers can consider a career in opera as a reasonable ambition –and not to worry that they are considered failures if they do not work in the big houses.

There are fantastic singers who never get that chance, so we aim for a model that provides well-paid, regular work. It also gives the opportunity to perform different roles and the chance to sing challenging parts.

Tell us about your projects that connect to the local community. Our art form is a very powerful tool –if we work with SEND (Special Education Needs and Disabilities) children, you will find that very withdrawn children will become expressive and engaged when singing or

performing. The same is true of isolated, elderly dementia patients. We want to contribute to the enrichment of lives with our art.

Why is it important to make connections to younger audiences and those less familiar with opera?

When I was at Opera Holland Park, I made a film with eight inner city teenagers called Hip Hop to Opera. We took them to the Royal Opera House to see a production of Tosca and got their reactions. It was a remarkable outcome and you can see the film on YouTube. What is most important was not so much that they really loved the show, but it gave them a searing example of how they can change their own perception of themselves, opened their minds and showed the possibilities of confidently entering environments they would ordinarily reject. Getting young people engaged with all arts, not just classical, is crucial to learning, to confidence, to emotional intelligence –and of course, they become our audience of the future.

You say that If Opera is much more than the show – what does this mean? It is about the whole culture of the company, of the festival itself, the atmosphere, our contribution to changing the system for artists, about how we propose our art form to people as not just entertainment for a summer's evening but also about how experiencing drama and music can impact on their own emotional wellbeing.

Oliver Gooch, Artistic Director

How do you develop the programme of opera each year?

Michael Volpe and I always start from a standpoint of what repertoire we would like to do. We then compare notes and see if we have much crossover. Fortunately, we do! We both have repertoire we would like to stage (I’d kill to conduct a Don Carlos!) but it is critical to choose the right combination of operas to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.

Michael is a great advocate for the big romantic ‘stab and sob’ verismo repertoire which can appeal brilliantly to first-timers. Our production of Giordano’s Fedora last year was an exciting one, especially as the last time it had been staged in the UK was nearly 20 years ago.

My artistic plan is to present operas from different repertories and styles – ideally a romantic offering contrasted with a comic opera/operetta alongside a Baroque opera with period instruments. That’s not to say we would ignore the masterpieces of Mozart, Janáček, Britten, Monteverdi and so on, but we need to choose repertoire that serves not only our audience but also gives our repertory singers an opportunity to shine.

What are some of the more challenging logistics of the festival?

Not having a permanent home is a joy and curse in equal measure! It is expensive creating a purpose-built venue each year – but the challenge also brings great opportunity to be innovative. Does opera need to be set in ‘proscenium arch’, with grand, theatrical gesture? Having spent nearly 30 years presenting operas in a cloister, I know that there is a place for the artform which is more intimate in scope, almost as if the audiences are watching through a narrow lens, even participating, as voyeurs.

Man in the Moon schools show

Tea party at Belcombe Court

Picnic Prom 2024 with JTQ – The James Taylor Quartet

Fedora 2023

Iolanta 2023

Is there one production that you are especially looking forward to?

It has to be Lucia. I have long wanted to work with director Thomas Guthrie and this seems the perfect opera for a collaboration. It has everything you want – love, lust, betrayal, intrigue and a smattering of madness! The famous Mad Scene would be one of my Desert Island Discs, and I am especially excited to have one of the world’s foremost glass harmonica players joining us for the famous cadenza. It never fails to stir audiences. Interestingly, the association of madness with the glass harmonica actually stems from the players themselves who, in the 18th century, went a bit loopy from the constant moistening of their fingers on lead-rimmed glasses!

Oliver Gooch on the 2024 programme

“This year, we return to a classic of the bel canto repertoire, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor alongside Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (otherwise known as ‘The Bat’). I try and cater for all tastes in programming – the fiery romantic tale of Lucia, with all its intrigue and Gothic horror, makes the perfect contrast to the Waltz King himself, Johann Strauss II. It’s arguably the finest piece of operetta ever written and with its slick translation by John Mortimer, our audiences will be able to follow every twist and turn of this crazy tale.

“Finding and nurturing new audience is also central to our ethos and each year we present a work for audiences of all ages. This year, it is a narrated concert of Little Red Riding Hood set to music by Paul Patterson, which includes a dastardly wolf who enjoys the odd tipple! Our mission is to present music in extraordinary places and Belcombe Court is certainly that - in many ways, walking around Belcombe Court makes you feel as though you are on an opera set!”

SUMMER PROGRAMME

LUCIA DE LAMMERMOOR by Gaetana Donizetti

23, 27, 29, 31 August

DIE FLEDERMAUS by Johann Strauss II 24, 28 August

ROALD DAHL’S LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

Children’s concert

25 August

IF OPERA PICNIC PROM

The James Taylor Quartet

26 August

All performances at Belcombe Court, Bradford on Avon. ifopera.com

Lucia di Lammermoor 2024

The Big BRLSI Birthday Weekend

Find out about BRLSI’s brilliant Discovery Weekend on 29 and 30 June, in two days of family fun celebrating 200 years of learning.

Bath’s Queen Square is being taken over for a family-friendly weekend celebration, jam-packed with free science and crafting activities, live music and performances, exhibits, open-air games and refreshments on 29 and 30 June.

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI), founded way back in 1824, is a place where science, literature and the arts come together to fire up imaginations and showcase amazing collections of treasures from around the world. Now it will overflow outdoors into Queen Square for a fabulous free festival to celebrate its 200th birthday.

There will be activities in Queen Square itself and in the BRLSI building at 16 Queen Square on Saturday 29 June from 10am to 8pm and Sunday 30 June from 11am to 4pm.

Highlights of the weekend in Queen Square:

● Do you like watching things explode? Then watch the on-stage scientists deliver activities designed to put the pop, bang and fizz into your weekend.

COLLECTION CORNER

From the BRLSI collection we bring you the oldest European book in the Institution’s library, John Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms, published in 1564. Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer during the Protestant Reformation, a period of religious and political unrest, which challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. This book represents an important period of European history: the printing presses that allowed the publication of books like this led to the rapid spread of new ideas, contributing to great social and intellectual changes. The endpapers of this volume are composed of a recycled manuscript, probably looted during the English Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. It was left to BRLSI in 1871 by Francis Foster Barham, a religious scholar, who considered it one of Calvin’s best works. Calvin himself wrote of the Psalms “There is no other book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God...”

● Brilliant music on a special outdoor stage with Music Workshop (Saturday) and Orchestra of Everything (Sunday), showcasing a range of performances.

● Drop-in science and crafting activities in the Queen Square stretch tent. Help make BRLSI Birthday Bunting –your chance to create your own piece of bunting with ink, stamps and fabric pens.

● Giant outdoor games of Jenga and Connect 4 –challenge yourself, your friends and your family.

Pop over to the BRLSI building to discover:

● The BRLSI Big Build –join a master builder from Bricks McGee and take part in a tower-building challenge for all of the family. Grab a handful of LEGO® bricks and build the tallest tower you can –fun for LEGO® fans of 4+.

● Check out the new exhibition, The World Revealed, featuring Jurassic fossils collected by Mary Anning, an ivory figurine from the ruins of Pompeii and relics from the lost Franklin Arctic expedition. See what you can identify in the minute ‘Museum of Wonders’ and take yourself around the exhibits with ‘The World Revealed Spotters Trail’.

● Visit the Makers’ Market, which sees local artisans selling a selection of the best of the West’s locally made goods and produce.

● Meet the super-smart medieval mathematician Adelard who will introduce you to Bath as it was almost a thousand years ago.

● Enjoy a very special ‘show and tell’ for dinosaur-lovers and fossil-hunters in BRLSI’s most iconic room, but don’t forget to look behind you! Is that actually a dinosaur?

BRLSI is this year partnering with Forest of Imagination 2024 which is taking place at the Holburne Museum during 26-30 June. A trail across Bath will connect the two events and there will be pop-up Forest of Imagination activities at Queen Square during the weekend.

Find out more at brlsi.org/weekend

Arts & exhibitions

Toulouse Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre, until 29 September, Victoria Art Gallery, Bridge Street, Bath

From troupes of cancan dancers to the legendary 'Chat Noir,' and the unforgettable characters of the Moulin Rouge, ToulouseLautrec & the Masters of Montmartre will feature 100 original posters from 1890s bohemian Paris in a fresh look at this era of artistic fervour and social revolution. This is the only chance to see Lautrec’s complete collection of posters exhibited together in the UK before it moves to its permanent home at the Musée d’Ixelles in Belgium, following a five-year international tour. victoriagal.org.uk

The Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street, Bath

Mr Doodle! Museum Mayhem, Until 1 Sept

The first ever UK museum exhibition of artist and internet sensation, Mr Doodle. Mr Doodle’s graphic style conjures up a mesmerising world of quirky creatures and anthropomorphic forms.

Henry Moore in Miniature, Until 8 Sept

Dressing Fancy Exhibition, Bath Assembly Rooms 14-30 June, 10am–6pm

A free exhibition will form a core part of the ‘Dressing Fancy’ programme at the Assembly Rooms. Visitors will be able to explore how and why Georgians dressed up, try on some replica historic clothing loaned from the Fashion Museum Bath, and contribute to the research by providing feedback on what it’s like to dress up. There will be original and recreated historical costume, including a specially designed and made Vandyke-style fancy dress by Dr Serena Dyer. nationaltrust.org.uk

Presented in partnership with the Henry Moore Foundation, Henry Moore in Miniature will include over 60 of Moore’s works that can fit in the hand. The first exhibition of its kind, it will include works from the 1920s to the 1980s. holburne.org

Benedict Brain is a Bath-based photographer, award-winning journalist and author. “I am fascinated by the banal and explore the world’s liminal spaces with a camera. I seek out the overlooked, revealing hidden mysteries and narratives where you least expect them.” To view photographs by Benedict, visit the online gallery or email Sandra to arrange a private view. sandrahiggins.art; sandra@sandrahiggins.com

Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair, Sunday 9 June, 10am–5pm Green Park Station, Green Park Road, Bath

The award-winning monthly Bath Contemporary Artists’ Fair (BCAF) is committed to bringing the best of contemporary art to the heart of Bath. It has created a regular space where artists can network, share ideas, connect with the public, and where the public can connect with art. Visitors can see the works of local artists and admire fine art, photography, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and much more, all under the vaulted glass roof of Green Park Station. For updates and exhibiting artists visit the website: bcaf.co.uk

Benedict Brain at sandrahiggins.art

BELOW: Jane Avril by Toulouse Lautrec

Courtesy National Trust Images

Blackdown, from the series

In Between by Benedict Brain

Family Group, 1945, reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation

Artwork by Michael Sutherland

Summer Exhibition

8th July - 30th September

Rachel Peters Stoneware Vessel

Louise Young Garnet Watercolour

Gillespie and Classical Roots, until 22 June, Beaux Arts Bath, 12-13 York Street

Beaux Arts host Anna Gilespie’s new collection of sculpture, an eclectic mix of works in bronze, natural materials, found objects and plaster. The gallery walls will be adorned by artists who work from observation in a show called Classical Roots, which mixes work by Nathan Ford, Helen Simmonds and Andrew Crocker, with a new generation of painters who still celebrate traditional technique, such as Will Calver, Nneka Uzoigwe-Davies, Lotta Teale and Daniel Needham. Ceramics by Katharina Klug. Open 10am-5pm, Monday to Saturday.

beauxartsbath.co.uk

DE LEÓN

More than a Feeling 27 May –6 July

An exhibition, in Bath, of painting, photography and film

Kaye Donachie, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Gideon Rubin and Grace Weir

By appointment only, please contact: bridget.deleon@icloud.com 07957 438402 bridgetdeleon.com

Modern ArtBuyer Pop-up Gallery, 15 and 16 June, Sylvan Lodge, 1 Cliffe Drive, Limpley Stoke, Bath

Gallery and art consultancy Modern ArtBuyer, run by Jessica LloydSmith, is hosting its open house pop-up gallery in Limpley Stoke. The Open House will feature a carefully curated collection of original paintings and affordable limited edition prints by artists from the Bath area and further afield, in a relaxed home setting. Throughout the weekend, Jessica will be on hand to offer advice around artwork selection, framing and hanging. Whether you’re on the hunt for the perfect gift or after some art inspiration for your own collection, pop in and enjoy a coffee or a glass of bubbles while browsing the show. 10am–4.30pm. modernartbuyer.com

Into the Unknown: Moish Sokal, Malthouse Gallery, East Lambrook Manor Gardens, Silver Street, Somerset TA13 5HH, 1 June – 20 July

Somerset artist Moish Sokal is bringing his watercolours to Malthouse Gallery to celebrate 30 years of showing his work.

After losing his wife, Moish set off to his native Israel to touch base with his homeland, and see his family and friends. There he found moments of peace painting the familiar sights of his neighbourhood in the old city. Moish left the country in October last year, only hours before trouble erupted. Australia was his next destination –scenes of the Australian bush and beaches along with scenes inspired by photos from previous trips, combine to make a handsome portfolio of new and exciting work. Included are many painted scenes of his favourite countryside in Somerset. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. moishsokal.co.uk

Widcombe Art Trail 2024, 22 and 23 June, various venues, 10am–5pm

Widcombe Art Trail is taking place in seven venues in Widcombe, Bath, within easy walking range. Entry is free. You’ll be able to see the work of 28 artists in private homes and community venues, including The Natural Theatre Company and Widcombe Baptist Church, featuring art of all types including sculpture, painting, printmaking, glass work, textile art and photography. The artists are looking forward to welcoming people and chatting about their work in this volunteer-run event celebrating the best that Widcombe has to offer. widcombearttrail.com

Anna

All the Everything, oil on panel, by Andrew Crocker

The Reader by Moish Sokal

Right: Golden Teasel by Vikki Yeates and Italian Landscape by Katie Rhys Jones

Image: Gideon Rubin, Orange, 2024, oil on linen, 35.5 x 41 cm

New Depths by Miranda Carter

Westmancote Treasure discovered beneath floorboards by heating engineer

Hoards come in all shapes and sizes. We are quite used to the type of Roman hoards from many centuries ago, found in the ground by detectorists. The Westmancote treasure is something slightly different. Dating from the late 18th century, and discovered beneath floorboards by a heating engineer, this was such a fine and interesting discovery that the British Museum decided to keep an example from the hoard for the National Collection.

The report in the British Numismatic Journal from 1969 by John Kent explains the discovery:

On 9 January 1969 Mr. F.W.A. Hancock, working as a heating engineer at Tudor House, Westmancote, found beneath the floorboards fifty-seven guineas and two shillings, the last coin dated 1794, in paper wrappings. On 24 January, an inquest at Pershore found them to be treasure trove. A guinea of 1789 was acquired by the national collection; the remainder, not being required by a museum, were returned to the finder. The coins were in excellent condition, and all but one, a guinea of 1787, comfortably exceeded the minimum legal weight of 5 dwt. 8 gr.

The 1789 coin acquired for the nation is recorded in the British Museum as item 1972,0804.1. The remainder were shared by the finder and the owner of the property. We are delighted to offer here seven of the coins from this ‘treasure’, gold Guineas of George III from 1787 to 1794. Retained in the family of the owners of the property for many years they are seeing the ‘light of day’, apart from a brief outing in 1969, for the first time since they were carefully concealed over two hundred years ago. They have remained, as the report states, ‘in excellent condition’ and there can be few better examples available today, certainly very few with such a romantic tale to tell.

Fifty-Seven Guineas constituted a sizeable fortune at the end of the 1790’s and we can only wonder at who hid these coins so carefully, perhaps the owner of the property, and why they never returned to reclaim their money. Given the condition of the coins it seems likely they were recently acquired from a bank and had seen virtually no circulation or use. Perhaps the funds from a land or property transaction, kept away from prying eyes in the safest and most secure place available to them. The misfortune for the original owner brings us the fascination and pleasure of coins in unrivalled condition.

The collection was sold in Lawrences Spring Auction of Militaria, Medals and Coins auction. To consign to their sales, please get in touch.

Lawrences are welcoming consignments for their Autumn Fine Art salesto include:

Silver | Vertu | Pictures | 19th/20th Century Design | Ceramics

Oriental Works of Art | Jewellery | Watches | Furniture | Clocks | Rugs

Militaria | Coins | Medals | Collectors | Sporting | Textiles | Wine | Spirits

Books | Maps | Manuscripts | Photography

Free valuations are available online at lawrences.co.uk.

Home visits also available throughout Bath and the West Country without charge or obligation.

Lawrences

South Street, Crewkerne, Somerset TA18 8AB. T: 01460 73041 E: enquiries@lawrences.co.uk

1A Woodlands Estate, Westbury, BA13 3QS T: 01373 822337 E: wessex@lawrences.co.uk

EReuse, Repurpose & Recycle

CYNTHIA WIHARDJA & RON PRINGLE

Beau Nash Antiques, Bath

mbracing antiques is not just about preserving the past; it’s about building a more sustainable and conscientious future.

Reusing antiques is a direct way to reduce waste and consumption. Unlike modern goods, which often have short life spans and contribute to landfill overflow, antiques are built to last. Their continued use prevents the need for new products, saving resources and reducing environmental impact. Each time an antique is reused, it avoids the production cycle of new items, which typically involves resource extraction, manufacturing, and transportation - all processes that leave a significant carbon footprint. By choosing antiques, consumers actively participate in a cycle of sustainability, ensuring that these treasures remain functional and appreciated for generations.

Repurposing antiques brings creativity to sustainability, allowing old items to find new life and purpose. An antique piece can be transformed in myriad ways, adapting to contemporary needs while retaining its historical essence. For example, an old floor board can become a unique refectory table; a silver toast rack can be used as a letter rack. This approach not only preserves the material and craftsmanship of the original items but also infuses modern spaces with character and individuality. Repurposing antiques encourages innovation in design and interior decor, demonstrating that sustainability and style can coexist harmoniously.

Unlike the recycling of materials, which often involves breaking down items into raw components, the recycling of antiques involves preserving the integrity of historical pieces. The restoration process requires skill and craftsmanship and antique restorers play a crucial role in this ecosystem, using their expertise to give new life to old items. Because antiques are made with quality materials, they can be restored. You can’t do that with compressed plywood!

The practice of buying and using antiques underscores the importance of valuing what we already have, rather than continually seeking the new. It combats the throwaway culture that dominates modern consumerism.

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle: a sustainable alternative to modern consumption.

By choosing antiques, consumers contribute to a circular economy, reduce environmental impact, and celebrate the artistry and history embedded in these timeless pieces. n

Online Shop at www.beaunashbath.com; info@beaunashbath.com; 07535137808 @beaunashbath

Two Lengths of Chinese 100 Boys Silk, 17/18th Century.

THE WATCH list

Mallory Jewellers review all the latest models as well as the most exciting trends from the world of fine watchmaking.

1. Rolex Oyster Perpetual Deepsea

Rolex unveiled an original version of the Oyster Perpetual Rolex Deepsea. This divers’ watch is presented in 18ct yellow gold for the first time and sports a 60-minute graduated Cerachrom bezel insert in blue ceramic as well as a blue lacquer dial bearing the name ‘DEEPSEA’ in powdered yellow.

Model: M136668LB-0001. £45,700.00

2. Patek Philippe Twenty~4

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Twenty~4 ladies' collection, which has become a classic of timeless elegance, Patek Philippe has introduced a new version of the quartz cuff-style model featuring a highly refined dial.

Model: 4910/1201R-010. £40,780.00

3. Patek Philippe World Time

Patek Philippe is innovating in technical terms by endowing its regular collection with the first World Time watch to feature a date display synchronized with local time.

Model: 5330G-001. £65,600.00

4.

Longines Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve

To mark the 70th anniversary of its emblematic Conquest collection and inspired by an iconic model from the late 1950s, Longines presents the new Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve. Unique in the world of watchmaking, its power reserve is displayed on rotating discs in the centre of the dial.

Model: L1.648.4.78.2. £3,500.00

5. Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT

Tudor introduced an entirely new model to the Black Bay line, the METAS-certified Black Bay 58 GMT, sporting the classic proportions of the Black Bay 58's 39mm case and fitted with Tudor’s new mid-size GMT Manufacture Calibre MT5450-U.

Model: M7939G1A0NRU-0001. £3,960.00

6. IWC Portugieser Chronograph

IWC highlighted the Portugieser’s timeless modernity with new dial colours and material combinations, emphasising elegance and infusing the models with freshness. The new dial colour ‘Dune’ captures the unique atmosphere of early evening, with its golden light of the setting sun.

Model: IW371624. £7,600.00

7. TAG Heuer Carrera

Chronograph

Paying tribute to the iconic ‘Panda' look of the sought-after Heuer 7753 SN, this distinctive timepiece blends classic allure with a bold glassbox design for a new era of racing and heritage enthusiasts.

Model: CBS2216.BA0041. £6,100.00

8. Chopard Happy Sport

The Chopard Happy Sport collection now welcomes a new luminous blue edition, featuring a dial enlivened by a ballet of dancing aquamarines and diamonds. This limited-edition timepiece comes with a 33mm diameter case in Lucent Steel™.

Model: 278608-3009. £15,200.00

9. Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40

Ombré dials make their debut on the Rolex Day-Date 40. The version presented, in 18ct Everose gold, introduces slate ombré – a completely new hue for such a dial, whose surface, coloured at the centre, progresses to a deep black around the edge.

Model: M228235-0055. £36,400.00

10. Panerai QuarantaQuattro Luna

Rossa Ti-Ceramitech™

Crafted from all-new Ti-Ceramitech™ material, this timepiece represents a culmination of seven years of research and development. Lighter than steel, yet tougher than ceramic, water resistant up to 500 meters, it is the highlight of engineering and design.

Model: PAM01466. £14,300.00

California dreaming

Recommendations by

Tom Bleathman

from the Great Wine

Company

California is home to some of the world’s most expensive wines, but great value can still be found. Based just outside Sacramento, Bogle have been imported by GWC for over 20 years. They offer richer style whites and big, juicy reds which are always crowd-pleasing. It’s a great time to buy Bogle as they’re all on offer from the 4th of June to 1st July at GWC. Below, are my three favourites from their range. Discover more at greatwine.co.uk

Bogle Chardonnay 2021 is GWC’s bestselling Bogle wine, offering plenty of beautiful, juicy ripe pear and nectarine fruit cradled in gently toasted oak with layers of flavour and texture. The palate is filled with deliciously creamy, buttery notes, and the oak adds an intriguing spicy complexity. There is perfectly balanced acidity, which ensures a clean, fresh finish that makes you eager for another sip. A superb wine. £15.50 to £16.65

Packed full of bright raspberry and blackberry fruit, Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel 2021 is a great option for the British BBQ, Hints of spiced chocolate integrate well with fruit that is luscious and silky on the palate, with a black pepper backbone that gives structure and weight. Value for money for those who like more fullbodied reds. £16.65 to £18.85

The grapes for Juggernaut Pinot Noir 2021 are sourced from the premium area of Russian River Valley. It has aromas and flavours of red cherries and cranberries, with hints of fragrant wood and vanilla cream. Super-soft and silky in texture, with juicy fruit, gentle acidity, and soft tannin, this is an effortlessly enjoyable wine. Juggernaut is the name of Bogle’s selections from special vineyard sites, offering a step up in concentration from their estate reds, while maintaining their approachable style. £27.50 to £33

Recipe

SPICY ROASTED CARROTS & HAZELNUTS WITH SILKY BUTTERBEAN MASH

In this substantial, flavour-packed dish, the carrots roast beautifully with coriander seeds under foil, while the rich, silky butterbean mash takes just 10 minutes to put together.

SERVES 4, AS A SIDE VEGAN AND GLUTEN-FREE

• 1 tsp coriander seeds

• ½ tsp black peppercorns

• 12 small carrots, halved

• 45ml olive oil

• 45ml water

• 2 tsp maple syrup

• 50g blanched hazelnuts, halved

• Sea salt flakes, to taste

PREP: 15 MINUTES

COOK: 55 MINUTES

• Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

For the butterbean mash

• 90ml olive oil

• 1 lemon, zest, plus a squeeze of juice

• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds

• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced

• 2 fcloves garlic, finely grated

• 1 x 700g jar butterbeans (or 2 x 400g tins butterbeans), drained and rinsed

• Salt, if needed

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6. Lightly grind the coriander seeds and peppercorns, then add them to a medium roasting tin along with the carrots, olive oil, water and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover with foil, then roast in the oven for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, remove the foil, drizzle the carrots with the maple syrup, then return to the oven for a further 15 minutes to reduce the liquid and get some colour on the carrots. Put the hazelnuts on a small baking tray and pop them into the oven at the same time to toast.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil, lemon zest, coriander seeds, spring onions and garlic into a small frying pan and warm through over a low heat for 5 minutes – you’re not aiming to get any colour on the garlic, so keep the heat down.

Put the butterbeans and the infused oil, spring onions, etc. into a high-speed blender and blitz until very smooth. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, then taste and adjust the salt if needed.

Warm the mash and spoon into shallow bowls, topped with the carrots. Scatter the carrots with sea salt, the toasted hazelnuts and parsley and serve warm.

Recipe by Rukmini Iyer, from The Green Cookbook (Square Peg), £25.

The Walled Garden Restaurant

The new Walled Garden Restaurant at Lucknam Park brings another new dimension to this much-loved local destination: fine tasting food with a small plates emphasis. Emma Clegg visits as it launches to the public.

Lucknam Park –with its five-star hotel, spa, Michelin-starred Restaurant Hywel Jones, 500 acres of parkland and gardens, equestrian facilities and residential cottages –is an established luxury destination in our region. But no venue of such quality and range should rest on its laurels, and there’s no danger of that at the Lucknam estate.

The newest offering, you see, is a brand-new restaurant that’s going to elevate Lucknam Park’s culinary offerings to new heights. What was the five-star hotel’s Brasserie has been developed into the Walled Garden Restaurant: a foodie dining destination that will illuminate the very best local produce, with its own kitchen garden providing vegetables alongside supplies from some of the best farmers in the country.

It’s not just the ingredients that will be sourced from the local area, though. The driving force behind the Brasserie’s transformation into the Walled Garden Restaurant has been head chef Alex Greene, who was born and bred in nearby village Stanton Saint Quintin.

After a relatively short stint working in kitchens, including the Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa in Bath, Greene joined the team at Lucknam Park’s Restaurant Hywel Jones and worked there for around four years before moving across to the Brasserie. Greene’s vision for the Walled Garden Restaurant is that it complements Restaurant Hywel Jones

perfectly, offering a more relaxed dining environment for people to enjoy, using many of the same quality suppliers as its Michelin-starred sibling, but with an accessible menu of small plates – in line with the changing eating habits of diners. The new restaurant seats 88 guests and has space for 40 more to stand with drinks.

When I visited for the new restaurant launch, what had been the Brasserie was quite unrecognisable, now transformed into a green, lightfilled dining space with calming, natural views of the courtyard and gardens beyond. The space itself is defined by wooden floors, stone walls, and accents of green including plenty of foliage. The main bar is circular, providing a more organic transition within the restaurant.

The small plate emphasis was clearly evident, with starters offering a meze sharing selection of Padrón peppers; wood roast scallops with parsley and lemon; toasted soldiers with Cornish crab; radishes with smoked butter bean hummus; and hot smoked salmon with cucumber and sourdough –served with Côtes de Provence Rosé. There was an informality to these small plates, a meze style with fine and memorable flavours; and fine food in a polished but relaxed setting is a winning combination.

Our main course brought wood roast free-range chicken with Wye Valley asparagus, garden peas, morel mushrooms and wild garlic from the gardens, served with a Tuscan Chianti Riserva. The dessert course

A selection of starters on the table

The Walled Garden Restaurant

offered a choice of coffee and walnut chou with chocolate and caramel or strawberry and pistachio knickerbocker glory, served with a Sauternes from Chateau Monteils in Bordeaux. Each stage of the meal offered an impressive display of culinary finesse within a relaxed setting.

The current menu also boasts chicken liver parfait with chutney and brioche, wood roast carrot terrine with saffron and pickled raisin (starters), Lucknam Park burgers, wood roast cauliflower, quinoa and pomegranate, along with pizza, salads and pasta choices.

Aside from Alex, the new restaurant is powered by people well versed in providing the same quality of drinks, food and service expected of Hywel Jones. The talented bar manager Jordan Wiltshire and multiple chefs already working at Lucknam Park are keen to support Greene’s

AL FRESCO DINING

Italian aperitif happy hour every Friday from 5.15 to 8 pm.

We serve breakfast, lunch, coffee, cakes, wine and small plates, all with a genuine Italian flair.

Open Monday to Saturday 8 am to 4 pm.

Supper club dinners every Saturday Call 01225 698063 to reserve

5/6 St. James Street, Bath BA1 2TW

Follow us on Instagram: Panevinobath

vision and ethos of showcasing a fantastic menu brimming with the best ingredients in the local area, as well as from the wider west country region. Alex has also worked with many of his chef brigade before, as well as Ellie Dimes, who is the Walled Garden senior restaurant manager heading the front-of-house team and is a trusted familiar face at Lucknam Park, having previously worked with Hywel Jones. Head to The Walled Garden restaurant for small plates, uplifting local flavours and a green outlook.

The Walled Garden Restaurant is open every day from 12pm–9pm. The Walled Garden Restaurant, Lucknam Park, Colerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN14 8AZ; lucknampark.co.uk

Coffee and walnut chou

Wood roast chicken with asparagus, garden peas and morel mushrooms

Radishes with smoked butter bean hummus

Non-alcoholic cocktails from ANON

If you’re considering an alcohol-free lifestyle, ANON’s non-alcoholic drinks present an ideal choice of ‘spirit’ and mixer or can be used in mocktails.

English Rose

30ml English Garden

20ml Rose Syrup

2 strawberries

1 drop cardamom

10ml fresh lime juice

100ml Hibiscus Tonic

Garnish: Sprinkles of coarse ground cardamom, food grade rose buds, slice of strawberry and mint sprigs

Muddle strawberry and lime juice in a shaker until pulped. Add the other ingredients (except tonic!), shake with ice, double strain into an glass ¾ filled with ice, add chilled tonic.

Peroni Fiore Spritz

50ml ANON Bittersweet

Aperitif

15ml elderflower cordial

25ml light tonic water

150ml Peroni 0.0%

Grapefruit or orange to garnish

ANON nonalcoholic drinks are available from a range of Bath stockists, including The Bird, Bath; The Newt Somerset; Homewood, Freshford; Roseate Villa; Menu Gordon Jones; and No. 15 Great Pulteney

ANON Botanical non-alcoholic libations; anondrinks.com

Add all ingredients to your glass over ice and stir, garnish with a slice of grapefruit and a wedge of orange. Hear us out, the herbal notes of the aperitif match perfectly with cool hoppy beer, softened by floral elderflower. Give it a go and change your life!

Low-alcohol drinks from Bath Botanicals

Bath Botanical Distillery has brought out a bitters-style drops to recreate the taste of a G&T with way less alcohol...

Bath Botanical Distillery has launched Dirty Dash – a brand of world-first, bitters-style drops to recreate the taste of a G&T with 90%* less alcohol.

Since setting up shop as in 2015 as Bath Botanical Gin Distillery & Herbal Apothecary, Sue Mullett has made and sold delicious No.1 Gin as well as a huge range of medicinal herbal elixirs and tinctures from the distillery tucked away in Widcombe. Sue has now combined forces with Saul Wheeler to blend Saul’s love of cocktails and mixology with Sue’s intricate knowledge of herbs and botanicals. The result is Dirty Dash, something that's poised to make the no-and-low-spirits market a whole lot tastier.

Sue says, “I’d thought of making a gin bitters for ages, but Saul encouraged me to do it.” They realised they had stumbled upon something quite unique, not for cocktails but as a low-alcohol option. “Sue and I had chatted about the rip off and poor quality of the zeroproof gins that have to be made with artificial flavours, sweeteners and preservatives”, Saul says. “We realised gin bitters could fill this niche and be so much more delicious.”

“It’s got that bitterness to it –the taste creates a reward in a different way”

This was what launched the Dirty Dash rocket ship, “We made a bunch of different gin botanicals –we tinkered around and ended up with something that was really delicious!”

The Dirty Dash comes in 100ml, bitters-style bottles with a dropper that can be added to mixers to replicate the taste of traditional spirits. The flagship product is Gin Drop, which, when a few dashes are added to tonic, recreates the rounded, satisfying taste of a classic G&T, but with 90%* less alcohol –and calories!

This new product is timely as more people than ever are opting for lowand no-alcohol options. A study by Alcohol Change UK highlights that over one in four people have expressed their intention to cut back on their alcohol consumption in 2024. But typically people are not cutting out alcohol completely. Drinkers are swapping out for low-alcohol options or being more mindful with their choices.

The low-and-no options for beer and lager drinkers are pretty wideranging by this point. But for spirits fans looking to cut down consumption and re-create the experience with something just as tasty, the options were more limited. “It dawned on us that there was no really good low-alcohol offerings for people who drink spirits,” says Saul. “Everything out there is highly expensive and pretty poor quality. The spirit market is still stuck – but no one has done a gin bitters with a mix of botanicals to make a low alcohol beverage. It was quite exciting.”

Dirty Dash bridges this gap. It’s not sugary soda or fruit juice, nor is it perfumed cordial or an alcohol-free replica of the real thing. Instead, it’s a totally unique, sophisticated sip that has the depth you’d expect from a traditional gin. Saul says, “It’s all natural and it has got that authentic taste, so you don't feel like you’re missing out.”

This herbal, botanical, partially alcoholic taste comes from the way Dirty Dash is created. The exact method and recipe are a closely kept secret, but in essence the bitters method is used to infuse alcohol with the natural flavouring from botanical ingredients. This brings out the key flavour notes. When diluted, the minuscule amount of alcohol remaining in the drink is enough to satisfy your senses into believing that you have a grown-up drink to be savoured. “It’s got that bitterness to it” Sue explains "the taste creates a reward in a different kind of way.”

So what’s in the name? It’s all to do with prepping the drink. Saul says, “When you’re adding something to a drink, you’re making it dirty – that’s the term in the industry for changing the colour or taste of a drink. like a Dirty Martini. The ‘dash’ is because we’re just using a dash!”

Bath Botanical Distillery, 1a Prior Park Road, Bath BA2 4NG; dirtydash.co.uk; bathbotanics.co.uk

* Using the suggested serving of 4 dashes added to 150ml tonic creates a drink with 1.2%ABV, which is 90% less alcohol than a standard-serve 50ml G&T. A dash is one complete squeeze of the pipette!

3 Magnificent Parks... 1 Spectacular Gower

Escape the urban hustle this summer and journey towards the captivating allure of the Gower Peninsula, where three Premier Leisure Parks await your arrival. Just a brief two-hour drive from Bristol, yet it feels a world away from the rest of the UK. Discover your home away from home today!

Premier Leisure Parks offers three spectacular, family-owned and operated holiday home parks to suit everyone’s needs. They are more than just a place to stay; they’re a gateway to the myriad wonders of Gower. All three Parks are situated on the most sought after, picturesque landscape the UK has to offer. Delve deep into the mysteries of ancient castles, hike the undulating coastal paths, rediscover historical landmarks, or simply bask in the sun on the golden beaches. The Gower Peninsula was the first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has the same protection as a National Park – only 13 in the entire UK to be exact. This precious landscape – with distinctive character and limestone coastline, along with its vast diversity of natural habitats, saltmarshes and award-winning beaches – is so outstanding, that it’s protected for future generations.

As a family-run business, Premier Leisure Parks prides itself on offering top of the line, deluxe Holiday Homes and Luxury Lodges from award-winning UK manufactures, such as ABI, Swift and Willerby.

Whiteford Bay

Overlooking the beautiful cliffs of the Bay, Whiteford Bay Premier Leisure Park stretches all the way up to Whiteford Sands and to the mouth of the Loughor Estuary –where the only remaining wavewashed cast iron lighthouse in the UK remains. The Park also presents some of the most breath-taking sunsets and captivating coastlines you’ve ever seen.

This is the largest of the three Premier Leisure Parks, yet it conveys a huge sense of peaceful charm and commends itself on the generations of family who have owned holiday homes here; setting the feeling of a safe and welcoming community. Because there is no public parking for the beach, Whiteford Bay is primarily enjoyed by locals and holiday home owners. So, even in the height of summer, you will be sure to find a quiet spot to enjoy. This hidden gem offers a large children’s adventure playground, along with a zipline and hiking trails, as well as an onsite laundry facility which makes this park an ideal choice for families. With a local village pub and restaurant, shop and café, all within walking distance to the village of Llanmadoc, everyone is sure to find peace and enjoyment here.

Green Meadow

With spectacular, panoramic views sweeping all the way across the Bristol Channel, Green Meadow is placed on the edge of Oxwich Bay and exhibits some of the highest quality Holiday Homes in the Gower Peninsula. Some significant investment has gone into the redevelopment of Green Meadow over the last few years, as Premier Leisure Parks continues to uphold its impressive reputation for exceptional standards.

The latest redesign of the front-row pitches – which have been positioned along the crest of the cliffs of Slade Bay, showcase their exciting collection of brand-new, premium, Luxury Lodges with uninterrupted sea views and are ready to enjoy!

Green Meadow is within walking distance to the third Premier Leisure Park, Greenways of Gower; both just a walk down the hill to Swansea’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, (The Beach House), as well as a charming seasonal shop and café with outdoor dining and beach parking. Why not make Green Meadow your little piece of paradise?

Greenways Of Gower

Upon reaching the top of Oxwich, nestled among the rolling green fields of wildlife and overlooking the beautiful Oxwich Bay, the illustrious Cefn Bryn (home of the King Arthur Stone) and the notable Oxwich Castle, stands Greenways of Gower –the heart of Premier Leisure Parks. Oxwich is recognised for its stunning panoramic landscapes of the surrounding countryside, historic monuments and enchanting views all the way to the Brecon Beacons. Being a popular destination for hikers, nature lovers and water sports enthusiasts, those who want a taste of the outdoors, will have plenty to see and do here. Additionally, there is a children’s recreation area, with large adventure playground, laundrette, 24-hour monitored boatstorage and not to mention an award-winning shower facility with underfloor heating, an additional laundry room, food freezer and hot drinks vending machine.

It’s no surprise that Greenways of Gower has been awarded a number of Swansea Bay Tourism Awards, as well as several David Bellamy Conservation awards throughout the years. Away from the main Holiday Home area, there are six camping fields that spread out at the top end of the Park, offering campers captivating views and tranquil stays.

Each Holiday Home and Luxury Lodge on Greenways of Gower has been carefully selected and many have their own custom decking and skirting –which adds to the high standards and exceptional quality of this award-winning park. No detail has been missed; from the way they are individually positioned on their own private pitch, (in order to maximise the remarkable beauty of their surroundings), to the way the grounds are meticulously landscaped, Greenways of Gower offers a wide variety of brand-new and previously loved holiday homes for purchase, to suit everyone’s budget. n

Please visit the website premierleisureparks.com for a complete list of current availability across all three of the parks. The team looks forward to welcoming you soon!

Bath business

LOCAL BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY ORGANISATION UPDATES

NEW SALES SERVICE FOR RESIDE

Reside, a trusted name in Bath for residential lettings, are launching a new sales service, helping people buy and sell homes in Bath and the surrounding areas. Known for excellent customer service and local expertise, Reside is bringing its award-winning approach to the sales market.

For over a decade, Reside has been a key player in Bath’s property scene, known for its commitment to clients and its integrity. Ben, the managing director, shared his enthusiasm: “We are incredibly excited to offer the same great service to the sales side of the property world. Our team is passionate about real estate and

KALEIDOSCOPE ACQUIRES DUKES HOTEL

Kaleidoscope Hotels, renowned for its visionary approach to hospitality, has acquired Dukes Hotel, a landmark hotel on Great Pulteney Street. This move emphasises Kaleidoscope's commitment to reimagining historic properties and enriching guest experiences in the south west. It also welcomes the company back to Great Pulteney Street, the first time since No.15 was open there. As Kaleidoscope Hotels build on its existing properties –including Bishopstrow in Wiltshire, Homewood in Somerset and The Bird in Bath –it’s a positive sign for the south west tourism and hospitality sector, which saw an 8% increase in visitors in 2023. Dukes is synonymous with service-led hospitality and is the number one rated hotel in Bath on TripAdvisor. The 17-bedroom hotel occupies two magnificent townhouses, with a legacy dating back to the 18th century. kaleidoscopehotels.co.uk

committed to providing our clients with the best possible experience, whether they are buying or selling.”

Reside’s sales service offers a complete range of estate agency services, from valuations to marketing and negotiations. The team’s thorough understanding of Bath’s diverse property market ensures clients get the best advice and support.

With a strong track record in lettings, Reside is planning to redefine the property sales experience in Bath, delivering exceptional service and outstanding results.

Ben can be contacted at ben@residebath.co.uk, or by phone: 07786 625392.

FAREWELL TO DEREK

One of Bath’s best-known accountants, Derek Swift, a director and founder of Richardson Swift, has announced his retirement after four decades of advising businesses and families.

Derek will be leaving at the end of July and moving to Ireland for a change of pace. His retirement coincides with the 15th anniversary of the company he co-founded with Mike Richardson. Based in Laura Place, the company is now Bath’s largest independent chartered accountant and tax adviser, based solely in the city. It employs over 40 staff and boasts an enviable client list. He joined Richardson Reed in 1991 and became a partner in 1999. The firm merged with another to become Richardson Groves, which split, and Richardson Swift was born in 2009. richardsonswift.co.uk

DROP IN WEDNESDAYS AT IVYBANK

Ivybank House Care Home, a 43-bed care home in Bath is opening its doors to the public every Wednesday in June, between 10am and 2pm.

Visitors to Ivybank House can expect a warm welcome from the home’s new management team, who will provide a tour of the home and introduce guests to the care, facilities and services provided. The first drop-in session will be on Wednesday 5 June with no requirement to book in advance. Ivybank House, which is situated in beautiful grounds with stunning views over Bath, provides residential, respite and day care. The home is expanding

its services and from the summer it will also be offering specialist residential dementia care to residents. Following their tour, visitors will be invited to stay and chat to the friendly Ivybank team and enjoy refreshments in the garden with residents. ivybankhouse.co.uk

Changes to the high income child benefit charges and options to mitigate the charge

Among the fiscal updates announced in the April 2024 Budget were some positive measures for families. One was the long-awaited review of the high income child benefit charge (HICBC), which included both interim measures and a longer-term solution.

From 6 April 2024 an income tax charge applies to people who get Child Benefit and whose income (or partner’s income) is more than £60,000 in a tax year. The first rise since 2013.

Child Benefit isn't means tested - it’s paid tax-free to most people with children, with no requirement to have paid National Insurance contributions at all. It’s important to note that Child Benefit itself isn't being taxed or reduced - it will continue to be paid in full to the claimant. However, a tax charge will be calculated through a tax return on any partner whose income is more than £60,000 a year. If both partners have incomes over the £60,000 limit, the charge applies to the partner with the higher income. The tax charge will be one percent of the amount of Child Benefit received for every £200 of excess income.This is why the charge is the same as the Child Benefit received by people whose income is more than £80,000 a year. [(£80,000 - £60,000) ÷ £200 = 100%]

What can be done? The ‘income’ used by HM Revenue & Customs to calculate the charge is ‘adjusted net income’. Any pension contributions made by an individual, whether it's a contribution to an occupational pension scheme or to a personal pension, will reduce the final amount of adjusted net income. If this is enough to get it below £60,000, the charge will be avoided; if it ends up between £60,000 and £80,000, the charge will be reduced.

Case study: Greg lives in England and has a taxable income of £68,000 and his wife Helen has no income.They have two children which results in Helen receiving Child Benefit of £2,212.60 a year, [(£25.60 + £16.95) x 52]. Since Greg’s income is £8,000 over the limit, he’ll face a tax charge of 40% of £2,212.60 = £885.04. As a couple, the overall value of the Child Benefit has therefore been reduced to £1327.56 (£2,212.60 - £885.04).If Greg makes net pension contributions totalling £6,400 in the tax year to a personal pension plan, this will be grossed up to £8,000. This means his adjusted net income falls to £60,000 and no charge is payable. By contributing £6,400, he’s saved £885.04. If all of the pension contribution lies in the higher rate tax band, he’ll also be able to claim an additional £1,600 in tax relief (20% of £8,000) through his tax return. So, his £8,000 pension contribution has in fact cost him £3,914.96 (£6,400 - £885.04 - £1,600).

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Engaging theatre

Engage, the Theatre Royal Bath’s adult participation programme for those aged over 18, continues a long history of community participation at the theatre. Emma Clegg finds out more about the groups and two forthcoming performances.

Last autumn saw the return of the Theatre Royal’s Engage programme with the creation of four new groups, each offering the opportunity for individuals to connect with people and create space to discover.

The Theatre Royal’s ongoing work in the community builds on the previous success of Engage, founded in 2010 and funded by the Beryl Billings Charitable Trust, and last year’s Elevate Festival, which celebrated community theatre by showcasing local talent in a 15-day event at the Theatre Royal in March 2023.

The four groups, which were designed to run for eight weeks, are Engage Acting, Engage Elders, Engage Community Theatre Group and Engage Together. Acting is open to anyone over 18; and Elders is a gentler approach to theatre making, designed for those over 65. Community Theatre Groups is a collaborative project with Creative Twerton –who work in the local community (focusing on Twerton and Whiteway) to develop confidence in existing skills –and the award-

winning Kilter Theatre company; and Together, a partnership between the Theatre Royal’s Engage and Achieve Together, one of the UK’s leading providers of support for people with learning disabilities, autism, PMLD (profound and multiple learning disability), deafness, hearing loss and associated complex needs.

The two upcoming productions from these workshops include Engage Together’s The Seven Deadly Sins on 5 July. The production, inspired by Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, takes place in the Egg, the most accessible of the theatre’s performance spaces. Led by theatre director Sophie Cottle, The Seven Deadly Sins was chosen by the group of 12 participants who worked together to decide on the direction of the script, with content informed by what individuals wanted to include. For example, the designer Alice Sales is incorporating costume designs drawn by the cast, in their final show costumes. The participants attend the Educational Day Services care provision run by Achieve Together, where individuals have different and complex needs. In response to this, the show offers different ways for the cast to be involved –there is a core cast who are on stage all of the time, and an ensemble cast joining in with group scenes.

In this production the theatre space is adjusted to make it accessible for participants. A key element is lighting, because often off stage it is quite dark and people are looking out for cues, so they need to be able to see other people’s faces, and to see hand signs if they sign.

Katherine Lazare, Head of Community Engagement, says, “Having that interpretation in place is important. The theatre terminology is quite nuanced sometimes and so we benefit from having British Sign Language interpreter Paul Mancini – he understands what we mean by ‘downstage left’ and can help communicate that to the participants. We also want the process to be accessible and enjoyable.”

As a Deaf-centred workshop, some participants can hear a little and the majority are completely deaf. Because of this a sound designer Joseff Harris explores what sort of sounds the participants respond to, whether that’s different vibrations or base sounds. He will creates a design that resonates with some participants, also creating a sound atmosphere for the hearing audience.

The other production on 20-22 June is Engage Acting’s Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, which has 27 actors, 57 scenes and more than 100 characters. Katherine describes them as a rigorous group who rehearse 1-2 times a week.

“What is amazing is the commitment everybody has”, says Katherine. “Nobody has dropped out –both shows feel like ensemble companies.”

Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, 20-22 June, Egg Theatre, 8pm; The Seven Deadly Sins, 5 July, Egg Theatre, 2pm theatreroyal.org.uk/engagement/engage-adult-creative-learning

Shane Long from the cast of The Seven Deadly Sins

The Engage Together company in a workshop

Photography by Dan Martin

Education matters

NEWS FROM THE CITY’S LEARNERS AND LEADERS

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL COURSE HELPS LEADERS PROGRESS THEIR CAREER

Applications are being accepted for the University of Bristol’s part-time MSc in Strategy, Change and Leadership. This challenging and rewarding programme –delivered through a total of 16 work days and six Saturdays across two years – is designed for those aspiring to, or holding senior manager and leadership positions and will fit around the demands of a busy, professional leadership role.

This bespoke master’s degree in strategy, change and leadership is aimed at providing senior managers with the tools and techniques they need to navigate their organisations through demanding times by understanding organisational complexity and issues affecting success; improving the ability to manage change and uncertainty; making better choices

about growth and strategic direction; and increasing overall leadership impact.

Programme manager Cheralyn BainesDark (pictured above) says: “We are delighted to be recruiting our 12th cohort of executive students to this successful and practical master’s programme. Excellent leadership is vital when facing a challenging and uncertain future, and organisations from all industries recognise the importance of investing in their future leaders and managers by developing their management and leadership teams in unpredictable times. This practical master’s degree offers value for money and will offer a return on investment from day one.”

Lessons are highly interactive including mini-lectures, case studies, practical exercises, personal reflection and group work. Informal networking is a key benefit of the programme. For people wanting to know

more information, there is an online event taking place on Wednesday 12 June from 6pm to 6.45pm. There are limited places, so if you would like to have a chat about the programme, or to book on to the online webinar taking place this month, please contact Cheralyn Baines-Dark by phone 01179546694; or email mgmtscl@bristol.ac.uk.

To find out more, or to apply for September 2024 entry, visit bristol.ac.uk/ strategychange-leadership-2024

New Twilight Package at Thermae Bath Spa

A two-hour Twilight Package from the Thermae Bath Spa provides the ultimate in relaxation for two people...

The Thermae Bath Spa has found a new way to find unparalleled relaxation with its Twilight Package. For just £100 for two people, it offers an ideal post-work, evening getaway with friends or loved ones.

This package is available Monday to Friday and includes an indulgent Mediterranean Sharing Platter with a seasonal side and a choice of drink from the specially selected wine, beer or juice. The soothing two-hour spa session allows you to experience ultimate relaxation, including the famous Rooftop Pool, multisensory Wellness Suite, and Minerva Bath.

Bookings are available from 3pm onwards, allowing you to come and enjoy the stunning skyline views of Bath from the Rooftop Pool, experience the evening light shift as the sun goes down enhancing the classic Georgian architecture and

highlighting the natural beauty of Bath. You can also take in views of Bath Abbey and the surrounding hills.

Located in the heart of Bath, Thermae Bath Spa has a reputation as a premier destination for wellness and relaxation. Whether you’re a local resident or visiting from afar, the Twilight Package promises an unforgettable evening in a truly exceptional setting.

Thermae Bath Spa is the only natural thermal spa in the UK, offering a unique blend of historical and contemporary spa facilities. It provides a range of treatments and experiences designed to promote wellbeing and relaxation, drawing on the healing properties of Bath’s thermal waters.

To book, call the Thermae Bath Spa reservations team on 01225 331234. For more information visit: thermaebathspa.com/treatments/ spapackages/package/twilight

DENTAL & DENTURE CLINIC

Hygienist appointments

Uncommon Sense with Audrey Stephenson of Therapy Geek

Did you know that in the official UK government statistics for 2021/22 approximately 6% or 3 million people (of the respondents) describe themselves as lonely often or all the time? Or that the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2023 promoted research on community engagement and wellbeing? And even created YouTube content on how people with strong social connections and positive interactions also live longer and recover faster from disease?

Or have you watched the Netflix series Blue Zone and seen how connections with others is a common characteristic of those across the world who are living healthy lives past their hundred birthdays?

Hassan Sheikh - Dentist DBS

The reality is that human beings don’t thrive on their own. Do we need solitude? Time spent in reflection and mindfulness? Time away from tech and constant distraction when we can hear ourselves think and perhaps even more importantly, feel what we feel? Absolutely. But it is reality that we humans thrive, heal and grow, in relationship to others.

Bath is a beautiful city, stunning architecture, breathtaking green spaces, live music, more galleries than you can shake a stick at - so much to offer. But here too, like everywhere all across the UK, and the world, we are surrounded by the lonely. We are lonely. Loneliness doesn’t simply look like the elderly person alone in their flat without anyone to talk toalthough this is a part of the picture. Loneliness may also be the empty nester staring at an empty room, or the widower with three school age children rushing around without a moment to think. Loneliness looks like the 24 year old singleton not finding love on the apps. Loneliness is the workaholic without a social life.

We live in a fast paced, “living your best life” obsessed society. It's easier than ever to feel as though you are failing and you have no one to relate to. Hold on - I’m going to say it... Join a book club, or start one. Go to church, synagogue, temple, mosque, whatever. Go to that NCT group you’ve been dreading. Talk. Reach out. At the checkout, at the pub. It can be to a professional but regardless of whether you go to therapy or not, we need to connect with each other. More than ever.

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Saint Arilda and the Whale: A Severnside walk

If you haven’t heard of Saint Arilda and the Whale, that’s because they are two completely different myths. Andrew Swift tracks both of them in a walk in an unspoilt part of South Gloucestershire.

This month’s walk lies along quiet roads and green lanes in one of the most unspoilt and least known parts of South Gloucestershire. It rounds off with a bracing walk along the Severn shore, takes in two small villages, each with an excellent inn, and encounters two local legends – the martyrdom of St Arilda and the beached whale of Littleton on Severn.

The easiest way to reach the starting point – at Littleton on Severn – is to head west along the M4, turn onto the M48 and leave at Junction 1. Drive round the roundabout to take the B4461 and after a mile, follow the road as it bears left at a junction. Threequarters of a mile further on take a left turn to Littleton on Severn. When you reach the village, drive past the White Hart Inn to park on the road a little further on. (BS35 1NR; ST596900)

Walk north along the lane and at the T junction turn right (following a sign for Kington and Thornbury). At the next T junction, 500m further on, turn right again. After 300m, turn left through a kissing gate (KG) into Wood Well Meadows Local Nature Reserve and follow a path through the field (ST600898). Go through a gateway at the end, passing Wood Well on the left, and climb to a

bench commanding a view over the vale.

Turn right alongside the hedgerow for 100m, go through a KG in the hedge and follow steps up and then down into a muddy green lane. Turn left along it as it heads down a holloway before curving eastward as a level well-surfaced track.

At the end, go through a handgate and carry straight on up through a field where there may be cattle (ST608897). Go through the gate at the top, carry on, and, on the far side of the field, go through a KG and a handgate. After rain, the ground here may be especially muddy, but, if you head straight across to another KG, you will find yourself on a well-walked green lane, along which you turn left (ST613896).

This is Bond Lane, which after 600m starts to descend a rocky holloway down Fowler’s Hill. Across the fields to your right is a holy well dedicated to St Arilda, who was martyred nearby. Although venerated in the middle ages, with a shrine visited by pilgrims in Gloucester Abbey, she is a shadowy figure. In the 16th century, John Leland recorded that she was ‘martired … by one Muncius a tiraunt, who cut off hir heade becawse she would not consent to lye with him’, but that is about all we know of her.

When you come to a tarmaced lane, turn left along it. After 350m, turn right along a

bridleway whose name – Stock Lane – and prodigious width indicate that herds of cattle were once driven along it (ST610904). Unfortunately, its width does not equate to easy walking, and, despite it giving an insight into what so many country roads were once like, when you come to a tarmac lane after 800m, you will probably be very grateful to turn left along it.

Despite having a firm surface under your feet, however, the wide verges on either side are a sure sign that livestock was once driven along here as well. After a while, the lane curves inexorably towards the church at Oldbury upon Severn. As you approach it, follow a grassy track up steps and through a gate into the churchyard.

Despite being only 35m above sea level, the view from here is spectacular. The hilltop site and the circular shape of the churchyard suggest the site may have pre-Christian origins, while the church’s dedication to St Arilda harks back to early Anglo Saxon times, when Christianity was in conflict with pagan beliefs.

Leaving the churchyard by a gate on the north side, follow the lane as it drops down to the village. After passing the Anchor Inn, cross a bridge over a tidal creek known as Oldbury Pill, and, at the far end of the pub car park,

Stock Lane

sailing club. After 250m, when the drive curves right, carry straight on along a grassy track beside Oldbury Pill.

When you come to the sluice gates, turn left to follow a path across them and continue south along a levee built to protect the lowlying land on the left from flooding. From this elevated position, with a patchwork of fields and wooded knolls on your left and the Severn estuary on your right, the views are spectacular. To complement the wide skies and swirling waters, two monuments forged in the white heat of the 1960s loom portentously in the distance – the Severn Bridge, opened in 1966, to the south, and Oldbury Nuclear Power Station, opened in 1967 – but closed in 2012 – to the north.

After 2km the roofs of a small business park come into view on the left. It stands on the site of a brickworks built beside Littleton Pill in 1863. Littleton Pill is also known as Whale Wharf, on account of a whale being stranded here in 1885. Over 20,000 people travelled from far and wide to see it, with special trains being laid on to carry them to Thornbury, four miles away. The brickworks was renamed the Whale Brick & Tile Company, the lane which linked it with Littleton became known as Whalewharf

Lane, and to this day photographs of the unfortunate creature are still proudly displayed on the walls of the two local inns. When you reach the pill, head down through two KGs to head along Whalewharf Lane, and, when you reach Littleton, turn right to return to the starting point. n

Andrew Swift has written many books including On Foot in Bath: Fifteen Walks around a World Heritage City –available from bookshops or akemanpress.com.

Length of Walk: 7 miles Time: 3–4 hours

Terrain: Some rough and possibly muddy sections, and one set of steep steps

Starting point: Just north of the White Hart Inn, Littleton on Severn (BS35 1NR; ST596900)

Map: OS Explorer 167

Facilities: White Hart, Littleton on Severn (whitehartbristol.com); Anchor, Oldbury upon Severn (anchorinn-oldbury.co.uk)

www.skyinteriors.co.uk

E: enquiries@skyinteriors.co.uk

T: 01225 707372

We specialise in design, manufacture and installation of bespoke kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, home studies and media cabinetry.

The stranded whale at Littleton on Severn, 1885

Inside out

John Law of Woodhouse and Law explains the importance of considering inside and out from the very beginning of a design process, in order to achieve a sense of cohesion from interior to exterior.

Over recent years it’s been pleasing to see that our clients are increasingly looking for a greater sense of cohesion between home and garden. For us, being able to look at inside and out as one from the very outset of the design process is definitely an advantage. It allows us to approach the project in a much more holistic manner, with greater flexibility in colours, materials and textures. Even though these links can be subtle and nuanced, they can really help break down visual barriers between inside and out.

To this end, we’d always advocate developing a mood and materials board for the home and garden as a whole, and at the very beginning of the design process. That way, you can then select colours and shades that will work across the two spaces. Start the board with materials you have to work with (for example, the brick or stone that the house is constructed in), and then identify what fabrics, plants or materials will sit comfortably with this.

When approaching a design from scratch, then every element of our design could potentially help link the spaces. For example, we often use a floor finish internally that either complements the materials used on an adjoining garden terrace or is the same; this can really help unify the look and feel of the spaces. Where this isn’t possible, a material in a complementary tone can be equally as successful. Millboard, for example, offer a wide range of composite timber-effect decking boards that can sit well with carpet, stone and timber flooring for interior schemes. For an instant fix, a similar connection to outdoors can be achieved by bringing in cuttings from the very beds and borders over which that room looks. Or introducing houseplants that reflect the colours, texture and tones of those plants.

Traditionally, clients have shown more of their personality in their home than they do in their adjoining garden –this is definitely being turned on its head at the minute. There is an ever-growing understanding of a garden’s potential to become an extension of the house and its character, rather than just another space. Clients are increasingly coming to us in search of outdoor spaces that take on similar functions to those once relegated to the house. That can take the form of outdoor kitchens or a pared-back bar and stools that double up as a break-out space for clients wishing to work outside on their laptops. When selecting outdoor

furniture, we look to reference colours used in the interior design of the home in outdoor soft furnishings. Outdoor fabrics are finally offering more than the standard cream, green or taupe tones, becoming more colourful, bolder and fun. And technological advances mean the weaves and colours are much more sophisticated than they once were, so it’s not so difficult to find patterns and colours that will reflect your interior decoration. The same for outdoor rugs; the growing choice here is very much indicative of the blurring of boundaries between inside and out.

“Being able to look at inside and out as one from the very outset of the design process is definitely an advantage”

It’s important of course in this process to consider the overall size of the exterior space and the interaction with the property. For example, a courtyard garden which is small should closely reflect the interior style as they will be physically so close. Mirrors can be used here to great effect, reflecting the interior style immediately. In larger gardens, the interior colours and materials can be referenced in the foreground with planters and planting. As you move further away from the room/window you can be more adventurous and less constructed in your use of colour.

When designing a space, it’s important however not to become obsessive about linking the two spaces; and instead to hold back and know when to stop. If you are not careful, it can result in a scheme feeling uptight and overtly designed. We would advise starting with subtle references; for example, the warm hues in CorTen rusted steel could be reflected inside in the bronze frame of a mirror, or the colour of silk on lampshades, rather than direct repetition of the material. This is often enough and will result in a far more sophisticated and timeless result.

Here at Woodhouse and Law, we recently completed a project on the Dorset coast, where our client had the opportunity to purchase the property neighbouring their 19th-century coastguard cottage. With a view to creating guest accommodation and entertaining space for visiting friends and family, the brief was to create an understated Scandi coast feel, albeit with a glamourous vibe. Limestone flooring ran throughout the ground floor, continuing onto the dining and lounge terraces outside. Touches of metallic ran from inside to out –in the form of planters, light fittings and accessories – helping to lift the calming space. A pared-back palette of blues, creams, stone, natural wood and slate was also introduced, with touches of warm rust to reflect the seaside location, and that of the surrounding gardens.

Ensuring this referencing of materials, tones and finishes between spaces will not only offer a greater sense of cohesion, but can make your home feel bigger too, as it feels as if rooms extend beyond their physical parameters. More importantly, it will better reflect your own individuality through all spaces, making you instantly feel more comfortable and at ease in your own home. n

Garden

NOTEBOOK

Transform your outside space into a calm oasis with the right accessories. Here are some of our favourite items from Cotswold Company –visit the store at 12 Northgate Street, Bath, or online at: cotswoldco.com

STRETTON CORNER GARDEN LOUNGE SET

This lounge set perfectly fuses indoor and outdoor living thanks to its sleek, Scandi-inspired design. Crafted with solid Acacia wood, it comes complete with soft grey cushions for ultimate comfort, so this contemporary ensemble blends stylish simplicity with function. Able to seat six comfortably, the Cotswold Company’s Stretton corner set will be as much at home in the conservatory as it is on the patio. £1349.

ENGLISH FIREPIT COMPANY PLAIN JANE FIREPIT 70CM

Handmade here in the UK from high quality steel, this elegant firepit design is built to last. Freestanding with beautifully curved legs, an oil finish and a swing-arm BBQ rack, you’ll enjoy cosy evenings gathered around the fire, together with delicious grilled foods. £359.

LARGE WICKER BULBOUS LANTERN

This beautifully woven wicker piece has an earthy texture that can be used to instantly add a relaxed, easy living feel to interiors. Perfect outdoors during the fine weather or bring indoors in the winter for a cosy vibe. £50. Pair it perfectly with the Cotswold Company’s small wicker bulbous lantern for £29.

CHALLENGER T2

GLOW PARASOL AND BASE

This stylish parasol is a free-arm parasol that makes it possible to enjoy the summer days for longer with integrated warm white LED lighting in the ribs. £978.

STONE BASED HURRICANE LANTERN

The Stone Based Hurricane Lantern is the perfect addition to the home, creating a warm glow in the evenings with the glass lantern top. £40.

Galloway Wigtown

Kestrel

Service/Repair/Installation of Gas, LPG, Oil and Electric AGAs

AGA Removals including safe disconnection of Gas/Oil supply

AGA Cleaning/Refurbishment

Annual Gas Safety Inspections - Domestic

Boiler Breakdowns/Installations/Maintenance

Tel: 07584010517

Email: help@cozycosolutions.co.uk 28 Roundstone Street, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 8DE

Horner Roberts

horner roberts are a growing team of cabinet makers situated in Warminster, Wiltshire.

We are specialist cabinet makers, joiners and furniture makers.

The company was started in 1979 by richard horner who retired 10 years ago, since then master cabinet maker Paul roberts has taken over the running of the business.

We have grown steadily and at present have a team of 5 skilled cabinet makers and our own installation team.

We work closely with our own clients and with various architects all over the south west of england and beyond.

We design, manufacture and install bespoke kitchens, bedrooms, studies, dressing rooms, utility rooms as well as one off pieces of beautiful furniture. www.horner-roberts.co.uk

4B The Old Silk WOrkS, WarminSTer, WilTShire, Ba12 8lX

Locally grown flowers

Every year British Flowers Week (this year from 3–9 June) showcases British flower growers. If you want to find cut flowers that are local and sustainable, there are plenty of choices, says Jessica Stokes.

British­Flowers­Week­was­conceived­by­the­Covent­Garden­Flower market­just­over­a­decade­ago,­in­2013.­This­week,­which­this­year runs­from­3–9­June,­aims­to­shine­a­light­on­and­showcase­British flower­growers,­wholesalers­and­florists­who­are­committed­to­using and­championing­British­flowers.

British­Flowers­Week­is­now­managed­by­Flowers­from­the­Farm (flowersfromthefarm.co.uk),­the­association­for­artisan-cut­flower­growers­in the­UK.­The­organisation­acts­as­a­directory­for­looking­up­and­discovering your­local­flower­growers.­They­are­also­a­highly­valued­network­in­the­industry, which­tirelessly­celebrates­and­actively­promotes­small-scale­growers.­As­a­florist myself,­who­uses­only­British,­seasonal­and­sustainable­flowers,­I­wholeheartedly support­such­a­wonderful­week­in­the­calendar,­and­all­those­working­behind the­scenes­to­organise­it.

We­are­very­lucky­in­Somerset­and­the­surrounding­counties­to­have­ample access­to­exceptional­British­flower­growers,­who­work­and­cultivate­locally grown­flowers­using­thoughtful­and­sustainable­methods.­I­spoke­to­some­of them­ahead­of­British­Flowers­week.

Sula and Oliver Jones of Nice Bunch, Compton Dundon

Sula­and­Oliver­created­Nice­Bunch­in­2019,­as­an­ethical­floral­studio­and farm.­They­live­in­Bath,­but­their­flower­farms­and­studio­are­nestled­between rolling­hills­and­woodland­at­Sula’s­family­home­in­Compton­Dundon,­South Somerset.­Sula­explains,­“Our­world­has­a­lot­of­stuff­in­it­already,­so­flowers felt­like­the­perfect­way­to­bring­joy­without­adding­to­that.­We­love­that­we can­grow­and­make­something­and­then­it­dies,­turns­to­compost­and­feeds back­into­new­life­afterwards.”

The­couple­love­growing­a­variety­of­flowers­that­bring­sunshine­to­flower arrangements­throughout­the­year.­These­include­snake’s­head­fritillary,­Spiraea, parrot­tulips,­hellebores,­Persian­buttercup­and­peonies­in­spring.­Summer brings­ Cosmos ‘Cupcakes’­and­single­cosmos,­mallow­wort,­corncockle,­fresh and­dried­Lunaria,­marigolds,­rose­geranium­and­all­kinds­of­garden­roses.­But it’s­really­about­what­thrives­at­the­farm,­with­examples­being­Suttons­apricot

Snake’s head fritillary China asters

Sarah Wilson of Compton Garden Flowers

Sula Jones of Nice Bunch

foxgloves, the ‘Spencer’ type of sweet peas cultivated in Japan, which generate excellent early strong plants, and dahlias.

Sula says, “We love British flowers for their unique qualities –such as the soft colours of Phlox drummondii 'Crème Brûlée’, blush China aster, Rosa ‘Koko Loko’ garden roses, towering tulips only available because they’re grown in richer conditions, or delicate blooms that don’t like long-distance travel such as cosmos, nasturtiums, or Salpiglossis sinuata. nicebunch.shop

Sara Pearch, Florist, Woolverton

As a florist and previously a potter of 30 years, Sara’s strapline for her business is ‘flowers in a bowl with soul’, meaning a combination of handcrafted pots and characterful flowers. Sara is committed to using only British flowers in her work, both from local growers and from her cutting patch in her garden. She highlights flowers in her arrangements as the season progresses. So irises arrive in early summer with pretty geums giving spots of colour and June brings the colours of cosmos alongside sweet peas, nasturtium and roses. Sara is a member of Flowers from the Farm and appreciates how locally grown flowers are a positive alternative to those flown in from far-flung countries which have been grown on giant farms. sarapearchflowers.com

Teresa Payne, The Bath Flower Farmer, Bath

Teresa started her flower business during lockdown. She always loved growing flowers and was looking for somewhere to grow more dahlias for showing in local shows. Having found an acre to rent, the extra space allowed her to grow other flowers and foliage for a family wedding. Teresa says, “Using British flowers celebrates the seasons

rather than choosing those grown all year round in heated, pesticide controlled glasshouse environments across the globe. Locally grown flowers have travelled less, provide food for pollinating insects, and increase biodiversity.” flowers.plantsbytrees@gmail.com

Sarah Wilson of Compton Garden Flowers, Compton

Sarah and her husband Bob launched their business in 2016. Sarah had always grown flowers for cutting and sharing with friends and after buying two acres of land she left her role as a management consultant and decided to start a flower farm. Sarah says, “I was particularly interested in championing locally grown flowers, cultivated the way nature intended without using pesticides or herbicides”. Sarah says that the vast majority of what she grows is cultivated from seed and her morning trip to the greenhouses to check on germination and seedlings is her favourite part of the day. She particularly loves the cut and come again flowers which are the most prolific, including sweet peas, cosmos, calendula, dahlia, snapdragons and zinnia. comptongardenflowers.co.uk n

Jessica Stokes, gardener and sustainable floral designs. Instagram: #_flowerandland; flowerandland.com

An arrangement by Sara Pearch

60+ luxury properties for lets 2 nights to 5 months

Holidays –For business –Friends & family Temporary accommodation during renovation/relocation

Contact: 01225 482 225 bhr.office@bathholidayrentals.com www.bathholidayrentals.com

Abeautifully presented 4 bedroom period farmhouse set in an attractive village location, fully modernised to a high standard with an attractive walled garden and garage, all within a few miles of the city centre of Bath.

This beautifully appointed attached former farmhouse has been carefully and thoughtfully refurbished by the present owners and effectively provides an older property with a fully modernised interior.

Particular features are the wonderfully light and airy kitchen/breakfast room with its full height ceiling and exposed beams and this is complemented by an attractive sitting room with double aspect and a feature fireplace. Three of the bedrooms, together with the main bathroom are on the first floor and the fourth bedroom is at ground floor level with an additional shower room.

Clever design features are throughout the property which include wooden doors, floating elm shelving throughout, high quality range of kitchen units with Corian work tops and French limestone flooring. Reclaimed oak and elm have been used to provide doors, shelves and gates.

Works carried out include re-plumbing, re-wiring, roofs being overhauled within the last 5 years, new damp proofing within the kitchen area, sitting room and hallway and fully double-glazed hardwood windows throughout.

The interior is beautifully complemented by the wonderful walled garden to the rear which is planted with a wealth of mature shrubs and trees. The property also has the benefit of parking to the front and a large garage. Cobb Farr, 35 Brock Street, The Circus, Bath; Tel: 01225 333332

Dunkerton, Nr Bath

•Fully modernised period property

•4 bedrooms

•Stunning kitchen/breakfast room

•Sitting Room

•Bathroom and shower room

•Large walled garden

•Garage

£1,200,000

SteepleAshton

£1,250,000

A substantial and attractive Grade II listed, 6 bedroom detached home bursting with period features and charm throughout whilst boasting beautiful private gardens, garaging and parking.

• Attractive Grade II listed property

• 6 bedrooms

• Beautiful, private walled gardens

• Inglenook fireplace with woodburning stove

• Garage and parking

01225 333332 | 01225 866111

Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire

Leigh Road, Bradford on Avon

Burnett, Nr Bath

£1,200,000

A beautifully presented curtilage listed barn conversion with the benefit of 4 bedrooms, 2 stunning reception rooms and an attractive good sized garden.

• Converted barn retaining many original features

• Detached

• 4 bedrooms

• Well-proportioned accommodation

• High specification

• 5 miles from Bath

Chatham Row, Bath

£1,150,000

A beautifully appointed and comprehensively refurbished 4 bedroom town house of elegant proportions, located in a quiet no through road, adjacent to the river, in the highly fashionable Walcot area of Bath.

• 4 double bedrooms

• Formal drawing room and beautiful kitchen

• 2 Ripples designed bathrooms and cloakroom

• Vaulted storage

• Divorced south facing landscaped garden

01225 333332 | 01225 866111

Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire

Leigh Road, Bradford on Avon