It's Spring!

Spring has most definitely sprung here in North Norfolk.  My guess is we must be a good few weeks ahead of last year, with a number of herbaceous plants well into growth. Only hope they're not in for a nasty shock in April!

In the gallery, it's MIKE BERNARD who is in favour - though ironically it's the London pictures that are grabbing the attention. We even had a visitor who enjoys the same view from his London pad as Mike's Butlers Wharf picture portrays and was somewhat surprised to find it in a Norfolk gallery.

On the food front, sounds like The Duck Inn has found it's feet again, with a couple of good reports - so time for a new look I think. As an avid fan of the wonderful BRAY'S pork pies, I was somewhat disconcerted to find an advert for 70% discount on burgers on their blog.  Having contacted the wonderful Sarah, it seems like they can't see it -  highlighting the hidden hazards of blogging!

A good friend

Last weekend saw an unexpected and untimely trip to Lympstone in Devon, to celebrate the life of a good friend, Carol Tolson, tragically cut short in an accident.

Many of my exploratory visits to artists in the west country in the early days of the Grapevine were based around our friendship with Carol and Robin, and business and pleasure became pleasingly intertwined. How many of our Devon artists realised my visits coincided with our vain endeavours at Exeter School Quiz Nights, I wonder?

Saturday's memorial service was a deeply moving tribute to Carol and the packed church bore eloquent witness to a life filled with music, love - and a little bit of chaos - that contributed so much to the lives of her family, her community and her friends.

Contrasts

In the words of the great Michael Flanders, "Welcome March with wintry wind, Would thou wert not so unkind!" Clearly the weather has not changed much in the fifty plus years since he penned these words, the first days of March being dominated by an extremely chilly breeze from the North East. Overall, though we seem to have to got away fairly lightly after such a snowy start to the winter.  In fact the last weekend of February sort of sums it up. Saturday saw my reader and her friends getting throughly soaked on Brancaster Beach, whilst the following day saw glorious sunshine and clear blue skies for much of the day. Monday, unsurprisingly we were back in the world of the gramp. That's grey and damp to those who have yet to visit The Boathouse at Overy Staithe.

These contrasts have been evident on my close season travels to artists old and new.  Renewing my acquaintance with Shopshire (almost as good as Norfolk) saw a hoar frost followed by glorious afternoon sunshine, topped off with one of the biggest moon's I can ever remember hanging over that strangest of hills, Clee Hill above Ludlow.  Importantly this trip finally brought the wonderful of work of SUE CAMPION to the gallery. You can find more about Sue on the other Grapevine blog, http://norwichgrapevine.blogspot.com/.

My first trip west of the year included staying with my very good friend GEOFFREY ROBINSON to select work for his new exhibition with us in Norwich. Again, contrasts. The intense colours and clear outlines of his work couldn't have been more different than the grey swirling mist of the Hampshire coast.

Heading on west, I am never sure how to deal with Bournemouth. Whichever way you go, it does seem to go a long time, but eventually you find yourself in that other miraculous county, Dorset. The bare, high land of Thomas Hardy west of Dorchester - and onwards towards Devon.  Astoundingly wet, but still wonderful. My final visit on this trip was the studio of MIKE BERNARD on the north coast.  Mike has still to return to Norfolk, but he has found his old sketchbooks, and we have just a taste of what is to come.

And just to complete the saga, leaving the wet of the south and west behind, I returned to North Norfolk on one of those truly remarkable days when the light just makes you glad to be alive.

Slip sliding away

Having spent the last few weeks on ice, you almost miss it now its gone. Particularly as the crispness (!) of mid-December has been replaced by all encompassing mist.

Despite the cold, life in Burnham has continued pretty much as usual; on a parochial note the gallery has actually seen an increase in visitors over December last year.  It obviously takes more than a bit of snow and -10˚ here in the garden to put people off!
Having finally got to Christmas, it did briefly appear that the traditional family Christmas at Gunton might elude us, being - fortunately only temporarily - defeated by glazed ice on the final approach. Judicious lightening of our respective loads and a slight change in the atmosphere produced a happy ending.

Correspondence with artists around the country suggests we have been lucky but there is still January and that month that follows.  Maybe the 4x4 will still be needed!

The last few days have seen visits by a number of our regulars - customers and artists - and as usual new work has appeared. Some of it has sold already, which provides yet further proof that if you like it, don't delay.

2010 was not without incident - but has generally been good to us. Long may it continue.... Happy New Year!

Autumn Thoughts

More friends, more visits and more weather. Just a couple of weeks ago friends from London ended up staying in Wells whilst visiting their daughter at UEA and celebrating their wedding anniversary. Taking pity on them following a typically tiresome journey up, I collected them from their B&B, The Old Custom House on East Quay, to go out for dinner. It was only the following day, when they popped into the gallery on their way to Norwich, that it transpired the view from their room was pretty much the same as one of our best-selling cards.

I have to say that this fact had escaped me the night before. My only defence was that it seemed very dark and I was concentrating on parking on the quay and not in the harbour.  Anyway, the dinner was good - vension from Stody - and well worth a drive through darkest Norfolk.

Following a brief trip to London for a fantastic Charity Event - www.adamshats.org - and a rare day at home, it was back to Norfolk for the opening of our latest exhibition in the Norwich Gallery.  This features the work of ALAN BENNETT - not that one - but a very talented artist now living here who paints trees and heathland. If you get the chance its well worth a look.  On previous occasions we have shown his bigger works, but this time there's something for all walls and budgets.

My return seemed to signal the true onset of Autumn here. Monday was foul by common consent.  It was improved considerably by a visit to the wonderful DUCK INN just up the road.  Fantastic food accompanied by music from NICK HAYWOOD who has also been known to make beautiful buildings for your garden and can also turn his hand to painting.  The transformation from the Duck's previous incarnation as the idiosyncratic Crown is remarkable.  This the first of music/casserole nights on Mondays looks like a must for the next few weeks!

Perhaps prompted by a weekend of indulgence, the delights of Brancaster Beach are back in my schedule on a semi-regular basis. This week I have been rained on, hailed on and yesterday almost blown over. So much better than sunbathing I always think.

Paintings, Pots and Visitors

It's always good when artists and makers new to the gallery meet with approval. The last two weeks have seen just that with both JOHN HANNYNGTON's pots and NAOMI CLEMENTS-WRIGHT's paintings being warmly received.  John's pots provoke varying reactions, those who like the organic pieces seemingly ignoring the more traditional work and vice-versa.  Similarly those who appreciate Naomi's interiors don't seem to register her still-life work.  Which all confirms what we have come to know - that you cannot predict response.  Suffice to say that we are very much looking forward to building on the foundations of this their first show.

Artists and friends who visit often ask whether life isn't a bit quiet in North Norfolk.  Well... not exactly,  which goes some way to explaining how fast time seems to move on.  One of our favourite artists, GEOFFREY ROBINSON, who has shown with us since the beginning, needs no convincing of the delights of North Norfolk.  Despite living within sight and sound of the sea in Hampshire, Geoff fell deeply in love with Burnham Market when he stayed here during his last exhibition.  He didn't actually move, but he did find his way back here last week with some fantastic new paintings.

A day out with friends from Yorkshire prompted a visit to the Far East - well Horsey to be more exact. Its all too easy to forget just how big and varied Norfolk is.  Just like Brancaster, Horsey has sand-dunes and a beach that goes on forever.  But the sea is bigger and there are real waves.  They also have seals on the beach, where they come to pup each year.  And a proper pub, and a proper brewery close at hand.  Fantastic! But... I suspect time may go just that little bit slower, so I'm not thinking of heading east just yet.

The following day saw sanity restored with lunch at Brancaster and all the wind and rain you could wish for. The kind of real weather you expect in the west (Cornwall) but not so frequent here. Put the wilds of Penwith to shame!

Tripped Up?

Just like the birds, our artists come back in the autumn!  Presumably, they like many of us prefer Norfolk when it's just that little bit quieter.  Very good to catch up with everybody's news. It also leads to eating out a bit more often... and it's then that the changes that affect every pub and restaurant come to light.  The pub that I have glowingly recommended over the summer months may have lost its chef, or been sold to someone else or...

TripAdviser got more than its fair share of coverage a few weeks back, with Hoteliers alleging abuse. Whatever the truth in this, it can cause problems.  One of our artists decided not to book into the most obvious choice here due to something he'd read, and booked into another establishment a little further afield in Blakeney.  Asked to join him and his wife for supper, I think we were all somewhat surprised to find at 7.30, the menu shrinking before our eyes.  Given that I believe this is a daily menu, we were taken aback to find that even at this early hour there was only 1 of each of two of the main courses!  We might have forgotten this - putting it down to an unforseeable early rush, but strangely the same thing happened with the wine list - with an apparent shortage of Chardonnay.  Oh well.  What we eventually got did taste ok. I can only hope that breakfast was not similarly afflicted.

Ironically, I suspect that the dodgy review that lead to this was just that - dodgy!