Mutual - if distant - attractions

For reasons now lost in the mists of time, I am a friend of the Bovey Tracey Craft Fair. It's over 300 miles away and, as its now fashionable to say, other fairs are available. Many of the artists and makers who show there each June return year after year, and yet I still feel drawn to attend whenever possible. Not too big, but with plenty to see and talk about, I have never been disappointed.

It was I think in 2012 that I first saw the work of Rob Braysbrook. For him it's also quite a way from home - in his case the very furthest extremity of Cornwall, so it wasn't a complete surprise that I hadn't seen his work before. Regular visitors to events of this kind will know how quickly everything starts to look very similar and general levels of receptiveness begin to drop. And yet in amongst an embarrassment of riches - the standard is high - Rob's work caught and held my attention.

Two and a half years on, I am delighted to have some of his work here in Norfolk. His reliefs cut from birch veneer please me on all kinds of level, and in the few days they have been here my reaction has been replicated by our visitors. As one customer pointed out, this is exactly how most of us see waders and their kind, as outlines against the light or reflected in the wet mud.

My pleasure at being able to show it here was heightened by the fact that the artist brought it in person, renewing our contact, travelling over 400 miles to sample the unknown delights of North Norfolk. In my view, he could have been forgiven for not being over-excited, it being undeniably grey and by the dramatic standards of far Penwith less than stimulating.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Having suggested the walk on the bank at Overy as worth a try, we bumped into each other in the dusk just 24 hours later. Norfolk had worked its magic on him, the sight of the elusive rough-legged Buzzard and a short-eared (I think) Owl just confirming the message I had apparently conveyed to him back at Bovey. And as with so many things about gallery life, there was an added bonus insofar as he departed heading west bearing a work for delivery in Falmouth.

Inevitably, our conversations have reignited my latent love of Cornwall and I imagine I may well find myself heading their way in the New Year. I love our saltmarsh coast but a little wild wetness of cliffs and rolling waves does seem very tempting just now.

Time and Tide

In just a few weeks time it will be a year since much of the Norfolk coast was awash, a combination of high spring tides and low pressure over the North Sea producing coastal flooding not seen since the 50's. A lot of the damage has been repaired and in many cases things are more or less as they were this time last year.

However on my perambulations in the dusk at Burnham Overy, its difficult not to notice the scurry of activity of building contractors busy working on many of the properties that were inundated last year. Presumably their owners feel a sense of growing urgency or simply would like them back in use by Christmas. One of the bigger houses is replacing its hedge boundary to the coast path with a reinforced wall and presumably removable flood barriers to its entrance from the Staithe.

It's equally difficult not to notice that the weather seems to be following a rather similar pattern to last year. It's all very calm and tranquil, only just autumnal rather than heading for winter and certainly nothing untoward in the monthly forecast - again just like last year. Given the way nature has a habit of catching us out, it would be nice to think the aforementioned flood protection is in place before the early December big tides.

Having said that, even if the works are finished, should history repeat itself it wouldn't come as that much of a surprise if the tide somehow found its way round the back

Grapevine in Exeter - 9 days in the Chapter House

Just over twelve months ago I mentioned a visit to Exeter as part of an autumn escape from Norfolk. At the time I noted that this was to be the venue for our next exhibition of Gerard Stamp's work. Accordingly at the start of the month, with paintings already despatched and display systems ordered, Grapevine headed west.

As regular visitors to the gallery will know from my conversations, this venture was not without its hazards, taking us and the artist into largely unknown territory. It's one thing to arrange and run an exhibition in your own space, it is rather different doing it in a Cathedral, whose main business is clearly not the same as ours - and doing it for an unknown and unquantifiable audience.

Despite a degree of stage fright on my part, and with the willing assistance of Cathedral staff and volunteers, the doubts and concerns proved to be without foundation.  Having seen the Chapter House - the venue for the exhibition - fully occupied by wedding guests on the preceding weekend, latent doubts started to simmer nicely, particularly with regard to whether the space was actually as big as I had thought, and whether the agreed layout would fit.

An early visit on the Monday morning with ample supplies of masking tape and measuring tape confirmed that all was well and that the proposed arrangement could be accommodated. Suitably reassured, I headed for the hills - Dartmoor to be more precise - via the Devon Guild of Craftsmen at Bovey Tracey. Having been through - in my humble opinion - a bit of a dodgy patch, it seems back on course, with a modest but pleasing range of art and craft. It also offers in its cafe one of the best ploughman's lunches to be found in this part of the world.

My further progress was slightly delayed by being hijacked to participate in an Arts Council study of who visited and why we chose to so do. Having declared a slight interest, insofar as we show and sell work by many of their members, this was pleasingly proved to my interviewer by looking up to see my good friend Richard Godfrey, delivering 3 of his new pieces. With hindsight our greetings may have seemed excessive, but I was genuinely delighted to see him - and it was his birthday! Suitably fed and uplifted I headed for Haytor. Dartmoor can on occasion be a truly terrible place but very hard to believe that on such a wonderful afternoon.

Tuesday found me back in the Chapter House, awaiting the delivery and installation of the display screens. A brief period of tension contemplating how to mount an exhibition without said screens was quickly soothed by their arrival in the hands of two vast and peaceful chaps who seemed surprised that I not only knew where I wanted them to go but had marked it out for them.  All was completed promptly and precisely, leaving me wondering why I could ever have thought otherwise.

Ably assisted by a splendid fellow who in a previous world had kept a watchful eye on the Royals but now was surprisingly known as the Floor Manager of the Cathedral, Gerard's paintings made their final move across the Green to the Chapter House. Hanging (mounting to be more accurate) with the artist's assistance was completed free of any alarms or excursions - to the extent that the exhibition was ready for visitors by close of play. To mark this momentous point it seemed only right and proper to adjourn to a local hostelry, before entertaining our host to dinner in the Conservatory, one of Exeter's hidden dining delights.

A well attended opening after Evensong on the Thursday, saw visitors not only from the local area but also from Plymouth, Wells, Bristol, Gloucestershire, London and - to our surprise - even some who had travelled from Norfolk for the occasion. In opening the exhibition, the Dean said how delighted the Cathedral was to be hosting the exhibition and thanked Gerard for his paintings celebrating the 900th Anniversary of the present Cathedral. He also noted it was the 12th Anniversary of the Grapevine Gallery which had first opened its doors in Norwich on this day in 2002!

Over the following 7 days, over 1500 people visited the exhibition making this without much doubt the most successful we and Gerard have ever mounted.

Judging by the reaction it was more than worthwhile... and the word is, Exeter would like some more. A Devon Grapevine?  It has been suggested before and it cropped up again more than once during the week. However, although I love the place and its people, it looks pretty unlikely - although you can never be sure what's round the corner......

Getting lost

There are those who still find the bits between the main routes in Norfolk a bit of a mystery. And until comparatively recently you could be excused for sodoing.  The signage was, to put it mildly, a bit hit and miss. Not for nothing is the area north of Wolterton and Mannington still referred to as the Matlaske triangle. 

Purely personally, I always seemed to end up where I meant to be, even if afterwards you were not quite sure how you'd got there. The rest of Norfolk seems simple by comparison. However, an unplanned and circuitous return to the gallery this morning proved this is not entirely the case.

Having always made my way to and from Quidenham - south of Attleborough for those who are not familiar - via Norwich and the A11, on a whim I decided the return journey might be quicker taking a notionally straight route north to Dereham and Fakenham. The first part seemed pleasingly straightforward on emptyish and straightish roads. It also filled some of the few gaps in my visual memory bank of Norfolk, including Shropham, Watton and Shipdam, all looking good in the late September sunshine.

I must confess I have never been overly fond of Dereham. Despite this being - almost - back within familiar territory, I have no visual memory of the place and its roads. In view of this I decided it would be prudent to follow the signed through route to Fakenham. Early doubt set in when this led to the westbound A47 heading for Swaffham. Confidence briefly returned on finding Fakenham now signed as a right turn, which as we all know is best avoided anywhere on the A47. This turn seemed to be bringing me back to roughly where I had first entered Dereham but then mysteriously turned into the old main road to Swaffham.

At this point, it was clear highway engineering had triumphed over Norfolk's natural grain. Accepting what had become increasingly apparent, my return took me - inevitably - via Swaffham to familar friendly territory of Weasenham and Raynham and on to Fakenham. Strange to say, what at the time felt like seriously excessive miles actually only slightly delayed my planned late opening of the gallery - but it did confirm that our roads and their signs can still be suitably mysterious on occasion.

Michael Parkin

Obituaries for Michael Parkin have appeared in the national press. We first met Michael and Diana at Gunton some 25 years ago; in his case I like to think it was in the queue for pudding at a summer lunch. Our paths crossed irregularly over the coming years, most usually as a result of family and our respective daughters' friendship and increasingly accompanied by burgundy or chocolate cake.

In 2002 Alison and I opened the gallery in Norwich, and at some point the idea emerged that we would host an exhibition curated by Michael and Diana.  Featuring some of his favourites - Nash, Bawden, Morris, Hale -  and some - Claughton Pellew springs to mind - until that point completely unknown to us, this exhibition helped establish the gallery as a serious player and attracted the attention of a different and extended part of the East Anglian art set.  This first, and almost inevitably successful, collaboration led to another exhibition, and equally inevitably to further mutual enjoyment of the good things in his life - family, friends, wine and chocolate - ideally all together.

Along the way, my painfully inadequate knowledge of British art in the 20th century was being addressed by way not just of facts and awareness but by immersion in Michael's world of personal experience and reminiscense. On our daily journeys from Gunton in to the gallery, his comments on my driving style, "you're much slower than Alison", were interspersed with priceless insight into the world of a London art dealer in the second part of the twentieth century.  And of course the occasional diversion to purchase the essentials of life, chocolate cake and slightly more surprisingly, eggs. The former was catered for by the fortuitous co-relation of the gallery and Zuckermann's the late lamented deli and purveyor of Chocolate gateaux next door to us on Unthank Road, whilst the latter need was met by a farm at Erpingham where eggs were left outside for selection and the money was pleasingly despatched down a drainpipe set in the wall.  Both gave Michael considerable satisfaction.

In 2007 we opened our second gallery in Burnham, and for a while Diana shared this new world with us.  As Michael's health declined, Diana increasingly devoted her life to caring for him and his wit and observation disappeared from our lives.

We shall remember Michael with affection and count ourselves blessed through family and circumstance that, for albeit a very brief moment in his colourful life, he shared some of it with us.

Living is easy

Summertime in North Norfolk is very alluring just at the moment. The heady mix of music, eating, art and friends is hard to beat. Last Saturday was a case in point. For music lovers you could choose between Gluck at South Creake, Byrd and Tallis at Salle, Handel at Aylsham, and there was more. A day later Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn rounded off the Holt Festival while just two days later Music In Country Churches was in Old Hunstanton with the English Chamber Orchestra playing an exciting programme of Strauss, Debussy and Tchaikovsky.

With over 300 others, we went to Salle. Beautiful all the time, this miraculous building was at its most stunning. With early evening sun illuminating the nave and the choir, the pairing of the music of Taverner and Byrd and the incomparable acoustic was sublime.

Prompted by a visit from old friends in the north, Sunday found us visiting another jewel on our doorstep, Blickling Hall. Not normally a great fan of the National Trust approach to things, I have to say it was hard not to be impressed, even when it's so familiar. The only thing to disturb the beauty of its symmetrical approach is the current positioning of the clutter of plant sales in the main forecourt. Very strange. One can only hope this is not permanent.

Somewhat perversely, on the other side of the house, the clearly very temporary tent canopy between the Hall and the lake seemed to actually add something - and judging by the yet to be cleared debris visible within had been put to very good use the previous day. A fantastic setting for a party.

Give way

By way of explanation of my previous observation that the A11 dualling scheme is flawed, the problem lies at the Barton Mills roundabout. But only southbound. 

The two principal roads leading out of Norfolk towards London converge here. Given that we give way to the right, traffic on the A11 - however adequately catered for on the new dual carriageway - will always have to slow, if not stop, at this point.  Much as it did previously at Elveden. It seems fairly clear that the new scheme will simply have moved the previous pinch-point closer to London.

A southbound flyover, for which there would appear to have been room, would have resolved this