Places&Faces® | May 2013
lovers and Suffolk’s cultural glitterati not least because it guarantees to always surprise. This year, as ever, there’s an exceptional exhibition planned with new work being shown from some of Britain and Suffolk’s leading artists in addition to work from across the world. Besides the art, the walks, the satellite events in pubs, cafes and restaurants across the Alde Valley Jason is also seeking to enter the record books. The longest picnic table ever was created last year in one of his nearby fields and is a massive 101 metres will hopefully host the world’s biggest picnic. Rain put a damper on the attempt last year but this year the elements hopefully will be more temperate. So it’s being used again as part of the centennial celebrations for Benjamin Britten; the farm and Spring Festival have teamed up with the Education Department at Aldeburgh Music to launch the Big Spring Picnic as the first Albert Herring Feast. Jason is hoping that up to 350 people will attend – everyone has to bring their own food, sourced within 11 miles of Great Glemham from independent farm shops, bakers, butchers, delis and the like and ideally people will come on foot, by bicycle or car share. Entry is free but you need to pre-book your tickets. Besides art and the environment food is now one of the key elements of the festival. He explained, “The beautiful Alde Valley is home to one of the UK’s and, we think, one of the world’s most job-rich, innovative, creative and diverse local food economies.” People now are now just as interested in the provenance of their food as eating seasonally. So in addition to the picnic there are various farm suppers using local ingredients – look out for Alde Valley Mutton – from the lamb flock at White House Farm, but also look out for special events at pubs, cafes and farm shops throughout the Alde Valley too. Jason said when the festival first started in 2003 it was no more than a small art exhibition in one of the Church Cottages in Great Glemham. “I was renovating the house and commissioned Suffolk artist Tessa Newcombe to do some painting there, she visited for about three or four weeks and one or two people dropped by. “We then opened the cottage for viewing and also showed some paintings and drawings of mine and those of my grandmother, Fidelity Cranbrook, the late Dowager Duchess of Cranbrook, too. “The following year the cottage was let so I moved the exhibition down to the farm and eight artists exhibited.” Jason was lucky enough to have the support of the renowned Maggi Hambling, who happened to have taught him drawing at art college in addition to Tessa, Helen Napper, Sam Taplin and Tory Lawrence. “The first year about 200 people came, the next year it was about 400 and it has grown every year in size and popularity and we now get visitors from Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Sudbury.” What’s also interesting is that these people may attend more than one or even twice during every festival. For some events growing in size becomes its downfall but Jason is a custodian like no other – he cares and oversees his heritage in very much the right way. White House Farm for instance is part of the Natural England 26 | placesandfaces.co.uk