North Norfolk Ideas
North Norfolk Bites What to do, where to go, what to buy
Sarah Eddison
Living woodstore Matt Gillespie builds natural, environmentally friendly, bespoke, beautiful woodstores! He sources local wood and timber from reclamation yards, and hand carves the structures which gives them a bleached wood effect that adds to the organic nature of the design. They have `living` roofs that attract insects, and the planting enhances the finish of the store, making it an attractive feature in your garden. He likes to visit each customer to see where the store will be situated before he starts the design process and will include anything that the customer wishes. He plants sedums, and also hardy alpines including phlox, lavenders and dwarf geranium. He thinks that functional objects can be made more interesting and gets great pleasure from building them. • The Living Woodstore Company, Tel:01263 860188 www. thelivingwoodstoreco.com
Green fingers David Pile who lives at Waterden near Walsingham, has just set up Bygone Gardening-a traditional and wildlife friendly maintenance service. He has a history in wildlife conservation, and has worked on different garden sites on the Isles of Scilly, as well as working on nature reserves here in Norfolk. His goals are to encourage greater diversity of wildlife in gardens, and nurture the more natural look of your outdoor spaces, big or small. He prefers not to uses chemicals but works instead with traditional skills and knowledge, to manage a garden with respect for nature. • Bygone Gardening, The Old Rectory, Waterden, Walsingham. NR22 6AT. Tel: 01328 823298 , 07745 406331 www. bygonegardening.co.uk
New lamps for old Lampshade designer Helen Kenning learnt the art of traditional lampshade making (and bespoke handmade trimmings) at Les Tuileries in Surrey, and since then hasn`t looked back. “This along with a love of beauitful fabrics and colour, made me realise that designing lampshades was what I wanted to be doing. So earlier this year I gave up full time work and moved back to Norfolk to persue my passion for lamp shade makin,.and `Glow` was born. Many of my shades are made from beautiful old frames, stripped down and bought back to life, along with unusual shaped frames made to order. All are hand made and lined (allowing me to add extra colour). My fabrics have included Designers Guild, vintage Liberty print, Cath Kidston, Pierre Frey and more recently some stunning vintage fabrics from France. I also offer a renovation service if you have an old favourite shade that has seen better days. Alternatively if you have a beautiful piece of fabric that has been stored up for years why not have it made into a lampshade. After all lampshades are the finishing touch to a room.” • You can view her creations in The Big Blue Sky at Wells-Next-The Sea or email Helen at helen@glowlampshades.co.uk Tel: 07711 333129
Passionate about Norfolk buildings Norfolk Pro Build , a traditional building company have a great reputation for high quality workmanship and excellent customer. They recently designed and built an sleek, modern but eco-friendly timber framed extension, that was mostlyconstructed in their workshop; the roof and fixtures and fittings were added on site, this delighted the clients as it avoided disruption to their busy family life. It was constructed to achieve much higher levels of thermal insulation and therefore needs little heating, they also designed an air source heat pump to reduce oil consumption for the entire house by b75% which is good news! NPB specialise in listed conversions and renovations, bespoke joinery as well as general maintenance. As James Pitcher says, “Timber Framing is still one of the most resilient, sustainable and practical ways of constructing. It offers a beautiful environment to live in and observe whilst providing a long lasting and durable structure that will last several generations.” •NPB, durian House, Beechwood Ave, Aylmerton. HR11 8QQ. Tel: 01263 838742. www.norfolkprobuild.co.uk
NORTH NORFOLK LIVING Winter 2010
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