Bridport Times May 2018

MAY 2018 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

BEHIND THE SCENES with artist, Suzy Moger

Special edition

bridporttimes.co.uk

WELCOME

C

olour squeezes from the trees as we stagger blinking into the light.

Spring has, if not exactly sprung, arrived at least, late and worse for wear but all the more happy to be here. Queues gather in the gelataria, children sprint to the beach and tourists explore Bridport’s nooks and crannies anew.

And so to May… This month and next sees the welcome return of Dorset Art Weeks – the UK’s largest open studio event. Between the 26th May and 10th June 313 venues will open their doors to some 125,000 visitors. DAW offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes view, an opportunity to meet artists and discuss their work first-hand whilst enjoying an exciting programme of exhibitions and supporting events. The Bridport area plays hosts to 73 venues, an eclectic mix of old friends, established names and interesting new arrivals. Of these, we meet Suzy Moger, where, from a little stone out-house, she produces immersive, brooding landscapes. Megan Dunford leads us through a unique exhibition of work in progress at Bridport Arts Centre, Kit Glaisyer introduces us to his neighbours and Alice Blogg takes us on a guided tour. We’re even treated to lunch, with 3 delicious recipes from our resident chefs Gill Meller, Cass Titcombe and Charlie Soole.

Have a wonderful month.

Glen Cheyne, Editor glen@homegrown-media.co.uk @bridporttimes

CONTRIBUTORS Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editors Jay Armstrong @jayarmstrong_ Elaine Taylor Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury Editorial assistant Paul Newman @paulnewmanart Print Pureprint Distribution Available throughout Bridport and surrounding villages.

Please see bridporttimes.co.uk for stockists.

Contact 01935 315556 @bridporttimes editor@bridporttimes.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk

Martin Ballam Xtreme Falconry xtremefalconry.co.uk Simon Barber Evolver @SimonEvolver @simonpaulbarber evolver.org.uk Alice Blogg @alice_blogg @alice_blogg aliceblogg.co.uk Molly Bruce @mollyellenbruce mollybruce.co.uk Caroline Butler BSc (Hons) MNIMH herbalcaroline.co.uk Fraser Christian Coastal Survival School @CoastalSurvival coastalsurvival.com Neville Copperthwaite n.copperthwaite@gmail.com Kathy Dare Bridport Food Festival @BridportFoodFst bridportfoodfestival.co.uk Megan Dunford @BridportArts @BridportArts bridport-arts.com

Homegrown Media Ltd 81 Cheap Street Sherborne Dorset DT9 3BA

Bridport Times is printed on Edixion Offset, an FSCÂŽ and EU Ecolabel certified paper. It goes without saying that once thoroughly well read, this magazine is easily recycled and we actively encourage you to do so.

Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither Bridport Times nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Bridport Times does not officially endorse any advertising material included within this publication.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission from Bridport Times.

4 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Melanie Fermor Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife @dorsetwildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Jane Fox Yoga Space @yogaspacebridport yogaspacebridport.com Kit Glaisyer @kitglaisyer @kitglaisyer kitglaisyer.com Charlie Groves Groves Nurseries @GrovesNurseries @grovesnurseries grovesnurseries.co.uk

Annabelle Hunt Bridport Timber & Flooring @BridportTimber @annabellehuntcolourconsultant bridporttimber.co.uk Tamara Jones Loving Healthy @lovinghealthy_ @lovinghealthy_ lovinghealthy.co.uk Gill Meller @GillMeller @Gill.Meller gillmeller.com Frances Pearsall & Lindsay Pritchard Bridport Museum @BridportMuseum bridportmuseum.co.uk Angie Porter The Front Room Workshop @angiporter @angi.porter southstreetbridport.com Anna Powell Sladers Yard @SladersYard @sladersyard sladersyard.wordpress.com Adam & Ellen Simon Tamarisk Farm @ tamarisk_farm tamariskfarm.co.uk Charlie Soole The Club House West Bexington @theclubhouse2017 @TheClubHouse217 theclubhousewestbexington.co.uk Antonia Squire The Bookshop @bookshopbridprt @thebookshopbridport dorsetbooks.com Emma Tabor & Paul Newman @paulnewmanart @paulnewmanartist paulnewmanartist.com Cass Titcombe Brassica Restaurant @brassica_food @brassicarestaurant_mercantile brassicarestaurant.co.uk

48 6

What’s On

MAY 2018 48 Outdoors

74 Interiors

14 Arts & Culture

38 SUZY MOGER

82 Gardening

30 History

52 Dorset Art Weeks Directory

85 Literature

34 Wild Dorset

58 Food & Drink

86 Crossword

66 Body & Mind

bridporttimes.co.uk | 5

WHAT'S ON Listings

Jumble Sale

____________________________

Bridport Youth & Community Centre,

Every Tuesday & Thursday 10.30am

Gundry Lane, Bridport. Tombola,

refreshments & cake stall. In aid of

miles or 54 miles ending in West Bay. dsairambulance.org.uk/coast-to-coastcycle-challenge

____________________________

St Catherine’s Pre School.

Sunday 13th 2pm

____________________________

Bridport Millenium

Starts from CAB 45 South Street.

Saturday 5th 10am-1pm

Green Walk & Talk

Walks last approximately 30mins,

Loving Healthy -

with trained health walk leaders. All

Menopause workshop

Mountfield Council Offices Entrance,

welcome, free of charge. 01305 252222 sarahdavies@dorset.gov.uk

St Swithuns, Bridport. Natural ways

____________________________

to relieve symptoms & reduce the

health risks associated with menopause.

Walking the Way to Health in Bridport

Every Tuesday 10am–1pm

£40, inc. snack & juice. 07891 352767

Bridport. 60min walk will inc. a short

history & outline plans to enhance its wildlife & public amenity value. Prebook: Bridport TIC 01308 424901

____________________________

lovinghealthy.co.uk

Sunday 13th 3pm

____________________________

Parnham Voices Spring

£15 per session, first session half price.

Saturday 5th 11am

Concert “Sing Joyfully”

07812 856823 trudiochiltree.co.uk

Coffee + Jazz

____________________________

with Mood Indigo Trio

St Mary’s Church, Beaminster. £10

Every Tuesday until September/

St Mary’s Parish Church, South Street.

Art Class Town Mill Arts, Lyme Regis DT7 3PU

October 6.15pm-8.15pm The Heritage Coast Canoe Club

For the Roof Appeal, 01308 422373

____________________________

(students & children £3) inc. afternoon tea. Tickets: Church Office 01308 862320 or on the door.

____________________________

Watersports’ Centre, Fisherman’s Green,

Monday 7th from 2pm

Monday 14th & 21st

West Bay. Equipment & waterproof

Cream Teas

7.30pm-9.30pm

clothing provided. 12+ years. £10 per taster

Bridport Folk Dance Club

session (max. 2), then club membership

Salt House, West Bay. Stalls & children’s

is required. Website westbaykayak.co.uk

maypole dancing display. In aid of Rotary Charities. 01308 459039

WI Hall, North Street, DT6 3JQ.

____________________________

Folk dancing with recorded music; all welcome! 01308 423442

email heritagecoast.cc@gmail.com

____________________________

Saturday 12th - Sunday 1st July

Every Tuesday 7.15pm

10am-4.30pm every day

Wednesday 16th 9.30am-12.30pm

Uplyme Morris Rehearsals

Sea Cliffs by Vanessa Gardiner

Driftwood Heart Workshop

The Bottle Inn, Marshwood. No

Sladers Yard, West Bay Rd,

The Barn House Gifts & Crafts Studio,

Uplyme Morris on Facebook or The

sladersyard.wordpress.com

materials & refreshments. Bookings:

experience required, give it a go! Contact Squire on 07917 748087

____________________________

West Bay, Bridport DT6 4EL. See article pages 22-23

____________________________

____________________________

Loders, DT6 3SA. £35 includes all

07771 588999 or info@boarsbarrow.com

____________________________

Every Wednesday 10am-12pm

Saturday 12th 2pm-4.30pm

Wednesday 16th 4pm & 8pm

Art Class

My Family & Jack the Ripper

2Magpies present Last Resort

Unitarian Church, East St.

Loders Village Hall. Somerset & Dorset

The Lyric Theatre. Tickets £12/£5

____________________________

Members £1.50, visitors £3. Contact Jane.

bridportandwestbay.co.uk/shop and

£10 per session, 01308 424980 Every third Friday 10.30am-3.30pm

Family History Society talk by Pat Hase.

01308 425710 or email jferentzi@aol.com

____________________________

from Bridport TIC: 01308 424901, BearKat Cafe.

____________________________

Bridport Embroiderers

Sunday 13th

Saturday 19th 7pm

St Swithens Church hall. 01308 456168

Coast to Coast

New Elizabethan Singers Duruflé Requiem &

Saturday 5th 10am-1pm

West Bay, Bridport. In aid of the Air Ambulance, 2 bike rides either 11

____________________________

6 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Vierne Messe Solennelle

art + film + performance WEST COKER / EAST COKER odartsfestival.co.uk

Image: Megan Calver and Gabrielle Hoad with Susie David, 2016 | The Buffer Zone | Photo credit: Susie David

#odartsfest

WHAT'S ON St Swithun’s Church, North

entry charges apply

Thursday 24th – Monday 28th

____________________________

Jazz Jurassica

from Bridport Music & Goadsby

Tuesday 22nd - Saturday 2nd June

Lyme Regis. A festival incorporating the

Allington, Bridport. Tickets (£12) thenewelizabethansingers.org.uk

Ten Shots - People of

____________________________

Portland Café Exhibition

Saturday 19th

Bridport Arts Centre. A photography

best of jazz, soul & funk in the stunning seaside setting jazzjurassica.co.uk

exhibition bridport-arts.com

Saturday 26th 8pm

____________________________

One Night...Four Musicians

Quakers Meeting House, South St.

Wednesday 23rd 8pm-9pm

Portesham Village Hall, DT3 4NS.

£10-£40/day, bring & share lunch.

Bridport Arts Centre. Free,

____________________________

____________________________

Telling Tales: An Introduction to Oral Storytelling Led by Martin Maudsley. Donations

Ten Shots - Artist Talk

Booking essential: iona.lake@aol.co.uk

all welcome bridport-arts.com

Robbie McIntosh, Ken & Lucy Watkins, Simon Swarbrick. Tickets £14 in advance: 01305 837299

____________________________

Sunday 20th 2pm

Thursday 24th 7.30pm

Saturday 26th

Salway Ash Village Cream Teas

Bridport Story Cafe presents

11am, 12pm, 2pm & 3pm

Strongate Farm, Salway Ash DT6 5JB

Shonaleigh Cumbers with

Kayaking

____________________________

‘The Sapphire Staff’

Sunday 20th - Thursday 24th

Bridport Arts Centre. £10 from the box

Fisherman’s Green, West Bay. 12+

Flower Festival ”Petals & Pages” Athelhampton House. Normal house

office & online bridport-arts.com

____________________________

An evening with

GRAEME SOUNESS For one night only

Saturday May 26th

Doors open 6.30pm. Event starts 7pm

TICKETS FROM £50

Under 18’s from £25 Grab your chance to meet the legend.

Photo, signature and meet opportunity VIP / Corporate tables available - ask for details Memorabilia Auction Evenings MC - Mr Paul Booth Two course meal included in the price followed by Graeme’s after dinner speech TICKET BOX OFFICE

01935 483430

George Albert Hotel Wardon Hill, Evershot, Nr. Dorchester, Dorset DT2 9PW Tel: 01935 483430 www.gahotel.co.uk 8 | Bridport Times | May 2018

years, £5 per hour. All abilities

welcome. Wear clothing suitable

for getting wet, inc. wet shoes/slim

MAY 2018 trainers. heritagecoast.cc@gmail.com

____________________________

Saturday 26th - Sunday 1st June

Fairs and markets

Dorset Art Weeks

____________________________

Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th

Many venues open around Dorset.

Every Wednesday & Saturday

River Cottage Food Fair

Pick up a guide in TICs or see:

Weekly Market

dorsetartweeks.co.uk. For Bridport venues

Chef demos, artisan food stalls, children’s

see features throughout this edition and

South, West & East Street

____________________________

our local directory on pages 52-55

Second Saturday of the month 9am–1pm

Saturday 26th 9am-3pm

Sunday 27th 12pm-5pm

Farmers’ Market

Bridport Town Hall Craft Fair

Pirates Day

Bridport Arts Centre

Bridport Town Hall. Free entry. 01308

for all the family. westbay.org.uk

Every Saturday, 9am–12pm

____________________________

____________________________

Country Market

To include your event in

Monday 28th 11am-4pm

WI Hall, North Street

our FREE listings please

____________________________

email details (in approx 20

DT8 3PT. Fantastic fossils, free entry.

Monday 7th &

words) by the 1st of each

Monday 28th 10am-4pm

preceding month to gemma@

shoes essential. 01308 863623.

Charmouth Vintage Fair

homegrown-media.co.uk

West Bay. Pirate games & entertainment

Horn Park Quarry Open Day Steps, slopes and rough surfaces, strong

Community Hall. Enquiries: 01297 560634

____________________________

workshops, talks & live music to garden & foraging tours, free for all under 16s

____________________________

____________________________

424901 bridportandwestbay.co.uk

At the Pete Millson | photographer

Corn Exchange THE IMMIGRANT

Editorial Portraits Local Arts & Business Projects Cover Artwork

8pm

Wednesday 16 May THEATRE Corn Exchange £13 / £11 / £5 Live for 5 A hilarious and heartwarming slapstick comedy inspired by Charlie Chaplin’s film of the same name.

petemillsonphotographer.uk | 07768 077353

Dorset Art Weeks | Venue 28 26 May- 10 June, Haydon Church Studio

DENMAN & GOULD + PAUL NEWMAN graphite, sculpture, photography, textiles

LIVE FOR £5

CALAN

8pm Thursday 31 May FOLK MUSIC Corn Exchange £16 / £14 £5 Live for 5 “A diverse ride between giddy Welsh reeling, healthy acoustic folk-pop with upfront attitude and brashness of youth” FROOTS

Haydon Church Studio, Haydon, near Sherborne, DT9 5JB www.denmangould.com | www.paulnewmanartist.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 9

AVID SUPPORTERS OF

26 MAY – 10 JUNE 2018 OPEN STUDIOS, EXHIBITIONS, EVENTS DORSET VISUAL ARTS

10 | Bridport Times | May 2018

PREVIEW In association with

LAST RESORT Wednesday 16th May, 4pm & 8pm The Lyric Theatre, Bridport, DT6 3LX. £12/£5.

01308 424901 bridportandwestbay.co.uk/shop

A menacing fiction, made entirely of unimaginable fact. Last Resort is the alternative future for Guantanamo Bay. You’ll sit in a deckchair, you’ll get a rum cocktail on arrival and you’ll feel the sand between your toes.

Performed in the ‘secret enclave’ of Bridport’s Lyric Theatre, 2Magpies Theatre will

take you through the tropical haze on a unique multi-sensory package holiday. This is an extraordinary rendition and it is all-inclusive. evolver.org.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 11

What's On

THE 14TH BRIDPORT FOOD FESTIVAL

M

Kathy Dare

ouths are set to water when the Bridport Food Festival returns this year. From Sunday 10th to Saturday 16th June the local community will come together to celebrate everything that Bridport and the surrounding area has to offer in the gastronomic world. Local growers, producers, farmers, restaurants, cafés, pubs, food retailers and other related businesses will be involved, supporting the festival by putting on their own events to showcase what they do.

The week begins on Sunday 10th with ‘Open Sunday’ at Washingpool Farm, a fantastic opportunity for the whole family to discover real farming first-hand and see for themselves how their food (and much more besides) is produced. It finishes on Saturday 16th with the showcase event at Asker Meadows, to the south of Bridport. Between these two events there is a wealth of culinary delights to experience including tours and tastings at Palmers Brewery, Furleigh Estate Vineyard, Liberty Orchards and Leakers Bakery; a chance to make sausages at Framptons Butcher; an Indian food and wine pairing feast at the Taj Mahal with Morrish and Banham Wine Merchants; a film screening at the Art Centre with ScreenBites; and a food quiz at the Ropemakers. Many local restaurants, cafés and bars will be offering special festival menus as part of the Bridport Food Festival Food Trail.

The most delicious week in town doesn’t stop there. The Saturday showcase event has a real carnival atmosphere and is jam-packed with things to do. It really is a great way to find out more about what sort of produce is available in the area, to try new foods that you may not have considered before and enjoy a whole host of food and fun for all ages.

You can sample and enjoy fine, freshly made food and drink on site or buy to take home. On offer will be cheeses, pies, cakes, fudge, bread, fresh and cured meats, fish, pickles, oils and preserves, as well as burgers, wraps, pizzas, locally-produced ice cream and much more from over 60 of the best food and drink

12 | Bridport Times | May 2018

producers, suppliers and street food vendors in the area.

There will also be a country café serving Dorset Cream Teas and the Bridport Round Table’s Beer Festival with over 80 real ales and ciders to try.

As well as showcasing the amazing selection of local food and drink that is available, it is a time for the whole family to roll up their sleeves and enjoy a host of workshops and live cooking demonstrations by local chefs and guest chef Rachel Roddy. There is a chance to join in and learn from local experts in the Make and Take Tent, including ‘How to crack a crab’ with Sally’s Fish Camp and cake decoration with Fancy That Cakes.

There will be free, hands-on foodie activities in the popular children’s marquee, a dedicated space for older children and teenagers where they can hang out with food and healthy fun - all the ingredients for a great family day out!

The Bridport Food Festival was established in 2004 by the Bridport Local Food Group, a group of dedicated volunteers who are committed to promoting and supporting local food and drink businesses, and it has grown into a spectacular community celebration with 5000+ people attending in 2017. Its success has led to the production of the Bridport and surrounding areas Food and Drink Guide, the creation of the annual Front of House Awards and the introduction of the Bridport Local Food Group Community Cooking Kit, which is available for local community groups to borrow for free to promote local food and give hands-on cooking experiences.

For the full programme of events keep checking the festival website and follow Bridport Food Festival on Twitter and Facebook.

Tickets: Adults £3.50, in advance £3.00, from the Bridport Tourist Information Centre. Children and teenagers 16 years and under go FREE. bridportfoodfestival.co.uk

Images: Mac McNamee bridporttimes.co.uk | 13

Arts & Culture

WET PAINT

Artwork in progress from Dorset-based practitioners Megan Dunford, Exhibitions & Participations Officer, Bridport Arts Centre

W

ith the biennial arts festival Dorset Art Weeks just around the corner, we are privileged to be hosting a very special exhibition from the organisation behind this highly anticipated event - Dorset Visual Arts (DVA).

Wet Paint will explore work that is unframed and unfinished, giving the viewer an insight into the visual thinking and experimentation that informs the work.

This exhibition is a follow-on from one held in May 2016 and will feature artists who have been involved in DVA’s Salon and The Interrogating Project groups. These groups meet regularly and discuss ideas and ongoing practices with the support and guidance of each other and the staff team. I spoke to three very different artists 14 | Bridport Times | May 2018

across both groups to find out more about their artwork and what we can expect to see in the exhibition.

Mart Tebbs has been involved in the Interrogating Landscapes Group since its inception just over 3 years ago. His practice, just like the group, has evolved and progressed and I met with him in his studio at his home in Bridport. Involved with abstraction in its purest form, Mart has been making work for as long as he remembers.

Last autumn, his work went through a huge transition.

“I decided I wanted to free myself up - I abandoned everything about my practice, not wanting to make specific objects or have a focal point. I would use different colours, use bigger brushes - interrupt everything I’d done before.”

His paintings have a vast presence; the colours vibrate

Lucy Parnell, I'm dressed as a condor, Whatsapp chat - Kate (2017)

“We are all very different; we recognise our differences, we are not trying to be linked by a label. We recognise each other by the honesty of our work and the importance it has to us individually and as a profession.”

Helen Simpson

from them and the composition makes your eyes dart excitedly over the paper, trying to follow each mark and work out whether it was made before or after the one next to it. You can see Mart’s latest series in the Wet Paint exhibition.

Lucy Parnell is new to DVA and to Dorset, moving here last summer from Cambridge. Inspired by the likes of Wolfgang Tillmans, Cecily Brown and Rembrandt amongst others, her work explores the idea of ‘image value’ and looks at the ever-changing role of images and photography in particular.

“Smartphones have made photographs into a way we communicate, changing the purpose of photography into a commodity. Currently I’m exploring the idea of image value by > bridporttimes.co.uk | 15

16 | Bridport Times | May 2018

taking the photographs sent via Whatsapp groups to and from friends and family, and painting them as traditional portraits – altering their course and embedding them within the history of traditional portraiture, imposing a value on the images that they were never meant to have.”

I asked Lucy what she found difficult as a practitioner in a rural setting.

“Working as an artist, you’re often working by yourself so sometimes self-doubt can be a challenge but being part of the Salon at Dorset Visual Arts gives a great sense-check and an opportunity to meet with like-minded people, share ideas and conversations.”

Visitors to the exhibition can expect to see some of Lucy’s latest portraits.

Helen Simpson’s work is born from close observation of natural bodies - flowers, buds, seed heads. Often on a scale much larger than the objects which they depict, her paintings are worlds to lose yourself in. She studied at the Royal Academy in London and her work has been shown at Christies, The Mall Galleries, Kew Garden’s Gallery and Oxford Botanical Garden. Inspired by the early Flemish Masters and Gainsborough, she studies a well-explored subject matter in painting that does still come with its challenges.

“I’m trying to capture it in its form at that moment, but it inevitably changes and often before I’m ready.”

It’s understandable that Helen should be fascinated by all that nature has to offer, as this interest began at a young age.

“I spent time in our wild garden just looking at nature, little sights that are only seen if you sit still, such as a little beetle climbing a blade of grass. As a teenager I began to paint small things larger than life, the overlooked, an opening chestnut revealing what looked to me like a nest with triplets inside. I started drawing flowers when I was a student at the Royal Academy in London. I floundered in city life but flowers offered me an escape into something untouched and mysterious.”

Her most recent paintings will be featured in the exhibition.

Wet Paint opens at Bridport Arts Centre’s Allsop Gallery on Saturday 28th April at 10am, with a special artist afternoon from 2pm, all welcome. Pick up a Dorset Art Weeks brochure during the exhibition and go and explore hundreds of other exhibitions and studios! bridport-arts.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 17

Arts & Culture

Charlotte Miller, Barns on the Hill 18 | Bridport Times | May 2018

ST MICHAEL’S ARTISTS

O

Kit Glaisyer, Artist

ne of the largest venues taking part in Dorset Art Weeks is St Michael’s Studios in Bridport’s popular Art and Vintage Quarter, where 17 artists are opening their studios over the 16 days of the event. More details about all these artists can be found at stmichaelsartists.com.

Caroline Ireland paints dreamscapes and landscapes charged with magical feeling, unexpected encounters with people, animals and birds, and shamanic transformations; familiar places transformed through paint in heightened colour, patterning and the amplification of natural shapes into a rhythm of visual design.

David Brooke’s distinctive works include highly stylised figures in scenes of enchanted waters, forests and skies. David is aiming for an emotional response from his audience. His stories draw the viewer into the seemingly familiar work, eliciting their own stories, responses and sense of mystery and adventure.

John Boyd will be showing mixed-media and oils, along with many watercolours produced in recent months - scenes from London to the West of Cornwall and places in between, inspired by his love of experimentation and photography.

Sculptor Isla Chaney was a winner of the 2015 Marshwood Arts Awards and her work is now on display in the Langmoor Gardens in Lyme Regis. A Royal College of Art graduate, Isla produces intriguing contemporary sculptures that are thought-provoking and deliberately ambiguous. Works range in scale from the domestic to outside installations.

Marion Taylor will be exhibiting some new work, including images of her beloved Colmer’s Hill, in her usual style with almost obsessive attention to detail, line and colour blending. Some of Marion’s ceramics will make an appearance too: quirky, characterful doggies, plus ceramic heads and strange figures.

Living in a small village set beneath the ancient Hill Fort of Eggardon, Charlotte Miller is inspired by the beautiful landscape of West Dorset, portraying this hidden land of almost vertical hills and tangled woodland. Essentially semi-abstract, natural springs

carve watery paths and ancient apple trees cling to the side of a terraced hill.

Having recently returned to Bridport from Dubai, where he worked as an artist and photographer, Russ Snedker will be showing new works that reflect his love of line and nature, including graphite works, some sculptures, and new prints that are first drawn on paper in graphite or ink, then scanned and worked on digitally.

Abstract painter Rob Morgan removes paint as readily as he applies it; making corrections and scraping paint from the surface to reveal previous marks gives the painting depth and intrigue, opening possibilities which suggest the next move. Any underlying narrative is diminished and forgotten as the surface builds and the physicality of paint and colour dominate.

Peggy Cozzi works in oils and acrylics on a range of scales, from intensely worked small paintings to large gestural canvases. She explores how paint can evoke imaginative responses and psychological states, where colour and mark trigger emotive associations and paint appears at once tactile and concrete, with the potential for illusion and the capacity to draw on the unconscious.

Canadian-born Prue Heward-Morgan paints still life and landscape scenes in a bold, simplified style with gentle, lyrical paintings on wood and canvas.

Squirrell Bindery and Press is a treasure trove of fine stationery run by musician-bookbinder David Squirrell and artist-poet Kim O’Loughlin, with handbound notebooks and sketchbooks in traditional and new styles, a range of handprinted greetings cards and original blockprints, plus bespoke binding and printing, business cards, wedding stationery and beautiful custom books.

Three artists can be found in the Studio in the Attic on the top floor of the long red-brick building. Creative photographer Sally Davies finds a wealth of inspiration in the beautiful countryside of the area, using her designer’s eye and knowledge of nature to digitally magic her own photos into striking images across pictures and giftware. Having enjoyed a 20-years-plus career in publishing, Elizabeth Sporne returned to her Bridport hometown to refocus on her first love, portraiture, her > bridporttimes.co.uk | 19

Rob Morgan Untitled Oil 120x150cms

sympathetic paintings and drawings capturing both likeness and character. Neil Barnes celebrates 40 years as a professional photographer and will be showing some outstanding landscape photography that has already garnered him a large following.

Fiona Neylan has gained a reputation for her fine, handmade hats for both everyday use and for special occasions. She works with a variety of quality materials, such as velvet, silk, feathers, beads, sinamay and felts to achieve a sense of luxury, sophistication and exoticness.

She will also be showing a collection of drawings and paintings by herself and selected local artists.

Ceramicist Jennie Hanrahan has been investigating the use of coloured slips to decorate her handmade 20 | Bridport Times | May 2018

terracotta tableware, using bright colours to emulate the feeling of gazing into an open flower. Primarily inspired by the tulip, she is producing plates for feasting and for everyday eating.

As for me, I returned in November from a yearlong residency in Bath, where I started a series of life-size figurative works which I have continued back in Bridport. I have also been finishing my current landscape commission of an autumnal view looking across a Devon valley and creating new atmospheric views from Eggardon Hill. dorsetartweeks.co.uk stmichaelsartists.com

C R A F T C E N T R E A N D R E S TA U R A N T

Staddle Stones R E S TA U R A N T

We now open on Friday & Saturday evenings from 7pm - booking is advisable

Something for everyone...

Shopping for all the family - the ideal place to shop or browse | Toy room, food room, jewellery, handbags, homeware, mens section and much, much more | Staddle Stones Restaurant serving delicious home cooked food | The Attic Gallery is home to a host of local artists and crafters | Individual craft studios | Crafting courses and workshops | Large FREE car park | Disabled access to most of the Centre | Dogs on leads welcome in most of the Centre | Free wifi O P E N 1 0 A M - 5 P M | T E L : 0 1 3 0 8 8 6 8 3 6 2 | B R O A D W I N D S O R , D O R S E T, D T 8 3 P X

Arts & Culture

ROLLING HILLS AND THE CREATIVES BETWEEN THEM

S

Alice Blogg

pring is in full flow and it’s the time of year we are all outside and forgetting what winter was like – time for a wave hello in the street or a glorious long walk through the rolling hills, with light evenings ideal for tinkering in the garden or going down to the beach.

As we enter summer, artists open their studio doors for the biannual Dorset Art Weeks (DAW) event. I know I am very excited to be opening my doors to visitors.

Up at Browns Farm Creatives (DAW venue 306), there will be four of us making furniture, jewellery, prints and sculpture. This includes two invited artists in my own studio - it’s special to be able to share my space with other really talented creatives. From a very young age I have known and admired the work of Sian Evans, the jeweller.

Her work has a real sense of form and shows a great depth of knowledge. She creates from her studio in Clerkenwell, London but, having grown up in Weymouth, her roots are always firmly in Dorset. Liz Sommerville’s print work, with its excellent choice of colour and composition, is admired by many nationally. Her work has movement and feeling, and a unique style. Come and see Sian’s precious delicate jewellery and Liz’s prints covering the studio walls among my furniture and experiments in wood. Brendon Murless, in the studio next door, has a natural eye for form and the human figure, creating work which ranges from pieces for the mantelpiece to large garden sculptures. He will be at work carving large timber pieces in the garden and you can admire his bronze and cast works in his studio.

Wiggle your way down the lane and deep in the rolling hills you’ll find a new, precious little gem: West Dorset Pottery and Studio, venue 307. Watch Adam and Myiesha throw locally-sourced clay and visit the kiln where everything is fired with wood.

Leaving the foothills of Eggardon, heading towards Bridport, stop at venue 304, Colleen du Pon, an artist blacksmith and metal sculptor. She combines traditional forging techniques with contemporary metalworking processes to create work deeply influenced by the natural world. She has a new next-door neighbour, Jem Main, who will be opening his doors at venue 305, for the first time. I am looking forward to seeing inside and viewing his new body of work alongside that of Zoe Main, and I’m also excited to know that the potter Ali Herbert is 22 | Bridport Times | May 2018

sharing the space for Dorset Art Weeks.

DAW gives you the opportunity to discover places you’ve never been before. Visiting Katherine Lloyd at venue 301 definitely reveals an artist who lives and works in a tranquil, beautiful part of Dorset. Katherine is a ceramicist with many years of experience who creates distinctly decorative pieces which evolve from sketchbook drawings and natural studies. She relies on her craftsmanship and experience to create ceramics which are harmonious in their shape, colour and narrative.

There are two other places which are a ‘must visit’.

The first is Clare Trenchard at venue 279, whose bronze sculptures, cast bronze resin and large drawings on canvas will be on show. Clare is sharing her studio with Baffy Turner and also with someone whose woodturning I really admire, the talented craftsperson Rod Page. The second is venue 288, Bonfield Block-Printers whose studio nestles peacefully in Thorncombe and who block-print onto linen and paper. From lampshades and cushions to furniture and large prints, their work has such warmth and feeling, with imagery rooted in the rhythms and folklore of the natural world.

The only disadvantage of opening your own studio is not getting to see other artists. On my day off I will definitely pop into as many others as I possibly can.

I’m looking forward to seeing a few that are right on my doorstep: all the St Michael’s studios at venue 253, Delphine Jones with Chesil Jewellery at venue 255, and the work of Joel Parker, whose work I recently saw at Collect in London, at venue 248.

One event not to miss is Farrs Open Day, where John Makepeace opens his doors on the last Sunday, 10th June, all funds raised from the entry fee go directly towards Dorset Visual Arts. This is an opportunity to see inside his house adorned with his world-renowned furniture, and the beautiful garden by his wife Jenny.

Pick up a guide and make a tour; there is a wealth of creativity in Dorset and it’s wonderful to have an event that shows us all off. There is plenty to enjoy and these are just a few of the creatives between our rolling hills.

We look forward to meeting you all. aliceblogg.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 23

Arts & Culture

SEA CLIFFS

Vanessa Gardiner in conversation with Anna Powell, Director, Sladers Yard Gallery and Café

T

urquoise seas and rocky dramatic coastlines with distant headlands, these are the wild, romantic starting points for Vanessa Gardiner’s paintings. In Cornwall, Portland and the Isle of Skye she has found places that take her breath away, giving her a sense of urgency, “There is something there that I can work with. All the dynamic energy and randomness you have to rush to put it down on paper and contain it in some way so as to keep the energy and explore it.”

Back in her Dorset studio the natural light pours in, and Vanessa’s process of ordering and abstraction begins.

When you look closely her clean, angular paintings are richly detailed and textured, scoured as if by the wind and weather, the colour pared back with deeply satisfying subtle gradations and dramatic contrasts. In each of these works, from the smallest to the magnificent largest, there is much to feed the eye, offering an ever24 | Bridport Times | May 2018

changing, on-going relationship between viewer and painting.

All this has taken many months of focussed attention from Vanessa. Like her paintings, her method of work is bold and unsentimental. Beautiful areas of textured colour may be painted over, partially blocked out then patiently worked back to create the effect she wants.

Working in acrylic paints on hardboard and plywood she has, over the years, built up techniques that she understands precisely. She knows how long to leave the paint to dry before working it back, when to apply a layer of varnish to set a layer of colour and how hard to scour to get just the right texture. Her paintings are as much about paint as the places they describe.

There are still surprises. “You do a lot of working out as you go. Sometimes it is unconscious almost. You have to be doing the work, concentrating on it, to allow >

Vanessa Gardiner, Quarry Edge 25 2018 acrylic on plywood 183 x 61cm

bridporttimes.co.uk | 25

those moments to happen that really matter.” Always she is searching for something that lifts the work and catches your heart. “These places stir you in some way and I want to convey that.”

Ideas come to her while she works. “You don’t want to push everything into one painting. Each piece should keep a clear voice of its own.” She works on several paintings at one time, often of different places, and the dialogue of ideas can be seen to move fluidly between the pictures creating what she calls ‘a family likeness’ in a particular group.

In her recent Portland paintings, the disused quarry stones in the foreground seem to rise up in waves, reminiscent of their calcified oceanic origins.

Their angled polished forms tell that this is a place ordered by man but left random and abandoned to time. They connect back to Vanessa’s paintings of abandoned ancient Greek architecture on rocky coastlines, the erosion of stone echoed in the scarified paint. Here, nature is reclaiming the quarry with vivid green and rich brown. The sea is glimpsed through the rocks, very blue against the pale foreground and distant white chalk cliffs of Lulworth.

26 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Here you see the artist’s mind at work. Contrasts of opaque and transparent, texture and smooth, angular and fluid lines create dynamism in the paintings as Vanessa shapes and interprets the haphazard natural world, finding patterns and reaching for the planes of sea and landform that fascinate her.

None of this is imposed. Each element has to be right. “It all has to arrive out of the reality of my observations otherwise it is not truthful,” Vanessa says in her gentle way. “That’s why it is so important for me to draw. The real thing is more interesting than my invention of it. I’m just not interested if it isn’t true.

The wonder can be found sometimes in quite small details. It may be subtle adjustments of colour that make a painting sing.”

Sea Cliffs: Vanessa Gardiner’s new paintings are in the Ground Floor Gallery of Sladers Yard from Saturday 12th May until Sunday 1st July 2018. This gallery and Café Sladers are open from 10am – 4.30pm every day. sladersyard.co.uk

THE ABBOTSBURY ARTISTS Tuesday 1st Sunday 13th May Eype Centre for the Arts Private View 6pm Tuesday 1st May Enquiries: dianesummer2@gmail.com

Mike Chapman Roger Clemens Andrew Dumolo Roderic Hill John Meaker Keith Parrott Vicky Stride Diane Summer

Contemporary view of South West Country & Culture Painting, Sculpture & Furniture

Mount Lane, Eype, Bridport DT6 6AR Crown roundabout Bridport > A35 West >1m turn left to Eype

Arts & Culture

A LIFE IN LYRIC Angie Porter

“Why do people come to the theatre... they suddenly laugh together, they cry together and they realise that this thing they have inside their heads is existing simultaneously in the minds of everybody else. In other words, they cannot be and are not alone.”

W

(Simon McBurney, English actor, writer and director)

hen I first came to Bridport my introduction to the Lyric Theatre was a fundraiser put on by the new owner, Niki McCretton. I didn’t know many people and was blown away by the friendliness and standard of local talent.

That night I knew I had moved to the right place.

Many towns have a theatre but a true artist-led, community-based theatre is becoming a rare bird indeed. I was lucky enough to grow up in the western suburbs of Melbourne and the existence of the Footscray Community Arts Centre changed my life. It too was a community-led theatre where anyone with an interest in or passion for performing could find themselves sharing a workshop space with the top theatre professionals in the country and sometimes from around the world.

It wasn’t all about the final performance; it was the workshops, meeting other young people, hanging out at 28 | Bridport Times | May 2018

the café and talking with other artists sharing a creative process that made it a very special place. Change and transformation came, and it was out of this space that many a theatrical talent was born.

Niki McCretton knows all about the potential of community theatre. Her involvement as director of Flea! last year saw a mass of positive energy pour into our community on many levels and made me feel very proud to be a part of it. Personally, the show reawakened a more creative self and gave me the opportunity to revaluate what I wanted to do with my time. The collaboration with industry professionals in creating the work meant full access to people whose life reflected a commitment to their art. This was inspiring and life-changing.

The values of the Lyric reflect this artist-led approach. The little theatre tucked away in Barrack Street has an unassuming façade behind which is a

secret hub where established and up-and-coming artists can create and showcase their work in progress.

The Lyric offers artists the time and space to develop and polish their work. As anyone who works in theatre knows, the creative process happens slowly, and rehearsal space needs to be available for longer periods than most mainstream theatres can offer. Here the Lyric excels in its offer to artists. Not only is it a space where work can be developed but Niki will also coach artists in getting reviews and completing funding bids.

The community fostered at the Lyric and around Bridport is one of support and generosity. It is from this space that great things will continue to happen.

The Lyric is run by a community of artists and currently does not have any public funding. They exist because people volunteer their time and donate expertise. They have recently raised money to replace the windows after they fell into disrepair so that the old space is light-filled once again.

The Lyric Theatre’s professional company based in the Barrack Street building, the Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company, is one of the UK’s leading family theatre companies directed by Niki McCretton. You can currently see them performing at larger theatres such as the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil or the Lighthouse in Poole. Stuff and Nonsense are known for their brilliant mix of live performers and puppets, creating visually-engaging shows which are highly original.

For an artist, individual success in the arts and

entertainment can take time. From an artist’s first show in the Edinburgh Fringe to the stage of the National Theatre and the world’s larger venues can take 10-20 years, and there would be no new theatre without the support of artist-led venues such as the Lyric. When you do a workshop at the Lyric or see a show, you are supporting the embryos of new theatre pieces which the following year may open at Sydney Opera House or a theatre in New York.

This month you can catch The Last Resort; a sell-out play from the Edinburgh Fringe, it is an immersive theatre experience. Exciting, cutting edge and controversial, The Last Resort reimagines the notorious detention facility of Guantánamo as a package holiday destination - you are handed a Cuba Libre cocktail on arrival and settled into your deck chair. This is theatre at its most engaging, right here in Bridport, for a fraction of the price that you would pay in London. So go along and support the Lyric, for in doing so you are supporting the growth of creative theatre in Bridport and way beyond.

Outside of show times there is open access to the theatre and visitors are rewarded with an interesting display of theatrical sets and other vintage paraphernalia.

The fabulous BearKat bistro, run by Dominic Brown, is open for food and drink Tuesday - Saturday 9am–4pm. loadofstuffandnonsense.co.uk facebook.com/thelyrictheatre

Niki McCretton’s Top Ten theatre shows Bertran Toys - Black Sky White Theatre Company Street of Crocodiles - Theatre De Complicité Squidboy - Trygve Wakenshaw Elizabeth’s Last Stand - Nola Rae Made in Heaven - Mark Bruce Company The Toad Knew - James Thiérrée The Wedding - Gecko Theatre Company Sleep No More - Punchdrunk Shockheaded Peter - Improbable Theatre – The Tiger Lillies Les Miserables bridporttimes.co.uk | 29

History OBJECT OF THE MONTH

A WAISTCOAT FIT FOR A WEDDING Frances Pearsall & Lindsay Pritchard, Textile Volunteers, Bridport Museum

J

oseph Gear was a proud wearer of an elegant waistcoat, worn on his wedding day in 1859 when he married Jane Coombs at Burton Bradstock village church. Tailor-made of woven silk with a checked pattern in grey and blue and with hand-embroidered silk buttons, it has been well looked after by later generations and kept as something special. The style with its shawl collar, reveres and welt pockets dates it to the 1840s, suggesting it might have been a second-hand gift.

The origins of the waistcoat, or vest, can be precisely dated to 1666 when Charles II issued a proclamation that the vest should be recognised as proper court attire.

He was impressed with the colourful and embroidered garments brought to the court by travellers from Persia.

Originally worn with frock coat and breeches, it became plainer and fitted by the 19th century, eventually becoming part of the 20th century 3-piece suit.

This waistcoat is one of the many interesting items in the textile collection at Bridport Museum. The detailed information we have about Joseph’s life adds to this interest. So many of the pieces in our collection have little or no provenance and, despite research, their history cannot be traced. However, thanks to the research many years ago of Joseph’s grand-daughter, Mrs Dorothy Mansfield, we have details and a fascinating account of the owner, together with some portraits from the family photo album.

Joseph’s first job, aged 14, was a plough-boy but by the time he married he was a sailor. One day in 1840, he became distraught at the sight of the farm’s master beating the young horse which pulled the plough, a beating which continued despite Joseph’s protestations.

He resolved to leave the farm and go to sea. He packed a few belongings and set off on foot to Poole - a 40-mile journey. On reaching the harbour, he signed on for a voyage on a whaler bound for Labrador, in Canada.

The tough, hard life at sea was a drastic change from life in rural Dorset, however he remained at sea in cold 30 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Northern waters searching for whales for five years.

Returning home an experienced sailor, Joseph joined the Merchant Navy as an able seaman and often sailed from West Bay on ships taking locally-grown hemp to distant ports. One of these, a two-masted sailing brig called the Why Not, was owned by James Templeman, a Bridport draper. Alas, the Why Not floundered off the Skerry rocks, off the Scottish Coast, in February 1881.

Joseph and five other local men were all drowned.

This item, like so many in our collection, was a ‘family best’, kept for special occasions such as Sunday church, weddings, funerals etc. We have little everyday wear, as such clothes were worn continually until they fell apart.

They were often heavily patched or remade - a tough and impecunious life necessitated clothes being handed down from one member of the family to another.

Our textile collection has many hundreds of items from different ages and includes examples of dresses, shoes, handbags, shawls, baby clothes, children’s wear, underwear, men’s clothing, and military wear. These are all carefully stored in the Coach House in Gundry Lane.

There will be a rare opportunity to see many of them at our forthcoming exhibition which runs from 23rd June to 18th July 2018 in the Allsop Gallery of the Bridport Arts Centre. Not only will you be able to see some of our varied and fascinating collection on display, but you will also have an interesting ‘behind the scenes’ view of a working museum.

Bridport Museum Trust is a registered charity, which runs an Accredited Museum, and a Local History Centre right in the centre of Bridport. The Museum recently underwent a major refurbishment and re-opened in May 2017. Entry to the Museum is free. The Museum also runs a Local History Centre which provides resources for local and family history research. bridportmuseum.co.uk facebook.com/BridportMuseum

Jeremy Norton FURNITURE MAKER

jeremynorton.co.uk

RICHARD WILSON CERAMICS

Contemporary Interiors in Wood 5 rooms full of unique wood work from over 200 craftsmen working in the UK. Ranging from kitchenware to one-off jewellery boxes and furniture.

Coffee shop and small children’s play area.

Showcasing a separate exhibition in Dorset Art Weeks, including featured artists Selwyn Holmes and Tilia Holmes - Venue 240 26th May - 10th June DT3 4JL Rodden Row, Abbotsbury, www.danselgallery.co.uk

Showing a bold range of pots and colour, from the functional to more sculptural work Courses also now available.

Beginners to master classes.

01305 871515 Open 10am – 5.30pm everyday

GEORGE STREET, WEST BAY

01308 455656 | rwilsoncyp@gmail.com | rwilson-ceramics.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 31

GOLD AWARD WINNING PRIVATE BUNGALOWS

“I Must go Down to the Sea Again, to the Lonely Sea and The Sky” John Masefield, Sea Fever

The Fisherman‘s Daughter, Chesil Beach Five Star Beach Bungalow, Sleeps 2, Pets Welcome

NE W

The Garden Suite, Eype

Fully Enclosed Private Bungalow, Sleeps 2/4, Pets welcome for FREE, Short Stroll to Eype Beach

F I N D U S AT E L E M E N T U M J O U R N A L . C O M

01308 421521 or book online www.golden-acre.com Ideal for the solo traveller with their pets

32 | Bridport Times | May 2018

30 Days Wild Improve your health and happiness and do something wild every day in June Sign up: www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/30dayswild

DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST Photos © Jane Adams, Tony Bates MBE, Sam Dallimore Katharine Davies & Heather Radice.

Wild Dorset

HEALTH AND WELLBEING, NATURALLY

A

Melanie Fermor, Dorset Wildlife Trust Volunteer

t least one in four of us will experience mental health issues at some point in our lives, so it’s a good idea to think about ways to help boost mental wellbeing every day. Did you know that connecting with nature has a powerful positive effect on both physical and mental health?

Simply stepping outside into nature is one of the simplest and most accessible ways of improving our health. People of every age and ability can find a way to escape the indoors and soak up the green calm of nature. Studies show that time spent at the seashore, in the forest or in heathland improves our mood. We are so fortunate in Dorset to have a wide variety of wild terrain to explore right on our doorstep. Have you ever looked out from the coast and felt your troubles ebb away with the waves and shrink into perspective in the infinite stretch of sea and sky?

A walk with nature can increase your heart rate and help strengthen your muscles, and you’re far more likely to walk for longer and go further if you’re in a beautiful, natural environment.

Volunteering for one of our conservation projects can certainly build up a sweat and has been found to have significant positive effects on mental wellbeing.

If you need inspiration why not join our ‘30 Days Wild’ initiative? The challenge encourages people to do thirty random acts of wildness during the month of June. Last year nearly 50,000 people signed up to take part and the benefits were found to be far-reaching and long-lasting.

You’ll receive a free pack full of ideas and encouragement plus a wall chart and badge. There are also school packs available to help teachers bring a wild twist to their lessons but it’s not just for kids. The group of people who were found to benefit most last year were younger adults and those who weren’t ‘nature lovers’. Why not give it a go?

Sign up to take the ‘30 Days Wild’ challenge: www.wildlifetrusts.org/30DaysWild • The University of Derby found that ‘30 Days Wild’ participants felt happier, healthier and more connected to nature.

• Being wild in June is easy! Try taking a walk by a river or watching the sunset.

• Wild kids – try drawing a beetle or making a leaf rubbing.

• Families – make footprints on the sand or make a mud pie together. dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

34 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Image: Matthew Roberts bridporttimes.co.uk | 35

Wild Dorset

OLD MAN OF THE SEA Neville Copperthwaite, Marine Consultant and Project Co-ordinator

N

ow we are well into spring the sea temperature is rising to a heady 11 degrees Celsius in the English Channel, although it could be a few degrees warmer in the shallower waters of Lyme Bay. This will trigger the movement of crabs and lobsters, which is good news for shell-fisherman Dave Sales.

Dave has fished for crab and lobster virtually all his life and there is none more attuned to seasonal fluctuations than he. Dave could tell you when and where to fish locally, although in practice it is my experience that you are more likely to see a snowflake in June than extract that sort of information from a fisherman!

Dave won’t mind my saying that he is the wise old sage of West Bay. 81 years of age, hands as big as plates and still as strong as an ox – his boat is his gym, hauling pots his daily workout. He has amassed a wealth of maritime knowledge, knowledge that has been put to good use over the years through involvement with the political side of fishing, advising and helping shape fisheries management. Already a keen conservationist and aware that Lyme Bay is a marine reserve, he has a philosophical view of the future sustainability of inshore fish stocks. He believes that the small size of the inshore boats that work out of West Bay is a safeguard against overfishing. For instance, boats can’t venture too far from shore in case of bad weather, can’t stay out for more than a day, and are limited in the weight of fish they can carry.

Dave didn’t always fish from West Bay. In 1960 he was living in Swanage with his wife Gill, raising a young family and earning a living from fishing around the Purbeck coast from a boat he’d had built in Appledore called The Purbeck Isle. Dave sold that boat many years ago but sadly it came to a sorry end a little while ago in May 2012 when it sank off Portland Bill with the loss of 3 lives. I knew one of the young men that drowned; I remember that, as a boy, all he wanted was to become a 36 | Bridport Times | May 2018

fisherman. It’s a salutary reminder of the dangers and risks involved in bringing fish to your plate.

The children grew up and left home and, at the ripe old age of 44, Dave and Gill sold everything, boat, house and paraphernalia, and moved to the dilapidated Marsh Barn Farm on the outskirts of West Bay, at the junction of the Bridport to Weymouth road (now that’s what you call a joint midlife crisis!).

Dave was determined not to go back to fishing and, in between renovating the farm buildings, he found a variety of jobs locally, including milking cows. However, life on land was not for him and the sea was always beckoning. Eventually he gave in to it and bought another boat which he worked from West Bay. Ever the entrepreneur, Gill capitalised on Dave’s second wind and started a seafood restaurant at Marsh Barn.

Image: Pete Millson

Her main ingredients were the ‘catch of the day’, fresh off Dave’s boat, and this proved to be the making of the restaurant which became enormously successful.

Time, however, marches on and after 15 years of toil Gill decided it was time to take life a little easier so she closed the restaurant and retired from the business.

Mind you, she still keeps her hand in by renting out her restaurant venue and converted barns. And, talking of retirement, I don’t think Dave understands the word; go down to the quayside at West Bay on a quiet day at sunrise and you will still see Dave chugging out of the harbour in his 19-foot open boat, Shelly-Marie.

I asked Dave what he thought had changed the most in West Bay over the years. He said it was undoubtedly the improved safety of the harbour. West Bay used to be a single harbour and the entrance was positioned in such a

way that when there was a swell running the waves would be funnelled into the harbour, increase in size and break like surfing waves - this could dash a boat to matchwood.

Patently this was dangerous when rough, but it was also disconcerting when you went to sea in calm weather and had that nagging anxiety about whether you could get back into the harbour if the wind increased. There is no doubt that the building of the outer harbour and realignment of the harbour entrance has made a tremendous difference for the better.

So, the next time you happen to be passing Marsh Barn Farm, you might reflect on the hard-working couple inside, indicative of that entrepreneurial spirit that makes Bridport such an interesting place. n.copperthwaite@gmail.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 37

Wild Dorset

THE HUNGRY GAP Adam & Ellen Simon, Tamarisk Farm

I

t’s May, and in recent years the weather in May has been, well, practically summery. There is always the chance though that it could potentially be the best sun we get until September. However, in terms of growing food, we are still in the notorious “hungry gap” and, if we were careless or unlucky, we’d be at the end of our stores as well.

38 | Bridport Times | May 2018

So what is the hungry gap, and is it still relevant to us today? It is the gap in crops between winter and summer, the time when all the over-wintering vegetables, such as leeks, kale and chard, are gone, either eaten or ‘bolting’ - that is, taking their first step towards setting seed, with their stems growing tall and their leaves becoming small, tough and bitter. At the same time, the majority

of this season’s vegetables aren’t yet ready to harvest.

It is a difficult time to grow a plentiful supply of fresh vegetables. It is also the time when stored vegetables are deteriorating - there aren’t many varieties of squash that can last until May and the old potatoes, while still delicious, are putting out sprouts. (Eat the potatoes, but not the sprouts, which are poisonous – apparently they killed people during the Irish famine.)

The hungry gap feels like an anachronistic concept.

Globalisation makes it easy for supermarkets to provide various vegetables throughout the year, no matter what may actually be growing in the fields outside your door.

Because of this, eating seasonal food can seem like a daunting choice to make - how do you know what’s in season? Where do you buy it? Is it necessary to eat kale seven days a week? Though we are always aware of the hungry gap, we at Tamarisk Farm are also very good at managing it and have always found that the challenge of finding and cooking seasonal produce extremely satisfying. The hungry gap becomes more a trap for the unaware and a challenge for the experienced grower than a period of deprivation.

How do we manage? Throughout the late winter and early spring Rosie and Rebecca are busy planting and caring for hundreds of different vegetable seedlings, which they carefully nurture through any late frosts in a dedicated propagation tunnel before hardening them off and transplanting them into the soil. Most of these plants though are still consolidating their roots and leaves, and they won’t start producing for a while.

Polytunnels and greenhouses allow us to grow a wider variety than ever before, and greatly extend the growing season. We’re extra lucky here in West Bexington, as the warming effect of the sea keeps frost at bay, enabling us to keep crops going for longer. Salad leaves are available all year round, and sometimes more exciting crops as well. One of our growers was bemused when a restaurant she sells to initially declined to buy tomatoes in November because they only wanted seasonal vegetables on their menu, although she was pleased that seasonality was driving the menu. We continued to eat and sell fresh tomatoes until the plants were finally taken down in December. The polytunnel was then needed for its next job – sheltering the sheep over winter.

We feel the hungry gap on the fields as well as in the gardens. Being organic, we didn’t put bag-nitrogen on the grass during the brief dry spell in February. This fertiliser is created at significant environmental cost and

can cause significant environmental harm. Instead, our grass is responding to the soil’s natural flush of fertility which came later, as the soil dried and warmed up and its microbes became active again after the challenge of winter. Some years this happens slowly. Grass is growing but still some of our stock need more than it can offer.

An old farmer once advised us to save our best quality hay for this time of year. We do, though it still feels strange, on warm sunny days, to be feeding the stock hay, the product of last summer’s growth.

We ourselves enjoy the bonus crops that can be gleaned, eating the small chard and spinach leaves, still produced even as their stalks elongate, and the delicious brassica flower heads - curly kale gives frilly tops, Brussels sprouts give pale green tips, red cabbage and red Russian kale give red and purple tops.

Now, however, these have been replaced by the real thing: purple sprouting broccoli, a stalwart of the hungry gap, and other spring brassicas. The new season’s crop of spinach, chard and beetroot are in the ground and, if planted early enough (and with favourable weather conditions), may even be ready just as the last of the bolted chard from the season before are removed. The real treats to look out for are over-wintered sugar-snap peas and broad beans, which start cropping in late April and May. Fresh fruit is harder to come by. Our stores of apples and pears are usually over by now and soft fruits are still a little way off. Rhubarb, however, is prolific. Cooked in a crumble or stewed to a syrup to drizzle over porridge or ice cream, it’s a great way to get the fresh fruit hit at this time of year. Gooseberries come surprisingly early, at the same time as elderflower, but they still feel achingly far away at present.

We’ve always preserved our summer surpluses, and those of the natural world around us, with bottles of gooseberry and elderflower jam, stewed blackberries, tomato chutneys, and more. If we’ve got more apples than tomatoes (which is most years), we make an apple purée which, when mixed with a little cider vinegar, basil and garlic, makes a wonderful tomato-esque base for pasta or pizza. In this way, we manage to keep a supply of home-grown food throughout the year, and often have some left over. It’s become a running joke in the family – what’s the oldest jar on the shelf ? Just the other day I came across two jars of pickled runner beans. They were from 1998 and were still delicious. tamariskfarm.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 39

Outdoors

FORAGING FOR WILD VEGETABLES

W

Fraser Christian, Coastal Survival School

e live in Lyme Bay, and when gazing out over the landscape, it’s easy to see evidence of early settlers in the form of numerous old hill forts. As early men and women migrated along the coast, the wild food before them was most abundant along the seashore. Out of the then shadow of the inland giant oak trees and fertilised by the desiccated seaweeds, many wild relatives of our now familiar vegetables could be found. If you have ever wondered why seaweed-based plant fertilisers are so highly regarded by vegetable gardeners, there’s your answer.

Nowadays, the more familiar wild vegetables found along the seashore include carrot, parsnip, spinach, leek, garlic, kale, cabbage, radish, pea, celery and mustards.

That’s not including the many more nutritious and tasty (to some maybe!) but less familiar ones such as samphire, coriander and scurvy grasses.

With such a vast array of wild food at our fingertips, taking the opportunity to sustainably and safely forage our own wild food, packed with flavour and goodness, is something we all can do – as long we know where to look and how to safely and correctly identify. Before we start, I must say that there are poisonous plants out there and, if you are unsure in any way as to the positive identification of a plant, please leave it be. Or, as we say, “if in doubt, leave it out.”

Luckily, our ancient ancestors engaged in the art of foraging, hunting with their hands and using their instincts as they went. These instincts are present still in every one of us today. We just need to remember!

We have five senses, each one taking priority depending on the situation before us. Often, we see or hear something that makes us focus, perhaps even touching it, but few of us rely on smell anymore, or at least we think we don’t.

When it comes to identifying wild food, our sense of smell is a trusted and directly transferable set of information for the brain, often attaching itself with an emotion. This is then stored deep within us and passed on through generations - “it’s in your genes” you may say.

When engaging for the first time with a wild plant that I know is ‘edible’, I need to use all of my senses to help 40 | Bridport Times | May 2018

my body remember the plant. This is how it’s done.

First, look at the plant, noticing common variables: is the stem smooth or grooved; is it hairy etc.? Then touch the plant and feel whether it is rough or smooth. Next, pick a leaf or flower. Hold the part of the plant with one pinch just below the part you want and pick with the other hand. Each flower or leaf is picked individually; never grab fistfuls as there may be a small leaf or two of a poisonous plant growing among the ‘edible’ leaves.

Now begins the real test as, although it may be a plant listed as edible, we need to do an initial tolerance test as an indicator of individual suitability. Wild food is still food and, just as some people are allergic to peanuts, some may be allergic to a particular wild food.

So, where are we? Crush the carefully picked plant using your least dominant hand (not the one you eat with) then close your eyes, empty your thoughts, be still and smell the crushed plant; let the sensation ‘wash over you’ and listen to your body. If you sneeze, cough or the sensation makes you feel uneasy, stop there and wash your hands.

Hopefully though you will get a positive response and your body should react, even if subtly. Next, chew a little at the front of your teeth and spit it out. If, after a few minutes, you have no adverse reactions, then you can eat a small amount more. One or two leaves is enough, waiting again before eating any more.

You may think that this is over-cautious but not all of the plants we find are common relatives of the well-known, tried and tested vegetables. The experienced wild food forager’s repertoire is extensive.

Out of all the courses we deliver, foraging for food is by far the most popular and fully encompasses the first-hand or apprenticeship-style of delivering the education. Many people will check out ‘YouTube’ and have a go at most things but, when it comes to eating something unfamiliar, you only really feel safe if it’s handed to you.

As the waters warm slightly and the Spring tides rise, I will be searching next for the super food - that is, seaweed. coastalsurvival.com

bridporttimes.co.uk | 41

Outdoors

SHOW TIME

A

Martin Ballam, Xtreme Falconry

nother season is now upon us and it’s time to travel the country again with our majestic team of raptors. However, the job is certainly not an easy one and can be filled with stress and worry, as there are so many factors to consider in strange environments for both the birds and us!

Firstly, I must explain the phrase ‘falconry display’ as this is not technically true. Falconry is the ancient art of hunting with a bird of prey and this would certainly not be possible in a showground arena!

‘Demonstrating birds of prey’ or ‘A bird of prey display’ would be more accurate but, unfortunately, they just don’t have the same ring as ‘falconry display.’ However, a display using falconry training and techniques with birds of prey is certainly what we do. We avoid doing ‘tricks’ and show the natural behaviour for the species.

Why does Xtreme Falconry do these displays and demonstrations? Well, there are several reasons. As a private entity self-funding all of our captive breeding, conservation and rescue work, being part of the attraction at major events is crucial to our survival. We also use the opportunity of being in

42 | Bridport Times | May 2018

front of a captive audience to not only entertain but also educate about the plight of raptors, conservation and nature in general. The general format of our shows is to demonstrate the different adaptations of the groups of birds we fly but with a humorous commentary. I have always believed if people are relaxed and laugh a little then they remember more.

Usually we take around 10 to 12 birds and we always start with the barn owl. ‘Honey May’ is a star, very confident and quite adventurous as barn owls go. Then it’s ‘Bert’, the Indian eagle owl, a home-bred bird and, shall we say, full of voice! We then tend to follow with Damien, probably the most well-known vulture on the show circuit. With a wingspan of over 8ft and an attitude of pure aggression and vulture spirit, it’s often a battle of wills but we love him! Other birds on the team include the hawks, kites and, of course, the bald eagle. We have two bald eagles on our team. Winnie is the female, a bird I saw hatch in 2002 and which I reared myself for three weeks with an eagle glove puppet before placing back with her parents and two elder siblings - she was six days behind the other chicks so needed help.

Then there is our male, ‘Kojak’, who has a minor wing disability but who still flies as part of our team. The favourites in the demonstrations are the falcons.

Our peregrines will pass inches overhead at 150mph with ease and dexterity.

We cannot forget our caracara, a striated caracara by the name of ‘Sparky’.

This bird is quite simply bonkers! Originating from the Falkland Islands and probably the most intelligent of all birds of prey, this is the ultimate food thief and rampaging bully; you will have to see him at one of our summer shows to realise what a hilarious little devil he is.

The main focus of our demonstration should be the bird in the picture, the incredible ‘Talisman’, our bateleur eagle. Talisman has been with me for nearly thirty years and is the grand old lady of our collection - believe it or not she has just turned 49 years of age. ‘Tali’, as she is affectionately known, has been the stalwart of the show team for all of these years, but we have decided this year that she is now in full retirement. Talisman is quite simply a one-man bird and that person is me! She came as a very troubled and aggressive bird all those years ago but, with many hours of perseverance, commitment and understanding of the wild nature of the species, I developed a very special bond with her. In other words, I spent many hours ‘preening’ her every day as a male bateleur eagle would. Our lifelong bond was formed and she will always be my special girl.

Although we travel to places as far as away as Yorkshire and Holland, most of our shows are in southern England. As the main presenters of birds of prey for the organisations ‘Countryside Learning’, The Royal Three Counties Show, West Bay Vintage Rally, and the Purbeck Show among many others, our calendar is very full year on year. As Dorset’s only bird of prey display team we love the opportunity to support local events and are looking forward to another busy season of shows. xtremefalconry.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 43

Outdoors

44 | Bridport Times | May 2018

On Foot

TOLLER FRATRUM AND WYNFORD EAGLE Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 3 ¾ miles Time: Approx 2 hours Park: Please park considerately on the roadside near Toller Fratrum Farm Walk Features: St Basil’s Church and its unique font, Toller Fratrum Farm, chalk valleys surrounding the River Hooke, pretty village of Wynford Eagle with its manor house and St Laurence’s Church Refreshments: The Spyway Inn, Askerswell

E Image: Paul Newman

ach month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual, and sometimes the unfamiliar. For May, we take a gentle walk in the quiet chalk valleys around Wynford Eagle, an area abundant with signs of history and changing land use, studded with a few architectural gems.

It’s a good place to see yellowhammers, blackcaps, ravens and maybe even a little egret along the chalk streams. bridporttimes.co.uk | 45

Directions

Start: SY 578 972 The walk starts in Toller Fratrum.

1 Find a spot to park on the road in Toller Fratrum near the rectory, then walk up the road, away from the rectory, farm and church, towards the end of the road where it turns into a track. You will then see a footpath sign on your left for Wynford Eagle ¾ mile. Head up the track, which can be muddy or rough in parts, through metal gateposts following the track to the left up the hill. Go through a metal gate, bearing left onto a grassy track. Down to your left are views of the church and farm. The track soon emerges into a field. Turn slight right, head up and over the middle of this field.

2 As you cross the top of the field, you will then see a signpost in a gap in the hedge ahead of you. At the signpost, head straight on, signed for Wynford Eagle, keeping the hedge on your left. Here, the views open out across the surrounding countryside.

The path ends at a gap in the hedge. Here, go slightly to the right across the flint-strewn field in front of you. Next go through a metal gate, following the footpath sign and keeping a fence on your right, heading down towards Wynford Eagle. Pass through another gateway and follow the footpath sign down a track towards a row of cottages.

3 As you reach the road, turn left, then go past St Laurence’s church, over a beautiful stream which passes through the grounds of Wynford Eagle Manor House. The village name of Eagle comes from Richard de Aguila, after the Norman conquest. Look out for the large stone eagle at the front of the house.

4 After this, you reach a T-junction. Turn right, towards West Compton, past farm buildings on your left and then up out of Wynford Eagle. At the top of the road, take the track that forks off to the left, then go through a metal gate and carry on up the chalk track. Pass a small burial mound surrounded by ash trees, then go straight through another gate following the Jubilee Trail. As you climb higher you will notice that the track changes from chalk to a mixture of chalk and flint. Keep the hedge on your left. When you reach the next field boundary, follow the bridleway sign which points back down to your right and diagonally across the field, heading down towards the road. Go through a small wooden gate into another field and keep following the bridleway right down to the gate at the bottom, onto the road.

46 | Bridport Times | May 2018

"St Basil in Toller Fratrum is definitely worth a visit for its beautifully carved and unique font of the late Saxon or early Norman era"

5 At the road, turn right for about 100 yards then, on the left, there is a small wooden gate by a telegraph pole. Enter the field and after a few yards, cross a wooden footbridge over a stream into the next field.

Climb up this field towards a metal gate, crossing a couple of ancient leats. Go through the gate into the next field, keeping the hedge on your right, up towards the brow of the hill. At the top of this field, turn right through a small metal gate, then turn left to follow a bridleway with the hedge now on your left. At the end of this field, pass farm buildings on your left to meet a road.

6 Go straight across the road, over the stile and follow the footpath signs down towards a wood. At the wood, you come to two metal gates with a ‘keep out’ sign; turn right in front of them and then follow the wood boundary. At the corner of the wood, you will see two back-to-back signposts. Take the left path signed for Toller Fratrum, not the one for Toller Porcorum. Head towards a row of beech trees keeping the fence on your right. On your left there are good views over towards Toller Porcorum.

At the end of this path, go through a gateway and cut across the corner of a field, go through another gateway to meet the footpath at the start of the walk in section 2. Retrace your steps to go back along the track to the start of the walk.

7 The small church of St Basil in Toller Fratrum is definitely worth a visit for its beautifully carved and unique font of the late Saxon or early Norman era, surrounded by intriguing figures whose origins and meanings are open to differing theories. Toller Fratrum Farm, a former manor house, is also worth a look and is undergoing restoration after a fire in 2015.

Thinking of letting your holiday property?

Your local holiday cottage specialist is currently looking for properties in the area to add to their ever-growing portfolio in Dorset.

Call us now to find out more information on holiday letting.

www.toadhallcottages.co.uk 01297 443550 44 Church Street, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3DA

SUZY MOGER Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

F

rom the outside, Suzy Moger’s studio looks like a shed – a simple stone shed with a smart green door. Inside, it’s a haven of colour: an old enamel kitchen cupboard is stacked to the gills with paints and bottles of turpentine, brushes bloom from jam jars and disused crockery serves as makeshift mixing palettes.

Haphazardly pinned to the wall is a wonderful mix of fabrics, one of them a gauzy blue print made by Suzy’s mother. Creativity is in Suzy’s genes. Nearby is her easel which cradles a “work in progress” whilst a stack of paintings is propped nearby on the uneven floor. Best of all though is Suzy’s “inspiration board,” covered in ideas and cuttings collected over the years.

An intuitive painter with no formal training but with a lifetime of practice, Suzy has worked in this studio for five years. ‘I’ve painted since primary school,’ she says. ‘I remember buying my first set of watercolours, in tubes, when I was 11, and feeling terribly grown up.’ She grew up in Stratton and went to school in Dorchester where she took art, although she wasn’t encouraged to pursue it further at college. Instead, she studied English but spent more time painting and hanging out with the art students.

She laughs about it now because, as she says, ‘Now I need to paint everyday but then I wasn’t “brave” enough to study it.’ This was perhaps a blessing in disguise as Suzy’s paintings contain an intuition and passion that might have been adversely influenced by formal training.

‘I tend to work in a series so I can explore an idea deeply and not limit myself,’ she explains. Suzy’s work is mostly abstract oils, a medium she came to after working in acrylics for some years. ‘I love oils,’ she says, ‘the depth of colour and richness that they provide is so much more satisfying. I tend to thin down the oils a lot with turps and explore pushing the pigments to the limit, which is something I can’t really do with any other material.’> 48 | Bridport Times | May 2018

bridporttimes.co.uk | 49

50 | Bridport Times | May 2018

For this year’s Dorset Art Weeks – Suzy’s first – she is largely working on a series of abstract coastal landscapes.

‘They originated from a series which began with underwater “scapes” and I have gradually worked my way up from the seabed to create the new series, “surfacing”,’ she explains. ‘I have used this process to get to grips with a new way of painting. So, in effect my style has “surfaced” with the work,’ she continues. ‘I began exploring blues after my partner bought me a set of vintage oil paints, none of which had been used. However, only the blue would open. As a mother returning to work I had limited funds so I started with what I had and built on that.’

Working within limits has a way of bringing out the best creativity and Suzy’s paintings have been well received on her Instagram feed, @suzymoger, and on > Etsy. ‘I sell my paintings worldwide and so, although I’m living in a small village in West Dorset, I feel part of an international art community,’ she explains. Suzy lives the freelance life with her partner, musician and sound designer Youan Mitchell. ‘It’s very important to us that we show our daughters, Lucy 6 and Lily 11, that it’s possible to live and work as a creative without being in a city. There are many artists who live in West Dorset but there isn’t an art industry here as such.’

The sea is also a very important part of Suzy’s life. ‘I see it every day,’ she says. ‘I don’t make a point of going down there with my sketch pad but it’s always present.’

Her two favourite beaches are Cogden and Weymouth Bay where she finds the contrasts between the sea and cliffs particularly inspiring. ‘What interests me is how the sea is different every day. The range of colour is unexpected, almost bizarre at times, and I take a lot of photographs.’

‘When in my studio I work very quickly. I use sound to clear my mind. I usually listen to music or an old TV show. Sometimes to warm up I’ll do a scribble in charcoal, just to make a mess and loosen up. But my favourite moment is a blank canvas,’ she explains. ‘The paintings come when my brain has been emptied of everything else and is reflective of my mood. I tend not to re-work and usually finish a painting in a couple of days.’

Suzy considers art a natural human behaviour, a primal instinct. ‘Children in all cultures naturally draw,’ she says, ‘creativity is such an important part of being a human being. I find it really sad that I meet so many adults who long to be creative but who have lost that part of themselves through school or work. I’d like to encourage people to rediscover their creativity.’

For Suzy, art is a shared experience and that’s why this month, for the first time, she’ll be showing in Uploders as part of Dorset Art Weeks. She is looking forward to meeting the public and working in situ during the show. ‘When I’ve finished a painting I love to know how it fits into the world,’ she explains. ‘I find the reactions to my work fascinating as people respond in different ways.’ Suzy has found her own way back to the path and is clearly dedicated to her practice. That she goes about it with such quiet, honest determination is an inspiration to us all.

Dorset Art Weeks Venue 303, Pondmead, near Uploaders, DT6 4PH dorsetartweeks.co.uk suzymoger.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 51

26TH MAY – 10TH JUNE 2018 Venue 239. John Meaker

246. Sladers Yard

252. Sue Barnes

PAINTER AND TUTOR

PAINTINGS / FURNITURE /

MIXED MEDIA

Abbotsbury Studio, Rodden Row,

CERAMICS / CAFÉ

10 Gundry Lane, Bridport,

Abbotsbury, DT3 4JL. 07816 850107

West Bay Road, West Bay, Bridport,

DT6 3RJ. 07918 182303

abbotsburystudio.co.uk

DT6 4EL. 01308 459511

sueb.artist@gmail.com

____________________________

sladersyard.co.uk

____________________________

240. Dansel Gallery

____________________________

253. St Michael’s Artists

WORK IN WOOD

247. Antonia Phillips

St Michael’s Studios, Art & Vintage

Dansel Gallery, Rodden Row,

PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING

Quarter, DT6 3RR. 01308 424582

Abbotsbury, DT3 4JL. 01305 871515

38 South Mill Lane, Bridport,

stmichaelsartists.com

danselgallery.co.uk

DT6 3PN. 01308 420423

____________________________

____________________________

antoniaphillips.co.uk

254. Lizzy James

241. Andrew Dumolo

____________________________

DRAWINGS AND TEXTILES

FURNITURE DESIGNER / MAKER

248. Fox & Worthington Fine Art

4 Cordova Gardens, Bridport,

The Dairy Buildings, Gorwell Farm,

JANE FOX, DAVID WORTHINGTON,

DT6 3NG. 07805 603209

Abbotsbury, DT3 4JX. 01305 873818

JOEL PARKES

lizzyjames.co.uk

adfurniture.co.uk

37 South Street, Bridport,

____________________________

____________________________

DT6 3NY. 01308 459527

255. Chesil Jewellery

242. George Paul Sainsbury

dw@davidworthington.co.uk

and Delphine Jones

PAINTING LANDSCAPE

____________________________

JEWELLER AND ILLUSTRATOR

AND STILL LIFE

249. Ellie Leger

33 Barrack Street, Bridport,

Long Bredy Studio, 1 Bedford Terrace,

MIXED MEDIA ABSTRACT SEA /

DT6 3LX. 07967 466996

Long Bredy, DT2 9HW. 01308 482300

LANDSCAPES ON CANVAS

delphinejones.com

georgepaulsainsbury.com

Studio One, 54 South Street,

____________________________

____________________________

Bridport, DT6 3NN. 07415 879019

256. Stephen Collins

243. Mike Geary

thelegergallery.co.uk

VARIOUS FIGURATIVE

PAINTINGS AND INSTALLATIONS

____________________________

SUBJECTS LOOSELY PAINTED

13 Beach Chalets, West Bexington,

250. Wet Paint

18 Rax Lane, Bridport,

DT2 9DG. 01258 452887

NEW WORK + ARTISTS BOOKS BY

DT6 3JJ. 01308 458200

mikegeary.com

DVA’S SALON AND INTERROGATING

stephencollins-painter.com

____________________________

PROJECT ARTISTS

____________________________

244. Caroline Liddington

Bridport Arts Centre, South Street,

257. Boo Mallinson

COLOURFUL OIL PAINTINGS,

Bridport, DT6 3NR. 01308 424204

PAINTING

PRINTS AND CARDS

bridport-arts.com

Mulberry House, Rax Lane, Bridport,

Stone Cottage, Greenhayes, Shipton

____________________________

DT6 3JJ. 07970 466178

Gorge, DT6 4LU. 01308 897882

251. Chris Neaves

boomallinson.co.uk

carolineliddingtonart.com

PAINTING

____________________________

____________________________

cloud9studio, 9 Gundry Lane,

258. The Old Bakery

245. Othona Community,

Bridport, DT6 3RJ. 07786 370289

DRIFTWOOD BOATS

West Dorset

chrisneaves.net

AND ART BOXES

MIXED MEDIA

____________________________

25 West Allington, Bridport,

Othona Community, Coast Road,

DT6 5BJ. 07772 071873

near Burton Bradstock, DT6 4RN.

jonathan_alden@icloud.com

01308 897130

____________________________

othona-daw.co.uk ____________________________ 52 | Bridport Times | May 2018

ARTIST DIRECTORY WEST REGION 259. Kate Dowty

267. Barbara Green

273. Zee Jones

STITCHED TEXTILES

PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING

COLOURFUL, CONTEMPORARY,

5 Lodge Lane, West Allington,

Manscombe Abbey, Taylors Lane,

MIXED MEDIA PAINTINGS

Bridport, DT6 5QR. 01308 423151

Morcombelake, DT6 6ED.

15b Broad Street, Lyme Regis,

katedowty.com

01297 489438

DT7 3QE. 07526 505559

____________________________

barbaragreen.co.uk

zeejones.co.uk

260. Jude Alderman

____________________________

____________________________

STAINED AND

268. Artwave West

274. Duncan Harris

DECORATIVE GLASS

CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY

OIL ON CANVAS. LANDSCAPES

The Old Bakery, 126 North Allington,

Artwave West, Morcombelake,

AND INTERIORS FROM EAST

Bridport, DT6 5EA. 01308 425168

DT6 6DY. 01297 489746

DEVON AND DORSET

stainedglassdorset.co.uk

artwavewest.com

The Roost, Springhead Road, Uplyme,

____________________________

____________________________

DT7 3UG

261. Stephen Bishop

269. Nesta Rendall Davies

duncanharris.biz

CONTEMPORARY OIL PAINTINGS

LEAFWORK: BOOKBINDING,

____________________________

Eype Centre for the Arts,

CONSERVATION, PAPERWORKS

275. Jools Woodhouse

St. Peter’s Church, Mount Lane,

Orchards, Whitchurch Canonicorum,

PAINTINGS

Eype DT6 6AR. 07981 685704

DT6 6RH. 01297 489976

Rocombe Farmhouse,

stephenbishop.co.uk

leafwork.co.uk

Springhead Road, Rocombe,

____________________________

____________________________

DT7 3RR. 01297 444913

263. Sophie Sharp -

270. Magda Perrett

joolswoodhouse.com

Lupin Designs

and Caroline Barnes

____________________________

PRINTMAKING AND PAINTING

MIXED MEDIA AND CERAMICS

276. Julie Oldfield

New House Farm Pottery, Broadoak,

Langley House, The Street,

MIXED MEDIA PAINTINGS

DT6 5NR. 01308 425517

Charmouth, DT6 6PE. 01297 560249

Applecot, Cathole Lane, Yawl, Lyme

lupindesigns.co.uk

cbceramics.co.uk

Regis, DT7 3XD. 01297 444672

____________________________

____________________________

julieoldfield.com

264. Billie Willcocks

271. Mark Swan

____________________________

PAINTING

and Trisha Hayman

277. Jo Fox and Justin Crofton

Coltswood, Bright Hay Lane, North

WOOD WORKER AND

PAINTINGS / FURNITURE

Chideock, DT6 6JZ. 01297 489827

WATERCOLOURIST

2 Old Park Cottages, Woodbury Lane,

billie@billiewillcocks.co.uk

3 Colway Rise, Colway Lane, Lyme

Axminster, EX13 5TL. 01297 35255

____________________________

Regis, DT7 3HJ. 01297 442789

jofoxartist.co.uk

265. Ros Hipkiss and Ann Walker

trishahayman.co.uk

____________________________

2 CHIDEOCK PAINTERS

____________________________

278. Jane Hedges

West House, The Warren, Chideock,

272. The Coach House Studio

PAINTING

DT6 6JW. 01297 489080

PRESSED BRITISH SEAWEED

Little Goyle, Monkton Wyld,

roshipkiss@hotmail.co.uk

AND SCREEN PRINTING

DT6 6DA. 01297 560488

____________________________

Burley, Silver Street, Lyme Regis,

ianmiddleton-sculpture.com

266. Sue Warren

DT7 3HS. 01297 444236

____________________________

PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING

madebyflorawood.com

Hardown Cottage, Love’s Lane,

____________________________

Morcombelake, DT6 6DZ. 01297 489404 suew@rren.org.uk ____________________________ bridporttimes.co.uk | 53

26TH MAY – 10TH JUNE 2018 279. Clare Trenchard,

285. Amanda Popham

291. Eeles Pottery

Baffy Turner and Rod Page

HAND-BUILT CERAMICS

CERAMICS, STONEWARE,

SCULPTURE, PAINTING,

Schoolhouse House, Thorncombe,

PORCELAIN AND RAINBOW RAKU

DRAWING, WOODTURNING

TA20 4PL. 01297 678559

Eeles Family Pottery, Mosterton,

Trenchard Studio, Lower Abbott’s

amandapopham@hotmail.com

near Beaminster, DT8 3HN. 01308

Wootton Farm, near Bridport,

____________________________

868257

DT6 6NL. 07876 242979

286. Corinna Pyman

eelespottery.co.uk

claretrenchard.com

HAND THROWN

____________________________

____________________________

STONEWARE CERAMICS

292. Tim Booth

280. Greta Berlin

Old Owls, Easthaye Lane, near Chard,

A FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHIC

LAND SCULPTURE

TA20 4PJ. 07730 507062

COLLECTION

AND STUDIO WORK

corinnapyman.com

Wantsley Farm, Broadwindsor Road,

Dodpen Cottage, Fishpond,

____________________________

near Beaminster, DT8 3PT. 07903

DT6 6NW. 01297 678462

287. Helen Lloyd-Elliott

369964

gretaberlinsculpture.com

LANDSCAPE PAINTER

timbooth.com

____________________________

Greenhill, High Street, Thorncombe,

____________________________

281. Marilyn Rose

TA20 4PH. 07867 802418

293. Mike Willdridge

SCULPTURE IN CERAMIC

helenlloydelliott.com

PAINTER AND PRINTMAKER

AND MIXED MEDIA

____________________________

Bell House, 5 Church Street,

Poppes Lawn, Holditch,

288. Bonfield Block-Printers

Beaminster, DT8 3AZ. 01308 862472

TA20 4NL. 01460 220201

BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED RELIEF

mikewilldridge-artist.com

marilynroseart@gmail.com

PRINTS

____________________________

____________________________

Bonfield Block-Printers, Fore Street,

294. Jenny Cuthbert

282. Björk Haraldsdóttir

Thorncombe, TA20 4PD. 01460

PAINTER AND PRINTMAKER

CERAMICS / 2017 MARSHWOOD

30268

The Cowie Room, Public Hall,

ARTS PRIZE WINNER

bonfieldblockprinters.com

Fleet Street, Beaminster,

Higher Holditch Farm, Holditch Lane,

____________________________

DT8 3EF. 01308 861146

Holditch, TA20 4NL. 07884 390205

289. Anne Roberts

jennycuthbert@btinternet.com

justbjork@me.com

and Flora Roberts

____________________________

____________________________

MIXED MEDIA PAINTINGS

295. The Skyrm 4

283. Jacy Wall

Wall Farm, Broadwindsor,

PAINTINGS, COLLAGRAPHS, LINO

WOVEN TAPESTRY AND PRINTS

DT8 3LB. 01308 867358

PRINTS, CERAMICS, WOOD

Newhouse, Hewood,

floraroberts.co.uk

Public Hall, Fleet Street, Beaminster,

TA20 4NP. 01460 221205

____________________________

DT8 3EH. 01935 471843

jacywall.co.uk

290. Carolyne Kardia

jillprestonpainter.co.uk

____________________________

‘REFORMING’ PAINTING

____________________________

284. Brian Rice

AND SCULPTURE

296. Wendy Hermelin

PAINTER AND PRINTMAKER

Fir Tree Farm, Bridport Road,

and Caroline Lewis

Newhouse, Hewood,

Broadwindsor, DT8 3LA

STITCHED TEXTILES,

TA20 4NP. 01460 221205

01308 868807

GLASS AND JEWELLERY

brianrice.co.uk

carolynekardia.co.uk

Hitts Cottage, Whitcombe Road,

____________________________

____________________________

Beaminster, DT8 3NE. 01308 862332 wendyhermelin.co.uk ____________________________

54 | Bridport Times | May 2018

ARTIST DIRECTORY WEST REGION 297. Coombe Down Studio

303. Suzy Moger

308. Penny Brown

PAINTING, SCULPTURE,

ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE

PAINTING, DRAWING

PHOTOGRAPHY, CERAMICS,

OIL PAINTING

AND COLLAGE

TMO LIGHTING

Pondmead, near Uploders,

33 High Street, Toller Porcorum,

Coombe Down, near Beaminster,

DT6 4PH. 07809 068907

DT2 0DN. 01300 320905

DT8 3LZ. 01308 862230

suzymoger.com

pennybrownillustrations.com

applefran@tiscali.co.uk

____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

304. Colleen du Pon

309. Rosie Britton

298. Gerry Dudgeon

Artist Blacksmith

VARIOUS MEDIA:

and Sonia Barton

IRONWORK FOR HOME,

REPRESENTATIONAL, SEMI-

CONTEMPORARY PAINTING

HEARTH AND GARDEN

ABSTRACT, ABSTRACT

Walnut Farm, Melplash,

Unit 1, Mappercombe Farm,

Gray’s Farmhouse, Toller Porcorum,

DT6 3UG. 01308 863273

Nettlecombe, DT6 3SS. 07745

DT2 0EJ. 01308 485574

gerrydudgeon.com

412623

rosiebritton.co.uk

____________________________

colleendupon.co.uk

____________________________

299. Giladjian Gallery

____________________________

310. Jill Jackson Franks

IMPRESSIONIST ART WITH

305. Zoe Main - Jem Main -

SCULPTURES AND CERAMICS

COLOUR AND MOVEMENT

Ali Herbert

Dairy House Farm, Lower Kingcombe,

Old School Hall, Mapperton,

DRAWINGS, CERAMICS,

DT2 0EQ. 01300 320217

DT8 3NR. 01935 83261

COLOURWORKS, RELIEFS +

jjfranks@mac.com

giladjian.co.uk

MAQUETTES

____________________________

____________________________

Studio, Mappercombe Farm,

311. Inspired by Nature:

300. Gemma Hibbs

Nettlecombe, DT6 3SS. 07595

The Kingcombe Centre

RELIEF PRINTMAKING

218764

PAINTING, SCULPTURE,

AND PAINTING

creative-helix.com

PHOTOGRAPHY, TEXTILES

1 Milton Mead, West Milton,

____________________________

The Kingcombe Centre, Lower

DT6 3SQ. 01308 485413

306. Browns Farm Creatives

Kingcombe, DT2 0EQ. 01300 320684

artslookbig.co.uk

FURNITURE, JEWELLERY,

kingcombe.org

____________________________

PRINT AND SCULPTURE

____________________________

301. Katherine Lloyd

Browns Farm, Nettlecombe,

312. Rachel Hewitt

STUDIO CERAMICS

DT6 3SS. 01308 485517

TEXTILES MACHINE EMBROIDERY

Jubilee Cottage, Milton Mill, West

aliceblogg.co.uk

2 The Barracks, Wynford Eagle,

Milton, DT6 3SN. 01308 485649

____________________________

DT2 0ER. 01300 321022

katherinelloyd@inbox.com

307. West Dorset Pottery & Studio

rachel.hewitt952@btinternet.com

____________________________

WOODFIRED POTTERY, CERAMICS

____________________________

302. John H N Wolfe

AND ART

313. Beverley Rouwen

SCULPTURE

North Eggardon Farm, Powerstock,

& Douglas Reeve

Dinkeys Plot, Mangerton Melplash,

DT6 3ST. 07746 941654

ARTIST AND CERAMICIST

DT6 3SG. 01308 485371

westdorsetpottery.com

The Long Barn, Kingston Russell,

johnwolfesculpture.com

____________________________

DT2 9EE. 07921 586863

____________________________

beverleyrouwen.com ____________________________ For full details of all participating artists please pick up a copy of the Dorset Art Weeks Guide or visit dorsetartweeks.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 55

Eat yourself well

Bespoke Nutritional Therapy for optimal health Effective solutions for managing: Children’s Health | Healthy Ageing | Hormone Imbalances Energy Balance | Digestive Complaints | Immune Function Weight Management | Mood & Mental Clarity | Fertility To discuss your goals, contact registered Nutritional Therapist Tamara Jones

(BSc hons, mBANT, mCNHC)

tamara@lovinghealthy.co.uk 56 | Bridport Times | May 2018

www.lovinghealthy.co.uk

FI V E CO U R S E F OO D & W I N E PA I R I N G E V EN I N G featuring five expressions of Sauvignon

Thursday 24th May, 7pm for a 7:30pm First Course Book now to avoid disappointment 01308 898302 bookings@theclubhousewestbexington.co.uk Beach Road, West Bexington, DT2 9DG www.theclubhousewestbexington.co.uk 12pm - 4pm Tuesday - Sunday (food served until 3pm) 6pm - 9pm Friday & Saturday (food served until 9pm)

bridporttimes.co.uk | 57

Food & Drink

CURD WITH RADISHES, SPRING ONIONS AND HERBS

Gill Meller, River Cottage

Image: © Andrew Montgomery 58 | Bridport Times | May 2018

I

have markers in my year, moments that signify where I am and how things are progressing around me, however, instead of dates in a diary, these are ingredients on my table. It’s a sort of culinary calendar which you only really get to write in if you cook seasonally.

Dates to remember will always include the appearance of the first elderflower of the year - a rite of June no less. The first tender stems of emerald asparagus are something quite fabulous, coinciding as they do with the wonderful St. George’s mushroom; the first bite of a crisp, juicy apple, straight from the tree, suggests summer will soon inevitably tumble into autumn.

Radishes have always signified the start of a new and exciting time in the kitchen. They are the first of many things pulled from the cool soil that can be eaten then and there, fresh and in the raw. The act is nothing more than a relief, particularly after a long winter. The texture of this little brassica is completely unique, somewhere between water and glass (in the best possible way), and the flavour has that most unusual ‘refreshing heat’.

I love the bur of their delicate light green leaves (a delicious salad leaf in its own right) and, in the case of the French Breakfast variety, how that deep red turns so gracefully into bright white.

There are many ways to enjoy the radish. They’re absolutely brilliant in a chilled soup, or sautéed in good olive oil with garlic, tarragon and lemon, or pickled in cider vinegar with coriander seeds and black pepper.

However, as with many things, it is hard to beat them raw. In France they love to dip them in soft, rich butter and flaky sea salt and devour the plump little things, perhaps with a glass of cider or chilled wine.

Down at River Cottage we serve radishes as a canapé at this time of year, unabashed, leaves on, and nice and cold. They might be accompanied by a freshly made taramasalata or a herby aioli, but the radish itself will always be the star of the show.

Now I’m not a gardener but I do know that radishes are pretty easy to grow. The seed can be sown in rows from March onwards. Keep them watered and eat any thinnings - that’s it! Who’d have thought!

This salad, beautifully fresh and simple to assemble, is based on the notion that pairing a smooth and rich curd cheese with something undeniably crunchy, such as new season firm red radishes, is always going to be a winner. Fresh garden herbs and lemon add a beautiful fragrance.

Ingredients

Serves 2 12 radishes with their green tops 4 spring onions 2 or 3 mint sprigs, leaves picked 1 small bunch of dill 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon 100g fresh sheep’s or goat’s curd Salt and freshly ground black pepper Method

1 Wash the radishes, then give them a quick trim if they need it, removing any tired leaves from the green tops. Using half of them, slice the roots across their circumference into rounds of 1–2mm thick. Place the radish slices in a bowl and set aside the tops.

2 Trim any roots from the spring onions, then thinly slice the white bulbs and most of the green stems at an angle. Add the onion slices to the sliced radish.

3 Chop half the mint leaves and half the dill and stir them through the radish and onion mixture, along with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, half the lemon juice and a little of the lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper, then stir again. Cut the remaining radishes in half from root to tip, trying to keep the green leaves attached to each half.

4 To assemble, place a spoonful of curd on a plate. Arrange half the radish halves and the reserved tops around the plate, then scatter over half the dressed radish and onion mixture. Repeat for a second plate. Tear over the remaining dill, then scatter over the remaining whole mint leaves, olive oil and lemon juice. Season again with salt and pepper, then serve straight away.

This recipe features in Gather by Gill Meller (Quadrille, £25).

Why not enjoy a taste of River Cottage at our Food Fair on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May? It’s a real family occasion and free for all under 16s. It is packed full of activities and family fun – from chef demos, artisan food stalls, children’s workshops, talks and live music to garden and foraging tours.

Tickets are £12.50 per adult and Bridport Times readers can get 10% off when quoting BRIDTIMES. For more details and to book see rivercottage.net or call Tamsyn in our Events Team on 01297 630302. rivercottage.net bridporttimes.co.uk | 59

Food & Drink

PORK RILLETTE WITH PICKLES

R

illettes de Tours are a typical French preparation originally from the Loire district, and a very useful way of preserving pork. Although sometimes made with goose or duck, it is pork that tends to be the most popular.

Rillettes - a constant favourite at our restaurant - are made in a similar way to pâtÊ and are always best served with sourdough toast, along with a pickle of some form; piccalilli is very popular, but the classic is cornichons. It is perfect as a starter but can also be served as part of a light lunch with cheese, bread, pickles and salad.

60 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Cass Titcombe, Brassica Restaurant You can experiment with different vegetables in the pickles as long as you cut them thinly and follow the same ratios of vinegar/sugar/water. Try different vegetable flavour combinations such as cucumber with onion seeds and dill, cauliflower with thinly sliced garlic, lemon and bay leaves, or squash with saffron and chilli flakes.

When it comes to meat we are very choosy and work closely with a local organic farm from where we buy whole Berkshire pork carcasses once a month. These are then broken down in-house, some cuts being used

immediately on the menu and others stored and cured to make our own Berkshire bacon, guanciale (pig’s cheek bacon), sausages, rillettes and faggots.

In my opinion this is the finest pork I have ever tasted.

The legs make the best roast, as evidenced by the fact that we are often booked up weeks in advance for Sunday lunch! The legs are boned and then seasoned with ground fennel and pepper and slowly roasted until the skin makes the most amazing crackling. They are served with big jugs of proper gravy and potatoes roasted in the fat.

We are keen supporters of whole animal butchery and work closely with a number of small local farmers buying rare breed, outdoor-reared and organic meat.

The main advantage is the taste, along with the added benefit of supporting small producers with a lower environmental impact than larger scale production.

This also doubles up as very useful training for our junior chefs as it gives them a greater understanding of butchery skills and of all the different uses of the carcass, ensuring nothing is wasted.

RiIlettes

Serves plenty and can keep in the fridge for up to a week.

1kg organic pork belly, nice and fatty (boneless and with rind removed) 1 head of garlic thyme, a few sprigs 3 bay leaves 250ml dry white wine black pepper 10g salt big pinch of mace and allspice 1 Cut the pork belly into 2-3cm cubes and place in a deep oven-proof dish (a casserole is ideal but ensure it’s not too large as it needs to cook covered in fat and wine). Season with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

2 Peel the garlic cloves and bash, add these along with the thyme, bay and wine. Cover with a lid and cook at 150°C for 5-6 hours or until the meat is very soft and falling apart; check from time to time to ensure it’s not cooking too quickly as this may cause all of the liquid to evaporate. Turn the oven down slightly if so.

3 Once the meat is cooked remove from the oven and leave for 30 minutes to cool slightly.

4 Remove the lid and discard the thyme and bay

leaves, strain all the liquid from the meat and reserve all the fat and the juices.

5 Either with your hand or a fork, mix up the cooked pork belly to break it up, then pour back in all of the cooking juices and fat. Check seasoning to taste and add mace and allspice. Stir until all the liquid is combined with the meat, leave to cool down but not until set and stir again to emulsify all the liquid with meat. Pack into jars or an earthenware dish and chill overnight.

Pickles

3 large carrots 4 sticks celery 250ml cider vinegar 250ml water 50g sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon each of coriander and black mustard seeds 3 strips of orange peel 6 Peel carrots and cut into half lengthways and then into thin strips, use a mandoline if you have one, otherwise use a sharp knife. Wash the celery sticks and cut crossways into thin strips.

7 Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and leave for half an hour.

8 Put all other ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil, pack the vegetables into a 1-litre jar and pour over boiling vinegar, cover and cool. These will be ready to eat the next day but can be kept until needed.

To serve

Remove some or all of the rillettes from the fridge at least half an hour before eating, drain off the pickles and add some cornichons to the mix, serve with plenty of toasted sourdough.

Brassica piccalilli can be bought from our shop which is next door to the restaurant.

We are holding a number of events throughout the spring and summer including our Dorset Fish Supper Club in Lamyatt, Somerset in May and an Outdoor Feast at Lower Hewood Farm in June. Our Paella Suppers are every last Wednesday of the month. brassicarestaurant.co.uk brassicamercantile.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 61

Food & Drink

SCALLOPS WITH RAMSON PESTO AND CRISPY PANCETTA Charlie Soole, The Club House, West Bexington

T

here is nothing better than fresh scallops just picked off the seabed and popped out of the shell. I knew a diver on the Isle of Mull in Scotland who would bring me anything that he had found on his exploratory dives. We would shuck them and either fry them off in a little butter, garlic and lemon juice or finely dice them and eat them cevichestyle with lime juice, chilli, ginger and coriander. They have a smooth delicate texture and such a sweet and slightly salty flavour. In my mind they are one of the best products that come from our seas.

At this time of year we are always waiting for the bounty of spring to appear. There is nothing better than spring asparagus, spring peas, and that wonderful indicator that spring has arrived, ramsons. These have taken a little longer this year as the Beast from the East seems to have slowed things down a bit.

Ramsons are a type of wild garlic that you can find in hedgerows, by rivers or in shady glens. They have a wonderful garlic flavour and the leaves can be either blanched or blended into sauces as we have done here in a simple pesto. The beautiful white flowers are also edible and can be added to your dish as a garnish to really show it off.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a main course 20 hand-dived scallops Soft butter 100g pancetta cut into cubes 50g toasted hazelnuts A good handful of ramsons (Wild Garlic) 300ml extra-virgin rapeseed oil Juice of half a lemon Sea salt Ramson flowers to garnish

62 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Method

1 In a food processor blend the ramson leaves and hazelnuts with the rapeseed oil. You can use a good extra virgin olive oil if you prefer. Add the lemon juice and season to taste. You should come out with a stiff pesto sauce. If you need to thicken it add a few more ramson leaves, or a bit more oil if you need to loosen it.

2 Crisp the pancetta in a frying pan with a little oil.

Take care not to burn the pancetta. Set the pancetta to one side on some paper towel.

3 Brush the scallops in butter and season with salt and pepper. Place them in the same pan in which you fried the pancetta. The oil from the pancetta will impart more flavour into the scallops. Cook on each side for about a minute each, depending on the size of the scallops. Do not overcook them or they will become tough and rubbery. Just before you finish cooking them add the pancetta back to the pan to warm through. When the scallops are done keep them warm and rest for a minute.

4 To plate the dish, place a teaspoon of pesto for each of the scallops on the plate and place a scallop on each one. Place some of the pancetta cubes around the plate. Take a small bit of the pesto mix and add a touch more oil to it and then spoon over the plate. If you have some ramson flowers, use these to garnish.

Enjoy. theclubhousewestbexington.co.uk

Image: Kate Newman bridporttimes.co.uk | 63

Wedding Fayre Sunday 20th May 2018

Canapés & Bucks Fizz on arrival.

Special discount if you book us as your wedding venue on the day.

Local experts & suppliers including: • Bridal & Menswear • Photography/Videography • Photo booth • Floral Design & Decoration • D.J. • Bands & Entertainment • Jewellery & Accessories • Cakes & Confectionery • Stationery • Hair & Beauty

Visit our on site spa, the Crystal courtyard Call the spa on 01935 483435or speak to them on the day Open from 11:00am to 3:00pm FREE parking and entry. Refreshments available all day Why not book Sunday lunch as well Wardon Hill, Evershot, Nr. Dorchester, Dorset DT2 9PW Tel: 01935 483430

www.gahotel.co.uk 64 | Bridport Times | May 2018

6 TIPS FOR A BETTER NIGHT’S SLEEP Tamara Jones, Nutritional Therapist and Founder, Loving Healthy

W

e are a nation of poor sleepers, with nearly half of all adults getting less than six hours’ sleep a night. We all occasionally have difficulty nodding off or we might wake up in the middle of the night but, for some, short-term insomnia can become a chronic problem. There are dozens of possible causes: stress, anxiety, hormone imbalance, overindulgence in food, caffeine, alcohol - and let’s not forget children! It can also be a side-effect of some prescription medications.

66 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Why do we need sleep?

Sleep is instrumental to our overall physical and emotional wellbeing. Our body needs sleep to repair, restore, and rejuvenate. The truth is that most of us do not make sleep a priority because of work, family and daily stress. However, when your sleep habits are compromised so is your quality of life.

If we’re getting too little, it can increase stress, disturb mood and impair our ability to concentrate.

It is also associated with a whole host of health

Image: Molly Matchum

Body & Mind

“improving quality of sleep can have a hugely beneficial impact on our ability to make healthy food choices.” problems including short-term memory loss, behavioural problems, obesity, and diabetes, plus it increases our risk of heart disease and cancer.

Studies have found that the more tired a person is, the more they eat during the day in an attempt to perk themselves up, which can easily add up to weight gain over time. This is because sleep deprivation alters our hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin) and decreases activity in the brain regions that help to evaluate how hungry we feel. So, improving quality of sleep can have a hugely beneficial impact on our ability to make healthy food choices.

Learn how to get a better night’s sleep with these 6 tips.

Caffeine before 12

Avoid caffeine (coffee, tea, green tea, matcha) after midday. We all metabolise caffeine very differently and many of us take several hours to process it.

Tryptophan

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that plays many vital roles in the body. In the brain, tryptophan is converted to serotonin and melatonin, which are natural sleep-inducing hormones. Foods high in the amino acid tryptophan, such as turkey, watercress, mushrooms, legumes, milk, cottage cheese, chicken, eggs, and nuts (especially almonds), may help to promote sleep.

Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral. Research has shown that there may be a connection between magnesium and sleep, with some studies showing that magnesium supplementation could help reduce insomnia. Taking a hot bath with Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) is another good way of supplementing our magnesium levels as the magnesium is absorbed through the skin.

Food sources include spinach, kale, peas, beans, bananas, avocados and almonds.

Cherry juice

Studies have found that drinking cherry juice right before bed is a good way to help you get to sleep. In fact, some research has found it to be just as effective as taking melatonin (sleep hormone). Not only is this a healthy way to promote sleep, it also tastes delicious!

Keep your room dark

Darkness is a signal to our bodies that it’s time to rest.

It triggers the production of melatonin, which is the hormone that’s largely responsible for helping us go to sleep. Make sure the bedroom is completely dark and well-ventilated. Blackout curtains are designed to provide protection against unwanted light.

Avoid blue light for 60 minutes before bed

It’s so tempting to keep on watching TV, surfing the internet, or sending last-minute work emails rather than making an active decision to fall asleep. The bright screens on electronics can lead to alertness because the blue light reduces the sleep hormone melatonin. Try and switch off all technology - phones, computers and laptops - 60 minutes before bed. Instead try having a relaxing bath or reading a book.

The following recipe is one that I share with most of my clients – you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start your day! It’s a source of magnesium, melatonin and tryptophan and so aids restful sleep.

Sleepy Pink Smoothie Ingredients

Serves 1-2 1 banana, peeled and chopped into chunks Large handful of frozen raspberries 2 teaspoons tahini 2 tablespoons sour cherry juice concentrate (e.g. Cherry Active) 1 cup of almond milk Method

Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend at high-speed. Enjoy! lovinghealthy.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 67

Body & Mind

KEEPING THE FOCUS ONE-POINTEDNESS (EKAGRATA) Jane Fox, Yogaspace

Image: Katharine Davies 68 | Bridport Times | May 2018

I

n today’s culture we can often find ourselves in a state of ‘all-pointedness’. Our awareness is drawn in countless directions with mobile technology, the multitasking of modern life and a multitude of sounds notifying us about something. The yoga teachings tell us that this state of all-pointedness dissipates and drains our energy.

The yogic practice of Ekagrata - one pointedness allows our minds to focus and concentrate, conserving our energy and enabling us to hold that awareness both for our physical asana practice and for extended meditation.

Yoga is made up of 8 parts, or limbs: • YAMA - Restraints, disciplines • NIYAMA - Positive duties or observances • ASANA - Posture • PRANAYAMA - Breathing techniques • PRATYAHARA - Sense withdrawal • DHARANA - Focused concentration • DHYANA - Meditative absorption • SAMADHI - Bliss or enlightenment It is a woven discipline of all the above limbs. In the West we have become more familiar with the third limb. ‘Asana’ actually means ‘seat’ and this practice was created specifically to allow the yogi to find his or her ‘sthira sukham asanam’, a steady and comfortable seat for meditation, according to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, ancient Indian texts.

Recently, I had the great good fortune to be taught by a brilliant, dedicated and inspiring teacher, Hamsa of Sattva Yoga, in the mountains in France (Sattvayogachamonix.com). He is the embodiment of soft and strong. One day he passionately exclaimed, ‘Yoga is Awareness!’ and reminded us that the word Yoga means union, that it is the uniting or weaving together of the physical, mental and energetic bodies. We do this in our practice through the synchronised breath and postures together with gaze point for each pose (Drishti).

Without this awareness we move from muscle memory and are not practicing yoga. He shared that beginners are often doing a lot more yoga than advanced students due to their intense concentration. Also, that the more advanced poses are given to adepts in order to keep this acute awareness, not to achieve physical prowess.

Every day we need to keep refocusing our awareness back to our one-pointed vision. “Ignore the clouds and look for the sun in their midst. As you concentrate on the light, your mind also will become peaceful.” (Swami Muktananda) When we practice yoga we are making new neural pathways to help us react less and be conscious more.

Neural pathways are strengthened into habits through the repetition and practice of thinking, feeling and

acting. “Each time we practice we create great new habits.”

(Krishna Das) (Krishnadas.com) The Zen Buddhist master and teacher Roshi Philip Kapleau, at the end of his life and in great physical discomfort from advanced Parkinsons Disease, said: “It doesn’t matter how much practice you do. If you don’t bring it into your daily life, it is all a waste.”

This is so powerful. It is so much easier to be a great yogi on the mat. How many times have I had a great practice then gone out into life - to a stressful meeting or to receive a phone call with some challenging news only to lose that state of connection and consciousness?

Applying the skills learnt in the yoga class and home practice to our daily lives is where it all begins. It is here we need to be warriors: peaceful warriors, but warriors nonetheless. It takes strength and dedication to move through our lives with consciousness and a one-pointed focus. Open and soft; committed and strong!

Next time you find yourself in a state of all-pointedness, try some simple poses such as the sun salutation to find your ‘steady, comfortable seat’ and then perform a few rounds of alternate nostril breathing to return to your one-pointedness.

Practice: alternate nostril breathing – Nadi Shodana

• Take a comfortable seat.

• Relax your left palm comfortably into your lap and fold in index and middle finger of your right hand. You will be using your thumb and ring finger.

• Close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out through your nose.

• Close your right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale through the left nostril slowly and steadily.

• Close the left nostril with your ring finger so both nostrils are held closed; retain your breath at the top of the inhale for a brief pause.

• Open your right nostril and release the breath slowly through the right side; pause briefly at the bottom of the exhale.

• Inhale through the right side slowly.

• Hold both nostrils closed (with ring finger and thumb).

• Open your left nostril and release breath slowly through the left side. Pause briefly at the bottom.

Repeat 5-10 cycles, allowing your mind to follow your inhales and exhales.

Janie teaches yoga in Bridport.

All details on Yogaspacebridport.com Krishnasdas.com Sattvayogachamonix.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 69

Body & Mind

HEART MEDICINE FROM HAWTHORN, THE MAY TREE

T

Caroline Butler, Medical Herbalist BSc (Hons) MNIMH

his is a beautiful time of year and, going for a walk in the countryside, I can see lots of wonderful plants, many of them with medicinal uses. However, the month of May for me particularly belongs to hawthorn, otherwise known as quickthorn or maythorn. This common hedging tree lines the roadsides and borders many of our fields, and it is impossible to miss the abundance of thick, white or pink blossom as it bursts into flower.

Perhaps because it blossoms around May Day, or Beltane, it has been a symbol of fertility, and is also associated with fairy legends. Although the tree was seen as having a protective influence, it had to be treated with respect and it was unlucky to bring a flowering branch into your house. Like elder, another plant steeped in folklore, hawthorn represents the stages of womanhood: the white flowers the maiden, the red berries the mother, and the thorns the crone protecting them.

Ancient uses of hawthorn are more concerned with its worth as a stock barrier and food source, and medicinal use was mainly for urinary troubles and gout.

However, for well over a hundred years, it has been used for cardiovascular health and this is how I use it as a modern-day herbalist. Hawthorn is one of the best herbal medicines for the heart. The leaves, flowers and berries are all used to strengthen the heart muscle and help it work more efficiently, improving the circulation of blood around the body and keeping arteries healthy.

By dilating coronary arteries, hawthorn ensures a good supply of blood to the heart to provide the oxygen it needs, and by relaxing constricted blood vessels it enables better circulation to the arms and legs. It is 70 | Bridport Times | May 2018

used to lower high blood pressure and for heart failure and angina; research shows it may also lower blood cholesterol. Combined with its protective effect on blood vessels and antioxidant properties, this can help prevent the build-up of the fatty plaques in arteries which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. It can also be used to treat intermittent claudication, ‘angina of the legs’, a condition where the legs’ muscles don’t get enough oxygen due to an inadequate blood supply and which can cause a lot of pain.

Depending on the condition being treated, and the individual person’s needs, herbalists combine hawthorn with a variety of herbs. For high blood pressure I often use it with cramp bark and lime flower, and to improve circulation I might add yarrow, or ginger. Where these

are associated with oedema, or swelling, dandelion leaf is a very useful addition. Motherwort is a calming herb with an anti-arrhythmic action that can help when there is an irregular heartbeat.

Hawthorn is healing for the heart on an emotional level too, where there is a sense of grief or loss, whether after a bereavement, the end of a relationship or other life change. It eases feelings of anxiety and stress and is protective, helping us through difficult times. If I am using hawthorn in this way I usually combine it with other calming herbs, such as skullcap or rose.

Hawthorn’s strength is in its combined effects on both the physical and emotional level. Drinking the occasional cup of tea made from the dried leaves and flowers of this lovely herb would do most of us good, as

a preventative against future problems with the heart and circulation, and as a relaxing way to unwind.

Hawthorn has been the subject of a large amount of scientific research to investigate its safety and benefit in treating various forms of cardiovascular disease. The literature is overwhelmingly positive, with hawthorn shown to be effective and free of unpleasant side-effects, and safe to take alongside most conventional medicines.

Heart disease is a serious condition and you should not attempt to treat it without consulting a trained healthcare professional. Consult a medical herbalist before taking herbs alongside other cardiovascular drugs. herbalcaroline.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 71

MANY DISPLAYS

TO CLEAR DUE TO SHOWROOM REFURBISHMENT UP TO 60% OFF

Victoria & Albert Toulouse bath with Lefroy Brooks Classic bath/shower and Basin mixer, La Chapelle WC, Basin, Mirror and Accessories.

£3950.00 RRP £8595.00

Globe 450mm x 800mm heated LED mirror with infrared on/off

£149.00 RRP £323.00

50 Years Experience | Exclusive Products No Obligation CAD Design Service

we are a local family run business offering you the best possible priceswith the assurance of superior quality around generous year-round discounts

01305 259996 www.bathroominspirationsdorchester.com Mill House | Millers Close | The Grove Trading Estate Dorchester | DT1 1SS

SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE CLEARANCE OFFERS 72 | Bridport Times | May 2018

PROPERTY EXPERTS SINCE 1910 If you are thinking of selling your home, please contact us for a free market appraisal

47 South Street, Bridport, DT6 3NY bridport@jackson-stops.co.uk jackson-stops.co.uk

Local & National reach through a network of London & Regional offices PROPERTY EXPERTS SINCE 1910

BRIDPORT 01308 423133

Interiors

SIGNS OF LIFE Molly Bruce, Interior Designer

W

hen I walk into a house, the first things that grab my attention are the signs of life: clues as to who lives there and what kind of lives they lead. I am nosey, but I know that I am not alone in this. I have heard of people viewing properties on the market with no intention of buying, just to satisfy their intrigue for a building or the history of its occupants. Our human race is a curious species.

Every house can have its own personality, a reflection of its free-thinking occupants. Everybody has a story to tell, and we have the power to create our own special atmospheres by personalising our spaces. This is what sets our homes apart from each other, making them interesting not only to us but also to visitors as well. The secret is to put our personalities out in the open.

This is what makes the difference between stepping through the doorway of a home and finding it warm and welcoming rather than cold and clinical.

Sentimental possessions play a large part in transforming a house into a home. Displaying your personal artefacts and all they represent will bring positivity into a space, making a focal point. Memories of happy times can be kept alive for you and can be shared with others. This is also an extremely affordable way to create a focal point in any room.

There is something a little sad about family albums or scrapbooks squirrelled away on a dusty shelf, safe but forgotten about for most of the time. When I visit houses, I am always drawn in by the photographs out on display and the stories they tell. I had a friend whose entire kitchen wall was covered in polaroid and photo-booth snaps, collated over the years and covering at least a decade of her personal history. I never tired of looking at that wall and always found something new that I hadn’t spotted before. In the same way, my son used to spend long periods of time scrutinising an old screen I had collaged with movie memorabilia.

The personal collections on display in my home include not just family photographs but pictures drawn by my children when they were small, even self-portraits drawn on balloons, now shrunken but still smiling back at me.

I display my son’s first pair of green jelly shoes - works of art in their own right, now complemented by his not-so-miniature cowboy boots brought back from Texas by his grandparents. Everything from trinkets passed down through the family or acquired on the market to travel mementos and the lines on the wall charting the growth of my children, they all play an important part in making our home real. >

74 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Image: Matt Hayden bridporttimes.co.uk | 75

Image: Matt Hayden

Collage is another way to collect material together to make a bold and entertaining statement. I cover large areas with images in my home as well as for commission. I did this for the excellent Soulshine Cafe in Bridport, where I was presented with a pile of maps showing places where the owners had travelled and asked to incorporate them into several collages to be installed in the building. Maps make brilliant coverings for walls or furniture, steeped in the intrigue of places you aspire to visit, or have already been to, providing the opportunity to add the bus and train tickets you brought back. Memorabilia are a great way to get the ‘you’ into a space: pieces of fabric, cinema or festival tickets, stamps, postcards, recipes, whatever holds special memories for you.

You could choose a place in your home where people gather or identify a neglected space you would like to make more of - a stairwell, or even the downstairs 76 | Bridport Times | May 2018

loo - and let your creativity run riot! Find space where everyone’s personality can be celebrated, where children can be allowed the freedom to express themselves without worrying about scratched paintwork.

So, think of all you hold close to your heart. Happy memories, hopes and aspirations. Collections that signify positivity, that you want to take forward with you in life, and with which you can influence those around you. Ask what relevant messages you want to convey to others. Get in the attic, rummage around and find your forgotten treasures. Research your family tree, stick the children’s certificates on the fridge so that they can remember their achievements, and acknowledge your own. Put your history on the walls and keep adding to it until your home oozes personality, positivity and love. mollybruce.co.uk @mollybruceinteriordesign

West Dorset Garden Services

All aspects of garden work undertaken Maintenance Lawns, Hedges, Pruning, Borders, Weeding & Rejuvenation

Residential Lettings and Block Management Specialists

Design and Creation Fencing, Decking, Patios, Planting Plans

It’s all about expectation…

Contact Rose Chaney 01308 425567 eve 07840 910025 day rose.sophia.chaney@gmail.com

Auction Valuations

Offering a bespoke and comprehensive service to all sized blocks and properties by an experienced, professional and friendly team. Contact us to see how we can help you.

01305 751722

49 High West Street, Dorchester DT1 1UT www.templehillproperty.co.uk

HOME EXTENSIONS OR NEW BUILDS Planning applications and building regulations applications submitted

For auction advice with no fee or obligation please contact Sally Bartlett on 01308 456208

01308 281 872 • info@j-s-designs.co.uk

An Art Deco emerald and diamond bracelet Sold for £3,250

www.j-s-designs.co.uk

St. Edmund’s Court, Okehampton Street, Exeter, Devon EX4 1DU T: 01392 413100 W: www.bhandl.co.uk E: enquiries@bhandl.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 77

Interiors

WITH THE CHANGING OF THE SEASONS Annabelle Hunt, Colour Consultant, Bridport Timber and Flooring

D

uring long, dark winter days and nights, cocooning spaces in inky tones offer a cosy retreat from the world. But with the changing of the seasons, the way we use our homes also shifts. Whilst I absolutely love a darkly painted room, during the spring and summer it is lovely to make the most of bright and airy spaces. As the days get longer and warmer I long to throw open the windows and welcome the sunlight in.

When planning an interior decorating scheme, it’s important to think about how the rooms connect and flow throughout a house. Internal doors are rarely kept closed all the time, so think of the view from one room into another as a vista offering a tantalising glimpse of what lies beyond.

In the same way, connect inside and out by considering how a room relates to the views from its windows. Create a sense of continuity between inside and outside and you will find that your gaze will be drawn outwards through the windows and your room will instantly feel bigger. A great way of doing this is to use whatever colour you have on your internal walls outside as well, on the garden fence, a bench, or some pots. Blur the boundaries even more by using the same colour on both walls and window frames. Having no contrast here means that you become less aware of the frame itself and the eye is not distracted by anything but the view.

If you don’t have a room with a view, taking inspiration from nature is still the perfect way to help bring the outside in. A few stems of foliage gathered from the garden or a hedgerow, or a bowl of bright lemons make simple statements. You could also bring a longer-lasting element of growth and rejuvenation to a room by introducing flowing naturalistic pattern with a gorgeous floral wallpaper such as Farrow and Ball’s Helleborus.

Not all colours found in the natural world are soft and muted neutrals: think of vibrant spring greens such as Farrow and Ball’s Yeabridge Green No. 287, a fresh avocado green reminiscent of lush grass, or bright shots of acid yellows such as Yellowcake No. 279, or bursts of rhubarb pink.

Beautiful accent colours can easily be added to a neutral palette. However, just as in nature, try using strong bright shades in small pops unless you’re feeling really bold.

As most outside spaces are filled with natural light, you can be brave though. Consider what sort of atmosphere you want to create and choose accent colours a shade or two darker than you might choose to use inside. Lime White No.1 with its underlying green or earthy String No. 8 will blend beautifully into rural surroundings, whereas either of Farrow and Ball’s charcoals, Down Pipe No. 26 or Railings No. 31, suit more contemporary or industrial buildings, creating a strong, dramatic look.

Clear, bright colours such as Farrow and Ball’s St. Giles Blue No. 280 will create a joyful, Mediterranean feel. Black, or off-black, makes a fabulous backdrop for planting as it makes leaves appear lush and green, whereas softer, organic shades such as Vert De Terre No. 234 or Lichen No. 19. will provide a subtle, muted backdrop, allowing beautiful blooms and strong planting schemes to take centre stage. bridporttimber.co.uk

78 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Wall: Farrow & Ball Helleborus BP 5606 Skirting: Farrow & Ball Pitch Blue bridporttimes.co.uk | 79

Sherborne O1935 814O27 Half Moon Street, Sherborne, DT9 3LN CLOTHES

Dorchester O13O5 265223 Tudor Arcade, Dorchester, DT1 1BN

www.melburygallery.co.uk JEWELLERY SCARVES GIFTS

HOME

RUBY in the DUST Vintage Home Antiques Decorative finds St. Michaels Lane, Bridport

rubydust57_

07970 700983

DORSET’S LEADING LANDSCAPING COMPANY RHS Silver-Gilt award winning landscapers, covering Bridport and surrounding areas. Sister company to Sherborne Turf and experts in lawn care, garden design and landscaping. www.queenthorne.garden

01935 850848

BEAUTIFUL GARDENS | DESIGNED | BUILT | MAINTAINED 80 | Bridport Times | May 2018

Chris Chapman

Bespoke Kitchens & Furniture Open Tuesday - Friday 10am to 3pm Saturday - 10am to 1pm All other times by appointment 9 The Square, Beaminster, Dorset DT8 3AW 01308 861121 kitchens@chrischapmanltd.co.uk www.chrischapmanltd.co.uk

Curtains, Blinds, Shutters, Fabrics, Ready-Made Curtains, Fitting Service and more...

Seattle Wooden Shutters

WaggyDogz Country Cushions

Luxaflex Duette Blinds

Forever Spring - Eau de Nil

Dorchester: 01305 250990 19 High West Street, DT1 1UW

Frome: 01373 465678 22 Christchurch St. West, BA11 1EE

www.stevebanefabrics.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 81

Gardening

82 | Bridport Times | May 2018

MAKING SENSE Charlie Groves, Groves Nurseries

I

’m a dad to three young girls and I notice that they don’t do a lot of walking around, admiring the beautiful flowers when in the garden! However, they will often touch them, smell them, even taste them if they know they can (they like nothing more than a good nasturtium!). They use all of their senses when enjoying the garden, although to be honest there isn’t much quiet listening going on.

Sight and, to a large extent, smell are the two obvious senses used in most gardens. All gardens appeal to the senses in one way or another but a sensory garden strives to maximise the sensory experience for the visitor through plants and landscaping, encouraging them to touch, taste, look and listen, and to interact with particular plants, features or objects.

Sensory gardens are often created in schools to introduce children to the pleasures of gardening, and they are also being designed more and more for people living with disabilities, poor eyesight or dementia, as they offer a peaceful, safe and tactile haven for them to enjoy. They are therapeutic and help to reduce stress levels, a lovely place to sit after a fraught day at work, and a blissful spot to enjoy a book or a glass of wine.

Sounds perfect doesn’t it, so how do you design one to enjoy yourself ?

Well, designing a sensory garden requires a slightly different approach depending on who will be using it.

Schools using it as a teaching tool would probably keep the area fairly small with plant heights low and lots of colourful flowers plus vegetables such as tomatoes, strawberries and radishes for the children to eat. A garden for people in wheelchairs would ideally need to be larger with wider paths and easy turning spots, whilst a garden for the blind would benefit from lots of fragrance, plants that were good to touch and the sound of birds, crunching gravel, moving water and wind whistling through leaves.

If you would like to create a sensory garden or just add a few elements to your existing garden, here are a few suggestions to help you on your way: • Start with a well-thought-out plan and be sure to accommodate space for the mature size of the plants you have chosen.

• Incorporate hardscape elements such as benches, paths, bird feeders and bird baths - even garden art or mirrors for an added effect.

• Choose a mix of plants that will give year-round colour, fragrance and interest.

• Choose plants that have scent during the day and also at dusk, e.g. Nicotiana.

• Select specific colour schemes to create different ambiences. Bright oranges, yellows and reds are energising and stimulating while blues, greens, soft pinks, creams and whites are more calming.

• Choose plants that are great to touch. Both sighted and blind visitors will enjoy the soft velvety leaves of Stachys or spiky plants such as Aloe Vera (avoid roses or anything with thorns). Fleshy leaves and feathery ferns are ideal, and the bark of certain trees can give a tactile experience.

• Include edible plants such as strawberries, raspberries and other cane fruit, as well as vegetables, herbs and spices, or fruit trees.

• Movement is important - grasses are perfect for this.

• Incorporate a water feature as the sound is calming, and children and adults will love running their fingers through it on a hot day.

• Ideally, pathways should be bordered with aromatic plants whose scent is released when brushed against.

• Plant shrubs and flowers that will attract bees and butterflies, for instance Buddleia, Lavender, Echinacea, Sweet Rocket and Michaelmas Daisies.

• For children, plants such as Sunflowers, Zinnias and Marigolds are a must.

• Make sure you have places to sit, preferably both in shady and sunny spots.

• Stick to fruit and vegetables that you know are safe to eat if children are using the sensory garden unsupervised.

• Incorporate raised beds at different heights if possible.

Follow these tips and I am sure your garden will develop into a haven where the sights, scents, sounds, flavours and textures make you and your visitors feel happier, calmer and better about the world. grovesnurseries.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 83

Literature

LITERARY REVIEW Antonia Squire, The Bookshop

The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse (Panmacmillan, 2018) ÂŁ20 (limited edition hardcover) Exclusive Bridport Times reader price of ÂŁ17.50 while stocks last

I

n the burning heat of the Transvaal a woman finally finds what she has spent a lifetime looking for. It is the final piece of a puzzle her family has been tracing for over three centuries. At the very moment she has spent her life and her fortune searching for, her ages-old familial enemy finds her and attacks.

Three hundred years earlier, in 1562, a young woman in Carcassonne, France tries to keep her family together after her father returns from a trip to the Inquisition a broken man. She has spent her life in a bookshop that caters to both her Catholic and Huguenot neighbours but the mounting religious tensions in France are beginning to have a detrimental effect on her town.

A young Huguenot soldier is on a mission in Carcassonne to sell a priceless, stolen, Catholic relic to help fund the Huguenot militia in Toulouse. Hunted by a former friend and rising star in the Catholic church, he must find a way to escape.

Meanwhile, in a castle overlooking a small

village, a noblewoman poisons her violent husband and sets out to eliminate any threat to her inheritance.

Fear and mistrust are everywhere as ordinary people desperately struggle to go on with their lives when the merest spark can ignite the flames of bigotry, prejudice and violence.

Minou and her family, Piet and his comrades, and those who would seek to harm them all believe that they are on the side of what is right and good. Can anyone win in such times?

Set against the backdrop of the French religious wars during the regency of Catherine de Medici, this thrilling historical saga is the first in a new series by Kate Mosse.

This limited-edition print is signed, numbered and hand-stamped with an exclusive crest on a specially designed tip-in page. There is also an exclusive letter from Kate Mosse and a ribbon! Only available from independent booksellers, you can get yours for a special price at The Bookshop, Bridport. dorsetbooks.com

bridporttimes.co.uk | 85

Vinyl records of all styles and types bought and sold HiFi & Vintage Radios New, Pre-owned, Repaired Open Wednesday - Saturday 10am - 5pm

01308 458077

www.clocktowermusic.co.uk

10a St Michael’s Art & Vintage Quarter, Bridport, DT6 3RR

APRIL SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. Moral obligation (4) 3. Introduction (8) 9. Foot support (7) 10. Essential (5) 11. Loving (12) 13. Explanation (6) 15. Treelike grass (6) 17. Constantly; always (12) 20. Large spoon with a long handle (5) 21. Uncommon (7) 22. Small stall at an exhibition (8) 23. Close (4) 86 | Bridport Times | May 2018

DOWN 1. Gives up any hope (8) 2. One who steals (5) 4. Made good on a debt (6) 5. Beneficial (12) 6. Large household water container (7) 7. ___ Macpherson: model (4) 8. Courtesy (12) 12. Knowing many languages (8) 14. Evaded (7) 16. Not genuine (6) 18. Hard and durable (5) 19. Mountain system in Europe (4)

The Joinery Works, Alweston Sherborne, Dorset DT9 5HS Tel: 01963 23219 Fax: 01963 23053 Email: info@fcuffandsons.co.uk

www.fcuffandsons.co.uk

DESIGNERS AND MAKERS OF BEAUTIFUL FINE BESPOKE JOINERY SINCE 1897

Hardwood Flooring Specialists Registered Farrow & Ball Stockist Bespoke In-Home Colour Consultancy Certified Bona Contractor

11 Dreadnought Trading Estate, Bridport DT6 5BU 01308 458443 www.bridporttimber.co.uk