Woodhouse Farm News Blog

At a fund-raising occasion for a local church last week, we were lucky enough to win two theatre vouchers in the raffle. We are extremely fortunate to have the theatre at Malvern close to us. A twenty minute drive up and over the Malvern Hills will bring you to this renowned centre of the arts.  The main Festival theatre puts on a wide range of excellent drama and music, the Forum theatre puts on concerts and dance and there is also a cinema. Many of the shows are West End ones and one can see opera, ballet and ice shows as well as exciting drama, comedy and tribute bands. Names such as Timothy West, Prunella Scales, Martin Shaw, Patricia Routledge, Brenda Blethyn and Nigel Havers can be seen in a smaller and more intimate setting than the huge West End theatres. Click on the photographs to take you to the Malvern Theatres website.

Herefordshire Art Week (h.Art) is an open studio event, giving people an opportunity to visit artists’ studios and attend workshops and exhibitions. Divided into five routes, (Hereford city, East, West, North and South of the county), one can follow these artistic trails to see and (perhaps even buy) items of original art and talk with their creators. The east of the county (which includes the Ledbury area) has 27 points on the route, three of which are included above. The first photo shows the diversity of stitches which can be achieved by embroiderers; there will be an exhibition of textile art at The Weavers Gallery in Church Lane, Ledbury. The last photo is of a lovely tactile tapestry bag. Ledbury Heritage Centre will be the place showcasing work by The Guild of Herefordshire Craftsmen, including bags, ceramics and jewellery. The middle photo is of Clisset wood, a five minute drive from us. This will host an exhibition and demonstrations of woodland-related crafts such as bark dyed yarns, free form furniture and tool making. In addition, you can always watch the falconry displays and enjoy the tea and cakes. Click on  Herefordshire Art Week for the website or any of the photos to take you to that individual venue.

The Judge’s Lodging, a fascinating museum in Presteigne, (north of Kington) has been awarded the Sandford Award for Heritage Education - for the second time! This is from the judges’ report - ‘It is a refreshing change to visit a historic property and to be told that you are able to handle any of the Victorian artefacts on display’. The Judge’s Lodging was once described as ‘the most commodious and elegant apartments for a judge in all England and Wales’ and today you can still visit the restored rooms, dingy cells (complete with straw mattress, privy and graffiti) and impressive court room (virtually unchanged since 1830). An audiotour enables the visitor to eavesdrop the world of Richard Lister Venables, Chairman of the Magistrates  (played by Robert Hardy) and Mary the maid. The courtroom echoes to the sound of the trial of William Morgan a local duck thief! You can sit in the judge’s chair and pump water in the kitchen if you like. You can even get married here and there are wonderful events throughout the year like the wine tasting in the judge’s rooms on Aug. 15th, concerts and masterclasses. Often these involve food, prepared by the staff at the Judge’s Lodging, who are masters at creating historical dishes. Click on the photos to take you to the Judge’s Lodging website.

Yesterday saw the end of the Poetry Festival. It finished with Jazz in The Feathers’ garden on Saturday evening, the music provided by Andy Masefield’s Jazz Band, and with the town party yesterday. The High Street is closed off and given over to merriment in the form of entertainers playing on an improvised stage, along with stalls providing organic produce, Indian delicacies, French pastries, local spring water and  Ledbury’s very own champion butcher David Waller (and family) providing sausages and burgers for hungry tourists and townspeople alike. We spent a very pleasant hour or two sipping Pimms in the sunshine and watching the goings on. Click on any of the photos to take you to the Poetry Festival website - it will be back next year.

There are a number of lovely gardens open to the public at this time of year, including these ones - The Garden at the Bannut, three acres of garden “rooms”, formal and informal. There is interest in every season, from thousands of wild daffodils to magnolias, rhododendrons, a laburnum walk and an award-winning tea room! We were enchanted when we went by the Cornus Controversa Variegata -  the wedding cake tree - spectacular. Although open to the public from April to September, it will be contributing towards charity by being included in the National Gardens Scheme. Click on any of the photos above to take you to The Garden at The Bannut website.

Come to see the permanent Dr. Who Exhibition at the Time Machine in Bromyard. Many of the exhibits are interactive and noisy! For those of you who can spot that the two lower photos are not from Dr. Who, well done. The image on the left is from Star Wars and the one on the right from Red Dwarf. The Time Machine has displays from all, but there are others too, including one of the finest exhibitions of antique teddy bears in the world and puppets from Stingray and other shows. Remember them? Click on the photos to take you to their website.