RHS GARDEN BRIDGEWATER, SALFORD, GREATER MANCHESTER THURSDAY 22 JUNE

Why not join us on our visit to RHS Garden Bridgewater, Salford on Thursday 22nd June 2023.

 

Our excursions leave from Newbold Comyn with a pick up in Newbold Terrace, opposite the Spa Centre. For further details please contact the Secretary on friendsofleamingtonartgallery@hotmail.co.uk

Find out more about the individual gardens at Worsley New Hall by clicking this link

Some information about our trip.

The former site of Worsley New Hall, in Salford, is a heritage landscape that's been transformed into an iconic RHS Garden. Landscape architect, Tom Stuart-Smith created the masterplan and our fantastic Bridgewater team, alongside award-winning garden designers, have brought ‘gardens within a garden’ to life by blending history with world-class horticulture

 

 

 

INFORMATION FOR EXCURSIONS

All excursions leave from Newbold Comyn, by the Leisure Centre, with a pick up in Newbold Terrace, opposite the Spa Centre, 5-10 minutes later.

Every effort will be made both by the FLAG organiser and the venue to point out potential risks such as uneven steps, floors, etc.

Please send separate cheques for each excursion, dated for the day of the excursion and payable to Friends of Leamington Art Gallery, together with the booking slip, to the named organiser. Cheques will be banked after the event.

If the excursion is full when your booking is received the organiser will contact you and add your name to a waiting list in case of a cancellation. If you do not hear from us assume you have a place(s). If you require confirmation indicate on the form or enclose a S.A.E.

National Trust/English Heritage/HHA members – it is essential to bring your membership cards when we visit these properties. Without them entrance fees will be charged.

Please include for insurance purposes the names of everyone for whom the booking is being made.

If you have to cancel please let the organiser know as soon as possible as there may be a waiting list.

If the excursion is cancelled by FLAG cheques submitted will be destroyed unless there is a request to return them.

If you have to cancel within 7 days of departure, FLAG will endeavour to find a replacement. If no replacement can be found, we will try to give a refund but we may have to retain all or a substantial part of the cost of the excursion in order to pay for any irrecoverable charges which FLAG has incurred such as coach hire, entry fees paid in advance, guides’ fees and refreshments.

If you have to cancel less than 24 hours before departure a refund will not normally be given.

You may arrange for someone else to take your place, monetary arrangements being between you and your substitute, but please inform the organiser of the change for insurance purposes.

Love and Marriage: Death and Sin

Going Dutch: 17th Century Paintings from The Collection

Friday 26th May - Sunday 10th September

Opening times: Tuesday-Sunday 10am to 4pm. FREE

 

Curator Jane Simpkiss at the opening of the exhibition.

 

Love and Marriage, Death and Sin

These 2 themes have fascinated artists for hundreds of years, and the current Going Dutch exhibition at Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum offers a chance to understand how Dutch artsts of the 17th century reflect the world of the Dutch people and how they viewed the world around them.

Sometimes artists choose to paint an object because it's eye catching or they like to show off about how well they can paint, but often they are symbols which we don't understand today. Objects have meanings and the exhibition trail picks certain characters and objects in the paintings and suggests possible meanings for them - you can pick up your free trail leaflet at the Gallery.

For example, musical instruments were used to represent harmony, and the lute in "Landscape with River Walk" has been used to indicate that two people are in a romantic relationship. Or, in other paintings, skulls were used to remind people of war, hunger and disease and were there to encourage people to live a good life to make sure they got into heaven if they died suddenly. Wilting flowers remind us that beauty does not last.

Only 3 of the paintings in the exhibition have been loaned to the Gallery, and all the remainder come from The Collection.

Felley Priory Garden and Newstead Abbey

Felley Priory is situated in North Nottinghamshire, hidden just half a mile from the M1. This tranquil garden, where visitors will find many rare and unusual plants, is one of Nottinghamshire’s best kept secrets – the house, its 2.5 acre garden, and Farmhouse Tea Room are nestled in beautiful rolling countryside. The garden has been carefully planted so that there are plants of interest all year round.

 

Picture from gallery on website here. 

 

 

 

The garden is comparatively new in relation to the house, which dates back to the 12th Century. An old photograph of the 1880s shows a sloping field and it was not until the 1890s that the ground was terraced. The present layout dates from 1976. The priory is 600ft above sea level and very exposed, so the first thing that Maria Chaworth-Musters, the creator of the garden, planted were the yew hedges as shelters for the herbaceous borders.

 

We're going from spring into summer at the moment and it's been a bit cold, but we're hoping to see the herbaceous borders as they are renowned for their truly spectacular display. 

The walled rose garden is filled with old fashioned roses – Gallicias, Bourbons, Moss Roses, Damasks, Albas and Chinensis. Under the old Elizabethan wall are many agapanthus and some tender shrubs.The borders around the old walls have a mixture of trees and shrubs underplanted by geraniums, hostas, digitalis and meconopsis, amongst others.

In the centre of the garden, the pergolas are covered with roses, vines, clematis and lonicera, and are surrounded by yew topiary birds. This area was one of the first parts of the garden to be established and was designed to reflect the age and brickwork of the priory itself.

Newstead Abbey

Thro’ thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle

Medieval Newstead

 

Founded as a monastic house in the twelfth century, Newstead retains its medieval character. Dating from the late thirteenth century, marvel at the surviving church structure of the West Front. See the cloisters, Chapter House (now Chapel), stone carvings and manuscripts.

Inside the Abbey there is much to discover, including Lord Byron’s private apartments, the Victorian Kitchen and room displays, plus cloisters from the monastic period.

Surviving earthquakes and a civil war, the original façade of the old priory – the West Front – and the medieval cloisters still stand. The priory church’s West Front also contains a sculpture of the Virgin and Child.

 

Photo from website. To learn more click here

 

The current exhibition is Water, Water Everywhere

 

Our Trip to Bournville, Selly Manor and Cruck Barn

These are three photos from last week’s trip to Bournville, Selly Manor and the smaller Cruck Barn taken by Carolyn Gifford.

The one with the spiral hedge is Selly Manor, the other one the Cruck Barn and the last is inside the Manor and is the height of new technology for the 14th century, a turning device for a spit.

photo Carolyn Gifford

photo Carolyn Gifford

photo Carolyn Gifford

 

Join Us and help to support Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum

 

Annual membership is £12 per person, and if you are a tax payer you can increase the value of your subscription at no cost to you by using Gift Aid.

Please contact us on our website www.friendsofleamingtonartgallery.co.uk or on our Facebook page.

You can also send a cheque made payable to Friends of Leamington Art Gallery to 

Maureen Chapman, Membership Secretary, 12 Willow Drive, Wellesbourne, Warwick CV35 9SB. Please let us know your name and address, postcode, telephone number and email.

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Welcome to Friends of Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum. 

The Friends of Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum (FLAG) promote the Art Gallery & Museum at The Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa. We do this by providing financial and other support for exhibitions, acquisitions, conservation and education projects. We welcome new members in order to continue and maintain this support.