Affordable Art: necessity or indulgence?

Earlier this month our family took time out from our busy schedule and made a trip to meet newly discovered Scottish relations, and stayed at the delightful private estate of Kinblethmont, in the Scottish county of Angus.
I discovered to my delight, that not only is this great Victorian house, set amid 2,000 acres near Arbroath, occasionally made available for country house parties and weddings, with self catering cottages available to accommodate more guests for holiday lets in the grounds; but it is also now home to a gallery of contemporary art.

 

Penny Ramsay spends a lot of her time at Kinblethmont researching and planning exhibitions of work by contemporary and local Scottish artists including David Cook and Susan Winton. Exhibitions are held in spring and autumn, four times a year. Prices for original work can range from the lower hundreds up to several thousand depending on the artist and the medium used. More information about art exhibitions at Kinblethmont.

Buying art during times of austerity
Visiting Kinblethmont set me thinking about contemporary art. When times are tough, can it really be true that people are still spending, on something that could be seen, by some, as pure indulgence?
Speaking to Penny, (who, with permission of the artists, kindly allowed me to preview the works pictured above, scheduled for forthcoming exhibitions), reminded me of the remark by William Morris to ‘have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful.’ It’s a favourite precept of mine.

Whilst I acknowledge that the purchase of a work of art by an individual or a business could be perceived as the ultimate item of discretionary spending, and something perhaps that people might say that you could easily do without; how much the poorer our homes would be without some original forms of decoration, inside or out, or both.

Art need not be expensive; and there’s no doubt in my mind that if a work of art manages to make us smile every time we set eyes on it, or brings a splash of colour into otherwise dull lives, (especially during what sounds like could be a hard winter), the expenditure can deliver real value, surely something well worth paying for, when times are hard, as they surely are.

Know what you like
The key thing as far as I’m concerned when buying original art, whether it’s featured on a simple hand-made greetings card, comes in the form of a limited edition print, or comes as an original work in its own right, irrespective of the medium, is to know what you like. It’s still free to visit many galleries, large and small, throughout Britain, and, after a while, you should soon be able to start to decide what you do and don’t like.

Don’t all rush; but you could make an immediate start this month in visiting galleries where the work exhibited is for sale. Who knows, you might get chatting to the artist, and you might, eventually, be tempted to buy something. This week sees the start of the Frieze International Art Fair in London’s Regents Park, which attracts big time international collectors; or you could try the lower key Affordable Art Fairs in Hampstead or Battersea. Both events offer paid for opportunities to look at the contemporary art scene in Britain  under one roof.

Personally speaking I prefer to visit individual galleries outside cities, or even restaurants or tourist offices where the work exhibited on the walls is for sale; because you can often find an oppportunity to get chatting with the proprietor or exhibiting artists, and they can get to know you, and what you like. Prices are keener, and there’s rarely any hard sell; because buying art is a matter of deciding what you like and it’s a process that can’t be rushed. It really is up to you to decide whether to make a purchase.

Help with making a purchase
A scheme called Own Art exists to make it easier for people to afford the purchase of original art and many contemporary galleries in England and Scotland already participate. More information.

More information about Kinblethmont

 

You can hop onto the Flybe service from London City Airport to Dundee, and from there you can hire a car to get to Kinblethmont. During your stay, if you are very lucky and ask extremely nicely, Penny may show you some of the other treasures of the estate, which include a great stone said to have magical powers and which is inscribed with ancient Pictish carvings; or the lovingly conserved jacket once worn by Bonnie Prince Charlie.

 

More information about the Kinblethmont estate.

My top 5 books on colour and design

If you’re considering buying or commissioning original creative work, here’s my choice from key movers and shakers about colour and good taste in interior and exterior design:
• Tricia Guild on Colour, Conran Octopus ISBN 1-85029-399-6
• Christopher Lloyd, Colour for adventurous gardeners BBC Books ISBN 978-0-56352-171-6
• Kevin McCloud, Choosing colours Quadrille Publishing ISBN 978-1-84400-440-9
• Vivian Russell, Planting schemes from Monet’s garden ISBN
• David Linley, Design and detail in the home ISBN 0-316-85480-8

Can we help you?
Virtual Viv is part of the team at Manifold Associates, working in the UK and travelling the world independently to inform you with incisive commentary in words and pictures about marketing things that matter. Among our recent projects we have researched and created a contemporary art and craft trail in Rochester and Chatham on behalf of Medway Council in Kent. Freelance photo journalism and writing commissions are welcomed.

Maybe you’re a business looking to capitalise on the opportunities that 2012 might bring to you. I’m a key part of a flexible and versatile freelance writing team, so if you’d like to discuss how I might be able to help you, please get in touch.

Does the postcard have a post modern future?

Will the postcard be dead by 2012?

One amongst  many questions now starting to exercise the brains of those involved in tourism industry planning for London 2012, is how the million or so visitors expected are going to communicate their experiences to friends back home. It’s a matter already under serious consideration by the publishers of greetings cards and picture postcards.

What, you might say, is the picture postcard not in terminal decline? There’s no doubt that more and more people are phoning, texting or picture messaging their thoughts, logging onto social media sites like Facebook, blogging travel journals, uploading photos onto Flickr,  or videos on  You Tube, or earning money from their writing published on Simonseeks?

Around two thirds of the visitors expected to travel to London and venues across other parts of England in July August and September 2012, will originate from within Britain, with the remaining third originating overseas. The question for publishers and retailers of cards is a prescient one. 

So, what  types of cards do people want to buy nowadays and why? Personally speaking, I still buy cards for various reasons: as souvenirs,  to paste up in travel journals or scrapbooks, to frame as pictures, use for competition entries, as bookmarks, or occasionally to send to friends back home while I’m away.

During my travels round Britain over the past few months, I’ve been doing some research on postcards, and have started to notice some new trends emerging. In spite of the rise of digital media options, smart phones and text message communication,  postcards continue to be widely available in England everywhere you’d expect, from post offices to bookshops, to greetings card shops and the stationery departments of large stores to retail outlets in malls and visitor attractions.

Trends in postcard sending

The postcard was first permitted to be sent through the post by Royal Mail in 1894. Royal Mail currently handles an average daily volume of 79m letters. This is 5m fewer than two years ago when volumes were at their peak. However, their figures also reveal that 135 million postcards are now sent each year, and somewhat surprisingly this is  30 million more than three years ago! Sales of postcards are even higher of course, since by no means all get sent through the post.

Brian Lund, editor of Picture Postcard Monthly, thinks that the sales figures might even indicate a return to the glory days of the picture postcard in post-war Britain, when sending them was the height of fashion:  ‘Back in the early 90s, when the internet and mobile phones took over, the number of people sending postcards dropped for obvious reasons – sending a text is easier and cheaper. But now people are realising that a postcard is far more thoughtful than a text message or an email, and that they can be displayed for all to see in the home.’

In the cause of research

I gathered information snooping round news stands at gateways for international visitors including Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and London’s St Pancras International station, as well as shops in various National Trust properties across the country, and by the new Surf Reef at Boscombe pier in Bournemouth, Dorset, as well as looking in on antiques and collectors fairs.

I have to apopolgise for adopting entirely unscientific qualitative research methods;  and freely admit that it’s possible that I looked at a biased sample and a statistically insignificant number of locations.

Postcards of the moment

During and following the recession, retailers have become more ruthless; and are only stocking postcard lines that sell. That’s helped weed out static and old fashioned styles of photography, something I’ve also noticed abroad.

With relatively few exceptions, I’ve noticed an improved standard of creative photography, and new creative treaments creeping in amongst many of the postcards now on sale, helping to keep displays appear more in tune with contemporary taste and maintainin buoyant sales.

Collectable cards

There’s room for nostalgia too, and you’ll sometimes find sections of the ubiquitous revolving card stands reserved for reproductions of sepia toned street scenes of yesteryear. In the same towns you may find antiques and collectors fairs featuring stalls selling the original postcards. There’s a lot of interest, as they’re part of history, yet most remain cheap to collect and display.

The exception are cards by Donald Fraser Gould McGill, an artist whose name has become synonymous with a whole genre of saucy seaside postcards, featuring an array of attractive young women, fat old ladies, drunken middle aged men, honeymoon couples and vicars in compromising circumstances.  Snap it up if you spot one!

New genres of card

What’s also been marked, is that creative treatments are no longer limited to photographs. Cartoon treatments of the local way of life, or a contempoary take on tradition, also have great appeal to visitors, especially if the subject matter is somewhat hard to photograph easily. A selection is illustrated above.

To see a fuller range of the latest cutting edge designs, as well as more traditional subject matter, follow these links :

• Pageantry Postcards
• Lee Gone Publications
• J. Salmon

Judges is one example of a firm of publishers that can help you create and publish postcards from your own photography, and I’m sure there are many more. If you’re a business, don’t forget to include your contact details and website address printed on the reverse side of the card, and ensure you make the most of it’s ability to become a fully fledged marketing tool.

In conclusion, I believe that all the indications are that the postcard is likely to live on in use for many years yet!

Until next time…

Food for thought : finding quality food and produce

The force of circumstance

I’ve never experienced a white Christmas. This rarity value meant that I was unlikely to be alone in my fond imagining that snow would make the seasonal holiday period somehow more cosy and special for everyone. Until this year! I can’t previously remember snow hanging around on the ground for more than a couple of days or so.

Whenever travel becomes disrupted, by force of circumstances, people tend to stick to trips within their immediate local area, and I’m no exception. After a few days,  boredom, or a feeling of cabin fever can set in, and eventually sheer necessity means that you have to venture out for supplies. So it might have been for the first time this year, with snow underfoot and icy conditions on the roads, that it became necessary for people to find out what was available, by way of produce, in the immediate neighbourhood or general vicinity.

Benefits of shopping locally

Potentially, shopping locally has the added benefit of accessing fresher, and therefore better quality food, since it’s likely not to have travelled far; and if you can get used to buying seasonal produce as well, you might well also benefit from keener prices and have less packaging to throw away,  than if you buy from a supermarket.  Watch the video Ninjin – vegetable assassin from Do the Green Thing if you want to see this point made with real impact.

Hotels and restaurants usually find they can benefit by highlighting local delicacies, especially if they’re cooked to order, something which allows guests to appreciate locally sourced  ingredients from local suppliers in peak condition.

In fact I believe that it’s something that helps differentiate a hotel or restaurant from the crowd, if producers of local specialities are highlighted on menus, and in some cases, the producers are actively promoted as places to visit. This is something I’ve recently seen done with great success at the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham in Norfolk, which actively promotes it’s  ’10 mile breakfast’ with all ingredients sourced inside that radius. The reviews on Trip Advisor speak for themselves.

Supporting local producers can be a winning move for everyone, as it increases awareness for producers, might also gain them incremental spend from people taking goods home as a special, or even unique edible  souvenir or gift, and it creates goodwill for the person or business who makes the recommendation in the first place.

How visitors can find the best local suppliers and retailers in the area

Common Ground provides information online, concerning their Producing the Goods project which showcases food producers and markets across the UK. However, I have to acknowledge that generally consumers are likely to have a problem in finding beacons of originality, quality and freshness when they’re on unfamiliar ground away from home, unless they’re literally stopped in their tracks by a sign (which might be the case when there’s snow on the ground). It’s happened to me.

If you fail to discover any intriguing signs on the street, there’s no real substitute for local knowledge; so in many places I’d urge visitors to seek recommendations from staff at their nearest local visitor information centre,  ask their hotel concierge, accommodation provider, or host.

In my particular area, Kent, as well as a local producers network called Produced in Kent, that offers downloadable food trails and online information about members; there’s a great scheme that helps meet the need for a more personalised service. It offers visitors the opportunity to meet a ‘volunteer friend’ called a Greeter. A Kent Greeter can answer questions and take you on an orientation walking tour as well as providing you with information and tips to help you make the most of your visit – completely free of charge. The Kent scheme is modelled on the Big Apple Greeters scheme of New York City, and is part of a network of similar schemes around  the world, known as the Global Greeters Network.

Here are links to a few more sources of online information about local food producers and retailers in areas of England outside London that are popular with visitors:

The Lake District Cumbria

The Peak District

Cornwall

The New Forest

Isle of Wight

Farm shops

I’ve also recently come across a food safari operation in Suffolk run by an old girl of my former school; although I haven’t tried it out yet. See my post dated 11 September 2009 for information about Daylesford in the Cotswolds.

If you have any tips about ‘foodie places’ in the UK, or other online resources that helps you find them, let me know. Until next time…

A change of climate: from Kent To Copenhagen

Why climate change is a hot topic

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference on in Copenhagen until Friday 18^th December, my thoughts have turned to this controversial subject. A website called Do the Green Thing.com offers an alternative take on the difficulties in reaching an international agreement on climate change at Copenhagen. Scroll down the page to see  ‘A Recipe for a Successful Copenhagen’.  – click here to view the video . It uses humour to try and make a serious point about the unenviable task faced by delegates attending the event.

Symptoms of climate change?

In spite of the efforts of climate sceptics trying to prove otherwise from information purporting to support their argument from the University of East Anglia in Norwich; the most authoritative and credible sources, from the BBC to the Met Office and Nasa seem to be agreed that climate change is happening. Equally compelling from my own personal point of view, are the symptoms I’ve observed with my own eyes, in my own backyard.

As autumn turns to winter, I’ve decided this week to share my own (admittedly entirely unscientific) micro observations of what I’ve noticed happening in the area near where I’ve lived for almost 20 years. I believe I’ve begun to spot symptoms of climate change in the rural parts of  Kent, and other parts of southern and south eastern England, that I know well.

Personal observations in the rural Weald of Kent

This is a region sheltered by a lofty arc of chalk downland to the north and south, with a relatively flat Low Weald vale of clay forming a sandwich between a concentric ridge of greensand, and a central sandstone ridge known as the High Weald at its heart.

When we first moved to the Low Weald village of Marden, almost 20- years ago, the land immediately around our home consisted of strawberry fields, hop gardens , and apple and pear orchards. The beautiful rolling countryside shown in my photographs as it changes with the seasons, is dotted with oak trees,  and remnants of ancient woodland that gets carpeted with bluebells in spring. The trees and the woodland are thankfully still there, and so is the pear orchard; but where I walk our dog every day, many of the hedges, three strawberry fields, and an apple orchard have all been ripped out within the last decade.

This has followed the installation of no doubt expensive piped irrigation during the increasingly arid summers, when the clay soil shrinks and dries rock hard (for what seems a slightly longer period with each passing year); and I now have to water my personal strawberry patch to encourage the fruit to grow to its full potential.

Only in the last couple of years have I begin to notice (with increasing concern) a network of cracks several inches deep, pulling open the grass of our paddock during summer months. This is in addition to those I always noticed on the bare earth of footpaths across the adjacent open arable land, which I call the ‘Marden Prarie’. This has replaced former apple orchards and strawberry fields sheltered by tall protective hedgerows.

At the moment, with all the heavy rain we’ve had in the last few weeks, the footpaths are muddy, wellington boots are vital to protect clothes against mud splashes;  and a temporary pond has re-appeared in the natural dip in our paddock!

Consequences of change in hop growing

Kent is known for growing hops, an ingredient of beer, and it may be a simple matter of economics as well as climate; but sadly, only one hop garden now remains in Marden, sheltered and hidden away by ancient woodland. down a minor road where I occasionally ride my bike. The cultivation of hops (and local brewing) lives on in spite of the reduced acreage, particularly around Faversham. The town is home of independent brewery Shepherd Neame, which you can visit, and there’s an annual hop festival held annually at harvest time in early September. Kent Life heritage park near Maidstone, also holds an annual hop picking and beer festival in the same month.

You can learn more about the industry that’s left an indelible mark on the Kentish landscape at visitor attractions such as the Hop Farm Family Park.; or buy the dried hop bines as decoration for your home, and other hop based products at The Hop Shop, Shoreham.

Many redundant oast houses, where the hops used to be dried, have been converted into highly desirable homes, and some are available for let. Along with conversions of other agricultural buildings, some can  be booked for short breaks in winter and longer holidays or vacations in summer, from organisations such as Freedom Holiday Homes. A place I can recommend from personal knowledge is Oast House Loft, at Morley Farm Oast. Set on a  working farm near Rye, on the Kent Sussex border, it enjoys 360º views over the farm and surrounding countryside.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that spring comes earlier nowadays, and the general extension of summer throughout our area, which is good for attracting more visitors.  Summer now extends into September, weatherwise at least, with little cold weather or frost observed until well into October.

The rise of vineyards, and English Wine

Within 500 metres of our home, two fields of grape vines have recently been planted to replace a hop garden. Just a few sad remnant hop plants have clung to life, scrambling through the remaining hedgerows.

2009 has reputedly been the best year ever for English wine. Our local vineyard is part of a noticeable trend towards an increasing acreage devoted to vines in the county. You can download a free guide to the county’s vineyards and locally produced food, from Produced in Kent , and visitors are welcomed to most of them. One of the largest and most interesting is Chapel Down at Tenterden. Closer to us at Marden is Hush Heath, an award winning estate producing sparkling rosé which retails at £35 per bottle, from the same chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes, that are used to make Champagne in France! Hush Heath also produces bottled apple juice, as does nearby Biddenden vineyard , which is, in addition, a producer of cider.

As well as climate, one of the other reasons that English Wine is becoming so successful is that the underlying geology, and consequently the topography, of the landscape of southern England and the Isle of Wight, has much in common with the Paris basin, and the champagne region in particular. I’ve noticed England’s largest vineyard, Denbies of Dorking in Surrey, was this year marketing a paid-for and tutored ‘grape picking experience’ to visitors  during harvest time in October, something that, if successful, could no doubt prove to be an annual event.

Provence in Kent?

Our garden now supports an olive tree, which I can happily leave outside all the year round. Due to the seeming predictability of dry weather in summer, I’ve recently felt a conscious need to invest in planting more drought resistant plants in the garden, including shrubs such as lavender and rosemary. If you take the train up to London from here in summer, just beyond Sevenoaks, if you look out on the east side of the track, just before the North Downs tunnel, you can’t miss a huge purple field in which lavender is now grown commercially. It’s not alone: near Hadlow is Downderry specialist lavender nursery, where you can buy the plants. The phenomenon is not limited to Kent. There’s also a commercial lavender farm at Staplehurst Grange near Newport, on the Isle of Wight. They sell essential oil, shampoo, and other lovely lavender products to visitors and by mail order.

Climate South East offers more information about the effects of climate change on South East England. Can you see symptoms of climate change happening in rural locations where you live or visit? Let me know.

Until next time…

PS Apologies for the late publication of this week’s post, which was due to a technical problem earlier in the week.

Marketing a rural idyll

With an Indian summer in prospect, my thoughts have turned to the marketing of rural areas to people living in cities. In 1950, the population living in UK cities was 79% – which is a frighteningly large figure – but one set to rise to 92.2% by 2030! In fact globally over half of the planet’s population now live in cities, with the proportion set to rise further.

The rural business challenge

The pressure is on for businesses involved in tourism in rural parts of the country,  to make the most of the opportunity to market the rural idyll that so many of us take for granted, to the urban dwelling majority. Unsurprisingly that’s going to mean serving city dwellers needs better.  Whether we’re an acommodation provider (even if just for visiting friends and relations),  a self catering operator, a farm shop, or an operator of autumnal fungi forays or boat trips, it looks like if we’re going to be really successful we need to make sure we understand and serve the needs of city dwellers.  NPC’s Country Living magazine certainly understands the business model, (and there’s a Hearst Communication US version as well). Many people dream of living in the country, and enjoy reading about it; but a short break or holiday/vacation is likely to be their reality.

The really interesting thing from a rural businesses point of view, is that I know that some  of these city dwellers taking a trip into rural areas of the UK this year still have plenty of money to spend. And how do I know…?

A Daylesford experience

I started to look back for evidence from my own experiences visiting the Cotwolds and Dorset this summer. Immediately I thought of   Daylesford. Owned by Lady Carole Bamford (wife of Sir Anthony, of the JCB empire), it’s a complex of rural farm buildings near the family estate, in Kingham, between Chipping Norton and Stow on the Wold, in Gloucestershire. They also have various shops in districts like Pimlico and Notting Hill, concessions in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in London, and even a concession in the Bergdorf Goodman store on 5th Avenue, New York. Daylesford has become a destination in it’s own right, responsible for a big increase in local house prices in that part of the Cotswolds, to the evident satifaction of locals including Liz Hurley, Kate Moss and Jeremy Clarkson, who all patronise  Daylesford.

Daylesford’s customers are offered everything from pilates classes and a hay barn spa, to designer chicken arks and gardening tools ; and children can wear their mini cashmere jumpers and join in butter making classes. It wasn’t particularly crowded when we  visited; but those who were there were spending – a lot. Personally I couldn’t resist buying a jar of organic bramble jelly as a gift for my mother; as well as a Daylesford branded hessian potato sack and a book entitled ‘A Slice of Organic Life’ as a treat for myself. It just seemed – well appropriate, somehow. My husband drew the line at me swanning round our local Waitrose with a Daylesford shopping bag, but perhaps now I regret not buying one of those as well!

A bright future for rural retailing

Daylesford as a brand of super farm shop and lifestyle business points the way to the future for rural retailing, and a successful one at that.  Is there room for other competitors? Yes. Some are already out there. Look at the businesses run by people like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage in Dorset, and Sarah Raven and her Cutting Garden in Sussex and Kent; or specialist craft galleries like  Dansel in Abbotsbury, Dorset where I made an impulse purchase of a bird sculpture by Brian Dawson.

So if you provide accommodation for visitors or business travellers, or if you’re involved in a rural business in any way, my advice this week is get to know innovative local retailers, visit their websites, offer links to them on your  web site, and tell your guests about them. They’ll thank you for it. The business owners will thank you for it, and might agree to link their website to you.

People who like what they see at places like Daylesford are likely to recommend them to others. A great rural retail destination can even provide the reason for people to make a trip in the first place, or to return.

If you own a rural retail business yourself, there’s much to be learned from the successful branding and merchandising of businesses like Daylesford.

Further reading

A Slice of Organic Life, edited by Sheherazade Goldsmith, Dorling Kindersley £16.99

Until next week…

PS Do you know any innovative rural retailers ? I’d love to hear about them.