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Competition winners visit Norwich
(09/05/2008)
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Mr & Mrs Holbrook enjoyed their first ever visit to Norwich at the beginning of April after winning a competition last year in the Exeter Express & Echo, in association with Flybe.
Their prize included return flights from Exeter, 2 nights’ dinner, bed & breakfast at the Maids Head Hotel and free entry to many of Norwich’s top attractions courtesy of the Norwich Attractions Group. They also hired a boat and spent time on the Broads before returning home.
Lynda Gray and her partner Matt also visited Norwich for the first time in April after winning a competition in the Gurnsey Press last year. Their prize included return flights from Gurnsey, 2 nights bed and breakfast at the Georgian Hotel and free entry to Norwich's top attractions courtesy of the Norwich Attractions Group.
Mr & Mrs Clark won 2 nights bed and breakfast with dinner on one night at De Vere Dunston Hall after entering our competition in the Independent in April. Their pize included 2 tickets to see Tabu performed by NoFit Circus, courtesy of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival.
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Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden New Visitor Centre’s Green Credentials
(25/04/2008)
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Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden, South Walsham opens a new £180,000 visitor centre at the end of May. The project has been supported by a £35,000 Grant from the Broads and Rivers Leader+ project.
The new building and its services have been designed to minimise their impact on the environment. "Caring for the environment is at the forefront of the way we manage the garden," said Louise Rout, Garden Manager, "so it is important for the new project to be as environmentally friendly as possible. We will also achieve a large reduction in our water and heating bills due to our recycling and energy efficient systems."
Visitor Centre Green Features
- Ground source heat pump, gathers geothermic heat from under the car park and provides all heating and hot water
- Low energy water boiler
- Rainwater harvesting from the roof to provide water for the plant centre and to flush toilets in the visitor centre
- Sewage plant that breaks down all waste and sends treated water down the waterfall in the Sensory Garden into the main water system (consent from Environment Agency).
- Long life light bulbs and units.
- Ceiling, floors and walls insulated
- Low flush water efficient toilets
- Lighting sensors in the toilets
- Windows double glazed
- Composter recycling kitchen waste, shredded paper and plant sales waste to produce compost for the plant sales.
The building is timber-framed and timber-clad with a steel roof and steel pantiles. The anticipated carbon emissions per year are 24.4 kg of C02. Building regulation allowed for 58.3 kg of C02.
The new Visitor Centre houses a 60-seat tearoom, with kitchen and public toilets, including facilities for baby changing and visitors with disabilities. A covered veranda overlooking the garden seats a further 20 customers. The new building is linked to the existing tearoom, which now becomes the gift shop and visitor reception.
Most of the food in the tearoom comes from local suppliers including cakes, which feature diabetic and gluten free options. Tomatoes are being grown on site. Fair Trade tea and coffee is sold. The shop is an official Produced in Norfolk outlet.
Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden is at South Walsham, nine miles east of Norwich, signposted off A47 at B1140 junction, tel. 01603 270449/270683, www.fairhavengarden.co.uk, open daily all year, 10am to 5pm (closed Christmas Day). Facilities include tearoom, gift shop, plant sales area and a children’s nature trail. There is wheelchair access to most of the garden. Visitors requiring special facilities are advised to telephone in advance. Dogs are welcome on leads; small admission charge includes poop scoop.
Silver Award Green Tourism Business Scheme.
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The UEA Collection 1968 - 2008
(25/04/2008)
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A major new exhibition of the UEA Collection of Abstract and Constructivist Art, Architecture and Design opens at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, on Tuesday 1 July and runs until Sunday 14 December. This is the most extensive exhibition of the UEA Collection at the Sainsbury Centre since the collection was founded in 1968. The exhibition includes sculpture, painting, graphics and aspects of design such as architectural models and furniture. Works by Le Corbusier, Mary and Kenneth Martin, Charles Eames, David Bomberg and Marcel Breuer will be amongst those on display.
The University of East Anglia was one of 7 new universities built in a wave of optimism during the 1960s. The UEA collection was begun in this period as a response to the modernity of the new university campus, designed by Denys Lasdun, and the university’s multi-disciplinary ‘ethos’.
“Like the University buildings, our collection would combat the insularity of East Anglia and indeed Britain as a whole. It would show the non-objective constructive art movements of the century and the related fields of architecture and design” - Alastair Grieve, Former Curator of the UEA Collection.
The UEA Collection was begun in 1968 with a grant of £10,000 from the University Council to form a collection of twentieth century art. The late Peter Lasko, founding art history professor at UEA and subsequently Director of the Courtauld Institute in London, was the founding honorary curator and worked with Alastair Grieve, a lecturer in art history, to identify works for the collection. Once the initial funds were exhausted, the collection continued to grow as a result of many initiatives including donations of works by artists, collectors and organisations, regular grants from the University and government purchase grants. The collection, which was moved to the Sainsbury Centre when it opened in 1978, has grown to over 400 objects. New acquisitions to the collection continue to be made with works by Ian Tyson, Jean Spencer and Laura Castagno intended for the exhibition this year.
The earliest group of works in the exhibition date from between circa 1910 and 1930 and reflect the origins of a modern ‘movement’. Early exponents included artists and architects associated with the De Stijl Group such as Gerrit Rietveld and those associated with the Bauhaus in Germany such as Wassily Kandinsky (see Notes to Editors for more information). Works in the 1910 - 1930 section of the show include a Le Corbusier chair and architectural model, a painting by Sonia Delaunay, the Pravda Tower model by the Vesnin brothers, Rietveld chairs, a charcoal drawing by David Bomberg and 2D works by Wassily Kandinsky and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy. Artists began making work now described as ‘constructivist’ in the second decade of the twentieth century. The First World War and the creation of a new social order through the Revolution in Russia were instrumental in causing many artists to rethink how art and design shapes the way people live. A visual language of order and clarity drew some inspiration from other abstract movements but more importantly, embraced the possibilities presented by rapid technological development and engaged with other disciplines such as mathematics, science and architecture.
“The artists, architects and designers whose work has been chosen for the UEA Collection have a common concern to construct an ordered and rational environment appropriate for the modern world. An underlying theme in the collection is ‘Art and the Machine’, encapsulating the idea that artists strived to control and harmonise machine production” - Veronica Sekules, Former Keeper of the University Art Collection and now Head of Education and Research at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.
The exhibition will also feature two other major groups of work. The first, includes a room setting with Isokon furniture, the work of émigré artists who came to England during the Second World War at the invitation of Isokon’s founder Jack Pritchard after the Nazis closed the Bauhaus. It includes furniture designed by the Bauhaus masters, Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius. The second is a group described as ‘The British Constructionists’, which includes artists such as Victor Pasmore, Mary and Kenneth Martin, Peter Lowe, Gillian Wise and Anthony Hill. Work of this type was also being made in Europe and further afield – examples by artists such as Jesus Raphael Soto and François Morellet will be on display. The artists and designers in this section of the show are all interested in the links between art, mathematics and geometry and were inspired by the rapid development of technology. The works include striking 3D constructions, sculptures, reliefs and works on canvas that use a strong simple palette of colours, clean lines and geometric shapes.
“Although the UEA Collection was developed in response to Denys Lasdun’s concrete campus, the artists’ use of mathematical systems and repeated geometrical forms make the works in the UEA Collection the perfect complement to the architecture of Norman Foster’s Sainsbury Centre today” – Amanda Geitner, Keeper of the UEA Collection and Head of Collections and Exhibitions at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.
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Pensthorpe Get Close to Nature – May Day Bank Holiday Weekend
(22/04/2008)
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Get close to nature at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, near Fakenham over May Day Bank Holiday Weekend. The breeding season is reaching its peak, as are the spring garden and bluebell woods. A full daily programme of family activities runs from Saturday 3 May to Monday 5 May as follows:
- Pond Dipping – uncover the amazing creatures that live in water.
- Bug Walking – take the bug walk and get face to face with large scale sculptures of the insects beneath your feet.
- 12noon – meet the Warden – learn about Pensthorpe’s bird species on an entertaining interactive tour of the reserve.
- 4pm – daily bird feed with the Wardens from the viewing gallery.
- Take the Landrover-based Wensum Discovery Tour, with a ‘Spotters’ sheet for children and get behind the scenes at Pensthorpe, finding out about the history and wildlife of the Wensum Valley.
- Harvest mice and brass rubbings in the Education room.
Deb Jordan, Pensthorpe General Manager said: "The natural world is alive and very busy at Pensthorpe. This is a wonderful time of year to get close to nature in the beautiful Wensum Valley."
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Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, Norfolk becomes ‘Home of Springwatch 2008
(14/04/2008)
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BBC Springwatch relocates to Pensthorpe, North Norfolk from May 26th
BBC Springwatch, the BBC’s popular TV programme celebrating UK wildlife and wildlife people, presented by Bill Oddie, Kate Humble, Simon King and Gordon Buchanan, returns to TV screens from 26 May to 12 June at a new location, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve near Fakenham, Norfolk, www.pensthorpe.com.
The 200-acre nature reserve, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is located in the Wensum Valley. The River Wensum, which runs through the reserve, is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Europe’s highest nature conservation designation.
Deb Jordan, General Manager, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve said: "It is fantastic news for Pensthorpe, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, that BBC Springwatch has chosen us as its new home. It is also great news for Norfolk, which is the UK's premier bird watching destination and is blessed with many internationally important nature reserves. We are working very closely with the Springwatch team to ensure that the best of the Wensum Valley's natural world is revealed to a national TV audience."
Bill Oddie, who will be based at Pensthorpe with his co-presenter Kate Humble (while Simon King and Gordon Buchanan explore other areas of the UK), said “Pensthorpe is an amazing place with it’s combination of good things to see and do as well as wonderful conservation projects going on behind the scenes. I’m thrilled that it is to be the new home of Springwatch.”
Pensthorpe has an amazing variety of habitats. The river is home to the endangered white clawed crayfish, otters, brown trout and the regionally threatened bullhead. Other habitats featured are ancient woodland, wetland, wildflower meadows, marshland, and Breckland grassland, heath and scrub (ideal for ground nesting birds). The reserve hosts a wide range of mammals including muntjac, roe deer, badgers, foxes, stoats and endangered water voles.
Pensthorpe also features 300 acres of farmland which is being transformed into a Conservation Grade farm by owners Bill Jordan of Jordans Cereals and his wife Deb, who purchased the reserve and farm in 2003 from founder Bill Makins. This ‘farming for wildlife’ has resulted in the numbers of lapwings and little ringed plovers significantly increasing on the farmland.
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Go Wild About the Wensum at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve
(14/04/2008)
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Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, near Fakenham, is hosting the second action-packed Wild About The Wensum day on Saturday, May 17, from 10am to 5pm. This family event will be officially opened at 11am by singer songwriter David Gray.
Wild About The Wensum is celebrating the fabulous natural history and cultural heritage of the Wensum Valley, designated a Special Area for Conservation (SAC) by the European Union and Natural England, www.wildaboutthewensum.org.uk.
Jordans Cereals, Morrisons and Fakenham Learning Partnership are supporting the event.
Activities on the day include mini beast exploration, guided walks, crown and wand making with the Fairyland Trust, nature quizzes and treasure hunts, local craft demonstrations, mobile making, face painting, bird radio tracking game, bird identification sessions with local experts and many more games and adventures. Music will be provided by folk band Rig a Jig Jig. There will also be a hog roast and barbecue.
Admission to the event and Pensthorpe is free on the day, with car parking £3. This year’s collection in aid of an endangered native species will support habitat conservation for the Marsh Harrier.
Deb Jordan, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve General Manager said: “This is our second annual Wild About The Wensum celebration. Last year some 4,000 people came to event. We hope that many more local people will take the opportunity to visit us on May 17 and discover this amazing natural world on their doorstep.”
Wild About The Wensum is hosted by the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust to raise the profile of the special qualities of the Wensum Valley. The River Wensum has been awarded Europe’s highest protection order and designated a ‘Special Area of Conservation’. The River Wensum is the only river between the Thames and the Humber to have this designation. It is celebrated for its outstanding chalk stream fauna, like white-clawed crayfish, Desmoulin’s whorl snail, otters and a large number of dragonfly and damselfly species. It is also important for the relatively unspoiled nature of its catchment area and the quality of its aquatic flora.
In 2005 Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, with sponsorship from Jordans Cereals, collaborated with Natural England, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Hawk and Owl Trust, Norfolk Ornithologists Association and Wensum Valley Birdwatching Society to set up the River Wensum Initiative, to raise the profile of the area’s special qualities and enhance its nature conservation.
Pensthorpe Nature Reserve is on the A1067, one mile from Fakenham. Open all year, April to December 10am to 5pm and January to March 10am to 4pm. Courtyard Café serving home-cooked food; Gift Shop with a large range of stylish and unusual items; free parking. Tel 01328 851465, www.pensthorpe.com.
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Shop Local at Pensthorpe Gardening & Food Fair
(14/04/2008)
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Just under 40 local food and gardening producers out of a total of 52 suppliers will be at Pensthorpe’s Gardening & Food Fair, near Fakenham, on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1, 10am to 5pm.
The event is a great opportunity to gather gardening inspiration and pick up some of Norfolk’s finest food. Admission is adult £4 and child £2.
A live jazz band will provide a musical backdrop to plant hunting in the garden marquee, where visitors can also pore over local metal work and sculpture.
For a small additional charge (adult £2, senior citizen £1 and child 50p) visitors can enter the nature reserve and walk through the stunning Millennium Garden designed by Piet Oudolf, or take in the Wave Garden, created by Julie Toll, featuring spring and early summer woodland plants and flowers.
The Food Hall, with its the heavenly aromas of freshly baked bread will tempt even the most jaded palate. Local foods on offer include fruit juices, cheeses, oils, seeds, mushrooms, strawberries, bread and meats. The local theme is further developed in the Courtyard Café where ingredients are locally sourced wherever possible.
Deb Jordan, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve General Manager said: “Our annual Gardening & Food Fair is just the place to pick up inspiration for your garden and be tempted by some of Norfolk’s finest produce. It is also a great time to visit Pensthorpe’s gardens and enjoy the spring flowers.”
Pensthorpe Nature Reserve is on the A1067, one mile from Fakenham. Open all year, April to December 10am to 5pm and January to March 10am to 4pm. Courtyard Café serving home-cooked food; Gift Shop with a large range of stylish and unusual items; free parking. Tel 01328 851465, www.pensthorpe.com.
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HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, visits Pensthorpe Nature Reserve
(14/04/2008)
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HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited Pensthorpe Nature Reserve as Patron of the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, on Sunday 13 April at 3pm, to mark the reserve’s 20th anniversary.
Professor David Bellamy OBE, Chairman of the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust with fellow trustees, Bill Jordan MBE, Deb Jordan and Tim Nevard OAM were in attendance.
The Duke of Edinburgh visited Pensthorpe on 11 July 1988, to open the nature reserve.
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Art Alive – Artists Live in Norfolk’s Historic Churches
(03/04/2008)
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Twelve historic Norfolk churches, dating from the 11th to the 16th centuries, are hosting live arts and crafts events from Saturday, May 3 to Monday, May 5 and Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11. This new partnership between the Diocese of Norwich and Norfolk Arts Partnership is a celebration of the county’s rural arts and heritage.
Each church is hosting a relevant art or craft; some highlights:
• St Mary’s Houghton on the Hill, near Swaffham: This hidden treasure has six layers of wall paintings, including paintings from the 11th century. The weekends will feature talks on painting conservation and wall painting.
• St Ethelbert, Thurton: The church has great medieval wall paintings and stained glass. John Bardell, Norfolk stained glass maker will be demonstrating his skills.
• SS Andrew & Peter, Blofield: This church has connections with the Paston family and the poet, John Dryden. The New Writing Partnership will be running poetry workshops during the first weekend. Terry Mann will host the second weekend. Inspired by church bells he wrote a piece of music, Bells of Paradise, for Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2007.
• St George’s Colegate, Norwich: One of the city’s finest medieval churches, local sculptor, David Holgate, will be in residence.
• All Saints, Welborne: Sandra Barker, Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers and the Worstead Weavers Guild – willow basket making and weaving in one of the county’s wool churches, built in the heyday of the Norfolk textile industry.
The Right Reverend Graham James, Lord Bishop of Norwich said: “Norfolk is unique with 648 historic churches, more than anywhere else in the world. Without churches you would lose a key element of the Norfolk countryside. Art Alive is an excellent initiative, promoting the architectural and artistic beauty of our churches and inspiring people to explore the special nature of these spiritual treasures.”
Mari Martin, Head of Arts, Norfolk County Council said: “We are delighted to be working with the Diocese of Norwich on Art Alive and hope that this trail-blazing programme will become an annual event. Art Alive encourages people to discover some of Norfolk’s medieval gems and at the same time take part in a celebration of the county’s rural arts and heritage.”
Art Alive is supported by Awards for All, The John Jarrold Trust, The Diocese of Norwich, Norfolk Arts Partnership, Breckland District Council, Broadland District Council and South Norfolk Council.
Each church is near a county footpath or cycle route to enable people to leave their cars and explore. There will be refreshments available at each church.
For further information about Art Alive see www.norwich.anglican.org or pick up a leaflet at Tourist information Centres.
Media contacts: Jennie Hawks, Diocese of Norwich tel. 01379 677843 or Paul Dickson, Norfolk Tourism tel. 01603 666011, mob 07801 103737, www.visitnorfolk.co.uk.
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Boost for Norwich retail economy
(02/04/2008)
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Heritage charity Norwich Heritage Economic & Regeneration Trust (HEART) has announced that it has been successful in securing £250,000 of funding from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to deliver a project to develop the local distinctiveness of two independent retail areas in the city – Timberhill and Elm Hill.
The project will include heritage interpretation initiatives including blue plaques, street plates and heritage ‘totem’ signs as well as public realm improvements. Timberhill and Elm Hill have been selected since they encapsulate two of the city’s principal economic offers – speciality retail and heritage.
The award follows a successful pilot in the Norwich Lanes which was pioneered by HEART with the support of local traders and Norwich City Council. Following a two year programme of heritage and public realm improvements, a report commissioned by EEDA on the effectiveness of the pilot by the new economics foundation (nef) concluded that the Lanes work “demonstrates that well-structured heritage development within a coordinated strategy can have considerable impact and is financially self-sustaining.” Specifically, the report found that the investment of £495,000 in the Lanes will have created a potential benefit for the local economy of £16,676,498 over a ten-year period, and that similar benefits could be achieved by rolling out the Lanes approach to other areas of the city.
Michael Loveday, HEART’s Chief Executive said: “nef’s clone town research showed how everywhere is beginning to look the same with the same global retail chains. With Norwich growing rapidly over the next 12 years we have a challenge to avoid it falling into that clone trap. HEART’s mission is to celebrate the specialness and uniqueness of places and we believe that by making the most of Norwich’s world class assets we can ensure that it is regarded as somewhere unique, not just a ‘clone town’ anywhere. There is real enthusiasm from the Elm Hill and Timberhill areas and the Norwich City Council to replicate ‘the Lanes Effect’ in these two potentially important but sometimes overlooked areas of the city.”
As with the Lanes work, HEART hopes to engage local people in researching and developing stories for the areas which can be communicated through the heritage interpretation devices. Already some interesting threads are beginning to emerge. These include the first black circus proprietor in the UK, Pablo Fanque, who was baptised in St John Timberhill in the late 1700’s and is celebrated in one of John Lennon’s songs. Also the remarkable Orford Cellar, just around the corner from Timberhill, hosted rock greats including Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton regularly as well as Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.
HEART’s Chair, and Chairman of the Jarrolds Group, David Hill said that HEART was delighted that it had been acclaimed by such a well regarded body as nef for its Lanes work and that the conclusions had underscored the economic benefit that heritage led regeneration could bring. He looked forward to working with local people and Norwich City Council to deliver benefits of equal value to the Timberhill and Elm Hill areas.
An EEDA spokesperson said that they regarded HEART’s work as being a pioneering model in the region which other areas should follow and this was reflected in the fact that the current award took the level of EEDA support for HEART up to
£1m over the last two years.
Philip Cutter, co-owner of The Gardeners Arms / The Murderers, on Timberhill, said: “I’m very pleased that Timberhill is being recognised in this way. It is such a historic area with hidden history that lots of people don’t know about. The plaques and signs will help tell this story and bring the past to life as people wander around the area.”
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French market returns to city
(10/03/2008)
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The ever-popular French Market will be returning to Norwich at Easter.
There will be up to 30 stalls in Gentleman’s Walk and Brigg Street selling authentic French and European produce from Friday 21 March-Monday 24 March.
The market attracts thousands of shoppers into the city centre to stock up on continental delights including fresh bread and pastries, hand-made chocolates, Corsican sausages, brioche and a huge range of cheeses.
Enjoy the experience to the full by stopping for some tasty paella, fresh crepes, or for those with a sweet tooth, sample the extensive range of nuts, sweets, fudge and fruits.
Market organiser Bruno Girardeau says: “Norwich is a great place and the French traders always enjoy coming here. The weather is usually good to us at Easter, so fingers crossed!”
The market will be open 9am-5pm Friday and Saturday and 10am-4.30pm Sunday and Monday.
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