Embroidered Knot Gardens with workshops led by Owen Davies & Sue Hawkins
13th-18th September 2010
£835.00 per person based on two people sharing room
£150.00 per person single room supplementBooking Code EG10
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Day 1
Arrive at the hotel, situated in the picturesque thatched village of Wroxton – only three miles from the historic market town of Banbury. With parts dating back to 1649 the hotel retains all of its traditional charm yet offers the contemporary luxuries.
Once you have checked in, afternoon tea and homemade cookies will be available for all our guests. Settle into your rooms and before our welcome dinner in the hotel, you will have the chance to wander around this charming village. During dinner – in our private dining room - we will acquaint everyone with the plan for the week and get to know each other.
Day 2
After a hearty English breakfast in the hotel’s beamed dining room, we will visit some of the gardening gems of the area. A visit to Burford Needlecraft Centre is a must for embroiderers and we will have time in this town for lunch on our own. We will then visit Chipping Campden, a charming old wool merchants market town in the heart of the Cotswolds. It has the enviable reputation as the most beautiful High Street in England. Here we will have time on our own for shopping, browsing and an English afternoon tea. Our final Cotswold town is Broadway – often referred to as the ‘Jewel of the Cotswolds’ – at the foot of the western Cotswolds escarpement – a wide grass-fringed street surrounded by honey coloured limestone buildings dating back to the 16th century. Here we will have dinner, before returning to our hotel.
Day 3
Our first embroidery workshop day – after breakfast, we will travel to Sulgrave Manor, the home of George Washington’s ancestors. Before we begin our workshop with Sue Hawkins, we will have a short private tour of the house and gardens – focusing on the textiles. We then go to the Courtyard Hall where Sue will take an all day class on crewel work, based on one of her Elizabethan designs. A break for lunch and the continuation of the class in the afternoon. We then return to the hotel for a delicious dinner in the AA rosette restaurant.
Day 4
Today we go back in time and visit Shakespeare’s Stratford upon Avon. A local guide will take us to visit all the important places in Shakespeare’s life in this, his home town. We will have the opportunity of seeing the Elizabethan knot garden in the heart of town. A couple of hours on our own to have lunch, sit by the River Avon and watch the world go by and enjoy all that Stratford has to offer. We then leave Stratford and travel the short distance to Kenilworth Castle and have a guided tour of the gardens and the Castle. We will be met here by Owen Davies, our tutor. Owen has based his Friday workshop on the recently restored knot gardens. For over 400 years the magnificent garden created for Queen Elizabeth 1, by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, was lost to the world. Now with the help of a remarkable 16th century description of the garden, it has been recreated, just as it was when Queen Elizabeth 1 first walked here in July 1575. Owen will guide us round the garden showing us the inspiration for his work – before we have our workshop with him tomorrow. Dinner will be en route back to the hotel and we have booked into a Mill – where we can enjoy pre-dinner drinks beside the millpool.
Day 5
Owen Davies will join us after breakfast for our whole day workshop. He has put together a kit based on the Knot Garden at Kenilworth Castle. If you have ever wanted to stitch your very own piece of history, now is your opportunity. Owen will guide you through a small embroidered garden. Working on fine canvas all students will have a printed canvas with full instructions and materials. The three dimensional garden will include topiary trees, flower beds and knot hedging. The project will not, however, be completed in the day but all the elements will be taught to enable the enthusiast to complete the project at home.
Techniques taught in the day class include canvas stitiches, ribbon embroidery, stumpwork and long and short shading. A wonderful opportunity to work on this unique piece of work – designed especially for this tour. We will have a light lunch during the day – enabling us to do as much work as we can.
Our final dinner will take place in the private dining room and we will all have lots to talk about over dinner – all the places we have visited and all we have achieved and new skills we have learnt during the week, as well as the new friends we have made.
Day 6
Our final day and after a good English breakfast, we can return home with so many memories and a huge amount of knowledge to enable us to finish our very own pieces of Elizabethan inspired stitchery.
Included:
·First class hotel accommodation
·12 meals – 5 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 5 dinners (drinks during dinner are not included)
·Transportation in coach with all facilities
·Tutor for two workshops
·Embroidery kits for two workshops
·Local guides
·Admission charges to all venues
·All tips for hotel staff and restaurants (where part of the tour)
·Information folder for all participants – including brochures and timed itinerary
Not included:
All items of a personal nature, ie bar bills, telephone calls, laundry, insurance, meals other than those included in the itinerary and any gratuities other than those stated above, are not included.