Embroidered Knot Gardens and Topiary - The Lake District
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- Visit to Levens Hall, Cumbria
- 2 day embroidery workshop with Owen Davies on topiary and knot gardens
- 1 day embroidery workshop with Owen Davies on silk shaded insects
- Visit to Rydal Hall Gardens
- Visit to Dalemainn
- Visit to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top
Day 1
Arrive at the hotel, situated in the most beautiful area of the Lake District. Once you have checked in, afternoon tea and cake will be available for all our guests. Settle into your rooms and before our welcome dinner in the hotel, you will have the opportunity to wander around the area. During dinner, we will acquaint everyone with the itinerary for the week and get to know each other.
Day 2
Today after a hearty Cumbrian breakfast, we will step back in time and visit Near Sawrey – the village where Beatrix Potter lived and after a tour of Hill Top, we will have lunch at the Tower Bank Arms – a local pub where a lot of the characters in her books ‘visited’ The gardens at Rydal Hall and Rydal Mount are our next stop – an area well known by and home to William Wordsworth. The gardens are magnificent and have beautiful views down to Lake Windermere. An inspiration for this world famous poet. We will all dine together this evening in the hotel’s restaurant.
Day 3
A short drive to Levens Hall today will transport us back into another time. An Elizabethan mansion built around a 13th century pele tower and much loved home of the Bagot family. The world famous topiary gardens are the inspiration for our whole tour and Owen Davies will join us here to explain how he has used this inspiring garden for the project that he has created especially for this tour. Over 90 individual pieces of topiary, some over nine metres high, will inspire us to create our own miniature 3D version of this and knot gardens. Levens Hall is also home to the earliest English patchwork and we will have the opportunity to be taken around the house and see all these historic treasures. Dinner this evening will be in a typical Lake District restaurant.
Day 4
Owen Davies will join us after breakfast for the first day of our two day workshop. He has put together a project based on the topiary at Levens Hall. If you have ever wanted to stitch your very own piece of history, now is your opportunity. Owen will guide you through all the techniques. Working on fine canvas, all students will have a hand drawn 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 two days but all the elements will be taught to enable the enthusiast to complete the project at home. Techniques taught in the two day workshop include canvas stitches, ribbon embroidery, stumpwork and long and short shading. A wonderful opportunity to work on this unique piece of history. We will have a light lunch during the day – enabling us to do as much stitching as possible. Dinner this evening will be in the hotel.
Day 5
Today we will continue our workshop under the guidance of Owen Davies and more practice in the technique of yesterday’s workshop and some further techniques to enable us to complete this wonderful piece of embroidery. We will all dine this evening at another typical restaurant of the area.
Day 6
Having spent the last two days working on our topiary project, we will leave the hotel and venture further into the Lake District where we will visit properties and gardens that represent this most wonderful area of the British Isles. Dinner will be in the hotel and we will prepare ourselves for the final day of embroidery tomorrow.
Day 7
Owen Davies will join us again today and we will all work on a project inspired by insects. Silk work shading, basic long and short stitch, stem stitch, French knots and satin work will all be executed on traditional materials available in the Elizabethan period. A truly inspiring day and Owen will show us a wonderful selection of his projects whilst he was training as an Apprentice at the Royal School of Needlework. Again we will have a light lunch enabling us to continue with this fabulous day and creating our own little insects. The farewell dinner will be held in the hotel and we will all have the opportunity to share our experiences of the week and say goodbye to our new embroidery friends.
Day 8
The final morning of our tour and after breakfast in the hotel, we will all depart for home and look forward to completing our own piece of the Lake District and its magnificent gardens, inspired by Owen’s tuition.
Included:
· First class hotel accommodation
· 17 meals – 7 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 7 dinners) Wine with dinner
· Transportation in luxury coach
· Local guides
· Admission charges to all venues
· Tuition and all materials for workshops
· All tips for hotel and restaurants (where part of the tour)
· Services of a Tour Director throughout
· Information folder for all participants
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.
