Cotehele House, just across on the Cornish side of the Tamar Valley, is one of our go-to spring visits. If the apple blossom is out in our little orchard Devon-side...
...then the orchard at Cotehele will be looking superb, and we weren't wrong.
and there was misteltoe, I'm not sure I've noticed that before, or seen it growing anywhere else...
It was such a lovely day we by-passed a wander through the house and stayed in the grounds before heading in for lunch and the shop. It was quiet and we felt, like Barrington Court, we had a National Trust property to ourselves..
The flowers and the views stunning in equal measure...
Calstock...
I think Bookhound shudders when I go near a National Trust shop, I mean do I really need any more postcards, or recipe books for high tea or soups, or another one of those recycled wool blankets that seem to be a magnet for moulting cats.
In fact Cotehele has a wonderful craft gallery as well.
'I'll just nip upstairs to the gallery,' I whispered as Bookhound headed into the Victorian library which he loves.
I can't usually afford anything in the gallery but it is still nice to look and decide where I'd put the stunningly upholstered chair and foot stool, or that nice piece of Jenny Hale's ceramics.
But something caught my eye on the counter.
It was a pile of books and a cover I recognised, Rena Gardiner Artist and Printmaker by Julian Francis and Martin Andrews. Published by Little Toller in 2015 the book had flown onto my radar and quickly off again. At £25 it would need to be a well-researched purchase, but also I had a problem with the cover. It's not a criticism, more a series of personal observations and preferences...
It seemed wildly abstract and spoke of nothing of interest to me...
The colours were not in my favoured palette...
If it was a place I didn't recognise it...
And the name Rena Gardiner was unknown to me.
Plenty of people would have viewed it differently I am sure (I would be interested to hear your first thoughts) but I hadn't seen a copy to look at properly so now was my chance to confirm that I wouldn't want the book and walk on... until I opened it that is and well, you can guess...
This centre page spread from a son et lumiere programme for Salisbury Cathedral has me thinking swan et lumiere and I love it...
And then Rena Gardiner's connection with Cotehele and Cornwall revealed itself and surely hadn't we just looked across at this very same view...
Needless to say I walked out with a copy of Rena Gardiner Artist and Printmaker 'neath my arm. Bookhound recognised the cover as Durdle Door, a rock feature off the Dorset Coast, in an instant. His school geography trip circa 1969 had been to Lulworth Cove and Swanage, mine circa 1971 had been nowhere near (Bude).
I probably should have bought two because since the book arrived home it has barely been out of our hands; as one puts it down the other picks it up as we soak up the pictures and information about a modest yet prodigiously talented woman. So stand by for a series of posts about Rena Gardiner, because she has gone straight to our hearts and we have made some wonderful discoveries and seen some amazing things since we discovered the book barely ten days ago.
Along with it came the realisation that we had known of some of Rena's work for many years but hadn't been paying attention...
Bookhound loves her for the sheer breadth and depth of her talent, and the precision and technique, to say nothing of the superb vibrancy and quality of the end results, whilst I am enthralled for other reasons besides, not least that Rena Gardiner (1929-1999) was the school art teacher that I'll bet many of you had too. Teaching first at Leamington College for Girls and then Bournemouth Girls School in the 1950s and 60s, when I saw this picture it conjured up an image of just about every teacher I ever had..
The single women in that post-war generation who dedicated themselves to our education, and for which I doubt I for one showed much gratitude. I didn't distinguish myself in the art room at Nonsuch Girls', Cheam it has to be said (not far from Epsom where Rena was born and went to school) and can only pity the poor art teachers who tried, often women of formidable talent but with no other avenue available for their creativity beyond the school remit, except living alone Rena worked tirelessly to nurture hers and to share it. Teaching was not a vocation for Rena and eventually, to the dismay of her friends (also teachers) she took the courageous plunge and became a full-time artist..
"Her principal achievement was some 45 books, all of which she wrote, illustrated and printed herself. No two copies are the same. Her legacy also includes paintings, pastels and linocut prints.
Rena Gardiner dedicated her life to her art, doing so alone in a thatched cottage in Tarrant Monkton, in the heart of Dorset.
An unsung heroine of printmaking, uninterested in publicity or fame, she created an artistic legacy that is instantly recognisable for its exuberant use of colour and texture. "
Hence the Dorset significance of the book's cover and if there was ever a portal to venture through and see new (to us) things then that picture of Durdle Door is it and now I get it.
We have been lucky enough to spend a day browsing the Rena Gardiner archive at Cotehele before it leaves this week on permanent loan to the Dorset History Centre and if anyone is interested there is currently an exhibition of Rena Gardiner's work at Mompesson House in Salisbury, we have promised ourselves a day there dreckly.
Much more about Rena Gardiner, the book, her life and her work along with our joyous trawl through the archives (and news of a purchase or two) very soon.
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