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Harewood’s new exhibition season launches with a Private View and Summer Party in Harewood Church, House and Grounds

Guests were met by the Earl and Countess of Harewood, and were invited to tour the new season exhibitions and artists’ responses in the Church and Terrace Gallery launching a medieval journey of discovery at Harewood which seeks to explore the history of this ancient landscape before the present Harewood House was built…

The evening began with a tour of the Castle, followed by a Pimms reception in the Church to celebrate the completeion of the development project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Churches Conservation Trust.

New works by artists Susan Collins and Eleanor Moreton were on display.

The Church is a hub for Medieval Harewood with the new ‘Medieval Harewood Information Point’ located in the Church Vestry, and guests were keen to explore inside this hidden gem of a building!

Find out about the Church on our webpages…

Guests were then able to view the exhibitions in the House, with the Terrace Gallery playing host to an exhibition of finds from the recent Gawthorpe Hall excavation, as well as new works by artist Diane Howse.

The Gawthorpe excavation itself was open to view, and guests were treated to a hog roast and medieval-style entertainments on the Terrace overlooking the Gawthorpe Dig Site.

You can explore Medieval Harewood this Summer… Find out more on our Medieval Harewood webpages…

This season’s exhibitions can be found in the church, throughout the grounds and in the Terrace Gallery.

Artists Simon Warner, Susan Collins, Eleanor Moreton and Diane Howse have created artistic responses to medieval Harewood;

Exhibitions - Medieval Harewood

performance tours, moving image, paintings and photography bring stories alive to evoke Harewood’s fascinating medieval past. In the Terrace Gallery you can also learn more about the newly excavated Gawthorpe Hall.

The Artists…

Diane Howse has responded to Medieval Harewood by photographing and digitally reconstructing the alabaster tombs of Harewood Church. The tombs would have originally been painted in full colour, and if you look closely at the effigies in the church, traces of original pigment can still be seen today. Diane has digitally recreated the colours that may have been used and her photographs give us a visual impression of the human beings that lived at Harewood.

Medieval Harewood Theatrical Tour

Simon Warner is a Yorkshire based photographer and performance artist. Simon will be conducting theatrical walking tours of Harewood’s medieval history enhanced with an audio experience. Tours will take place on Tues 17th July, Weds 1st August, Tues 14th August & Mon 3rd September.

Places must be pre-booked by phone, visit our event pages for details….

Medieval Harewood Exhibitions Susan Collins

Susan Collins is a film artist and is currently director of the Slade school of Fine Art, UCL. Susan has created a video intervention in the church as well as a moving photograph that can be viewed in full online. It can also be streamed on your smartphone to be viewed while experiencing Medieval Harewood.

Exhibitions - Medieval Harewood

Eleanor Moreton has been inspired by the history of sisters Elizabeth and Sibyl de Aldeburgh who became joint heiresses of Harewood Castle in 1388. Her paintings respond to the relationships and power structures between families at Harewood in the medieval period as well as the illuminated prayer books, the Books of Hours, people owned at that time.
Images courtesy of the artists, and Ceri Hand Gallery for Eleanor Moreton.

Medieval Harewood is an on-going project to explore Harewood’s medieval history before the present Harewood House was built. Join us on this journey of discovery as we peel back the layers of history, where a few short miles can cover several hundred years.

Find out more on our Medieval Harewood webpages…

PS!

Harewood Medieval Faire 2013 set to take place Late May Bank Holiday Weekend

Look out for details of next year’s Harewood Medieval Faire which is scheduled for late May Bank Holiday 2013! 

News from the Courtyard Shop

With its fresh make-over, new stock and designer interior, the shop isn’t about padded hangers and lavender bags.   Good on the eye, key brands are cleverly combined with local designers to give the shop a mix of must haves.  Gorgeous items include leading young artist Donna Wilson’s quirky creature furnishings, high quality meats farmed on the Harewood grounds, Sheffield based David Mellor’s exclusive tableware collection, sweet treats from Art of Mallows and Dixie Kitchen, and wine and beers, including Harewood’s very own Harewood Gold created from its home grown hops.

The Courtyard shop is under the successful and experienced direction of shop manager, Lynne Melton-Long, who specialises in high-end retail.  Lynne has succeeded in giving the shop a new lease of life. “Our vision is one of excellence; we’re really excited to stock some of the country’s best homewares and confectionaries supporting local farmers and designers.  We want the shopping experience at Harewood to be good on the eye as well as the tummy.  I’ve worked hard to source designer brands from all over the UK, including renowned purveyors of cheese and chutney to Her Majesty Paxton & Whitfield (incidentally the only suppliers of UK made pickled onions), wines from Latitude Wines and gift items from master cutler David Mellor.  Local designer items include paperware from The Wit Shop from Hyde Park in Leeds, Catherine Lascelles’s meats from Gray Montagne and breads from Bondgate Bakery in Otley.  If we can support emerging designers and sell their wares alongside the big boys, then our customers can set their own style and really enjoy the shopping experience.”

Lynne has a schedule of shopping events in the planning, with the first on 6th September with the Summer Night Market at the Courtyard, which includes live music, barbeque, wine and beer tastings, vintage clothing and loads more retail heaven.

The refreshed and re-stocked Courtyard Shop is open 10am to 5.30pm 7 days a week and sells designer house and food items, much sourced locally for the freshest and the very best, and table and giftware items from the UK’s favourite designers and manufacturers, some of whom  rarely supply outside of London. Call in on your next visit!

The Himalayan Garden is sublime in June…

‘Himalaya’, ‘The Abode of Snow’, the vast range of mountain peaks which arc across Central Asia, has an extraordinary diversity of flora.

Alan Titchmarsh, who opened the garden in May 2009, said “The Harewood Himalayan Garden is a hidden gem and second to none in the UK. Tell your friends!”

Harewood’s Himalayan Garden, a redevelopment of the ‘Rock Garden’ nurtured by Princess Mary and her husband the 6th Earl of Harewood in the 1930s, is this extraordinary world in miniature, a plant-hunter’s paradise.

Gardens - Himalayan Garden Bridge

With paths through a gorge and a bridge across the beck, this is somewhere for all garden-lovers to visit, with primulas, orchids, cobra lilies, blue poppies and more than 50 kinds of rhododendron.

It is also home to the Harewood Stupa, a Buddhist monument built in 2004 by monks from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The Stupa is the only one of its kind in the UK.

Some rare and beautiful flowers you might be lucky enough to see in this exotic Garden if you visit in June…

Iris Meadow
Primula Meadow
Cobra Lilly
Bhutan Pine
Chinese False Spikenard
Big-leaved Magnolia
Large Yellow Slipper Orchid
Blue Poppy

Enjoy the Gardens this Summer at Harewood…!

Read more and see videos about the Gardens on our website…

News from the Bookshop…

Bookshop - Terrace Cottage

You may have noticed trestle tables outside the bookshop with a glorious display of healthy plants for sale including flowers, herbs and vegetables….the new plant stall at the bookshop is open!

Call into the Bookshop on your next visit to Harewood…

We have hardbacks and paperbacks, books for adults, books for children and a comfy area for you to kick back, relax, enjoy a cup of coffee and browse the books at you leisure.

Harewood Second-hand Bookshop is run by a team of volunteers and depends entirely on donations…

All proceeds help fund educational projects around Harewood House and Gardens and the Bookshop run events and activities to promote reading to the young and old.

We are currently desperate for music CDs, so if you are spring cleaning your collections, we would love to have any unwanted copies you may have…

Shhhhhhh….the Clandestine Cake Club comes to Harewood, read the bookshop newsletter to find out more… There’s also still time to enter our Favourite Five survey to let us know your top reads.

Read more on the Bookshop webpage…

Save the Bees!

The Bees at Harewood were the focus of BCB Radio’s news bulletin today.

Research work being conducted at Dundee University has sparked renewed interest throughout the country in declining bee populations.

John Annett, of the Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers’ Association spoke to James Crossling from BCB Radio to fill him in on the situation locally.

Suited-up James ventured into the apiary to meet the bees…you can read his article and see the video here: http://bcbnews.blogspot.com/2010/06/honey-bees-buzzing-off.html