Chickens!

We welcomed 9 new arrivals to the Lund... 8 hens and a rooster. Settling in well in their very des-res recyled plastic hen house... pecking about under the old oak tree. With sunrise being fairly late at the moment Mr Rooster is crowing at a respectable hour... but when summer comes along he may well be moved a little further away from outside our bedroom!

A new lick of paint

Any kind of DIY seems to take a while when you have a 3 year old helping out... We've just finished filling all the cracks in the plaster in the Tractor Barn - three years after the barn conversion the plaster has settled down enough to finally fill in and paint. So now we have some new paint, some colour on the wall, and a nice new shiny floor - and we can start putting everything back in place.
And the woodwork outside is weatherproof for winter.. with some bright new colours to spice up the darkening evenings.
With all the redecortation finally done, we can at last think of setting a date to re-open the doors! ... watch this space...

Summer Solstice...

After several months behind closed doors, the Gallery opened its doors to take part in North Yorkshire Open Studios and it was fantastic. We had many visitors to the gallery, both old and new, it's been great to see everyone.
Those that came to visit will have noticed that we've been playing around with the layout. Debbie's studio is now in the end of the gallery space, and Martin is now renting a studio. This is a 'considered' move to further build on the creativity at the Lund, to bring painting to the fore while retaining much, but not all, of the exhibition space in the gallery. (And it means that when you come to see the gallery, you get a chance to sneak a peak at Debbie's studio... )

The summer solstice is on the horizon, and the late daylight is magical, so I'm off out to sup a beer... and think about building a fence for those chickens...

Chickens...?

Since we opened up the central courtyard behind the gallery a couple of years ago, our 'sculpture garden' has effectively become redundant. So, we've decided to rip out much of the 'formal' garden, transplant as many of the plants as possible to the courtyard, and take the sculpture garden back to its agricultural roots with the addition of some chickens. Well - not quite yet, we're half way there. Just need a little extra fencing, and some chickens. A trip to Thirsk Fur and Feather Mart in the coming months will be in order.

Our next event at the gallery will be 9th/10th 16th/17th June - as part of North Yorkshire Open Studios Debbie and resident artist Martin Huxter will be opening their studio doors. Worth checking ot the NYOS website to check out what is going on - it's a major county-wide event not to be missed.

year end...

December the 18th saw the Gallery close its doors at the end of another busy year. A few more days work behind the scenes now will hopefully make sure that all is sorted in the Gallery and all the books are in order and we can put our feet up on Christmas day - though there won't be much chance of that with a 3 year old boy running around!
Like last year we have chosen to be open 'by appointment only' for the first part of next year. Debbie has had yet another succesful year, both in Lund Gallery and elsewhere, and so needs to take some time out to spend some time out and about on the moors and to create her own work. So if you would like to come and visit the gallery, please do call at least a day in advance to make sure we'll be in....

Yorkshire Spa

The Joy of Food is coming to an end.. it doesn't seem like yesterday since it opened - time has flown by. We've had a great response to the show - so many thanks to all the makers, and to Isa and Sarah for taking part. Next show opens in a couple of weeks - we've just finishing proofing the invitiations which will be sent out soon.

We reached new heights in decadance ; I have recently built an outdoor hot tub with views out across the fields:

A new lease of life for an old cast iron bath that has been sitting behind one of the barns. Needs a bit of trial and error though - if the fire gets a bit too lively it's a case of jumping out before scorching one's tender bits!

More good news - Debbie has been celebrating a succesful affordable art fair over the last few days... great to be taking her work out to a wider audience...

logs and turnips - and the Joy of Food

Debbie has returned to a favourite haunt in the North Yorkshire coast - Runswick Bay - so I've taken the opportunity to catch up on stuff that has been bugging me for a while.... After years of looking out of the kitchen window at our logs thrown up against the side of a barn and covered with woobnly tin, I scavenged together a load of left over 4 by 2 and fenceposts, and built a proper log store. (I use 'proper' in the loosest sense of the word.)

Having cleared out the weeds from the veg plot, I went searching for things that you can plant at this time of year (my veg planting does not get planeed in advance!) - so this winter we'll be eating mainly turnips and spinach. More spinach - it always seems to be time to plant spinach.

And on the topic of food - the gallery is getting a major make-over in time for the next show - the Joy of Food - opening September the 25th. It's going to be a major event in this year's calendar, with a special 'foody' preview...