March « 2010 « Bull Farm Oast

Finchcocks visit on Kent Big Day Out

Filed under: Uncategorized — Andrew @ 12:09 am

We applied on the ballot for this years Kent Big Day Out event and were fortunate to get our preferred venue, Finchcocks Musical Museum just outside Goudhurst. Due to a prior engagement for lunch we only made the second half of a most enjoyable afternoon, starting off with a cream tea in the cellar restaurant. We then spent time looking at the collection of over 100 historical keyboard instruments and some of their collection of photographs and prints.

We then assembled for a memorable musical recital by Richard Burnett, Gary and Alastair.

A selection of our photographs:

A view of the back of the Georgian house.

At last the daffodils in the lovely gardens are in bloom. Very late this year.

A view of three of the pianos on display

John Broadwood and Sons London 1845 concert grand piano in amboyna wood

We are assembling for the demonstrations and recitals.

Richard on the Adam Beyer 1777 square piano playing a sonato.

Gary and Richard - a duet

A five hand piece by Richard, Gary and Alastair

The recital concluded by Finchcocks curator Alastair Laurence entertaining us with two pieces including Springdance from Bergen.

Please include Finchcocks in your itinary when visiting Kent- opening times are on their website:

www.finchcocks.co.uk

Some of this years events:

Midsummer Music

June 13: Baroque Music
June 20: ‘Desert Island Songs’ with baritone Stephen Varcoe and pianist Christina Lawrie
June 27: Clavichord Recital with Marcia Hadjimarkos
July 4: The Regency Duo – Jane Austen programme
July 11: Primavera
July 18: Tallis Chamber Choir

August Bank Holiday – Pleasure Gardens Gala

August 29 & 30: ‘Dr Arne at Vauxhall Gardens’

Autumn Festival

Sept 10-12: The English Organ (concerts, talks & workshop)
Sept 17-19: Chopin Anniversary Celebrations
Sept 24: Bel Canto recital with tenor Simon Edwards
Sept 25: A Feast of Victoriana
Oct 2: Concert by winners of the Broadwood Competition
Oct 3: Finals of the John Kerr Award

Christmas Concerts

Dec 5: Young Performers’ Recital in aid of Save the Children
Dec 12: Primavera: Country House Concerts
Dec 19: Friends of Finchcocks Concert – The Tivoli Band

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Sissinghurst Gardens opens for the new season

Filed under: Gardens — Andrew @ 1:04 am

Monday 15th March

We made our first visit of the year to Sissinghurst . After the cold winter all the spring bulbs are much later than last year, but we were pleased to see the abundance of crocus, snowdrops and winter aconite in glorious bloom. It was a lovely day with plenty of sunshine.

We enjoyed seeing the garden in this early stage as we are so used to seeing the huge variety of flowers that we are used to in mid summer. We share below some of the photographs we took today.

The spring garden or the Lime Walk as it is also known.

A close up of a bee enjoying the early blooms:

A view of the Orchard where in a few days the daffodils will share this space: (we will update the picture when they are out in a new posting)

The Sissinghurst farmers market made its first appearance of the year. It will then be on the first Monday of every month. Come and buy some of the wonderful local produce.

We were also pleasantly surprised to see tables and chairs out in the open for us to enjoy lunch or tea from the Granary Restaurant, most of the vegetables and salads are grown on site during the summer. This is a recent innovation.

The winter aconite (Eranthis Hyemalis) in bloom: