Last night I dreamt of Lamledra...

July 28, 2016

Last night I dreamt of Lamledra...

Lamledra House is situated in Gorran Haven in Cornwall, set atmospherically a top the cliffs above Vault Beach. This June I had the amazing opportunity to stay at Lamledra House to celebrate my Mums birthday with our family. The views from the house are beautifully rare, unspoilt views where you can't see another house, just a expansive but tranquil bay. Its a quiet place and you can hear the sea at night and the sheep outside who bleet their dulcet tones...

The house itself was built in the built in 1911 from local Pentewan quarry stone, and extended in the 1920s. It was the holiday home of John Fischer Williams and his wife Marjorie. During the war Marjorie and the girls stayed at Lamledra, painting and writing fascinating letters to her husband in London, as well as diary entries, which can be found in a book called "Letters from Lamledra." John was a barrister and ten years older than Marjorie, so too old to enlist. He worked in the aliens’ department of the Home Office.

Majorie was an accomplished artist and avid embroider, many of her beautiful creations still adorn the house. Her work can still be found in Falmouth Art Gallery (where you can also find my work exhibiting #plug). Little has changed and the house is refreshingly free of mod-cons and technology. It was interesting as a family friend had many books about the house and it was weird looking at old photos of where you are staying, clarifying how it was very similar to how they lived 100 years ago.

We all dressed up one evening in honour of the house in ensembles from the 1920's, it was so much fun and everyone had a different take on the era! My cousin is a photographer and got these amazing portraits of everyone in their clobber!

I did SO MUCH beach combing it was ridiculous, and came back with so much beautiful beach treasure! Love this pink bit below I found...

Every beach has treasure, these flat slate rocks, sea worn shell and beach tumbled plastic will also be used in my work...

Mr Benedict Bean :-)

One of the necklaces I finished, the photo is taken on one of the vintage plates I found in the cupboard at Lamledra. I gave this necklace to a family friend as she made an amazing meal for everyone one night! And gave me a very good looking rock she had collected from Vault Beach. It is a beaut!

Me, the necklace and the sheep! MAHHHHHH!!!

Beach to meself

Wildflowers along the coastal path to the village...

Me sat outside making jewellery at Lamledra...

Boat at Fowey

Me and me bestie on the swings :-)

My friend Gemma runs Charlestown Gallery, and she was away and asked me to run her gallery for the day, which was so much fun!

Some of my favourite finds laid out... sea glass, sea pottery and beach tumbled raw amethyst...

Pahhhhsty :-) Theres an amazing pasty shop right next to Gemma's gallery...

I met so many lovely customers at Charlestown Gallery, including a lovely local lady called Tori who had seen my post on Facebook about running the gallery and had brought down all her stunning pieces of sea glass and sea pottery so that I could make her a custom necklace, bracelet and earrings. Her collection was stunning, and more astonishingly had been found at a beach I would not normally associate with having a high yield of sea glass. She told me her secret was digging for it! Amazing!

And here are the finished pieces for her...

If you would like me to work with your personal sea glass collection please get in touch at beachshackproject@yahoo.co.uk so I can make you a special piece :-)

As I mentioned I managed to elope Cornwall with many bulging carrier bags full of beach treasure, and I've been busy making for 3 of my galleries, Rye, Stacks and Ropewalk... Lots of new pieces will be winging their way to these lovely places ready for August :-)