West Dean House Arts and Craft Festival

A breath of fresh air; rural Sussex has space and beautiful rolling downs with vistas to die for.  The pace of life says that we want even more as expectations are ever greater, but at the same time we want or rather need to relax.  The West Dean College’s estate ticks all the boxes as our visit was to their annual Summer Arts and Craft Festival, whilst literally next door is the Weald and Downland Museum which coincidentally was staging its Living History Festival.   The latter has many events through most of the year to add to the attraction of many rebuilt historic buildings rescued from development sites.  
The Arts and Craft Festival has some exhibitors who are leaders in their fields.  Some are already recognised and others surely will join that elitist group.  jewellery is well represented; a name that is difficult to grasp is An Alleweireldt but her work is easy on the eye, you are also too easily seduced by her original approach; a pair of cuff links was too good to resist.  Now for the heavy metal; James Price designs and makes gates together with other forged metalwork.  Rather than have a mid-range watch, for the same money, you can have a one-off front gate that exudes great style and taste.  His ability to manipulate wrought iron is extraordinary; the ease with which he can produce curves and knots would not be so difficult with sticks of liquorice, but with metal that is a rare skill.
Back to very small and detailed workmanship; Anne Tomlin is a bespoke millinery flower maker and teacher.  However, what grabbed our attention were the beautifully made bugs and butterflies.  The fine detail must surely only have been achieved by working with a large magnifying glass.  
Copper has great versatility and that has been used to great effect by Mike Savage, a metal sculptor, who has made a range of pieces, mainly for the garden.  They range from painted fish on long wire stands that sway in the wind, to a very tempting planter that has ribbed sides which does not need further decoration with plants as it is a piece of sculpture in its own right.   
There were some 200 exhibitors plus plenty of learning and participating in craft experiences organised for those who wanted to get more closely involved.  Given a few years, we hope that the festival can take the place of Art In Action at Waterperry, the country’s biggest craft show that was run by some 600 volunteers.  Regrettably, they closed its doors after some 30 years in 2016.      
The historic West Dean house is home to the college’s comprehensive programme of creative arts and conservation, from short courses to one and two year post graduate programmes.  The house is rarely open to the public provides plenty of space for workshops and studios as well as exhibition and conference facilities.  The setting is near perfect with the flowing landscape with a mix of specimen trees, woods and meadows – Capability Brown would not have been able to match nature’s achievement.
Sharing that precious landscape, literally a couple of minutes’ drive away is the Weald and Downland Museum.  We have been watching its expansion over decades as they have been rebuilding so many houses and buildings of all sorts of uses, from a mass produced corrugated iron church through a working water mill to medieval Wealden Hall houses.  In addition, some years ago they built a highly contemporary ‘Grid Shell’ building for their workshops which is most spectacular; I am a little puzzled at the logic of their new buildings which have just been finished.  They comprise a museum display area, café, shop etc. in a very special location overlooking a large pond.  The external design is very safe, surely this was an opportunity lost but it blends in well.  The interior is much more interesting as it has innovative structural features in the roof.
Most people make it a full day visit as there is so much to see and enjoy on the large site for all the family.  There are guides in appropriate period costumes in numerous houses who can explain the history and the activities of the occupants through time.  Even though we know the museum well, we are always learning more; quite fascinating.
The Living History Festival was evidently very popular with lots of small historic tents all around for each group, again period costume was worn by many participants.  The central arena was always busy; horses featuring frequently.  For me, the unique horse drawn fire engine with its steam powered pump was a highlight; full of drama with its loud steam whistle, polished brass and uniformed team.  Magic.        
West Dean College
West Dean
Nr Chichester
West Sussex
PO18 0QZwww.westdean.org.uk
Weald and Downland Living Museum
Town Lane,
Singleton.
Chichester
West Sussex PO18 0EUwww.wealddown.co.uk
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