52...Ealing Riots, a Wedding Cake and a village lost in time

I came back to Brighton this week to find out that this lovely gallery where I show my work had all it's windows and door smashed during the Ealing riots. It was even captured on video  Ealing Riots
However the paintings that were taken by looters were recovered by neighbours and an Asian man who presumably lived locally, stood guard at the door and protected the gallery until the police were able to arrive. I know the gallery owners are trying to find and thank him. Unfortunately  my sculptures were in the windows and there has been some damage but happily the gallery is insured. Some buildings near by were burnt out. I'm so glad that didn't happen here as it would have been awful if the lovely work in here had been destroyed.

On a happier note my brother got married this weekend, and we all had tea and cakes at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. It was a lovely wedding and they put a lot of effort in making sure that everyone had a good time.

Calvados cake with sugarpaste teapot, cups and saucers

I offered to make the cake for them as it is what I did for a living years ago and in fact is where I learnt the modeling skills I now employ in my ceramics. However, it has been such a looooong time since I last made such an important cake and I have to say clay is a much easier medium! But we got there in the end with help from my friend Jane who is an artist  and painted the lovely roses onto the sugar.

A lovely idea at the wedding was a photo booth in which we all had our mug shots taken and then pasted the photo into a large album as a reminder of the wedding.

Ralph, Jane, Fran, Henry and Roy

Ok, very silly but great fun, and at least the photographer (Roy) got his photo taken.

Little Halland

For the next three weekends I am showing my work in the Lewes Art Wave. I am actually in Firle at Little Talland in The Street. It is a lovely house with 16 artists showing their work, so if you get a chance pop along...it is open 12 -5pm every weekend.

The Street, Firle

Firle itself is a village of horses, dogs and 50's fashion, well at least is was today, the day of the Firle Fete. This is an event which includes sheep racing, rat splatting (?!) and a competition for the dog with the waggliest tail.

Lovely 50's ladies

.....and what a great fashion sense the ladies have here.  The lady on the right is Vanessa who runs Kissy Suzuki and whose Open House it is...for a peek at her retro style check this out...www.kissysuzuki.com

Next weekend I will also be showing at the Unusual Plant sale and Art Fair at Sussex Prairie Gardens. I will be there all day Sunday, come and say hello.  www.sussexprairies.co.uk

 Find me now over at http://theceramicgardener.com

51...Cycling Home. Etretat to Fecamp

Punctures 2 and 3 of 6

A night in Le Havre at a slightly seedy hotel and a morning of punctures. It was drizzly and as we cycled through a forest at the top of Le Havre, the bike tyres picked up little bits of gravelly flint which stuck to the tyres and worked their way in. The forest was full of cyclists and joggers, some of which managed to do a lap as we did our repairs. We then got lost. The idea had been to cycle out of the top of the forest and on to Fontaine la Mallet, but because of the one way cycling system around the forest, and the repair stops, we lost our sense of direction and went round and round. Finally we found our way out (with a little help from a jogger who we had to follow to ask directions..he couldn't stop) and we finally made it to Fontaine for a very welcome cup of tea and probably the best croissant ever. On then to coffee and another puncture on the way, but then the sky slowly cleared and the sun appeared as we came into Etretat.

These cliffs were being climbed by all and we enjoyed watching their efforts as we sat and ate our lunch on the beach.

Wooden fronted house in Etretat

There are some wonderful buildings around France and still many, many wooden ones. This one had little carved people and animals all over it, all of them different.

La Dame au Chapeau a Benouville

Cycling up out of Etretat we came across this quirky Salon de The and it was one of the best stops that we had had. Service was completely at her own pace, and the tea came in one of a collection of old teapots and lustre ware cups and saucers...more english than an english tea room. We decided to have the local cider, which is nothing like cider in Britain, it is lower in alcohol and more fruity, perfect at lunch or tea time. Unfortunetly we were told that because of the licencing laws we had to have cake with our drinks.....Oh dear, 2 Friands, a Caramel slice and a Pain d'Epice please! Everything was presented wonderfully, little flamingo sticks in the Caramal slice, slices of orange on the Pain d'Epice and a knife with an orange segment for a handle..all delicious! This is the first time I have been tempted back into catering for many a year. She has a great website to check out too at   www.ladameauchapeau.com   I think I could live here.

Silouhette of the Benedictine Monestry

We followed a cycle trail across country into Fecamp which was perfect until the end when it cruelly took us over the cliffs and down into the town. Again, because of the rubbish signs we ended up on the beach at one point. Who do I write to in France about their signs?...I think someone is having a laugh.
We found a restaurant which had exactly the menu we were looking for...lots of seafood, and some very comfy seats for our weary backsides and smiley, easy service.
Next morning we had the devil in our tails and made our mid morning stop for coffee by 9.30, this meant we had time for a leisurly ride back the rest of the day.

Water Mill at Cany Barville

Hamish discovered this old abandoned mill by the lake at Cany Barville, such a shame it's not still used as it is such a lovely building.

Hamish proudly showing shredded tyre

 Finally we parted company at Guerres, Hamish and Mark for the ferry, and H and I for home. Hamish who had been on dire warning not to turn up with a rubbish bike, cycled on this shredded tyre the whole journey and didn't get a puncture until just before getting back on the ferry. Ah Hamish....you gotta love him!

Home grown bounty

Arriving back home was good owing to cycling shorts which were rubbing badly enough to give me a pain in the proverbial, but a bit sad too as there is nothing like setting off each morning and not knowing what you are going to come across as the day goes on. We had the BEST time and are already planning a ride up the Seine to Paris next year, and then a month long ride around France.
Also, waiting for us was a tree full of ripe nectarines, sweet corn, blueberries and more runner beans than you can shake a stick at. Off to the hammock for a couple of days now.

50...Cycling in Calvados. Day 3, Honfleur to Le Havre

Honfleur

Honfleur is such a georgeous place that we decided to have most of a day here with just a short cycle ride to Le Havre later on. Saturday they have a market here so we were able to stock up on food for the next couple of days when we knew a lot of the shops would be shut (15th Aug is a big bank hol in France and most things are shut on mondays anyway). Mark and Hamish being boat people looked around the Maritime museum and H and I checked out more galleries...I wanted to see which ones were selling ceramics. Honfleur is one of three places which have the most galleries in France and there was a lot of contemporary work around at reassuringly high prices. I found one small shop which was ceramics only but it was the owners work and she told me the french didn't really understand ceramics yet...gosh. I must say most of the sculptural work was bronze, fibre glass or papier mache but there were one or two with ceramic sculpture that I may approach. I usually sell my work in Britain, it is just easier on all sorts of levels, but Honfleur is temptingly close to where I live.

Childrens wooden tiles

We had lunch in a park before setting off for Le Havre, and I discovered these sets of tiles made by local school children. There were 4 sets arranged in colours, these being the green ones. I thought they looked lovely.

Pont de Normandie from Honfleur

From the park we could see across to the Pont de Normandie which we were going to be crossing, and as the weather was closing in we decided to set off.

Going over

It is not a cyclists dream to go over a bridge like this, but we particulaly wanted to see it up close and get a feel of how big it is. It is a beautifully elegant structure, and would have lovely views on a clear day. Luckily the French are great with cyclists, and there is a cycling lane at the side of this and we actually got over quicker that a lot of the cars....and it was free for us (this is a toll road)

After the bridge there is a route for cyclists all the way into Le Havre which takes you across a nature reserve and docks. This was a really interesting route, nothing here is human size. It is difficult to show the scale here, but this ship was immense and was slowly being loaded with huge crates.

Luckily this boat had been cut in two so Hamish won't be able to tow it back to Shoreham!

I have now moved over to wordpress...please come and find me at  http://theceramicgardener.com

49...Cycling in Calvados..Day 2, Cabourg-Pont L'Eveque-Honfleur

Camel by roadside

Up and off early from Cabourg on day 2. On the whole we decided not to do breakfasts at the hotels as they tend to be carb rich and not really the best start to a days cycling. Besides, it is good to look at a map and plan the morning tea stop, breakfast stop, coffee stop, lunch stop and maybe another tea stop before finally stopping for dinner.
Outside our hotel were a Camel, Horse and Llama having breakfast so Mark stopped to have a quick word. There are still loads of small circuses around France and all summer long you can see strange animals grazing the grasslands beside campsides and in seaside towns.

Lunch at Pont L'Eveque

To keep costs down and because it was nicer anyway, we made our own breakfasts and lunches. This is the easiest thing in the world in Normandy where there is always a market every day of the week in a town somewhere near you. We bought ready roasted chickens or tins of mackeral and made sauces for them from creme fraiche and lemons. The artisan bakeries always have Pain au Levain (sourdough) and add to that unpasterised butter with little grains of sea salt and it makes for a fab lunch. Apricots with some more creme fraiche kept our energy levels high.
Riding into Pont L'Eveque we found a great Quincaillerie (hardware shop) with all sorts of things that you have to have for the kitchen or fireplace. Luckily for my overdraught I could only fit one cake tin and a few cutters into the panniers, but the cake tins had to be seen to be believed. I may have to come back here! This is a really lovely town, and the cheese they make isn't bad either.
The church behind us had some unusual abstract stained glass windows:

and loads of gardens and the towns flower beds used wooden poles to make trellis's and supports,

this gave the town a really friendly feel and looked much nicer than the usual bought supports and arches.
By mid afternoon we were literally working our way across country towards Honfleur. Hamish who has an unerring sense of direction, found us a back way out of the town and up through a forest, which involved lifting bikes over gates and cycling along tracks used mainly by tree cutting machinery...quiet though.
The micro climate around this area is very special and as we came into Honfleur,

we saw this Banana tree with an honest to God Banana flower on it!
We found our hotel a little easier this time, and would thouroughly recommend it. It is called the Motel les Bluets, has a really friendly owner and a spa....what more could four saddle sore cyclists need. We sat for an hour in the Hamman before venturing out into the town.

The area we stayed in was just outside Honfleur on a curious sort of industrual estate, but with old factories like the one above. There were timber yards and little bungalows, one step up from mobile homes, with little gardens around them. The cycle into Honfleur was only five minutes, and again down the side of a river.........

and it really is the most spectacular town to come upon.
There are restaurants and art galleries everywhere, and amazingly we found one of the best restaurants any of us had ever eaten in with a menu at 19 euros! I hesitate to give away this secret as the place filled up soon after we had got a table, but I'll tell you anyway, it is L'Auberge du Vieux Clocher. We talked about the meal we had here for days after, and Creme Brulees will always be measured against the one we ate here.

 I have now moved over to wordpress...please come and find me at  http://theceramicgardener.com

48...Cycling in Calvados. Day 1, Caen to Cabourg

Hamish, Mark and Henry starting off

 We have just arrived back after a cycling tour of Calvados in Bas Normande. Normandy is a huge county compared to the counties in England, and it is divided into two, Haute Normande where I live and Bas Normande which is the other side of Le Havre. Calvados is a part of Bas Normande and is named after a Spanish ship which sunk off the coast here hundreds of years ago.
We have never really explored this part of Normandy and to really get an idea of a place you need to walk or cycle it and come upon unexpected places and people, the sort of thing you might whizz by and miss in a car. So, with a couple of hardy boat people we set out last week.
The prevailing wind here is a south westerly so we decided to catch a train to Caen and cycle with the wind at our back. It's really exciting setting out for somewhere on a train, the journey itself becomes part of the adventure and gets you away somewhere else quickly and, around here, with pretty, changing scenery through green, lush countryside (must be something to do with the rain).

One man, seven animals

When we arrived in Caen we seemed to head naturally towards the Chateau as it is the centre of the town and one can look out all across the surrounding lands from the turrets. The Musee des Beaux Arts is also here. The first thing we saw when we arrived was this amazing set of sculptures by a Chinese artist called Huang Yong Ping. They are half man, half beast and are representational of mythical animals from a book called Shanhai Jing, a book which is more than 2300 years old.

Cock with mans head

These animals are said to presage the coming of floods, wars, epidemics....all the usual fun things, and they are installed on 12 metre high posts.

Serpent man with 9 heads and 9 tails

I thought they were amazing, especially in the location of William the Conquerors castle, where they could be seen from below, above and on the same level.

Monkey with mans head

This one for some reason I found particulaly disturbing. At night they are all lit up and I would have loved to have seen that.....however we were off and cycling out of Caen towards Cabourg.
 As we left the town we came across some arresting graffiti over the walls of some derelict houses.

The houses didn't look all that old and it wasn't obvious why they were being pulled down but around the other side we found an explanation of the graffiti:

It turned out to be a fortuative thing that we had stopped because just there was a (badly) marked cycle path to Ouistreham which was the way that we wanted to go, and it went alongside a canal...brillliant!

Mark and Hamish in canal just north of Pegasus bridge

Of course it wasn't long before the lads had jumped in...I left them to it. The area all around here is full of the history of the 2nd WW, and Mark who had had a bit of a pash for this subject when he was but a boy was able to fill us in on the details as we went. The Pegasus bridge was an important strategic point captured at the beginning of the invasion of Normandy, and the name of it was changed from the Benouville bridge to Pegasus after the emblem worn on the shoulders of the British airbourne forces.
We crossed the bridge and cycled on into Cabourg, circuling it 3 times before we could find our hotel (realising that if you ask too many people for directions, you get too many conflicting answers)...and then we were able to have our first meal out and the best Calvados ever which sent me at least to bed with a spinning head.
 I have now moved over to wordpress...please come and find me at  http://theceramicgardener.com

47...Poppy Poems

Back in Brighton this week as I have a very important wedding cake to make and I haven't made one for years. The kitchen has been full of fruit mixture soaking in Calvodos and the smell of slow cooking cake, marzipan and sugerpaste. It's what I used to do all the time, but I have to say, clay is easier!
I also came back for a Private View at Sussex Prairie Gardens where several of us are showing our sculptures throughout the summer.

swaying Poppies

I bought back my new Poppy Poems from France. They were inspired by a poem from Francis Thompson called The Poppy. He was a brilliant poet but suffered most of his life from ill health and opium addiction. His poem is beautiful but dark...I really like it.

 a line from The Poppy

Inside each Poppy is a line from his poem almost hidden in the glaze. I decided to make these Poppies very simple and stylized, as the Poppy is such an iconic flower, it needs no more than a few lines to describe it.

Pauline from Sussex Gardens put on a lovely PV and it was a great evening. Here are some of the other artists who will be showing their work at the Unusual Plant sale and Art fair which will be held at the beginning of September.
For details please check out   www.sussexprairiegardens.co.uk

Meanwhile I am off to a music festival and then off cycling in Calvodos...see you in a week or so.