Croots Farm Shop hosts ghost evenings for Duffield Arts Festival

Ghostly goings on are being served up at Croots Farm Shop in Derbyshire as part of the very first Duffield Arts Festival.

The award-winning farm shop in Wirksworth Road is hosting three very special ghost evenings which will combine entertainment and hospitality.

Running on 14^th, 15^th and 16^th September, each event has a limited number of around 30 tickets available, which include a meal in Shires Eatery at Croots. Only a handful of tickets remain for the Friday performance, however, but tickets are still available for the Wednesday and Thursday.

The ghostly activity, performed by drama production company Attic Rats, will be set around a number of locations at Farnah House Farm and will feature eerie interaction, and a series of unique ghost stories, some acted out and some told. Many of the stories are based on the ghost history of the area.

The ghostly tour, which starts at 7.30pm, will be followed by a meal in the popular café area of Croots.

“I’ve seen the first practice and it’s a really exciting and not-to-be-missed performance. It will be a unique experience for everyone involved, and is really fascinating,” said Steve Croot, who runs Croots with wife Kay. “We’re really pleased to be a part of the first Duffield Arts Festival, and to be providing the venue for such an unusual event.” 

Not recommended for the faint hearted or under 16s, tickets are £18 each, and are available from Duffield News, Croots Farm Shop and online at www.duffieldartsfestival.com

Duffield Arts Festival will offer a broad programme of performances, workshops and talks across the fields of music, drama, art and books, plus much more.

Croots Farm Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information, visit www.croots.co.uk Find Croots on Twitter @crootsfarm_shop or on Facebook www.facebook.com/Croots-Farm-Shop 

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

Arts restoration project completed by Focus Consultants

Watts Studios exterior, 2016, © David Grandorge

Heritage experts at Focus Consultants have played a key role in the opening to the public for the first time of the studios of an eminent Victorian artist and his designer wife.

The company supported a successful second round bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £2.4million grant funding in support of the project at the home of G F and Mary Watts.

Watts Gallery Trust has now recreated G F Watts's studio and created a gallery dedicated to Mary Watts's work in the east wing of the Grade-II listed property Limnerslease in Compton, Surrey, which has just opened to the public for the first time.

As well as seeing where the couple worked, the public can also view some of their most famous paintings and sculptures, including The Court of Death (c. 1870-1902, Tate Britain), a huge painting that took G F Watts 32 years to complete. Watts’s last major work, it is displayed upon a recreation of the original pulley system designed by the artist to allow him to work upon the vast canvas in its entirety.

In addition to helping to secure the grant, Nottingham-based Focus Consultants project managed the restoration scheme - part of a £4million project to secure and restore this important site in the arts world.

“This was the latest in a number of key arts and heritage restoration schemes that Focus Consultants has been proud to have played a role in, and we are delighted that the studios of artists G F Watts and Mary Watts are now open to the public to visit,” said Steven Fletcher, a Partner at Focus, which also has offices in London, Leicester and in Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire.

“The principal aims of the project included establishing a centre for heritage learning and research, showing the late 19^th Century domestic, social and working life of two leading Victorian artists, and to sustain the future of an artists’ village, to secure the long-term future of the Watts legacy and wider estate, and we were delighted to have brought our expertise to this development.”

Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said: “The opening up of Watts Studios is set to benefit the local community, making a serious contribution to Surrey’s tourist economy and helping create a sense of confidence and pride in what Compton can offer visitors both domestically and internationally.”

Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, said: “We are grateful to HLF and to the Trusts, Foundations and many generous individuals who are enabling us to save this important part of our cultural heritage.”

Focus specialises in funding and economic development including area regeneration strategies, funding applications, economic impact appraisals, business plans, and research and evaluation.  Since 1994 Focus has also secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

To find out more about Watts Gallery Artists’ Village, visit www.wattsgallery.org.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk