A motherlode of beautiful furniture

This weekend is the monthly auction at Willingham, a small village northwest of Cambridge.

The auction house is a series of beautiful old brick barns, set around a gravelled courtyard, and to me it beats shopping on Ebay hands down, especially for furniture.

Auctions are held on Saturdays and the drill is that if you arrive at 9am, you have an hour to look round before the auction opens. Arrive early, register for your bidder numer, get a catalogue and a bacon sandwich from the fabulous cafe and have a look round the furniture and objects.

There is usually lots of victorian furniture, a smattering of georgian and some fabulous oddities. My husband raised one eyebrow when I brought home an old tin trunk fancifully painted with a fictional nautical scene but I’m happy with it.

There’s a certain amount of rushing between the two simultaneous auctioneers – one doing furniture in the main barn, one doing china and collectables in the other building. (Collectables – I’m discovering that covers a multitude of weirdness.)

Bidding is a huge adrenaline rush, everything telescopes into you, the auctioneer and the mysterious competition, on the phones, commission bids in the auctioneers book or other people on the floor. Those who attend are a mix of dealers and punters. There’s lots of married couples where the husband  does the serious business of talking to the auctioneer, but each new bid stands or falls on the wife’s nod. It’s a beautiful thing.

As the morning wears on the rooms start to look a bit thinner as people take their purchases away, but tea and home made cake keep the energy up and in summer there’s usually some garden furniture being sold that no one minds you borrowing for a quick tea break.

And then home in time for lunch in Antiques Roadshow stylee, with a giant grandfather clock sticking out of the sunroof.

Sign up for catalogue alerts at www.willinghamauctions.com – they have an excellent website where you can see exactly what’s going to be in the sale with pictures and estimates, and all the usual information. See you saturday!

NB If you’re interested in reading more about art, design and culture in East Anglia, please do follow the blog to its new home at http://flatlanders.co.uk/ – you’ll find more posts on everything interesting happening in the area.

Wysing Contemporary

Wysing Arts Centre is opening a new exhibition this weekend under the Wysing Contemporary banner, with a launch event on Saturday from 4pm with Matthew Slotover, director of the Frieze Art Fair. Greatness comes to the countryside!

Wysing is interesting because it is one of these architecturally ambitious buildings tucked deep in the countryside, which functions mainly as studios for artists rather than being an exhibition space first. Wysing Contemporary is “[their] approach to the collection and sale of contemporary visual art. It is a brand new initiative for Wysing Arts Centre, with three exhibitions per year and an ongoing series of events around collecting contemporary art.”  

They aim to present some of the most interesting work being made in the East of England, on a non-profit basis, and see the exhibitions as part of their remit of nurturing artistic talent. Could be great, could be terrible, I’ll be interested to find out.

The building itself is surely worth a look too. Opened in Jan 08, it won a RIBA award. RIBA apparently said of it “The first view of Wysing Arts Centre approaching from Bourn is stunning, demonstrating in an instant that the architects have fulfilled the client brief to produce a ‘serious building’ and to raise the profile of the Arts Centre. Simple construction, natural ventilation, use of natural daylight and thoughtful detailing all contribute to a building which is direct and sophisticated. The black, ordered rectilinear elevation has the simplicity of a Dutch barn but the sophistication of a more complex building. Stunning architecture in the most unexpected location.”

The architects Hawkins/Brown have a nice page of pictures of  it.

 

ANIMATED runs Sunday 18 January – Sunday 1 March. Wysing is open every day from 12-5pm. Admission Free.

The centre is between Cambridge and Royston – they have a helpful find us page on their website.

Aliens – they’re not from round here

Who knew that Suffolk would be considered “a key area for alien visitors to the earth – a link between their world and ours” (by Brenda Butler, who has cowritten a book about alien landings in Rendlesham Forest).

In December 1980 there was a celebrated UFO incident with unexplained lights in the forest close to an American air base – there’s a full, comprehensive and densely footnoted Wikipedia page – which is now referred to as Britain’s Roswell. Lights were seen in the forest at 5 second intervals which in no way were explained by the local lighthouse and its 5 second interval light.

Now, according to the Ipswich Evening Star, it’s happening again and lights were seen in the sky over christmas – if you have been visited by aliens you are encouraged to contact the newsdesk as soon as the probe is removed.

The upshot is that the Forestry Commission, who maintain Rendlesham Forest, have a waymarked UFO trail, which is perfect for a Sunday stroll, being about 3 miles long in some pretty woods by the coast, with a leaflet to help you visualise events. It is in Suffolk’s lowland heath area known as the Sandlings – it’s a beautiful and rare type of habitat, and one of the only places you might see a Dartford warbler, and other diminishing species.

Prewalk  research includes a Rendlesham Forest Incident website and the Halt tape, a dictaphone record of one of the investigating US officers, who was alerted that the UFO was back during a regimental dinner, and joined the search after midnight with dictaphone and geiger counter.

Enjoy.

Getting to Rendlesham Forest Centre is covered on the Forestry Commission website.

Photo of a Lincolnshire Unidentified Flying Object by Eddie McFish

NB If you’re interested in reading more about art, design and culture in East Anglia, please do follow the blog to its new home at http://flatlanders.co.uk/ – you’ll find more posts on everything interesting happening in the area.

Frozen fenlands

It has been cold enough this last week that the old sport of Fenland skating has been revived, with speed skaters out on the frozen flooded fields, the way they have since the early part of the nineteenth century.

It’s a little warmer today, but local commentators are hoping for a further cold snap so the Brithish and Fenland Skating Championships can be held for the first time in 11 years. The fens have been home to some of the country’s greatest speed skaters over the years with this natural resource at hand.

Read more in the Melton Times

 

Edit: I had lunch with family in the fens recently, and it was remarkable how many people in their village broke limbs skating on the frozen fens and have been hobbling through the snow with broken ankles and such. Ah well.

Photo of C.W.Horn, local skating hero from the Welney & District Skating Club website – they’re not updating their website at the moment, but they are the ones who will declare the championships if the ice gets thick enough.