A Souvenir of Court House Farm
With Janet Haigh
This course is specially designed to take inspiration from the beautiful and artisan surroundings of Court House Farm and gardens. This could be flowers from the gardens or a still life from the house. Each student will create a customised giclée print.
Students will be taken on a journey to develop their first observational drawings through a variety of examples, samples and advice using one-to-one tutorials and “show and tell” sessions enabling each person to take home an individual sketch book as a record of their study. These drawings will be developed with stitch and appliqued.
What’s Included
Accommodation in a stunning medieval manor (1300sAD) or adjoining Tudor Manor house (1500sAD) the opportunity to stay in a beautifully renovated country house, steeped in history
Fully catered, chef prepared meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner with selected wines and all refreshments.
Daily guided mindfulness sessions or low key yoga!(optional)
Inspiring and engaging talks from History of Art professional
Flower Picking and Arranging in our beautiful flower garden
Fulfilling conversation with likeminded individuals
a local visit to a nearby Clevedon Pier- the prettiest in England!
Time to potter to the shops, Marina and walk to the nearby estuary to see the beautiful sunsets.
What Will You Learn?
This workshop is aimed at people ready to experiment with different stages of learning to draw, or for those of us who use flowers or still life as inspiration for working in different media. It focusses on how keep safe and easily available any ideas, drawings and samples as a record and stimulus for further study and outcomes.
Day 1: Short Intro to course by Janet - story of the development of the Court House Farm and gardens.
We start by drawing around the gardens and the house, we will be introduced to the tutor’s own preferred working methods and materials. * Then students will be invited to incorporate anything they find useful into their own style of drawing
Plus Refreshments, evening meal and getting to know one-another
Day 2: Making it your own by finding what each student wants to achieve during the classes. We start with a show and tell discussion of the work, plus ongoing individual discussions with more drawing and introducing several choices of accessories to use with the flowers or objects of interest: fabrics, backgrounds, vases, ornaments etc. These could lead to building up a ‘still life’ composition or for more formal layouts.
Plus refreshments, Lunch & evening meal, Yoga/wellness, time to explore/ trip and more
Day 3: Introduction of different media and materials to sample: finding other sources of reference to ‘explain’ or signal further ideas: photographs, magazine pulls, messages, text, fabrics, colour studies – anything and everything that visually pulls the ‘story” together. Working towards our final outcomes
Plus refreshments, Lunch & evening meal, Art history talk and more
Day 4: Show and tell, Photo opportunities and goodbyes
““What a fabulous few days we all had at Court House Farm! Every detail was so thoughtfully organised, and the welcome was warm and sincere. Court House Farm is an idyllic spot, but it wouldn’t be the sanctuary that it is without Helen and her team…. Truly a wondrous location and an experience that was both relaxing and energising – not a contradiction!!””
A LITTLE ABOUT COURT HOUSE FARM…
Which isn’t really a working farm at all! It’s more of a lovely cluster of charming historic buildings, the site originally dating from pre doomsday. The remaining Manor and smaller Manor are medieval and Tudor, dating from 1350, with some characterful outbuildings. (You may be making things in the cowshed- but no cows and clean!) we have 4 acres of land around the buildings with a little flower farm, and we are right in the heart of a small estuary sea-side town of Portishead in Somerset (with a lovely little high street, Marina and stunning coastal walks and the most fabulous setting suns). Do look at more information on the website and for photographs of the interiors and exteriors. During your stay, we will have some additional fun interludes and entertainment (we must show you our neighbouring little seaside town called Clevedon- with the prettiest Pier in England) and of course plenty of flowers!
FURTHER DETAILS
This is a 3-night residential retreat. (3 nights’ accommodation and full board). 2 half days and 2 full days of retreat content. 26th - 29th August 2025.
The price is £1490 for single occupancy, own room with ensuite, £1350 for single occupancy own room sharing a bathroom, £1250 shared room (both attending the retreat booked together. Contact us if you would like a non-participating partner to attend).
If you are local and would like to attend the retreat on a day only basis the cost is £675. This includes all materials, delicious chef cooked lunch, talks and visits. (evening meal and accommodation are excluded) Please contact Helen for further details or to book at: at.courthousefarm@gmail.com
The booking deposit is £500. (please get in touch for other currency)
The balance will be due 8 weeks prior to the retreat. Payments can be made by Paypal or Bank Transfer, ( although we do charge for the Pay pal interest fee.)
The Course Fees are non-refundable once paid, but of course, if we cancel for any reason all payments will be refunded, or mutually agreeable alternative dates offered.
If you are coming from abroad or feel you may want to spend a day on either side of the retreat for rest and relaxation, do, please discuss this with us.
If you have a question or need further details please contact us using the button below.
“I’ve come away feeling really inspired, confident and ready to try new things. I had the best time and learnt so much which is exactly what I wanted to get out of the retreat.”