Hay Festival set up begins!

Well, here we are again on a very sunny Monday, with an empty marquee, just waiting to be filled with gorgeous goodies.

   

It takes a while for us to get to that stage though – today it’s all about boxes, plinths, heavy shelving, more plinths…and did I mention boxes?  

Thank goodness for Charlie and Danni!

  

Painting tomorrow – it’s lavender grey all the way!!

 

Our reporter in the field!

We had a little wander down to the Festival site today to see how rain was affecting play.

See for yourself!  Rather liking Joy’s little black number and welly outfit!  Tres chic……but let’s hope it’ll be sundresses all the way during the Festival.  Summer sun…..reveal yourself….

  

If you haven’t already checked out the Festival programme, take a sneak peak here.

A room with a view

There’s nothing nicer than a weekend away from home in a beautiful setting, staying in gorgeously renovated accommodation and recently we were lucky enough to have a night at The Byre at Fforest Cwm, Clyro just 3 miles from Hay on Wye.

The Byre is owned by Michele & Steve Chapman and is part of their gorgeous small holding in Clyro.  It’s a converted cow byre but has also been used for goats and sheep and now it houses a wonderful rural self catering escape for 2 very lucky adults.  The views from the conservatory over the valley make for perfect morning and evening viewing of the surrounding pastures and hills.

 

There are wonderful walks nearby and once you’ve worn yourself out on the hills or browsing the books in Hay you can return to make dinner in the handmade welsh oak, fully equipped, kitchen before retiring into one of the most comfortable beds we’ve ever slept in!

 

And if all these creature comforts aren’t enough there are plenty of furry and feathered friends around the farm to enjoy!

We can’t recommend this beautifully converted barn highly enough.  You really need to treat yourself, you’ll come back refreshed and restored.  Have a look at the website and book today!!

Love is in the Air!

We’re getting all lovey dovey with the thought of Valentines Day just around the corner so we thought we’d give you a head start in the love game.  Just to help you out we’ve got some super romantic suggestions.

Can’t go to Venice, the most romantic city in the world?  Then bring Venice to you with this gorgeous Venetian facade by Tom Sutton.

Want her to fall truly, madly, deeply? Then just give her your heart….or a gorgeous piece of jewellery by local jewellers Bronwen Tyler Jones or Rebecca Lewis.  Trust us…..she’ll love it…and you!

Or, if you want to go super romantic what about this gorgeous print by Trevor Price, it’s called ‘The Dreamers’……need we say more?

 

 

 

Come spend ye merry gentlemen!

We love Christmas here at The Bowie Gallery and were super excited when all our decorations arrived which meant we could decorate the gallery for the Festive season!

We try really hard to find new, interesting and different decs for you and we’ve excelled ourselves this year with gorgeous textile hearts, stars, trees and reindeer bags filled with Christmas pot pourri by Jersey based artist Beverly Speck.

  

There’s also some very classy cut out paper baubles by the incredibly talented Sarah Morpeth which are really unique.

And to get the Festive season off with a swing, why not visit the Hay Festival Winter Weekend, providing a little Advent magic from the 2nd – 4th  December.  Mulled wine, Santa, brilliantly talented authors…your Christmas starts in Hay!  For full events listings for the Festival click here.

We’re offering festival goers a really good deal on Saturday 3rd December – come and join us for a glass of bubbly and if you have a ticket for any Winter Weekend event you will get 15% off any purchases made in the gallery.  Now that’s worth coming to Hay for!

Travelling with style!

Many of you will know of Andrew Marsden’s beautifully made silver jewellery from seeing it the gallery but Andrew is a bit of a dark horse.  As well as being a fabulously talented jeweller he also makes the most incredible handbuilt caravans and tree-houses.  If you’ve ever wondered if the travelling life could be for you, all you have to do is imagine life on the road in a gentleman’s caravan and you’ll be packing your suitcase in a jiffy!

   

Or what about a tree house?  They’re not just for kids you know!  Just what you need to get away from it all at the bottom of the garden…..

Just contact Andrew and your fairytale dreams could start sooner than you think….all you need now is the horse!

Can you afford it? Yes you can!

We’re all watching what we spend at the moment and with all the doom and gloom about the economy it means that those wonderful, must have, spur of the moment purchases are making us feel even more guilty!

So we thought this might be a good time to remind people about the brilliant COLLECTORPLAN scheme, run in conjuction with The Arts Council of Wales.  It’s an interest free loan (yes…completely interest free!) from £50 to £2,000 payable in up to 15 installments.  Good eh?  It makes us as happy as this Christine Cummings pointer!

It takes minutes to fill out the application form in the gallery and it means that Wally Keeler teapot or gorgeous Peter Beard vessel could actually be yours, not just something to dream about!

Since the scheme began in 1983 over 26,000 people have used Collectorplan and been able to buy the one thing they really can’t live without for an affordable monthly payment.

So…..what are you waiting for?