| About us and our studio |
We’ve built a separate painting studio with a display area which has beautiful views right across the peninsula as far as the moors and the rocky outcrop of Carn Galva, overlooking the north coast.
The old well is very happy now that we’ve restored it, especially as it was blessed with water from Sancreed Holy Well by Cassandra Latham, our friendly village wise woman. After many years sealed off and in darkness, it has returned to life and now willingly gives up its icy cold water, to supply the studio and the gardens.
As well as herbs and vegetables, the gardens now feature some sculpture and mosaics by other artist friends and a huge triangular standing stone amongst the wild flowers. We take part in Cornwall Open Studios every year and have a number of open days, especially during the summer, when we also sell some of our herbs and you are welcome to walk around and have a cup of tea or coffee. We are just a small working studio though, so its best to email or phone first if you’d like to visit, or check the sign at the end of our lane, in which case we’d then be very glad to see you.
Kres ha lowen dhys |
We set up Old Well Studio in 2001 having bought the cottage and workshop in 1999. From the early 1960s it had traded as Tregurnow Pottery, run by George and Margaret Smith, until they retired in the mid 1990s. Our work may be quite different, but we feel quite proud that we’re carrying on a 40 year tradition of a small working pottery here. The story of how George and Margaret came to Lamorna from London and turned a rather decrepit 17th century farm workers’ cottage into a craft pottery is itself a fascinating one, which is the subject of a book we published in the summer of 2008.
We ourselves have been closely associated with West Cornwall for over 30 years, but until coming here permanently we brought up our family in rural Kent, whilst working in commercial art and advertising in London. Our aim in leaving that commercial world was to live our lives in a way that trod a little more lightly upon the earth, producing only the creative work that pleased us, and to keep our fingers crossed that it pleased other people as well. We’re not complete self-sufficiency nerds, knitting our own underwear, but we do grow a lot of our own organic veggies and herbs, and encourage in any way we can the local wildlife to visit us.
The old, granite outside thunderbox, still in use when George and Margaret came here, has now been converted to a meditation room. (Perhaps not so much of a change of use then, but in rather more fragrant circumstances as it’s now surrounded by our herb garden.)
