Cultural treats in store for Heritage Open Days: Edible England
This September, to mark Heritage Open Days (10 – 19 September) and this year’s ‘Edible England’ theme, Theatre Orchard and Culture Weston have some exciting cultural treats in store.
Visitors to the Whirligig Festival at Weston’s Italian Gardens on Saturday 11 September will find Artizani’s ‘BEES, The Colony’, nestled within a fiesta of fantastic, free outdoor arts events. As people wander amongst the perfumed Bee Colony, the multi-sensory installation provides an unusual but tantalising nod to the West Country’s honeyed heritage. Interact with the ethereal beekeepers and other-worldly Bee Hives where you may find yourself looking into the vastness of space or teased by a telescopic hive soaring into the air.
On Sunday 12 September, 2 – 3pm at Grove Park, Jack Dean & Company present ‘Hero & Leander’. With a very proud nod to Weston’s Greek community, this contemporary version of the classic Greek myth promises a Sunday afternoon treat of epic proportions. In this bittersweet outdoor ‘gig theatre’ show, six multi-instrumentalists tell an epic seaside tale through songs encompassing folk, indie, sea shanties and choral music. A story of bad rulers, worse weather, and how we keep going when everything is flipping terrible.
On Sunday 19 September, ‘Grow Feral, Taste Feral’ invites people to a community allotment day and cook up taking place from 12 – 4pm at Osprey Gardens, Clark’s Field Allotments, Rectors Way, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 3NR. The event is produced by Theatre Orchard and Culture Weston and led by Weston-based artist and creative producer, Sam Francis, with support from UHBW Poet in Residence Beth Calverley. Presented as part of Heritage Open Days: Edible England and the Weston Arts + Health Week.
Edible England gains a whole new dimension at Osprey Community Allotment where volunteers have been busy all year establishing the site using permaculture principles, growing familiar English fruit and vegetables, and developing an ‘exotic’ polytunnel called ‘Bato Kunku’ (Gambian for ‘farm by the sea’).
Embark on a sensory tour of the community allotment site and sample some of its produce deliciously cooked up by Weston’s Loves Cafe using a clay oven specially made for the event by Rachel Baker. Take part in creative activities using natural materials found on the allotment including willow weaving, plant print-making, poetry creation, make your own herbal tea-bags, vegetable apple bobbing and tongue-in-cheek vegetable judging!
The event is free, with donations welcomed. The project is in association with Osprey Outdoors, a people-focused organisation drawing upon the natural environment to offer a range of inspiring courses and inclusive activities that are open to all.
Fiona Matthews, creative director at Theatre Orchard and Culture Weston, said:
“The events being presented by Theatre Orchard and Culture Weston during Heritage Open Days invite people to celebrate Edible England and the heritage of food in a creative way, by engaging in a variety of cultural activities, some more unexpected than others.
“There’s never been a better time to bring everyone together and nourish them through the shared, universal experience of food, whatever that form may take!”
Details on all these events are available at superculture.org.uk and follow @CultureWeston on social media for the latest information.