Hello & welcome to Tales from the Gardens, a new monthly blog by Wild Ivy Norfolk that will keep you up to date, not only with our news but also with all that is happening at Alby Crafts & Gardens. Every month will focus on a different seasonal theme, we will share photos & news from the gardens & throw the spotlight on some of our resident & visiting artists with a 'meet the maker'.
April's Meet the Maker - Jaide from Wild Ivy Norfolk
Hi I'm Jaide, owner & founder of Wild Ivy Norfolk &
now author of Tales from the Gardens!
We are based in the lower courtyard at Alby Crafts & Gardens in Erpingham North Norfolk & I run Wild Ivy along with the help of my family. We offer a range of preservation services including;
Preserving wedding bouquets & memorial flowers.
Cremation ash jewellery.
Hand & Paw Casting.
We also have a little gift shop selling botanical soaps, candles, dried flowers & unique gift items. I began the business in 2017 when we relocated from London to the North Norfolk coast, starting with local craft fairs & progressing on to exhibitions at National Trust properties & events all over Norfolk. Since then I have created preservations for over 2000 weddings & memorials throughout the UK and have worked on commissioned art pieces for clients in Europe, Australia, the USA & the Middle East.
To find out more about the services we offer visit our website www.wildivynorfok.com or pop into our studio.
An Introduction to Alby Crafts – Artists & Shops
Cromer Road Erpingham NR11 7QE
As well as 4 acres of landscaped gardens to explore there is also a tea room, gift shops & working studios to browse, all based in converted brick barns. Be sure to look out for the resident peacocks whilst you're wandering around the site, there were 36 at last count & they are very friendly! There is plenty of free parking available, dogs on leads are welcome & the gardens are open all year round, entry to the gardens is £2.50 for Adults and Free for Children. In the Upper Courtyard you will find the following gift shops & tea rooms;
The Artisan Cafe – Tea Rooms
The Purple Parrot – Gift Shop
Gallery 10 – A range of art & crafts for sale by local artists
And in the Lower Courtyard you will find working studios;
Anglia Clay Supplies - Pottery
Cocktail Canaries – Local Hand Crafted Cocktails
Wild Ivy Norfolk – Flower Preservation & Cremation Ash Jewellery
Jill Smith – Dress Maker
Keverne Dewick – Wood Turning
Viv & Joe – Children's Clothing
Pop up space is available to rent for local artists with their own gazebos in the Lower Courtyard area, to enquire please message Alby Crafts & Gardens via their Facebook page or drop me an email at jaide@wildivynorfolk.com with your name, contact info & details of what you make/sell.
April in the Gardens -
Whilst the weather may still be quite cool for this time of year the gardens are beginning to awaken from their winter slumber with some wonderful colours appearing throughout. This month in the gardens you can see various daffodils including Paper White Narcissus, Jonquils, Tete a Tete's, Little Gem's & Fortunes along with Hellebores, Late Snowdrops, Crown Imperials & Snakes Head Lily Fritillary.
A History of Alby Crafts & Gardens
Alby Craft Centre comprises a set of traditional North Norfolk farm buildings, called Grove Farm, built in 1850 by William Howe Windham of Felbrigg Hall (now a National Trust property). The Windhams owned a large estate centred on Felbrigg and W.H. Windham carried out extensive modernisation of his tenanted farms of which Grove Farm was one. The farmhouse and the barns are built from red brick and flint, the traditional building materials for this area.
John Alston, who already owned the next door farm, bought Grove Farm in 1959 with sitting tenants. These tenants retired in 1972 and the land from the two farms was amalgamated. The outbuildings, however, were in a poor state and their shape and size made them unfit for modern agriculture.
A decision had to be made: either find a use for the buildings or knock them down. John and Valerie Alston considered all the possibilities but eventually decided to convert the buildings into a craft centre. They spent two years travelling throughout the UK and Ireland looking at other centres to learn about the financial implications and potential problems of the project. They spent another two years renovating and converting. At that time it was difficult to find a man locally who could work with flint but eventually they found one and employed him for the full two years to complete the job.
In the beginning Valerie and John ran the Tea Room, the Gallery, the Gift Shop and another shop called the 'Honey Pot' themselves. The individual workshops were soon all let and the centre was in business.
As the years passed Valerie and John gradually stepped back until all the shops, workshops and the tea room were individually run, allowing them to concentrate on developing the gardens.
Sadly John died in 2013. Valerie continues to manage the gardens with a team of gardeners while their sons have continued to support a new generation of artists, craftsmen and shopkeepers.
Flower of the Month –
Did you know that as well as birth stones every birth month & every wedding anniversary is represented by a different flower? Birthdays in the month of April are represented by the Daisy as are 5th Wedding Anniversary's.
We hope you've enjoyed our first edition of Tales from the Garden. Next month our meet the maker will be throwing the spotlight on resident Dress Maker Jill Smith, we'll be looking at seasonal wildflowers, particularly ones that are native to Norfolk & hopefully with some milder temperatures in May we will have more species & colours to bring you from the flower gardens.
Best Wishes
Jaide
Owner of Wild Ivy Norfolk
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