THG led a popular field trip this May to Applehayes, an ancient farmhouse in the Blackdown Hills AONB.

Applehayes is best known for its association with The Camden Town Group - a celebrated school of Post Impressionist painters including Robert Bevan and Spencer Gore. Their paintings are held in collections at the Tate and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.

Philip Simmonds, a ceramic artist who now owns Applehayes farm, showed the group from THG around his studio and talked about what it was like to work in this famous setting.

Liz Gregory gave a brief talk about the artists and their work and explained how they came to be at Applehayes.  Liz has researched the Camden Town Artists and also has family connection to the farm.

The group enjoyed a walk into the valley to match up some of the artists’ paintings with the Applehayes landscape and then sat sketching and painting.

“It was such a nice, relaxed group. I could have spent all afternoon there!” commented one of the participants, Lorna Ough.

Anna Aroussi, THG Project Coordinator, said, “Philip and Clare were very gracious hosts and we would like to thank them for giving us their time and making it such a fascinating trip for everyone”.

For future THG activities, visit www.thelmahulbert.com  or call 01404 45006.