There are 31 vineyards in Wales and 739 in England, according to WineGB’s 2020 report. In the late 19th century, however, wine was imported from Europe and there were no commercial vineyards in Britain. The Experiment Began This changed in 1873, when Lord Bute asked his head gardener, Mr Andrew Pettigrew, to plant a vineyard …
The magic lantern is an early version of the image projector and was invented in the 17th century. The original versions of the 35mm photo slide were painted glass or oiled paper. For these early lanterns, the light source was either sunlight, candles or oil lamps. Magic lanterns were used as entertainment, combining images with …
Historic buildings in Wales have been managed by various organisations over the years. This collection of official guidebooks were published by some of these bodies from 1957 to 1975. The original guide, published in 1954, was written by Peter Floud, C.B.E. (1911 – 1960), who was the Keeper of Circulation at the Victoria and Albert …
Ian Phillips has been working as a print maker in Wales since 2001. His passion for relief printing was fired by a chance encounter with the work of Utagawa Hiroshige. Hiroshige was considered a master of ukiyo-e, the genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings, which were popular from the late 17th to late 19th …
For this second instalment of “Postcards of Castell Coch”, I’ve chosen a trio of postcards featuring pencil drawings by Joyce Capon. Dating the cards is tricky because they haven’t been posted. They were printed by “William Lewis (Printers) Ltd., 43, Penarth Road, Cardiff.” Some quick research tells me that William Lewis died in 1918 but …
If you’ve visited Castell Coch in recent years, you’ll have seen the fantastic exhibit that tells the story of this wonderful building. We spoke to Glyn Parry-Jones, who designed and installed it. It’s hard to believe that the exhibit is nearly 30 years old! Glyn explained that the exhibit was created in 1987 and that it …
You may have seen this spectacular image from local photographer Nick Russill in your Facebook feed recently. His otherworldly image of Castell Coch, nestled in the familiar woodland but surrounded by a sea of mist has enraptured people online. I spoke to Nick about the image and how he got into photography. Nick studied Mining …
It’s been over two years since Simon O’Rourke installed the new sculpture trail in Fforest Fawr. Simon has shared his initial sketches for the carvings and I take a look at how the sculptures have changed. When I spoke to Simon during the installation he explained that the sculptures would change colour quite dramatically over time. Back in …
If you’ve visited Castell Coch recently, you may have seen the beautifully re-designed tea room. The transformation is part of a range of developments to enhance the visitor experience at Cardiff’s fairytale castle. Jane Ormsby Gore and Becky Wade of JR Design completed the work and Jane describes it as, “A balance of inspiration from the Victorian decoration of the …
For this first instalment of “Postcards of Castell Coch“, I present a favourite of mine. The photo on the postcard shows a young girl playing the piano in the kitchen. This was one of my first postcard purchases and I was confused why a postcard would feature such a personal scene. I always thought postcards …
