Hellens 2013 EVENTS

Friday 24th and Saturday 25th May - NGS

10am-5pm

Gardens open supporting the National Garden Scheme. In the grounds of Hellens the gardens are being gently redeveloped to reflect the C17 ambience of the house. Including a rare octagonal dovecote, knot gardens and yew labyrinth, lawns, herb and kitchen gardens, short woodlands and pond walk. Longer walk to Hall Wood, site of SSSI

Admission £2.50, children free

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Saturday 1st June - Wye Valley Music presents a concert in their Music In June series

Great Barn - Hellens

Krysia Osostowicz (violin)

Daniel Tong (piano)

An all-Beethoven programme:

Sonata in A minor Op 23

Sonata in F Op 24 "Spring"

Sonata in C minor Op 30 no 2

Picnics in the grounds from mid-day: the famous Hellens ploughmans lunch available for £5 (no meat) or a farmer's lunch (with meat etc) for £7 (pre-booking essential).

Private house tour for concert patrons at 1.00pm (70 minutes): £6 (pre-booking essential).

Refreshments (tea/coffee/soft drinks/cake) in the Haywain Barn from 1.00pm.

Concert in the Great Barn at 3.00pm: £15 (public), £12 (Wye Valley Music members) and £2 (students): pre-booking advised as strong demand is likely.

Interval bar in the Haywain Barn.

Advance booking from 22nd April at http://www.wvm.org.uk/ or by post to Wye Valley Music, c/o The Village Shop, Brockweir, Chepstow NP16 7NW.

Telephone message line: 01291 330020.

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Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June - The Garden Festival

The Garden Festival team are busy planning the next Festival, the biggest and best in the county. This will be our 6th year of bringing unusual and wonderful plant stalls and events together with thousands of people in the tranquil setting of Hellens Manor.

Our theme for the 2013 Festival is: Abundance - in nature, on the land, in our gardens, allotments, balconies, woods and hedgerows. Once again we will be gathering a vibrant mix of speakers, exhibitors and demonstrators - all in the beautiful setting of Hellens Manor.

We welcome up to 3,000 visitors to the event so it is a perfect opportunity forthe public to find great products and services - as well as having a lovely family day out.

http://www.thegardenfestival.co.uk

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Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th July - Textile Bazaar

In the Barns for the 3rd year running - a hugely colourful event with only the best on show. Come and have a look at this feast for the eyes!

Entrance to Bazaar £1. Tickets for workshops/lecture call 01453 823375 or email: bailey@baileycurtis.com

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5th – 14th July – Ledbury Poetry Festival

Saturday 6th July

Liz Lochhead’s Desert Island Poems

11am – 12 noon - £8

Liz Lochhead is a great poet and hugely popular.Today she talks to Mark Fisher about her life, her contemporaries and her inspirations while choosing some of her favourite poetry.

Poetry and Jazz

6.30pm doors for 7pm – 9pm - £10

Julie Boden, Poet in Residence at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and BAFTA-nominated in 2012, returns to Ledbury with pianist and composer Steve Tromans to perform with jazz legend and national treasure, Dutch Lewis.

Tuesday 9th July

Cerys Matthews sing-along

6pm – 7pm - £5

Everyone can sing and Cerys Matthews wants to stop us feeling so shy about it. She has spent her whole life collecting songs wherever she goes, from Wales to Nashville. Her new book of traditional family songs, Hook, Line & Singer, gathers the ones we all grew up with along with favourites from round the world. Join her in this big family-singalong. Bring a picnic to enjoy on the lawn before the event.

Wednesday 10th July

Green Poems for a Blue Planet: Festival Schools Day

10.30am – 2pm - £3 per pupil

A chance to listen, write and perform with the poet Martin Kiszko, who says, ‘I hope these poems provoke a thought, raise a smile, start a conversation, spark an idea, spur us into action, or simply turn on a few ‘green’ lights’. Green Poems for a Blue Planet is illustrated by Nick Park, best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit.

Friday 12th July

Tony Benn’s Desert Island Poems

2.30pm – 3.30pm - £12

Famous for his far-left views and for renouncing his hereditary peerage, Tony Benn is the polar opposite of the ‘grey suits’ that fill the party benches now. President of the Stop The War Coalition, since  retiring, Tony Benn hasn’t slowed down. Controversial but never boring, he will talk to Mark Fisher about his political and personal life and the poems that have lifted and inspired him.

Saturday 13th July

I Gaze From My Kitchen Like An Astronaut

11am – 12 noon - £8

Gaze on new worlds of poetic pleasure and provocation. The young poets in this show, Amy Key, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Tom Warner and John McCullough – have worked with a theatre director to create performances that come with a payload of star-shine and space-dust, which you can discover throughout all the charted and uncharted spaces of Hellens. Come and follow their explorations.

Sunday 14th July

Poetry and Harp

12.45pm – 1.45pm - £8

Emily Hinshelwood’s On Becoming a Fish was inspired by a series of walks around the 186-mile Pembrokeshire coastal path. Deeply engaged with environmental issues through her work in community energy and climate change, the author is also a keen observer of human nature in

the context of this beautiful coastline. Her reading will be accompanied by Delyth Jenkins on harp.

Look, Stranger: Celebrating the Benjamin Britten Centenary

7.30pm – 9.45pm (with interval drinks on sale) - £15

The Festival finishes in style as singer Ruthie Culver and the Utter:Jazz quartet weave swing, samba, blues and grooves through their vibrant re-imaginings of Benjamin Britten’s WH Auden songs. With readings by actor and director Sam West, who shot to fame in Howards End and has since appeared in numerous award-winning productions on stage including Enron.

www.poetry-festival.com

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Saturday 7th September – 'The Imperfect Pearl'  

Mark Latimer's Fairy Tale on the Life and Music of Domenico Zipoli

In 1972, scores by a certain Domenico Zipoli were found in the Chiquitos of Bolivia. For more than 200 years the life and music of this influential musician had been shrouded in mystery. This is a specially written story based on the fragments gathered of one man's journey from Europe to the rainforests of South America in 1717, illustrated by the Baroque music which drove him.

Please note that the show lasts 2 hours plus an interval.

Tickets: £12.50 (adults), £6 (children under 16)

To reserve your seats, please contact Heulwen Phillips, heulwen@heulwenphillips.com, or call her on 07772 662159.

www.perolabarroca.com/1.html

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Thursday 3rd October

Last Public House Tours. House closes for the Season

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Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October - The Big Apple

12 noon to 4.45pm. Entry £2.00* (children free)

House tours at 1,2,3pm (£6, £4.50 concessions)

The Big Apple Harvestime Event celebrates the long tradition of the apple harvest in Herefordshire. Held in October every year, various events are organised around Much Marcle including the Feast of Apples here at Hellens, where folks can bring along apples from their own trees to have the variety identified (a bit like Antiques Roadshow for orchard enthusiasts) or taste and buy them from a wide variety on offer. Help us make our own perry (see Activities below); sample cider and perry from local producers and enjoy and tea and cake from our tearoom.

Activities include:

A Feast of Apples – displays of apples, cider fruit and perry pears; tastings of dessert and culinary fruit;

Apple identification by Marcher Apple Network (£2 a variety on the day where possible; otherwise collected and retained for investigation);

Sales of apple juice, cider, tools.

Apple market selling less usual varieties.

Traditional pressing of perry pears.

Various talks and special events.

Please visit the Big Apple website for more information on other local events: www.bigapple.org.uk

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Hellens Past EVENTS

Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th May - HELLENSMUSIC Weekend

Christian Blackshaw, the celebrated international pianist, has just completed recording the entire Mozart Sonata cycle at the Wigmore Hall. He is the Artistic Director of the HELLENSMUSIC weekend, from Friday May 3rd through Sunday May 5th.Hewill be performing a programme of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Britten and Brahms from our fine Steinway Concert Grand piano in the Great Barn.

Christian will give a solo performance on Friday evening. He will perform with the greatMàtè Szücs(Berlin Philharmonicfirst solo viola) as his partner on the Saturday night. On Sunday Christian will be giving a Masterclass to 6 exceptional students from the Birmingham Conservatoire, National Conservatoire of Wales and Royal Northern College of Music, followed by an afternoon concert given by his students.

For more information please visit HELLENSMUSIC Weekend

Tickets available from Orpheus Box Office,Telephone: 01905 570979,info@orpheus-events.com

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Saturday 9th March – Rosamunde Trio

In the Great Barn

All Beethoven Programme – Gourmet Food – Locally Produced Drinks and Tour of Hellens Manor (optional)

“Rosamunde Trio are world-class soloists in their own right… moving… breathtaking…exciting" THE INDEPENDENT

Martino Tirimo (Piano)

"A formidable virtuoso and one with unmistakeable magnetism” THE GUARDIAN

Ben Sayevich (Violin)

"An exceptionally brilliant and fiery player" THE BOSTON GLOBE

Daniel Veis (Cello)

"marvel of virtuosity" THE NEW YORK TIMES

Orpheus Events are proud to present an extremely special and unique opportunity to see the Rosamunde Trio play the second programme of their ‘Complete Beethoven Piano Trio Series’ the night before it is due to be performed in London (Kings Place, 10th March) right here in the glorious setting of Hellens.  The evening will include a delicious gourmet meal, locally produced drinks and an (optional) tour of the main house offering a social and cultural feast for the senses - truly not to be missed!  Early booking is advised.

PROGRAMME

Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1 No. 3

Beethoven Variations in G, Op.121a (Kakadu)

Beethoven Piano Trio in E flat, Op. 70 No. 2

“Illuminating and masterly Beethoven.”  THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Tickets for the concert £18.50 including refreshments.  The pre-concert tour of Hellens Manor is £7.50 (optional) and the three-course pre-concert meal is £12.50 (optional). Tickets available from Orpheus Box Office 01905 570979 or email: info@orpheus-events.com

www.orpheus-events.com

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Sunday 20th January, Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival 1pm and 4pm in the Great Barn

Fin de Siecle Paris

1pm

Faure Piano Quartet in G minor, op. 45 (Daniel Tong, Arisa Fujita, Ruth Gibson, Guy Johnston)

Chausson Piano Quartet in A, op. 30 (Simon Crawford-Phillips, Laura Samuel, Tom Dunn, Amy Norrington)

Lunch and refreshments will be available to buy between the concerts

3.15pm

Pre-concert talk on Enescu String Octet by Stephen Walsh

4pm

Ravel String Quartet in F (Arisa Fujita, Florence Cooke, Ruth Gibson, Kate Gould)

Saint-Saens Piano Trio in E minor, op. 92 (Simon Crawford-Phillips, Arisa Fujita, Guy Johnston)

Enescu String Octet in C, op. 7 (Malin Broman, Matthew Truscott, William Coleman, Amy Norrington & the Celan Quartet)

Tickets for the 1pm concert are £12, for 4pm concert £16 and a day ticket is £23. To book your tickets or for further information visit our website www.wyevalleyfestival.comorcontact us by email info@wyevalleyfestival.com or by telephone 07583 510 402.

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Create your own event!

If you have a special occasion to celebrate we can organise a mediaeval banquet in the Stone Hall (even in costume…) or a Pig Roast in the Great Barn.  Maybe a candlelit tour of the House followed by supper? Guest numbers can be from 20 to 150. We are happy to organise entertainment from a court jester to a string quartet or local band.  We work with local caterers and can plan your event with you. Just bring your imagination! Please call 01531 660 504 or email. info@hellensmanor.com to discuss.

Corporate

The Great Barn can accommodate up to 100 (or more) people, ideal for conferences, workshops or simply a corporate away day. Our Haywain Barn is smaller and more intimate but with the same facilities accommodating up to about 25 guests. Catering can be provided and projecting facilities are in place. Maybe incorporate a tour of the House during your visit? Use the gardens for treasure hunts or flying falcons! Hold a survival course in Hallwood? For further information and enquiries, please call 01531 660 504 or email info@hellensmanor.com

ActivitiesPerry Making - Big Apple Weekend- Come and Help!
The Mill House here at Hellens was built during the 19th century for Charles Radcliffe Cooke. At that time Hellens was surrounded by apple and pear orchards. Ancient perry pear trees can still be seen along our drive and we are planting a wide variety of apple and pear trees to continue the tradition.

Each year we make cider or perry in the traditional way at Hellens. First the pears are sorted to remove unwanted twigs, etc. Our horse and donkeys aren’t used to being harnessed, so we use volunteers to turn the millstone.

As the pears are crushed they are wrapped in hessian to make “cheeses” then formed into a stack, ready for pressing. When the stack is complete, pressure is applied to squeeze out the juice.