A PORTRAIT OF FROME
Amateur artist, Phil Salt, has put his newly discovered passion to great use.
Having never found the time to paint previously, he started in earnest at the start of lockdown, using some paints leftover from an old painting by numbers set.
Concentrating on his home town of Frome, Phil began with a painting of Catherine’s Hill, a famous part of the town with an attractive, steep, cobbled hill full of independent shops. This was followed by a painting of ‘Cheap Street’, the main market place and Stony Street.
An overwhelming response to Phil’s painting on the Frome community Facebook site sparked an idea. Phil put his first three paintings up for auction and has raised £250 for NHS Frome Community Hospital.
In addition, postcards, prints and greeting cards will be sold in Postscript, Frome’s independent stationery shop, and online, with a third of profits going to the NHS.
URBAN TREE CHALLENGE
Bristol and North Somerset have been awarded a share of the £10million Urban Tree Challenge Fund from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Forestry Commission.
In due course, communities will be involved in the selection, planting and caring of more than 500 street trees and 10 small woodlands.
Up on the Down
Try this easy-to-follow Exmoor walk with SIMONE STANBROOK-BYRNE
Shop until you drop
It’s Somerset’s county town, it’s the place to go for the big shops, but Taunton is also home to a thriving independent scene, discovers CATHERINE COURTENAY
Creatures of the night
Have you ever had something swoop past your ear, almost unseen? You may have had a brief encounter with a bat, says BERNARD BALE
Bowled over
Now that we can return to skittle and bowling alleys - albeit with new rules BERNARD BALE reveals that the sport of bowling has many Somerset links
Trackway through time
In the Somerset Levels SIMONE STANBROOK-BYRNE discovers a place where our Neolithic heritage rubs shoulders with the present day
SAVING THE SPLENDOUR OF EXMOOR
The splendour of Exmoor National Park may appear timeless and untroubled, but a new book reveals the long and often bitter struggle conservationists faced to save the landscape from the twin threats of afforestation and the plough
Decorative art
Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality
Charity starts at home
How do we teach our children the importance of giving back?
Blooming brilliant
Will and Lauren Holley purchased a four-acre field in Somerset, converted it into a nursery, opened during lockdown and now their perennial plants are flying off the shelves. JULIE HARDING meets the go-getting couple
Age-old advice
Just become a grandparent for the first time? Perhaps you need a little guidance, so here are some top tips about how to embrace your new family role
