AS a young girl in the 1970s, Laura Ellen Bacon grew up on a small fruit farm on a south-facing slope in Derbyshire. Surrounded by raspberries and strawberries, she not only became adept at plucking the fruits from the stems, filling baskets for local orders, with the odd handful snaffled for sustenance, but found herself with mountains of cut fruitcane to play with. The cane proved the perfect material for shaping ever-more-elaborate dens and treehouses, bolstered further by bits of wood procured from her joiner grandfather. Before long, an obsession was born.
‘I was 11 when I asked for a hammer for Christmas,’ she chuckles. ‘I didn’t mean a child’s hammer, I meant a proper one. All I wanted was a bag of nails and a hammer. And I would make these treehouses. The biggest one was spread between five beech and mountain-ash trees, and creating it was the most precious time. I was left to my own devices.’
Today, Mrs Bacon still crafts flowing, large-scale, organic sculptures—by hand rather than hammer and her reputation means that, these days, the results go on show. Her works have been installed everywhere from Chatsworth in Derbyshire and Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London SW3. One of her pieces even inspired the composer Helen Grime to write a three-part movement in its honour, Woven Space, subsequently performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle. That’s some evolution from the raspberry-farm den.
Denne historien er fra July 26, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July 26, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
