The Aardvark Blog

Brilliant Scarecrow Sunday, lots of books, looking forward to J L Carr, H.Art and Ludlow Food Festival, sad goodbye
11/08/2018

Congratulations to all behind the planning and execution of last Sunday's Brampton Bryan Scarecrow Day. A fantastic success with the village packed out with visitors, lots of people taking the castle tour and enjoying the terrific lunches. Things were also very busy at Aardvark all weekend - with Saturday's launch and lots of Scarecrow day visitors finding their way  to the bookery. Whilst final figures are not yet in I gather that it will also be a near record fundraising total for the day, which is brilliant as St Barnabas is an important church (one of only six built during the Commonwealth period) and Scarecrow Day is vital to its ongoing finances.

This week has been another heavy week for book buying with another large clearance on Thursday and several smaller purchases. Next week will see a big parcel of art, architecture and gardening books arriving in the shop, and it really is difficult at the moment to find enough hours in the day to work through everything.

This week has also seen lots more activity with regard to our autumn programme. First up is our extraordinary J L Carr day which will be introduced by author and critic Matthew Engel and will also feature a showing of the recent print of the adaptation of Carr's 'A Month in the Country'. With free tea and coffee throughout the day has there ever been a better value event at just £10. Tickets available in advance ( and they are going quickly) or on the day.

Another thing we spent time on this week is planning for the booksignings at the Ludlow Food Festival. This year Aardvark will again be running the Festival Bookshop ( situated this year at the end of Castle Gardens), and we will have local author, actor and raconteur John Challis with us for all three days. Many thanks also to Peter Burden who will be interviewing some of the authors who will be joining us (who include garden writer Alys Fowler and Allan Jenkins, editor of Observer Food Monthly).  If you are coming to the Food Festival we can promise a really entertaining time. We are also working with Wots Cooking with regard to book signings on both demonstration stages. For a full list of cooks and chefs attending visit the Ludlow Food Festival website.

Finally last Wednesday we said goodbye to Katie S who has worked with us over the past year. Katie is an extremely talented artist and has been a really valued member of the team. All of us will certainly miss her and we look forward to following her in her future career/plans.