The Aardvark Blog

The exhibition is up; fingers crossed for Saturday!
2/04/2015

And now the"Paper Wraps Stone" exhibition is finally all up.

It is amazing how even a medium sized exhibition like this one takes such an incredibly large amount of work to get into place. It looks amazing, and I am so pleased that we have been able to bring together such a powerful collection of work.

It has also been a great pleasure to work closely with sculptor Lottie O'Leary, who hitherto I had known mostly as the mother of Lettice who worked for us until February. Her stone carvings are so beautiful and if we do not sell the Mermaid in short order I will be very surprised. Private View opens this evening from 5.30-8pm and the exhibition then runs until Sunday 19th April.

I was at Brightwells auction yesterday and purchased some interesting books of Herefordiana, some reference books relating to book illustration, prints and watercolours, and a good selection of more eclectic titles. These have already started to go into stock and some have sold, so if you are coming into the shop over Easter you will see plenty that you haven't seen before even if you have been in recently.

One important thing to mention about the holiday season is that

We are CLOSED on EASTER SUNDAY.

Because we are open almost everyday, Easter Sunday always causes some confusion, but sadly we will not be here (we have had to turn down a large party of cyclists which is always a bit heartbreaking). But we are open on Easter Monday, so you will not have to wait too long for your Aardvark fix. The Aardvarks and family will be having Sunday lunch at the wonderful Milebrook House Hotel just down the road from here. Every meal at the Milebrook is a treat, and Beryl and her team make every-one feel special.

Good Friday the shop will be open as usual, but we will be having drinks and nibbles around the naming Ceremony for our two new picnic benches. As I believe I have said before local artist Paul Caton has made two plaques in memory of our beloved friend and colleague Edward who died last year. Any customers or friends of Edward are welcome to join in, and the ceremony will start at 1pm.

Lots of people have booked for the talks on Easter Saturday, so if you want a chance to hear RHS Judge Kim Hurst at 11am, renowned iris, peony and perennial plants specialist grower Claire Austin at 12 noon, or the world-famous garden writer and designer Noel Kingsbury at 2pm, please call to book your places soon! Tickets are free.

Also on Saturday 'Two Things with Strings' will be playing, there will be plants and pots to buy for the garden, and free craft activities in the BookBurrow. Fingers crossed that the wind dies down and that we have some sunshine.

Finally, Arthur and Ethel are very excited, because a new armoury of baby aardvarks (Arthur assures me that this is the correct collective noun), arrived at the bookshop this morning. They are so unimaginably cute, that when they were led into the shop by their proud aunt and uncle, there were squeals of delight from staff and customers alike. Forget Eggs, Easter means aardvarks.