Applehayes Studio, Devon

In 2010 we moved to 'Applehayes', an ancient farmhouse in The Blackdown Hills in Devon. Applehayes is best known for its association with The CamdenTown Artists in the early part of the twentieth century, and it was this artistic heritage that drew us here.

Applehayes was then owned by a gentleman named Harold Harrison. He had enrolled as a mature student at The Slade Art School in London and whilst there began his friendship with Frederick Spencer Gore, Charles Ginner and Robert Bevan - all members of The Camden Town Artists Group which also included Walter Sickert, Lucien Pissarro and Augustus John. Harold Harrison invited Gore, Ginner and Bevan to leave London behind and spend their summers at Applehayes between 1909 and 1915. The works they created whilst here embodied a rural lifestyle and landscape that had remained unchanged for centuries; a so called 'age of innocence' soon to be lost at the outbreak of the FirstWorld War. Many of these paintings are now held in collections at The Tate and The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.

Heavily inspired by the work of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, and to some extent the French Impressionists, the work of The Camden Town Artists Group is now widely recognised for its important contribution to twentieth century British Art.

Being here rekindles the creative heritage that Applehayes is so renowned for. In our ceramics studio, we regularly play host to visiting interest groups, and arts days. The Blackdown Hills is an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the landscape here is as inspirational to our work now, as it was then. The Applehayes Studio is open by appointment.