Compton Verney

I recently visited Compton Verney in the Worcestershire countryside with some friends to see a Needlecraft fair....the house was derelict until a wealthy patron of the arts rescued it and turned it into a venue for all kinds of art displays/concerts etc. The house is now managed by a charitable trust. The building itself is pretty unremarkable, (apart from a glorious Art Deco chapel), but the grounds were landscaped by Capability Brown (a great English landscape gardener), and are just delightful. No formal flower beds, just great sweeping vistas of lawns, leading down to a river bordered with bullrushes, and home to families of ducks

Look at this first photo - did you think it was pen and ink drawings onto fabric? So did I, until you got up close and realised that all those buildings have been faithfully recreated with the finest black embroidery threads......
 

Look at this - it looks like a painting, but every detail, water, grass, sky, has been embroidered onto linen

I liked the fact that there were exhibits from young people as well, all these samplers were made by youngsters, some as young as twelve! 

The last two to catch my eye are these fabulous felted scenes, they were for sale, but were way above my budget!

I am a real grasshopper type of crafter, if something grips and inspires me, I rush ahead like a bull in a china shop thinking "I could do that!"...........the reality is, of course that I can't. I was tempted to rush out and invest in embroidery threads, but common sense kicked in, even I, despite my misplaced enthusiasm, know with certainty that there is NO way I would have the patience to produce anything worth looking at. So maybe I will save some pennies so that the next felted cow that steals my heart can come home with me