The 2019 Alde Valley Spring Festival explores the world of plants and plant collectors : from historic gardens and their gardeners to botanical collections and illustrators; the use of plants as medicines; the importance of allotments and relocalised food production; the variety of garden and farmed foods; the importance of pollinators; and the adventures of plant collectors, both past and present.

The Festival Exhibition expands upon this theme with Florabundance ! A Celebration of Gardens, Plants & Produce : a series of carefully curated solo shows by selected guest artists including Maggi Hambling, Perienne Christian, Marchela Dimitrova, Alice-Andrea Ewing, Emma Green, Jelly Green, Lily Hunter Green, Becky Munting, Tessa Newcomb, Ruth Stage and Emma Tennant.

White House Farm and The Spring Festival also support a growing Residency Programme for the creative arts, spanning drawing, painting, sculpture, writing, music, food and R&D projects. They have links to a sister project in Malaysian Borneo [Pesta Nukenen dan Kebudayaan Kelabit], the Cill Rialaig project in Kerry, Eire and support The Song of the Howgills residency project in the Howgill Fells of Cumbria. For the 2019 Spring Festival, we are especially excited to be able to welcome the writer Tim Richardson as a Guest Curator for the Writing at Great Glemham residency programme.

Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Festival Director and Curator