Taking Stock

 A brief (ish) post today, as we spent the bank holiday weekend demolishing a garage at home, so it's been a shorter week.

Matt Jackson, from BBC Radio Stoke, setting up the recording equipment

Matt Jackson from BBC Radio Stoke popped in on Wednesday to record a piece for John Acres Friday show. It was a nice piece. Matt took the time to set the scene, talked to us about the fire, and then spoke to us about the plans both for the rebuild of the house, and the opening of the gardens. It was sad to talk about the past and the night of the fire. However, talking about what we’ve achieved in a year, and where we’re going with the rebuild of Betley Court has helped us take stock. When the interview was broadcast, John Acres added his own anecdote to the end. He used to attend our bluebell walks with family friends, who live next door to the Browns – in the house that was made from Betley Court’s converted apple store. It’s a small world, isn’t it!

Nigel shows Matt around the grounds

The interview is available on BBC iPlayer until 25^th September 2020. You can follow the link HERE to listen, and it is 2 hours 23 mins in.

Thank you to everyone at BBC Radio Stoke and BBC Midlands Today, for taking the time to come out to Betley Court and talk with us.

While Nigel and I were talking with the BBC, our two young builders, Dan and George have made a start on cladding the ugly breeze block wall at the end of the garage block. They’ve been cleaning up and using bricks recovered from the safety demolition work, to build the wall. Its lovely that original bricks are being reincorporated around Betley Court, and it saves them from landfill. They blend really well with the huge wall that surrounds the site of the former kitchen garden. It’ll be great to have the garage block and car park looking back to normal after months of disruption.

Dan and George's wall, using reclaimed bricks forom the house

Lastly, we’ve been sent drafts of our new visitors’ map and guide book, from Andy Taylor over at A Spark, A Flame, A Fire. Its been very exciting watching the new guide coming together, as Andy has a really good eye for design.

Sneaky peek of the first draft

He’s included some beautiful cyanotypes, made around the gardens of Betley Court. Cyanotype is a simple kind of photography, and Andy has captured some of the flowers in hauntingly attractive images. It was my job to proof-read the final draft this morning, so any typos are on me now!

All best wishes

Ladybird Su