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Places to Visit in Totnes, Devon
Bobbie Cox Lee Moor II
High Cross House
Dartington Hall
Totnes
Devon
TQ9 6ED
Tel: +44(0)1803 864114
Fax: +44(0)1803 867057
Email: click here
High Cross House online: information and bookings
HOUSE CROSS HOUSE OPEN FOR THE SEASON
Textiles & music join the art works
Textiles play a prominent role this season at High Cross House on the Dartington estate.
Interspersed throughout the house is Sense of Place, an installation of contemporary artworks by tapestry weaver Jilly Edwards, with recorded music by composer Nigel Morgan.
Jilly’s tapestries are specially created to reflect her concept of the building and its contents, both externally and internally. Nigel’s music interprets the sounds of making tapestry and Jilly’s work in the context of the house.
Jilly has exhibited widely across Britain, and Nigel works at the heart of contemporary concert music in the UK.
A special exhibition drawing on material from the The Dartington Hall Trust’s Archive tells the story of the Trust’s role in the textile industry from 1927.
Artist Bobbie Cox represents the Trust’s own collection of textiles with Lee Moor II, which was inspired by the Dartmoor Lee Moor china clay works. Bobbie who taught at Dartington College of Arts has had three national touring exhibitions and undertaken major commissions.
Studio pottery on display is by Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie, Marianne de Trey, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie, David Leach and Michael Cardew. Leach’s exquisite pots reflect the inspiration drawn from East and West and early Chinese pieces are also on show including funeral objects.
Pictures displayed include two by John Piper, who as Official War Artist, was invited to paint the historic buildings at Dartington in the 1940s as part of the ‘Recording Britain’ scheme. They can be seen alongside artists who include Mark Tobey, Cecil Collins, Ben Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson, Julian Trevelyan, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, David Jones, Jacob Epstein and Rabindranath Tagore.
High Cross House, completed in 1932, was designed by Swiss American architect, William Lescaze, and built for William Curry, the first headmaster of the famous Dartington Hall School. Inspired by the De Stijl movement and Le Corbusier with Bauhaus furniture, the opportunity to visit this architectural masterpiece should not be missed.
Restaurant
White Hart Bar and Dining Room
Call the White Hart Bar on: 01803 847111
The White Hart Dining Room is situated within the fourteenth century kitchen of the hall range. Roofless and with crumbling walls when the estate was purchased in 1925, the former kitchen was restored by William Weir between 1926-37.
During the following 50 years its chief use was as the canteen for the staff of The Dartington Hall Trust and Dartington College of Arts and from the early 1990s the dining room has been available for public use. The two large tapestries were a commission from the weaver Bobbie Cox in the 1980s.
The space now occupied by the White Hart Bar originally formed part of the fourteenth century service rooms for the kitchen and Great Hall. In the 1930s the rooms were converted into a bar with a recreation room upstairs (now the Tiltyard Dining Room) and known as the White Hart Club, run as a private gathering place for all staff and students on the estate. In the early 1990s the White Hart was refurbished and opened for public use.
Situated in the medieval courtyard, Dartington Hall, these buildings are listed as part of the main Hall listing, and adjoin the Great Hall. Grade I listing.
The White Hart Bar and Dining Room are open for drinks and meals: 11am – 11pm Monday to Saturday, 12noon – 10:30pm (open from 11am for morning coffee) on Sundays.
Opening Times
Saturday opening 10 July, 10.30-12.30; 14.00-16.30. Admissions £5; £3.50; 17 and under free. Heritage Open Day free entry, Sat 11 September, 10.30-12.30; 14.00-16.30. Group visits by appointment.
Contact: high.cross.house@dartington.org; 01803 847200.
Further Information
THE GARDEN TODAY
In 1925 when Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst first started their great experiment in rural regeneration, they too wished to create a garden at Dartington, a garden that would value the works of previous generations. The garden they created would adorn the landscape rather than compete for attention. It would, above all, be an intimate personal garden which they were keen to share with others. Designers who have made important contributions include Tipping, Farrand and Cane.
In case of alteration, please check prices, opening times and any specific important information before booking or visiting
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