Abbot Hall Art Gallery and Kendal Charity Growing Well

Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal is certainly a hidden gem, tucked alongside the banks of the River Kent in a Grade I listed Georgian building with stunning views towards Kendal Castle. It is one of four museums owned by Lakeland Arts and recently re-opened following a major programme of refurbishment. Its collections include work by the famous Cumbrian artist, George Romney, as well as paintings by JMW Turner and John Ruskin. Modern British artists such as Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley and Charmaine Watkiss sit alongside Barbara Hepworth and Hilde Goldschmidt.

We were treated to a guided tour of the current exhibitions in the new, bright and airy spaces, which includes work by Kendal-based contemporary artist, Lela Harris exhibiting a series of thought-provoking portraits. The Art Herbarium showcases some of Lakeland Arts’ own collection of paintings focussing on nature; illuminated letters by Percy Kelly and paintings by Winifred Nicholson to name but a few.

A fascinating space to visit and with the benefits of a newly refurbished tea room and walks along the River Kent, it should certainly be on your “to do” list.

We then moved to Low Sizergh Farm on the outskirts of Kendal to visit the Growing Well Project. This is a mental health service, which helps people to manage depression, anxiety and other mental health difficulties and to assist them to move on with their lives. It was established twenty years ago and encourages volunteers to set goals on their road to recovery. Typically, volunteers will attend Growing Well once a week for up to a year and during that time they have the opportunity of learning practical and vocational skills to take forward. The service is free and people do not have to be referred through a formal mental health diagnosis; it is possible to self-refer. The charity also works with the probation and police liaison services if they feel people would benefit from this type of support.

The charity relies on the support of the public to be able to help the people that need its services and has a dedicated team of fund-raisers to seek out possible grant opportunities. Therapeutic staff are on hand to help volunteers manage and monitor their progress. The site has a calm and peaceful feel about it and it was a delight to see to see seedlings already in the poly tunnels, as well as marvel at the amount of winter kale, lettuce and chard that were currently available. Produce is used in the kitchen at Low Sizergh Farm and there is a Crop Share membership scheme that offers participants 35-40 weeks of crop share a year, which supports the work of the charity. If anyone is interested, please visit www.growingwell.co.uk.

Our final part of the day was a short presentation from Sinead McCann, the Manager at Growing Well, highlighting what the charity does and how it has expanded over the years. It now has three sites in Cumbria, the newest ones being at Egremont and the northbound M6 services at Tebay. The latter supplies produce to the service station café kitchen as well as to the kitchen at Rheged. The site at Egremont is more of a market garden style and will be operational after Easter. The idea of the new sites is that anyone in Cumbria is no more than an hour away from accessing the services offered by the charity; Growing Well offers minibus routes for volunteers who do not have their own transport.