Easels & Evergreens - Tree Therapy and World's Oldest Topiary

It's so easel!  That sums up the forthcoming 2024 season at Levens Hall and Gardens in the English Lake District,  as Jane Hunt discovers when interviewing self-taught artist, Bob Sutcliffe OBE.   Jane learns how first a diagnosis of epilepsy, and then a heart attack 10 years later, resulted in Bob picking up a tin of watercolours and painting for the first time, using art therapy to manage his health condition.  She also finds out how this has subsequently led to an incredible charity fundraising journey, significant sums being raised and the award of an OBE for charity work.   Jane also explores how Bob's latest fundraising project - his new book entitled 'Tree Therapy' - has led him to arranging a season-long art exhibition at English stately home and Elizabethan property, Levens Hall and Gardens, home to themed gardens that include the world's oldest topiary garden - a Guinness World Record Holder.  She explores the plans for the artworks that will grace these gorgeous English gardens, the community involvement that will surround their appearance in the Levens Hall gardens and how Bob's artworks will add a completely new dimension to the fourth World Topiary Day, to be held on Sunday May 12.   The content of the book, which has artworks of trees in both the Lake District, England and Finland, is discussed, along with themes of creativity applying to both adults and children. This podcast conveys an uplifting real life story that should inspire anyone who receives a poor health diagnosis and feels that the future looks dim. It will also provide lots of inspiration for those wishing to visit Levens Hall and Gardens in 2024 or join in with the annual World Topiary Day event which Levens Hall and Gardens founded in 2021.  For anyone who lives in Cumbria or the Lake District or who is intending to travel their this year, it will also help pinpoint a must-see experience that many people put on their bucket list.