Our Artist In Residence: The Story so far……
From globe trotting as a travel writer for the BBC to Air BnB’ing on Anglesey, author and host Clare Jones describes how ‘Unforgettable’ this special island and its art is.
I have been really fortunate to travel to some really interesting, sometimes remote, sometimes lavish, and sometimes far flung corners of our planet. I co-authored a series of BBC travel books, photographing and writing about the most unforgettable experiences and adventures you can have. These included Unforgettable Things To Do Before You Die, Unforgettable Journeys To Take and Unforgettable Walks To Take.
And that’s what brought us here, to Anglesey and our own Unforgettable escape. After all those wonderful travel experiences we wanted to create something that would offer a wonderful travel experience for others and we found a very special spot here. What is a cottage today was originally a cowshed and part of the Hologwyn farm and the Marquiss of Anglesey’s Estate. When we first set eyes on the spot we found a tangled, rambling ruin and everyone thought we were mad to buy it. But slowly and surely and with all those painstaking rennovation moments and DIY dilemmas we’ve converted a fallen down barn into a bolthole.
We wanted to reflect the wonderful landscape and scenery we have on our doorstep inside the cottage and we are very fortunate to know one very talented local artist who could help. All the artwork hung in our Air BnB cottage is by our very wonderful and creative friend and artist- Mary Jane Flower.
Mary’s work is kindly on display in a ‘pop up’ style gallery for our guests to enjoy, browse and even take away with them. The art is all available to buy and includes both the original monoprints on calico and a number of limited edition mounted giclee prints.
We really love Mary’s work and hope its the perfect reminder for our guests of this very special island, capturing all the different moods and moments that you can experience from the swirling seas that surround us and the mountains we look out on.
We only opened this year and already a number of Mary’s prints have gone off to new homes with guests. We can’t help but agree, Mary’s Anglesey views are unforgettable and ones you’ll never tire of looking at.