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PEACE BY THE
WATERSIDE
Spend a week in the Dorset
countryside for the three-
day Wellbeing by the
Lakes festival from 19-
September. Explore what it
means to be mindful and live
well in our fast-paced modern
world, and enjoy a curated
blend of expert talks, art, live
performance, meditation,
movement sessions and
healing therapies. Set in the
picturesque Sculpture Park in
Dorchester, the event brings
together a wide-ranging
programme to inspire and
revitalise its guests. Tickets
start from £35 and include
entry to all talks, workshops
and movement sessions. Visit
sculpturebythelakes.co.uk/
wellbeing-festival for more
details. If you can’t make it to
the West Country, we love the
Audio Dharma podcast on
simple buddhist teachings,
from the Insight Meditation
Centre in California.
audiodharma.org2
LANDLINES
IN LONDON
Don’t miss the exciting
first exhibition from the
Wilderness Art Collective,
a non-profit group of
creatives, artists, explorers
and environmentalists
whose work is inspired
by the natural world. The
Landlines exhibition will
feature selected members
of the collective, held at the
Royal Geographical Society
in London between 4-
September. Be inspired
by 15 artists whose work
highlights the plight of the
world’s wildlife, encourages
re-engagement with the
natural landscape, and
promotes conservation
through creativity. If you
can’t make it to London,
visit wildernessart.org to
read about the artists and
discover their work. We
also love the resourcessection of the RGS website
(rgs.org), particularly their
Fate, Luck and Fortune
project on climate fiction.
wildernessart.org/exhibitions3
FRESH SUMMER
FLOWERS
Spend a glorious weekend
in Shropshire at the
Shrewsbury Flower Show
(shrewsburyflowershow.org.
uk) on 9-10 August. Aside
from spellbinding flower
arrangements, fresh cuttings
and plants to take home, the
show features TV gardeners,
celebrity chefs and other
entertainment, as well as
a firework display to bring
the weekend to a beautiful
finish. It’s a great excuse to
escape to the countryside
this summer and enjoy a
little floral indulgence. If
you’re not Shropshire-based,
check out Anna Potter’s
new book The Flower Fix,
full of floral photography
and wild inspiration for your
own homegrown flower
arrangements. £20, published
by White Lion Publishing.4
TREASURES IN
THE THAMES
Writer Lara Maiklem has
scoured the banks of the
River Thames for over 15
years in pursuit of objects
hidden on the riverbed. From
Neolithic flints to Roman
hair pins, medieval buckles
to Tudor buttons, Georgian
clay pipes to Victorian toys,
these objects reveal a history
of London’s landscapes and
their lost ways of life. The
author moves from the river’s
tidal origins in the west of
the city, to the point where
it meets the sea in the east,
searching for urban solitude
and history along the River
Thames, what Lara calls
‘the longest archaeological
site in the world’. Her new
book Mudlarking (£16.99) is
published with Bloomsbury
on 22 August.3
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NORDIC BY
NATURE
Take a look at the British
Museum’s touring exhibition
on Nordic design and prints,
as it visits four locations
around the country this
summer starting with the
Weston Park Museum in
Sheffield until 28 July. Artists
and designers have long
been inspired by the varied
and dramatic landscapes of
Nordic countries, and this
exhibition will explore how
nature and landscape is at
the heart of Finnish, Swedish,
Danish and Norwegian
art and design. Using the
British Museum’s collection,
Nordic by Nature looks
at how Nordic artists and
designers created distinctive
objects and imagery rooted
in the culture, traditions and
industries of their nations.
Visit britishmuseum.org for
more information. For extra
Nordic inspiration, we love
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
(Vintage, 2014), where he
describes his journey across
our frozen planet, capturing
the magic of the Arctic.6
WILDFLOWER
WOODLANDS
For Surrey-based artist
Becca Clegg, painting is
about creating views and
panoramas to escape into.
She uses bright, bold colours
and textures to make marks
that never feel too finished,
and we love her beautiful
landscapes and wildflower
woodland paintings to bring
the wonder of summer into
the house. Her latest pieces
have focused on bluebells
and other local wild places,
and if they’re snapped up
quickly, she has an online
print shop to browse, too.
She also runs children’s art
classes around the Guildford
area. To visit her shop, go
to becart.co.uk. Print prices
start from £29 with 2020
Im calendars available for £10.ag
e:^BeccaClegg