Cabin Casting Collaboration: BRUCEFIELD ESTATE, ALLOA
Recently Pinto, Dave and I headed off to the Clackmannanshire hills for a few nights of casting, walking and soaking up the beautiful woodlands of @brucefieldestate. It was so nice to have some company (and more importantly an on site film crew, I made them work for their stay) on this casting adventure, the latest in my series of casting collaborations as part of my botanical grand tour.
Situated just 50 minutes from Edinburgh, the three beautifully crafted, eco schenbothies at Brucefield are the perfect place to unwind and connect with the stunning natural surroundings. We sped over the bridge after Dave clocked off work at midday, eager to hunker down in our cabin home which sits in the heart of Brucefield estate which is a natural haven consisting of semi-ancient woodlands of Scots pine, birch, and oak as well as heathery heath, wet meadows and fields. I had seen images of the Schenbothies online but the interior was even better than the images. The whole interior has been clad in birch ply with a stunning spalted Scottish beech floor. The minimal, retro scandi furnishings provide a comfortable, stylish home from home and we raced up the unique ladder to the sleeping platform nested behind an intricate woven wall to unload our bags. With the fire roaring, red wine in hand we got down to some serious Monoply Deal battles while our dinner cooked and Pinto snoozed happily by the stove. A dreamy first night.
I woke up early and was treated to a stunning crisp autumn day, with cloudless blue skies and a magical glow over the landscape from the low rising sun. Pinto and I left Dave sleeping softly and went for a wander in the woodland that surrounds the cabin, foraging for some stems and sprigs to work with. The team at Brucefield have been working tirelessly to conserve, protect and encourage the woodlands, wildlife and biodiversity of the estate. They have been working with working with independent ecologists to collate data from which they can achieve a baseline demographic of most of the flora and fauna found across the 1000 acres of Brucefield Estate. From this, they have developed a 10-year wildlife plan which aims to protect and enhance the biodiversity on the estate. It was an honour to work with some of the beautiful flowers and foliage from the estate and preserve a moment in the seasonal calendar of Brucefield.
Setting up my temporary studio on the bothy balcony in bright autumn morning light and casting to the soundscape of flocks of geese migrating was a truly wonderful experience. Lovely Ania from Brucefield had kindly gathered some lovely botanicals for me to work (as well as gifting me a stunning bouquet of handmade roses crafted from autumn leaves, ingenious!) so I had a fabulous selection to work with. Including some beautiful dried barley stems which were a dream to cast. I set to work creating a small piece for the bothy as well as intaglios for my Botanical Grand tour. After a morning casting Dave and I set off to explore the area and drove to Alva Glen in search of the Smugglers Cave. We had a beautiful hike up Alva Glen and then a rather treacherous scrabble down into the Smugglers Cave where I had a refreshing, icy dip in the bubbling Glen waters. After a quick dry off we trotted back down the hill and retreated to the warmth of our bothy for some tea and another few rounds of Monopoly Deal (if you haven’t played I want you, its addictive).
After another peaceful, quiet sleep in our plywood cocoon I revealed my casts in the morning sun and we enjoyed a last serene cup of coffee on our woodland balcony. We caught up with the fab Brucefield Team just before we left and loved learning more about the history of the bothies and their vision for the estate. I showed them the cast which I would be taking back to the studio to dry off before posting back to live its days out in one of the bothies, as well as the intaglio collection I made during our stay. Needless to say we really didn’t want out time at Bruceifled to come to an end, its a truly restorative, peaceful and inspiring place to stay. We are going to head back in the new year to do some of the woodland walks on the estate and get another Brucefield fix and I know we will be booking another stay in before too long.
The team at Brucefield have kindly offered my followers and following a discount code to use for a stay, so email me if you would like to receive the code and 10% off a stay (minimum 3 nights) up until 19 Dec 2025.Thank you so much for having us Brucefield - we will definitely be back.
This was the eight collaborative stay I have been lucky enough to experience as part of my casting grand tour of the UK, inspired by my love of Grand Tour intaglio collections which I learned more about through the eyes of Wedgewood at a recent trip to Stoke on Trent which energised my passion for this project. Back in the 18th century small plaster intaglios were amassed by the young aristocratic men on their European travels, which would often be mounted into cases or books and displayed in fashionable interiors back home. These collections acted as souvenirs of a year long adventure in Europe in addition to being a reminder of the inspiring artworks and decorative pieces they had come across during their travels. So my aim is to undertake my own Grand Tour of the UK this year, and also take some female ownership of a tradition which was almost entirely undertaken by men back in the day, and create a visual record of the flora and fauna of Britain by capturing a moment in the seasonal life of the landscape around the cabins I am staying in around the country.
You can check out my other cabin adventures on this blog and if you know, or own, a cabin and would like to take part in my grand tour (and get a free artwork made on site in your cabin) please get in touch.
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