From 11am to 3pm
on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July 2009

Garden lovers, art enthusiasts, families, friends and folk who just fancy a free day out will be descending on Bungay for Black Dog Arts first Gardens Art Trail.

If you like looking at great gardens, this is the event for you.

Six beautiful Bungay gardens will be open for all to enjoy.

Two of the gardens include stretches of the River Waveney with views across the marshes.

One is more wildwood than garden, with tall, mature trees and a boat at the end of a wooden jetty.

A willow sculpture workshop was held in the wildwood garden and the woven willow works remain on show in the places that inspired them.

In the other you can stand on the wooden bridge and muse, while the river flows past you below.

A third, more formal, garden has borders bursting with bright red and orange lilies, dark blue delphiniums, pink and white foxgloves, pale purple poppies and vivid purple penstemon, mauve and white campanulas, cosmos, clematis, roses and more.

Three of the gardens are tinier.

One is a small town treasure of a garden hidden away off a beaten track.

Two are right next to Bungay castle, so you get to see Bungay’s famous Bigod castle as well as these two floral delights!

And, if you like looking at art this is the event for you.

Fifteen members of “Black Dog Arts”, the Bungay area’s innovative art group, have spent mornings and afternoons drawing and painting in the gardens.

The results vary from five foot, panoramic oil paintings to four inch square watercolours of flower heads.

All of the artworks produced will be on show in the gardens that inspired them.

And all will be on sale if you want to buy them.

Postcards of the works will also be on sale for a more affordable 50p!

So, whether you like big black and white drawings, or brightly coloured abstracts, or exquisite pen and ink pieces, or one off prints, or fine art photos, or paintings like botanical illustrations, there are artworks of all shapes and sizes in every possible media, all to see for free.

Thanks to a Suffolk Single Gateway/Arts for All grant from Suffolk County Council there are masses of maps showing where each of the gardens are.

The maps are on the back of the leaflets that can be picked up from shops and public places in Bungay and the other market towns along the Waveney Valley.

The gardens are all in easy walking distance from each other but, if you want to make a day of it, you can picnic in front of the Castle, or lunch in one of Bungay’s many fine hotels, restaurants or cafes.

If you would like to know about access for wheelchair users or access generally, give Jan from Black Dog Arts a ring on 01986 895227. You can also ring her if you would like to know more about the Gardens Art Trail or Black Dog Arts.

So, here’s to enjoying fine weather, fine gardens and fine art for free!