Pop Up Tea House at the Summerleaze Gallery : Wiltshire [8-10.5.25]

After serving our last cups of Tea at Shatwell [Dec 2024] & Bath [February 2025] we promised you some beautiful collaborations with people we have had the great pleasure to meet through tea.  We often share how one of the really beautiful aspects of tea is how it brings together people from such different walks of life, offering chances for connection, exchange & learning. 

With that in mind we are delighted to share details of our first pop up which, of course, has emerged from sharing tea....

______________________________

Tea has a wonderful way of bringing people together & it is over tea that we came to know Polly, Trish & Tim Scott Bolton from Summerleaze.  Over cups of Darjeeling we learnt how tea, & in particular tea from the Himalayas, is intertwined through all of our lives.  

Polly grew up at Summerleaze hearing about her parents' travels.  As artists they led many groups [of other artists] to India, inspiring her to travel there when she left school.  As she explains 'I took a job teaching in a small remote school high up in the Himalayas.  Lunch breaks would see me heading to a small Tibetan tea house over the road from the school where a lovely Tibetan lady would serve us tea, with momos and spicy samosa. I think this is what initially drew me to the tea house at Shatwell as it transported me straight back to being somewhere simple and remote, which is is so rare in the world we live in today'  Back home in Wiltshire the gallery at Summerleaze has been open for 25 years, originally run by sisters Claire & Trish but by Trish alone in the last 15 years.  Next to the gallery is Tim's wonderful studio - Tim Scott Bolton has travelled extensively to paint but as he explains tea estates have always attracted him 'especially those in the Himalayas with the spiritual backcloth of the sacred mountains. Goodricke tea first commissioned me to paint Badamtam some 15 years ago and then for many years Glenburn was a wonderful place as a destination for painting groups. By visiting tea estates a discriminate appreciation has grown in it’s drinking . What pleasure it is to savour and drink!'

Michelle : On a January day I received a text from Polly inviting us to come & visit a beautiful building on their farm to see if we felt we would like to share tea there.  At that time I knew nothing of Polly's family's connection with one of our favourite tea regions.  I also knew very little about the life of a landscape artist and I have been inspired by the story that has unfolded. With a shared love of tea & the Himalayas how could we resist an invitation to bring tea to Summerleaze as part of the Wyle Valley Arts Festival : an award winning biennial festival of visual art & craft.  Over three days alongside an exhibition of Tim's work & the work of other local artists we will offer our full menu with a special focus on Himalayan teas.  On Saturday morning we will also have a special showing of 'Out Of Thin Air' - a short award winning documentary by Jack Hexstall exploring Tim's expedition to the Annapurna region of Nepal with two other artist friends.  This will be a ticketed event with a small cost to cover Nepalese tea & accompanying snacks prepared by Comins

.