BOWNESS-ON-WINDERMERE .- As the festive season is upon us, Blackwell, The Arts & Crafts House invites visitors to experience an Arts and Crafts Victorian Christmas. Throughout Autumn, Blackwell has featured an immensely popular and diverse exhibition highlighting the skills of the women artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. With one month left to go of this thought-provoking exhibition, visit this beautifully crafted house for a unique and inspiring festive experience.

Blackwell will be decorated, to complement the beauty and serenity of the house. With a Christmas tree inspired by the famous Peacock Frieze in the Main Hall, Christmas at Blackwell promises to be a festive experience like no other. There are Christmas events happening every day at this enchanting house, including decoration embroidery workshops, Curator led Victorian Christmas talks, choir performances, children’s Christmas trails and so much more. The Blackwell Tea Room also offers delicious, home cooked Christmas lunches.

With Christmas in mind, Blackwell presents a distinctive Contemporary Craft and Gift shop. There are various Christmas inspired gifts available to purchase and one-off, handcrafted items that can only be bought from Blackwell. These gifts include jewellery, textiles, handbags, and homeware.

After indulging in the delights of a Blackwell Christmas, the Women of the Arts & Crafts Movement exhibition offers a more tranquil experience, discovering beautiful objects with a remarkable history behind them. The exhibition recognises women artists whose contributions have often been overlooked, or wrongly attributed in favour of a more prominent male family member.

Proving to be a great success and one of Blackwell’s most popular temporary exhibitions, visitors have referred to the exhibition as a, “wonderful exhibition, beautifully curated,” with the pieces themselves described as “timeless and stand for themselves – they will still look as fresh in another 15 years.” One visitor commented, “Powerful exhibition, I feel more empowered to be a female artist and remember women’s struggles for recognition in the arts industry” perfectly summing up the motivation behind displaying this exhibition at Blackwell.

With loans from prominent public collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, National Museum of Scotland and The Hunterian, Glasgow, the exhibition showcases a broad range of disciplines from ceramics, jewellery and embroidery to metalwork, bookbinding and illustration. Artists featured include May Morris, Mary Watts and Margaret Macdonald, as well as Ann Macbeth, Georgie Gaskin, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Jessie Marion King, and many others.