10 reasons to visit the most colourful town in the Cotswolds
Find yourself caught short in the middle of Painswick, and as you’re hurrying into the public lavatories, chances are you will run into local artist Rupert Aker holding a palette knife, working on one of his delightful impasto paintings of the Cotswold hills.
The landscape artist runs his gallery-cum-studio from the tiny former Gents, calling it by the cheeky name, The Loovre. Just one example of the colourful lives being led behind the pale Cotswold limestone walls of Painswick.
The wool trade brought prosperity to the village from the middle of the 15th to the 19th century, with as many as 30 mills producing superfine broadcloth. Today, though, Painswick is so subdued that it’s hard to know when you’ve reached the centre. Second homes and supermarkets have put pay to the butchers and bakers… although you might find a nice candle holder in Dennis French’s woodcraft shop.
In former weavers’ cottages, local artists strive to capture the perfection of the surrounding valley where once a spinner sat. And this week Painswick will fling open its doors to allow a riot of colour to escape, turning the streets from chocolate box to paint box.
Painswick’s Art Burst festival (Aug 19-28) celebrates the host of artists on its doorsteps, with 15 different exhibitions and 10 local artists opening their studios.
With all other industry having departed, Painswick has made like Downtown New York in the Seventies; the artists have moved in, whether it is Rupert in the loos, or wildlife artist Kerry Jane in the Falcon’s Nest, her studio/shop, or Greg Thatcher, who since 1991 has been meticulously drawing the entangled branches of St Mary’s Churchyard’s famous 99 yew trees in pencil and ink.
The biennial festival alternates with Art Couture Painswick, a wearable art challenge, where over a hundred entrants display their costume creations in a catwalk through the town. Glitter, body paint and sparkle sashay around the yew trees in a display that represents the very best in English eccentricity, up there with fighting over a pig’s bladder and rolling huge wheels of cheese down a hill.
Over in the former gravediggers’ hut – another repurposed building that now serves as the tourist information centre – octogenarians Edward Lane and Audrey Timpson are waiting among piles of flyers and programmes to extol the enticements of Painswick that lie beyond the yews. It’s the trees that Japanese and American tourists primarily come to admire before reboarding their coaches.
“It’s always been referred to as the Queen of the Cotswolds,” says Edward. “The buildings are very beautiful,” rejoins Audrey.
They’re proud and excited about Art Burst and the visitors it will bring, and yet nostalgic for the bank, bakeries, and three butchers they once enjoyed. “I was here when we had shops,” says Edward gnomically. It’s Painswick’s artists who are bringing home the bacon nowadays.
10 good reasons to visit Painswick
The gardens
The country’s only surviving complete “rococo Gothick” garden was designed in the 1740s for Benjamin Hyett, who owned Painswick House, to entertain his guests. The gardens were restored in the 1980s (rococogarden.org.uk).
The church
Grade I-listed St Mary’s finds its origins in the Domesday Book, though it is the exterior setting rather than the interior that draws a crowd.
The sports ground
The Falcon Bowling Club lays claim to being Britain’s oldest bowling green having celebrated its 450th birthday in 2014. Watch the locals bend the knee on the green.
The pub
The Oak is the little sister to the bigger Falcon Inn, offering real ales, real fires and a courtyard.
The walk
Three miles out of town you will come to the foot of Painswick Beacon. A short walk up the hill will afford sweeping views across to Gloucester and the Welsh Black Mountains.
The stay
The former vicarage, the Painswick Hotel, is part of the award-winning luxury group the Calcot Collection. The kitchen is overseen by Michelin-starred chef Michael Bedford.
The gallery
The ACP Gallery in the Painswick Centre keeps the heart of the biennial festival beating. An exhibition of designer Zandra Rhodes’s personal collection is currently on display.
The cafe
Admire local art on the walls, and have a cake, a coffee or a sarnie at the Patchwork Mouse Art Cafe. The tea is from Twinings, fittingly as tea merchant Thomas Twining was born in Painswick in 1675.
The restaurant
Enjoy carefully prepared local produce at St Michael’s Bistro, along with views out over St Mary’s churchyard.
The shop
The Falcon’s Nest is owned and run by wildlife artist Kerry Jane, doubling as her studio. Buy cards, gifts and unusual knick-knacks.
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