Somerton Art S P A C E was established in 2022 by Jill Hayfield and John Sandford to showcase contemporary and abstract art in their home.
It brings to a new setting their experience from the gallery they established 40 years ago at their Holme Castle Country Hotel.
Accommodation and breakfast are also available.
Two ground floor reception rooms form the exhibition spaces and are used to display 3D and wall hung artwork. With a hillside landscape backdrop, the garden and patio are utilised to present sculpture in a domestic setting.
The gallery is open for specific events and at other times by arrangement. It is located less than a mile from Holmfirth centre, at the junction of Burnlee Green and Liphill Bank Road. Due to the nature of the building, it is not suitable for wheelchair users.
The residence was designed in 1965 by Yorkshire Architect Arthur Quarmby and has been extended and lovingly eco-renovated under the guidance of Julian Harrap Architects of London.
Jill is a Crafts Council accredited felt maker and textile artist with many years’ experience. In between exhibitions Jill’s textile art and felt pieces can be viewed by arrangement. See www.feltartisan.com
Somerton is a houseplant heaven, with over 40 varieties including several room high specimens. Probably down to many years of plant care knowledge, the fact that the building faces due south and benefits from total area underfloor heating (produced from an air sourced heat pump). John and Jill have continued their lifelong ecological concerns following on from 1992 at Holme Castle when they won the BBC Country File “Big Green One” environmental award as the most sustainable business in the country.
The gallery is always a fringe venue for the annual Holmfirth Artweek early in July, has hosted one previous Spring solo exhibition of fine art painter Andy Fullalove BA (Hons) www.andyfullalove.com and was a venue in 2023 for the Kirklees Woven Festival, innovation in textiles, with ongoing links to that organisation.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/wXtWEGCW1b8
A private collection of contemporary ceramics can be viewed by arrangement, together with an extensive art library.
The residence hosts the annual Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee Mornings each September since occupation six years ago, following on from the Holme Castle involvement, for many years.
Please call Jill on 07976 355664 to arrange a visit or accommodation
