82 RURAL CULTURE REGENERATION
HOW TIMES change. Only in 2018 the United Nations was confidently predicting that the world’s major urban centres would be boosted from 55% of the global population to 68% by 2050. Tose figures should be under revision as I write, because the fallout from the Covid- 19 pandemic includes a serious shift away from the big metropolises and out to the leafier, more affordable regions. In October 2022,
Creativeboom.com ran
a piece called ‘Why artists and designers are moving out of big cities’, citing this drift to the country as ‘one of the biggest stories of the pandemic’. Tey found a multitude of graphic designers, illustrators, photographers and artists choosing rural over urban – many of them returning to the small towns or villages where they grew up. In doing so, they brought valuable incomes to spend locally, which in turn drove demand for new culture and leisure spaces and hubs. For architects and interior designers, enlightened and ambitious clients started populating these rural idylls.
Go west Architects Oliver Bindloss and George Dawes were working for Jamie Fobert in London on various prestige cultural projects, but left for the rolling greenery of Somerset in 2018 and have never regretted it. Says Bindloss: ‘Twenty years ago when I started in the profession you couldn’t be a rural architect. If you wanted to be a good architect and get interesting work you had to be in Manchester or London, or you could get away with being in Bath. Tere are now quite a few architects who are rural-based.’ Luckily for them, there seems to be
plenty of residential work for youngish, newly relocated professionals interested in adapting their homes to contemporary standards. Bindloss Dawes’ website boasts a slew of sophisticated extensions and refurbs. Says Bindloss: ‘People are leaving London younger and they want more modern houses. Tey also want that cultural offer they were used to… Tere’s a lot of interesting movement happening in the country, whether it’s rebuilding or cultural infrastructure.’ Bruton, where the pair has set up their
joint practice, was already a magnet for cultural tourism, since global gallery brand Hauser & Wirth launched its first rustic outpost on the edge of town in 2014. Te gallery is now a pivotal presence in the town’s year-round activities and attractions, with a programme of international art exhibitions, plus an acclaimed restaurant now joined by a farm shop. Hauser & Wirth recently added a craft space on Bruton’s high street, now populated by cafés, artisan delicatessens and boutique hotels that have sprung up in the past decade to cater for well-heeled visitors (including second-homers) as well as the wave of fugitives from the capital. Another lure in the region is Te Newt –
a luxury hospitality development from South African business magnate Koos Bekker and
his partner Karen Roos, a former editor-in- chief of Elle Decoration South Africa. Tey have restored and refurbished the Grade II-listed Georgian pile of Hadspen House, launching it in 2020 as a boutique hotel and spa, with farm shop, restaurant, cider press (using apples from their own orchards), and horticultural museum set within stunning formal gardens designed by Patrice Taravella. Having successfully launched and run something similar in South Africa, with Babylonstoren – where high-end hospitality built around vineyards has been the norm for decades – the Newt is run as a kind of country club, with an annual membership enticing people to use the grounds and restaurants year-round. Tough Bindloss Dawes arrived too late
to benefit from patronage by The Newt, their practice has certainly been boosted by evolving cultural investment. Most recently, they refurbished a Methodist chapel in Bruton for former London gallerist Jemma Hickman and former Hauser & Wirth Somerset director Alice Workman, who, in late 2022, set up as an independent
Right and below Bindloss Dawes refurbished a Methodist chapel in Bruton for former London gallerist Jemma Hickman and former Hauser & Wirth Somerset director Alice Workman. The Bo Lee and Workman gallery is located on the town’s high street, and is an open and accessible venue for contemporary art
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