Dear Friends,

Art in Action 2016 was a huge success. We were blessed with great weather and 28,364 people attended the event.

All the layout modifications that we had put in place worked well even though the Welcome Area felt a bit crowded at peek times.

The gardens themselves were appreciated more than ever as visitors were drawn through it on the way to Sculpture, the Labyrinth and Zendo.

The new format for the Best of the Best was interesting in that it awarded recognition to artists for their demonstrations rather than a finished piece. The Glass blowing tent was given special praise by the judges as a complete performance piece.

Whatever happens in the future, this year’s show remained true to its original form and ethos: putting the artist first and allowing the visitor to engage fully with their work and allowing our volunteers to work with no thought of personal reward as a spiritual exercise.

Bernard Saunders would be content.

Jan and David Hockley, my wonderful team who look after the day to day running of the house and more, have done a brilliant job getting things back into order.

Now that we are here in September it feels as if the show never happened with only the odd reminder when Jules’s mower hits a tent peg!

If anybody has any lost property from the event you will be relieved to know that, if we found it, it has been carefully cataloged and sent to Doncaster! Just ring the office and we’ll put you through.

We have plans to make Waterperry House and Gardens as inspiring as the festival itself. Please let us know your thoughts or suggestions via our suggestion box here.

I’ll keep you posted.

Yours ever,

Simon Buchanan

Organiser