November 2010

Norfolk Country Cottages to sponsor prestigious painter David Dane’s next Broads exhibition

Norfolk Country Cottages has announced sponsorship of a major Broads art exhibition which will give a boost to its financial support for the Ted Ellis Trust at Wheatfen Nature Reserve.

The county’s leading independent holiday lettings agency is to be Main Sponsor of the seventh biannual exhibition by professional artist David Dane, whose distinctive paintings of the Norfolk Broads are known the world over.

Work is now in progress for David’s exhibition, to be held at the floating centre of The Norfolk Wildlife Trust on Ranworth Broad – one of the most unique and beautiful locations in the county – from November 5-19 2011.

Entitled ‘Whispering Reeds’, the exhibition will feature new oils of scenes from the Hickling and Horsey areas of the Broads, as well as seven specially-commissioned paintings of Wheatfen, home of the renowned author and broadcaster Ted Ellis for 40 years.

Norfolk Country Cottages raises funds through a customer donation scheme to support the work of the Ted Ellis Trust at Wheatfen, an initiative which will be further boosted by the sale of prints from David’s new paintings of the nature reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and one of the last remaining tidal marshes of the Yare Valley.

Richard Ellis, founder and Managing Director of Norfolk Country Cottages (and a nephew of the late Ted Ellis) remembers many happy childhood holidays spent at Wheatfen and says: “The Ted Ellis Trust wants to preserve the rich and fragile ecology there, but above all, it wants to keep this land and its wildlife accessible for the enjoyment and education of children, students and everyone interested in nature.

“The generosity of those who book our holiday cottages has allowed us to contribute greatly to the work of the Trust in recent years, and we’re delighted to have an opportunity to further our fundraising efforts through the sponsorship of David’s next exhibition. Wheatfen is a very serene and calm place and we can’t wait to see how David captures the essence of it in his paintings. There’s a huge demand for his work, and we hope that his Wheatfen prints will provide the perfect opportunity for fans to support this very deserving cause.”

David Dane comments: “In the past, people have come from all over to see my biannual exhibition, and the original oils have sold very quickly. The Wheatfen prints will give even more people the opportunity to own some of my work, and raise funds for a very special part of the Norfolk Broads – one which I hope to inspire both art and nature lovers to visit and support as a result of this new sponsorship arrangement.”

Photo: David Dane (left) with Richard Ellis, founder and MD of Norfolk Country Cottages.

The Ted Ellis Trust is at Wheatfen Nature Reserve, Surlingham, Norfolk NR14 7AL.
Warden David Nobbs can be contacted on 01508 538036.
www.wheatfen.org

Please contact us if you have any enquiries regarding the work of David Dane. David is always happy to answer questions.