Jane Simants – with ‘Henrietta’ (hung temporarily on loo door!!)

Jane Simants an extraordinarily gifted local artist and her husband Geoff delivered the second highly acclaimed and very popular nude life drawing titled ‘Henrietta’ to Orchard Barn B&B recently……..Ian Corner the new owner is absolutely delighted with his recent purchase…………. designed to add beauty, art and culture in The Snug and as company for ‘Anna’ bought at Jane’s 2007 exhibition.

Jand and Geoff Simmants- with ‘Henrietta’

Jane exhibited her latest works of art at the Devon Open Studios using Eastern Hill Farm as her venue………she held a private preview for selected friends and family the day before opening to the general public and I was fortunate enough to be invited to take wine and nibbles with a select number. Like everyone else present at this event, I was immediately taken by Jane’s talent and artistic eye for detail and beauty………..she exhibited a large number of drawings, pictures and illustrations depicting her broad array of skills and talents.

I spotted ‘Henrietta’ straight away once I entered the workshop half of her exhibition and mindful of the short period of time I had in hand, I even declined to listen to John the owner delivering a fascinating account of how he built the barn with his own oak from the farm…..in favour of appreciating with joy what is now my second Life Study adorning my Snug wall.

Jane is a gifted artist and I commend her work to you all…………and look forward to her next exhibition in 2009!!

Jane with ‘Anna’ in front of The Snug fire

Paul the web designer

Recently I have been privileged to have met and made friends with an extraordinary man………..a multi-talented technical wizard if ever I saw one, and someone with such generosity of spirit and hidden skill sets that I’ve been hugely impressed. Paul Adams, a neighbour and of similar age is a modest and gifted individual who has assisted me with the design and launch of this B&B web site…………without his input, advice, help and regular assistance it simply wouldn’t have happened, and I’m hugely indebted to his kindness, patience and brilliant professional expertise in setting this site up from scratch a few weeks ago.

Paul is clearly an able web designer but that single skill set masks many others which…… given his calm, modest and unassuming nature most others have and will never get to know about…………he’s a qualified aviator with many hours flying under his belt and has specialised as a leading and pioneering hang glider; he’s an accomplished musician with several strings to his bow in this field specialising in a number of instruments ranging from flute, and saxophone to the less well known Yamaha WX5 Windsynthesisor, and Japanese Shakuhachi to name but a few and can often be found at local jamming scenes where he fits in and performs with aplomb; he’s an artist and in his youth earned a living and survived as such for years in Greece painting portraits and beach scenes which sold extremely well; he’s a qualified graphic designer; he’s a qualified technical illustrator; he’s a professional model maker (that’s not kites, toys and model aeroplanes…. but for those who know what a model maker does he’s also one of those too!!); and he’s also a qualified IT teacher and has many years experience doing just that in UK on a circuit around training colleges and the like, advancing to the uninitiated and technically inept (such as myself) how to get the best out of your computer and it’s various conventional functions as well as its many advanced and unusual aspects including – Photoshop, WordPress, and DreamWeaver etc.

Well Paul very kindly offered to use me and my B&B business as a ‘Web design’ guinea pig…………… drawing an enormous amount of technical research and web design knowledge together into a professional package which is already working well for me….(bookings are up already and we only launched a few weeks ago……………how good’s that for ‘proof of the pudding’ etc?!!)………….he’s taken on a handful with me as a student under instruction though……………..but to his credit (and great patience and diligence) already converted this IT biff and technical no-hoper into a reasonably proficient blogger…………..wonders will never cease!!

Anyway, all joking apart………….this simple Blog has one aim…………..and that’s to give all due credit and recognition to Paul Adams for his invaluable and generous efforts in designing and launching and giving continued input and refinement to this B&B site……………….thanks Paul, your efforts and talents various are VERY MUCH APPRECIATED and I’m indebted for your professional support and advice. Well done indeed.

 Paul playing his Yamaha WX5 at Orchard Barn……absolutely amazing!!