Studio: international art (6.1896)

Bidford as a Sketching Ground

thatched cottages that are common to all the vil-
lages around, while the Manor House and the
arched yew hedge leading to its Jacobean porch
are "joys for ever."

A delightful walk from Bidford through the fields
is that to Broom, "beggarly Broom," the prefix
being one of the few that has been happily
bestowed. Its squalid, broken-down appearance
is relieved, if not improved, on Mondays and
Saturdays, especially Saturdays, in the summer,
when hundreds of poor misguided anglers from
Birmingham take possession of it and try to catch '^K\^v\^-..
fish in the river—say, six men to one fish.

One of the most charming villages on the Avon
is Welford, which is within easy reach of Bidford
by water in a canoe or light boat. The elms at \ )^A!^'>h'^ w-**%4''«>>

Grange, growing right on the edge of the deep, ^
dark stream, are exceptionally fine, and the scenery, [^J^y^^^y^
if not striking, is wonderfully sweet and soft. The

soughing of the wind through the gently undu- different from, and dissociated with, this ordinary
lating reeds, the lowing herds and bleating sheep, work-a-day world.

all seem to blend insensibly with the peaceful, In the neighbourhood, not far distant from

Binton Bridges, is an in-
teresting inn, the " Four
Alls," on the signboard of
which are painted in gay
colours four figures, the
King, the Priest, the Sol-
dier, and the Yeoman, with
the legend—Rule All, Pray
All, Fight All, Pay All. This
I tried to sketch, but an

(5~|^Bidford BRIDGe]§s1 enterprising dog, endowed

with a remarkable weakness
for artistic research, inter-
soothing character of the landscape. A short fered with my purpose and prevailed against it.
walk from Welford Mill brings us to the village, We were forced to an ignominious retreat, and had
where, looking from the oaken lych-gate, past the to take to the boats, i.e., the canoe. The river here

is a capital one for canoeing, the winding, turning
and twisting giving you a rapid succession of
delightful bits for sketching ; months might plea-
santly and profitably be spent here. By way of a
change from the river there are enchanting walks to
and through " Haunted Hillbro'," Binton, Temple
Grafton, and Ardens Grafton, all easily reached,
lying almost in a circle around Bidford. Ardens
Grafton would delight the soul of the landscape
painter, for the valley, stretching away for miles, is
covered with growth of all kinds, over which hover
mystic shadows, while the blue hills in the distance,
half hidden by snowy vapours, melt into inexpres-
sible softness.

few cottages, towards the great expanse of meadow, Bidford-on-Avon is a capital base of operations,
we seem to be verily in Arcadia, or some place the accommodation at the White Lion being of
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