Make a bee-line to the South Lakes this summer

If you’ve decided to stay in Britain for your 2008 summer hols, and plan to top up on your cultural intake, the South Lakes is the place for you, with a combination of a Ben Nicholson opening and a renowned international music festival being all you need to set the pulse racing.

Between July 7 and September 20, Kendal art gallery, Abbot Hall, is celebrating a major coup, hosting the UK’s first major exhibition of Ben Nicholson works for more than 14 years – A Continuous Line: Ben Nicholson in England.

Anyone wishing to understand the influences of European artists on British art, between the Great Wars and beyond, will appreciate this superb exhibition of Nicholson’s early works, juxtaposed with his later reliefs and abstract paintings, cubist-inspired St Ives masterpieces and later still life compositions.

The exhibition will draw on the Tate’s extensive holdings of Nicholson’s drawings, paintings, carved reliefs and archive material, along with loans from major public institutions.

Curated by Tate Britain’s Head of Displays and St Ives School expert, Chris Stephens, it will also include rarely-seen works, including some of Nicholson’s greatest, which are held in private collections.

The exhibition will focus on the artist’s years in Britain from 1922-1958, revealing new insights into Nicholson’s work and emphasising why he is regarded as one of the most radical British artists of the twentieth century.

It will not have a London showing, linking the exhibition to the regions in which it is to be displayed – Cumbria, followed by Bexhill and then St Ives, Cornwall.

Abbot Hall visitors will enjoy viewing works painted in Cumberland, where Nicholson lived with first wife, Winifred. One is foothills, Cumberland, which escapes the confines of academic, landscape painting through the adoption of a naïve style.

The earliest picture will be the landscape Cortivallo, Lugano, with its strong Cézanne influences, as witnessed in the rough modelling of forms and unfinished brushwork.

Another masterpiece is Auberge de la Sole Dieppoise, in which the likeness of Nicholson’s second wife, Barbara Hepworth, can be seen reflected in the window of a French hotel-restaurant. This work was described as a forerunner to the first relief, made by Nicholson at the end of 1933, and the artist’s reliefs will also be on show in Kendal.

Abbot Hall has long been a jewel amongst galleries and is also home to many gems of its own. This includes eighteenth century portraits by Romney, eighteenth and nineteenth century furniture and watercolours, important works by J M W Turner and John Ruskin and twentieth century 3-D pieces, paper works and prints.

The gallery is also the permanent home of three of Nicolson’s works, a number of works by Winifred Nicolson and sculpture by Barbara Hepworth.

Entrance to Abbot Hall costs £5.45, with free admission for under 18s and under 25s if in full-time education. Abbot Hall is situated close to Kendal Parish Church, in Kirkland, alongside the Museum of Lakeland Life and close to public car parking.

Those visiting this Nicolson exhibition in August can also enjoy up to 51 concerts, staged in 11 venues, during the 24th Lake District Summer Music Festival, August 1-17.

‘Thrilling concerts in inspiring settings’ is the Festival’s promise, as some of the world’s best classical musicians and performers bring their talents to grass-roots venues such as parish churches, town halls and beautiful theatres, across the Lake District.

With some beautiful villages and towns to explore around the daytime or evening concerts, there’s a host of reasons to dip a toe into the classical music world, or wallow in chamber music as an aficionado of this musical genre.

From bustling Ambleside, the hub of many wonderful, scenic walks, including a gentle stroll that can be enjoyed to the nearby Stockghyll Falls, to peaceful Rydal, former home of poet William Wordsworth, there’s loads to do and see.

With concerts also being staged in Kendal, home to Abbot Hall, there’s the chance to combine cultural heaven with wonderful shopping, both within leading high street stores and a plethora of more quirky, independent retail outlets.

One strand of programming for LDSM 2008 is music between the Great Wars, this historical period also being the backdrop for much of Ben Nicholson’s work and a possible reason for visitors to enjoy both musical and artistic genius, supported by the same historical backdrop.

LDSM Concert performers for 2008 include names such as the Goldberg Ensemble, Vox Animae, the Dufay Collective, Alquima, Stile Antico, the Razumovsky Ensemble, the Chilingrian Quartet, Wendy Dawn Thompson, Colin Carr, Gregor Horsch, Leon McCawley and Quatuor Ebène.

The Festival will also explore musical architecture, from early music to contemporary works. It will feature the complete cello and piano works of Beethoven and offer concerts from world class soloists, quartets, ensembles, choirs and sopranos.

Telephone booking for the Lake District Summer Music Festival 2008 opens on May 27 and Festival Saver tickets are available. Any four concerts may be booked for £65, eight for £110 and twelve for £155.

Concessions of 50 per cent are available on full-price tickets for under 18s, full time students, on production of NUS cards, and those in receipt of JSA.

The South Lakes is well placed to provide visitors with a range of wonderful options when it comes to attractions. These include: The Quaker Tapestry (Kendal); Kendal Museum; Rydal Mount and Rydal Hall (Rydal); Dove Cottage (Grasmere); The World of Beatrix Potter (Bowness); Windermere Lake Cruises; The Lake District National Park Visitor Centre at Brockhole (Windermere); Blackwell – The Arts & Crafts House (Bowness); the Lakes Aquarium and the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway (Lakeside).

Accommodation options range from boutique and country house hotels to working farms and from traditional camping and caravanning in scenic locations to living like a native American Indian in decorative tipis.

Accommodation can be viewed at Golakes.co.uk The South Lakes can be reached via the M6 (junctions 36) and A590 and A591. Trains to the South Lakes run on Virgin Trains’ West Coast line, from London Euston to Oxenholme, The Lake District. The nearest airports are Manchester and Blackpool (for flights from the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and Eire.