In 2011 the event at Westonbirt School near Tetbury in the Cotswolds was renamed by the organisers Cooper Events. What had been the Westonbirt Art & Antiques Fair became The Cotswolds Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair.
A few years ago, this tri-annual event (started in 1989) still had a predominantly traditional look. However, the organisers now say that it is now much more 'decorative' in feel, reflecting prevailing trends and tastes in the affluent local area and nationally. They add that the 2015 summer edition of the fair, from August 14-16, is the most decorative yet.
The event takes place around the main rooms of Westonbirt School.
The shops that continue to thrive in Tetbury are those firmly aimed at the decorating market and the shift in the fair's look is emphasised by a couple more Tetbury dealers joining this time.
Amy Perry and Lynda Townsend-Bateson bring French and English decorative furniture and objects, while Decorative Modern offer an "eclectic mix of furniture and objects" centred on 20th century English and Scandinavian design. Also making a debut is Carlyon Silver from Gloucestershire with 17th-19th century pieces.
Rather more leftfield, Hetman Gallery from Kiev visit. They offer a mix of emerging Ukrainian and Russian artists and sculptors, but have also expanded into antiques and Contemporary decorative pieces. The gallery are currently trying to find premises in the UK and Mallorca.
Seasoned Westonbirt exhibitor Derek Newman of Newman Fine Art will be again exhibiting some of his personal collection of paintings of Gloucestershire views at the August fair. His personal highlight is a painting of a Woodland Landscape by the Manchester-born artist Bertram Nicholls (1883-1974), signed and dated 1936. Nicholls studied at the Slade School and was represented by the Fine Art Society in London, where this painting was exhibited in May 1936. The 17½in x 2ft (44cm x 61cm) oil on canvas is priced at £4500.
Lancashire fair
The weekend before the Westonbirt event, further north, near Clitheroe in Lancashire, comes Galloway Antiques Fairs' Stonyhurst College Antiques & Fine Art Fair. This is at Hurst Green from August 7-9.
Now 20 years old, the fair sets up in the Elizabethan manor house, also now a boarding school, set in the picturesque Ribble Valley.
Among the 35 exhibitors, to name a few, are locals Heritage Antiques and Lancaster House Antiques, which both specialise in clocks and furniture.
Skipton dealer Mark Buckley brings inlaid furniture, and Jack Yarwood of York offers netsuke, okimono, snuff boxes, enamels and jewellery.
