BLAND BADGER IN UMBRIA
This year there are two week-long Bland Badger retreats in Umbria, Italy. They will be hosted by Charlotte Bland and Ros Badger, with very special guests, Letitia Clark, Nadine Gibbon, Louisa Dunn and Christobel Kent.
Week 1: 28 September - 5 october 2024
Week 2: 5 october - 12 October 2024
We will be staying at Villa Pia, whose unique, laid back approach to drinks and apéritifs, which you can help yourself to whenever you like, as well as their delicious and all inclusive lunches and dinners made using local produce by local cooks, are some of the main reasons we keep coming back. The environment encourages you to be as sociable as you like. No one minds if you want to find a corner to sit drinking your coffee alone, as you contemplate the incredible landscape that surrounds the you. The villa’s staff take care of everything so you can immerse yourself in the week and leave feeling creatively nurtured, relaxed and with a whole host of new pals too.
MEET THE TUTORS
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Charlotte Bland is a photographer who specialises in shooting interiors, food and travel on film. After an Art History degree she developed her photography career with clients including The Guardian, Penguin Books, Bloomsbury and Chatto & Windus. A commission for Selfridges department store's Our House campaign saw her photos of everyday interior moments displayed on the store’s windows on London’s Oxford Street. Book credits include, La Vita è Dolce by Letitia Clark, Flavour by Ruby Tandoh, The Cornershop Cookbook, The Set Table: The Art of Small Gatherings and Frontières: Food and Cooking from the French Borderlands by Alex Jackson. Charlotte will lead photography walks at Villa Pia, sharing her tips for developing your own photographic style inspired by the beauty of the Italian landscape and the incredible natural light.
Visit Charlotte’s website and Instagram to explore her creative vision.
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Ros Badger is a designer and craftswoman with a design career that spans more than 35 years. Having learned to crochet and knit at the age of eight, Ros has made things all her life; sewing, customising clothes, restoring old furniture, and generally using her unique vision to collect and repurpose. Her jewellery brand Badger’s Velvet incorporates this, she designs unique contemporary pieces, creating through the blending of precious metals with antiques such as Roman coins and Georgian brooches.
Beginning as a textile graduate of Chelsea College of Art, Ros’ career has involved designing for Betty Jackson, Johnson’s La Rocka, Margaret Howell and Marks & Spencer, among many others. She has made bespoke hats for U2’s The Edge and was the knitting expert on TV’s Big Breakfast. In 1994 Ros launched Little Badger, designing and making hand knitwear and T shirts for children. Selling internationally, the company pioneered the use of logos, text and imagery previously unassociated with children’s clothes. Ros’ passion for creating, alongside her extensive knowledge and experience, has resulted in the publication of 9 books and her contribution to numerous publications such as The Observer and Telegraph newspapers, Country Living, and The Idler magazine. Ros will share her vast expertise as a designer teaching a creative workshop at Bland Badger 2024. -
Letitia Clark is a chef, writer and illustrator. After graduating in English Literature, she trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, before going on to work in London restaurants including Spring at Somerset House. In 2017, she left London for Sardinia and began writing, illustrating and cooking from home. Her first book, Bitter Honey, was published in 2020 and her second book, La Vita è Dolce, was published in June 2021. She is currently trying (very hard!) to set up her own Agriturismo in rural Sardinia, where she hopes to host guests and teach cooking classes, and have a goat. Her latest book Wild Figs & Fennel: a year in an Italian kitchen is published in April 2024. She is fanatical about lemons and has a book about them coming soon, too.
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Nadine Gibbon is a floral designer based in St Albans, Hertfordshire specialising in weddings and events. Drawing upon her lifelong love of flora, she creates unique and whimsical arrangements, showcasing an intuitive practice. As an extension of her passion for the craft, Nadine teaches work-shops, including Christmas wreath making in her enchanted woodland studio and family home, Spinney Cottage.
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Louisa Dunn is a textile designer and mixed-media artist living & creating in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Louisa has a BFA in Fibers, with a background in textiles. She designs with a keen sensitivity to colour and shape interactions using sewing, collage and drawing. Louisa began her Bland Badger journey as a guest and impressed us so much we brought her back as a tutor.
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Christobel Kent was born in London in 1962 and educated at Cambridge. She has lived variously in Essex, London and Italy. Her childhood included several years spent living on a Thames sailing barge in Maldon, Essex, with her father, stepmother, three siblings and four step-siblings. She has had seventeen novels published: the first four being standalone thrillers set in Italy, followed by the six novels in the Sandro Cellini Florentine detective series. Since then she has written seven psychological thrillers roughly in the ‘domestic noir’ genre including the Sunday Times bestseller The Loving Husband. Christobel now lives in both Cambridge and Florence.
PROGRAMME FOR BLAND BADGER 2024
A Bland Badger retreat is a holiday and we like to remind you during your stay, that nothing is compulsory. Lined up for this year, we have a series of creative workshops, including collaging, floral and food workshops, and photography, with a maximum of 20 guests in each week. For those on Week 1, there is a day trip to Florence, with the guidance of our own Florentine resident, Christobel Kent. And for those joining us in the second week, we will be taking you to the oldest Antiques Market in Italy, Fiera Antiquaria di Arezzo.*
*BlandBadger reserves the right to change the schedule if necessary.
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A day trip to Florence with Christobel Kent’s insider tips
A food workshop with Letitia Clark
Photography with Charlotte Bland
Creative workshop with Ros Badger
Floral workshop with Nadine Gibbon
Collage workshop with Louisa Dunn -
A day trip to Arezzo’s vast antiques market, held on the first Sunday of every month.
A food workshop with Letitia Clark
Photography with Charlotte Bland
Creative workshop with Ros Badger
Floral workshop with Nadine Gibbon
Collage workshop with Louisa Dunn
Please note, the exact schedule for each week is to be confirmed and will be available to booked guests.
OPTIONAL EXTRAS INCLUDE:
Cooking classes with the Villa Pia chefs. These are bookable on arrival at the villa (they are very popular so sign up promptly!)
Calligraphy classes in Week 1 with Kate Ridyard, Bland Badger’s renowned lettering expert
Massage and treatments with Villa Pia’s beauty therapist
Visit Piero della Francesca’s most famous works including, “The Madonna del Parto”
Other local museum visits
ACCOMMODATION
While exceptional staff are always to hand for whatever you need, you are welcomed as a friend into the environment of the villa, so that nothing feels off limits and nowhere is out of bounds. Help yourself to an espresso using the professional Italian coffee machines in the wood fired kitchen or take yourself down to the swimming pool for a moment of peace and calm. There are no rules!
There are three different room options available to accommodate everyone, whether travelling solo or sharing. The bedrooms are split between the large, rustic house and the annexe, which is a converted barn with original paved floors, both of which open onto the central courtyard. The rooms either have views of the courtyard or the surrounding countryside and are a mixture of ensuite and shared bathrooms all with showers, and some with small baths which is the typical style for the region.
PRICES
THE MAIN HOUSE
£2095.00 PER PERSON Twin room, Ensuite bathroom (To be booked as a group of two friends) 1 TWIN ROOM AVAILABLE IN WEEK 1
£2150.00 PER PERSON Single room, Shared bathroom with one other room 1 AVAILABLE IN WEEK 1
£2335.00 PER PERSON Single room, Ensuite bathroom SOLD OUT IN WEEK 1 - 1 AVAILABLE IN WEEK 2
THE ANNEXE
£2050.00 PER PERSON Single room, Shared bathroom with one other room SOLD OUT IN WEEK 1
£2235.00 PER PERSON Single room, Ensuite bathroom SOLD OUT IN WEEK 1
Rooms are allocated on a first come first served basis. A non-refundable deposit of £800 per person is required when booking. The balance payment is due to Bland Badger by 30 June 2024. Bookings made after this date must be paid in full.
what’s included
Room prices include all workshops and materials, scheduled trips and activities and all food and drink (except lunch on excursion days, and lunch and dinner on Thursday, the cooks’ day off). The meals (including 24 hour access to snacks, fruit, apéritifs, wine, beer and soft drinks) at the villa are provided for and prepared expertly by the local cooks whose cooking is so in demand they’ve been propositioned for a book but refuse to give away their secrets! If there is a day trip, you are welcome to breakfast at the villa, before heading out, and will be greeted with a hefty four course meal on your return!
You are also welcome to full use of Villa Pia’s facilities, which include a swimming pool and a tennis court.
what’s NOT included
Air fares and the cost of transfers to and from the villa
Travel insurance (please make sure you have adequate insurance)
Optional extra activities
ARRIVING AT THE VILLA
Flights to Perugia, Florence and Pisa are well-located for Lippiano.
We recommend flying to Perugia and then taking a taxi or hire car to Villa Pia. If flying to Florence, you would take the train to Arezzo, and then a taxi or hire car from there to Villa Pia. Direct trains run between Florence and Arezzo. If enough people arrive on the Perugia flight Villa Pia can arrange a group transfer.
Hiring a car at the airport or in Arezzo is a great way to get to Villa Pia and gives you freedom to explore the area. Lippiano is a beautiful hamlet but most local attractions, shops and restaurants are a short drive or taxi journey away.
Arezzo train station is approximately 30 minutes from Villa Pia and taxis are available between Arezzo and the villa at a cost of around €70.
Arrival time at Villa Pia is between 3 - 7pm on Saturday. On your first night, we will have welcome drinks from 7pm before dinner at 8pm. Checkout time is by 10am on your departure day.
Bland Badger bears no responsibility for flight cancellations or schedule changes.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
It is a condition of accepting your booking that you have personal travel insurance arranged in advance, including cancellation insurance for Covid and other medical reasons, redundancy, jury service etc. for all members of your party. Please note that the use of Villa Pia, its facilities, grounds and swimming pool are entirely at the user’s risk. Bland Badger and Villa Pia SRL, its directors, staff and agents are not liable for any loss, injury or claim of any kind arising out of, or in connection with, staying at, or traveling to and from Villa Pia for you or any member of your party.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Please note that as we incur non-recoverable up front costs for the retreat the deposit is strictly non-refundable. Please make sure you have travel insurance arranged before you book as this is a condition of us accepting your booking.
If you cancel a booking only the balance payment is refundable, up to 8 weeks before the retreat start date. After this we cannot issue a refund.