Autumn night's dream in garden

Oct 3 2003 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

I happily admit to being a person with limited imagination. However, an extraordinary evening event at Alnwick Garden called Tall Stories burst open my mind to the huge potential of the attraction as a unique, magical venue for theatre, dance and live performances.

Alnwick Garden has already established itself as a superb success story. Many thousands visit time and again to enjoy its fountains, flowers and landscaping. However, Tall Stories, featuring Dodgy Clutch Theatre Company and Ballet Lorent, brought a whole new dimension to the garden last Saturday.

The dramatic setting is particularly spectacular in the evening.

The children's torchlit procession, fireworks and the theatre and ballet companies' use of the entire garden kept the 1,200-strong audience entranced from beginning to end.

We were all encouraged to bring our own picnics, which set the scene for an informal, child-friendly atmosphere. The event was an experiment for Alnwick Garden - one that is being repeated this Saturday from 6pm to 8pm - and I urge you to get along if you can for a marvellously memorable experience.

However, it is also a precursor to an even larger occasion planned for 2004. That is great news.

Alnwick Garden is intending to become a distinctive venue for arts and cultural events in the North-East.

An arts development officer, Esther Hingle, has just been appointed to drive this forward.

The most heartening part of this altogether exciting development is that the garden has had the wit to introduce a major new reason to visit it, while we are still interested in its original concept.

The idea of opening up Alnwick Garden in the evenings to host visually exciting, musical, relaxed events is like a breath of fresh air. Imaginative schemes that complement their surroundings are in short supply, particularly in the more rural parts of our region.

I would love to see the creative energy shown by Alnwick Garden replicated at many of our other tourist attractions.

If each new twist to a well-established centre produced the same element of surprise and delight, it would undoubtedly increase return visits.

We are rapidly moving towards the People's Year of 2005, when we will celebrate our region's original, exciting, entertaining arts and culture.

If Alnwick Garden's stunning event is a template for us to go on, we are in for a feast.

* Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm.