Hospitalfield’s Open Weekends are a great and rare opportunity for us all to see inside, as both the House and grounds are open to the public – 21 – 23rd June 2013. 

The focus of this Open Weekend is ‘it’s in the making of things – small and close’, including: Seaweed, bees, and preserving – bottling, jamming, distilling, pickling, salting, smoking, cheesing, fermenting, cheesing, distilling, crystalising and hanging!

The idea of saving what has been grown in the summer by preserving it in sugar, salt, vinegar or through distillation has become more of a luxury than a necessity. However, people still do it and know that, almost without exception, recipes are often better than anything else available.

For the open weekend at Hospitalfield in June the house will be open for tours, the Summer Residency Programme will be well underway and the gardens will be full of stalls that focus on our home made growing and production – small and close – something that Angus and particularly Arbroath can be very proud of.

The Flower Stall will be right at the centre of the walled garden. Visitors are invited to bring, if they can, a bunch of flowers from their garden; labelled with the post code of the garden from which they are grown. As the stall makes their sales, visitors will be asked for the stamped addressed labels to be posted back to Hospitalfield with the post code of their destination. In this way Hospitalfield can map the journey of each bunch. Download and print your own label for your bunch of flowers here.

The production of food has become highly politicised from the cultivation of the land, the miles travelled by the produce, the processing of food, the wide impact of supermarkets and our demand for low prices and easy parking. Angus is closer to this than most. The trade in local seaweed long ago faded and huge container ships now land in a rich concoction of fertiliser at the harbour in Montrose. This industrial quantity is distributed to the farms across Angus who in turn are at the front line of the challenging relationship with supermarkets. The harvesting of the crops has brought a new generation of young people to the region from across Europe all of whom have their own great traditions and recipes for preserving food and drink.

It’s in the making of things – Open Weekend at Hospitalfield House

Date: 21-23 June 2013 – Opening event on Friday 21 June, 6 – 9pm. Saturday and Sunday 22-23 June, 11am – 4pm

Access to the house and grounds are free. A donation of £5 per adult would be welcomed. Heritage tours of the house: £4. Tours start at 11am and continue at half hourly intervals on Saturday and Sunday until 3pm.