{"id":8426,"date":"2022-03-16T11:00:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/?p=75320"},"modified":"2022-03-16T11:16:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T10:16:39","slug":"undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche\/","title":{"rendered":"Undercover artists: reinventing the garden cloche"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Veronica Peerless\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 16 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Cast iron and typically painted off-white, garden cloches sit in stately rows on vegetable plots, their elegant appearance giving the look of tiny glasshouses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Traditional cast-iron garden cloches, with their pitched roofs, resemble little houses or lanterns<\/a>, neatly arranged to protect crops in bitter winter weather or to defend brassicas from hungry birds. They can help yield bountiful supplies of salad leaves and herbs in the cooler months.<\/p>\n

Early cloches were large, dome-shaped bell jars (their name comes from the French for bell), which were used by market gardeners in France. They were once commonplace in walled kitchen gardens of country houses all around the UK, from Chatsworth<\/a> to Woolbeding, but fell out of fashion.<\/p>\n

\""Claverton\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Claverton Cloches arranged in a garden<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Happily for those that love this traditional design, Beth Gregg and her partner Janus Intelmann started manufacturing their own cloches two years ago. They were trying to grow vegetables in their small, exposed back garden in Bath: \u2018We wanted something pretty but practical, and Janus remembered cloches he\u2019d seen at Audley End<\/a> when he visited as a child with his mother,\u201d says Beth. \u201cWe looked everywhere and could only find antique versions that were in tatters.\u201d So they started to make their own, starting a company called Claverton Cloches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\""Beth\"<\/picture><\/div>
Beth works on a cloche at Claverton Cloches <\/span> <\/figcaption> \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Claverton\"<\/picture><\/div>
Claverton Cloches arranged in a garden<\/span> <\/figcaption> \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Making\"<\/picture><\/div>
Making a cloche at Claverton Cloches <\/span> <\/figcaption> \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\""Claverton\"<\/picture><\/div>
The engraved brass plaque on top of a Claverton Cloche<\/span> <\/figcaption> <\/span>\n<\/div> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBeth and Janus were travelling in the north of England when by chance they found an old cloche for sale in Yorkshire on Facebook Marketplace. It was in terrible condition. \u201cWe brought it hope wrapped in blankets in the back of the car, and Janus used it as a model to design one,\u201d says Beth. \u201cWe found a foundry and put in a minimum order of ten. We researched what glass to buy, and turned our spare bedroom into a cloche workshop.\u201d\n

Beth soon realised that other people loved the cloches as much as she did. \u201cI set up an Instagram account and posted a couple of photos of the cloches, and a woman contacted us and bought them all. She said we should make more, so we went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Cloches\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Cloches at Charlie McCormick and Ben Pentreath\u2019s garden in Dorset. \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/span><\/figcaption> Cloches at Charlie McCormick and Ben Pentreath’s garden in Dorset. \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

One of their first customers was Alan Titchmarsh, who uses his cloches for his potted snowdrops<\/a> and early salads. Florist Charlie McCormick\u2019s garden in Dorset is often admired for is neat rows of cloches, some of which are the new versions from Claverton Cloches. Unlike antique cloches that are prone to rusting, these new versions are galvanised and powder coated.<\/p>\n

They make their cloches to almost the exact production methods of original Victorian cloches. One thing we noticed was how rusted the antiques were, so we make our with galvanised frames, which are powder coated. They should last for more than a hundred years, says Beth.<\/p>\n

\""Making\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
32 panes of glass go into each cloche<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cEach cloche takes hours of work,\u201d says Beth. \u201cWe hand assemble them when the frame comes in from the foundry, and then cut the horticultural glass to size by hand and putty all 32 pieces in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now they have orders for cloches from around the world, mostly gardeners from Europe and the USA. People have reached out asking for replacement parts for antique cloches, and Beth and Janus are planning to launch a restoration side to the business, as well as supplying parts. They are also planning on launching cloches in different sizes.<\/p>\n

\""Claverton\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
An engraved brass plaque on top of a Claverton Cloche \u00a9 Jason Ingram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

At the top of each cloche, where the handle slots in, is a discreet brass plaque. Beth hopes these will be seen by future generations of gardeners.<\/p>\n

Read more about the making of Claverton Cloches in the March issue of Gardens Illustrated<\/em><\/a>, out now.<\/p>\n

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<\/p><\/div>

\""Griffin\"<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section><\/body><\/html>\n
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By Veronica Peerless Published: Wednesday, 16 March 2022 at 12:00 am Cast iron and typically painted off-white, garden cloches sit in stately rows on vegetable plots, their elegant appearance giving the look of tiny glasshouses. Traditional cast-iron garden cloches, with their pitched roofs, resemble little houses or lanterns, neatly arranged to protect crops in bitter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8427,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-scaled.jpg",1707,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-200x300.jpg",200,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-768x1152.jpg",768,1152,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-683x1024.jpg",683,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-1024x1536.jpg",1024,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/03\/undercover-artists-reinventing-the-garden-cloche-1365x2048.jpg",1365,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Veronica Peerless Published: Wednesday, 16 March 2022 at 12:00 am Cast iron and typically painted off-white, garden cloches sit in stately rows on vegetable plots, their elegant appearance giving the look of tiny glasshouses. Traditional cast-iron garden cloches, with their pitched roofs, resemble little houses or lanterns, neatly arranged to protect crops in bitter…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/8426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}