Day: September 11, 2009

Successful Open Day 2009

Randell Cottage hosted a very successful Open Day on Tulip Sunday this year. Over 60 people came through the cottage and talked with Trustees and Friends about its history and its current use as a writers’ residency.

The visitors ranged from an intrepid Beagle who dragged his owners in the door to a young boy and his mother who were fascinated by the Shacklock range to a couple who renovated old cottages and were delighted to walk through a prime example of ‘stripped down colonial Georgian’.

There were the usual writers interested in a place for writers to write, and those who just happened by after enjoying the tulips. The gorgeous posters organised by Friend of the cottage, Maggie Rainey-Smith and printed by Apex, seemed to attract a great deal of interest. The Trustees and Friends of the cottage had as much fun as the visitors.

We finished up with drinks which representatives from the French Embassy and the Lilburn House attended, as well as Susan Price whose family gifted the cottage to the Trust.

Celebrating Katherine Mansfield

Randell Cottage Trustee and author Vincent O’Sullivan and recently departed Randell Cottage writer in residence Kirsty Gunn in conversation in the garden of the Villa Maria Serena in Menton. Both were keynote speakers at the Katherine Mansfield symposium ‘Celebrating Katherine Mansfield’ in Menton in September. A summary of Kirsty’s talk is here. Photo: Delia da Sousa Correa