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STATELY UPDATE

A surefire sign that spring is not far away is the advent of snowdrops in profusion, increasingly supplemented by gardens that have been designed to appeal the whole year round. Even the Chinese New Year, this year dedicated to The Ox, is not immune and in 2009 Ironbridge Gorge Museum, the World Heritage site in Shropshire will be doing justice to the occasion.

The weekend 31Jan-1Feb at the Coalport China Museum, part of the Ironbridge complex, will go Chinese big-time. Traditional festivities will include dance, martial arts, brightly-coloured decorations, paper-craft and other creative workshops.

Visitors will be able to witness performances of the Lion Dance, the legendary dance designed to bring good fortune for the New Year, something we can all do with a bit of at any time, more so this year. Chinese games and puzzles and a childrens' discovery trail through the Museum involving Chinese Zodiac animals will ensure the younger family members feel part of the fun.

Drop-in workshops on both days from 11am-1pm and 2pm-4pm will include creating your own blue and white china design with ceramic transfers, paper-folding, brush painting and decorating paper lanterns. Families can make and play with colourful dragon shadow-puppets. Activities will vary each day and additional charges may apply.

The Museum's year-round ceramic demonstrations will also be taking place and the exceptionally fine Coalport and Caughley porcelain collections will be on display. Many pieces underline the influence that the 1,500-year-old Chinese porcelain industry has exerted over British ceramics.

The National Museum of Scotland may not be dripping with snowdrops but it has some pretty heavyweight forthcoming exhibitions to offer. High amongst these are an exhibition dealing with Jean Muir: A Fashion Icon. Jean Muir was part of the British design revolution that shook the swinging Sixties, depending heavily upon a look based on fabrics, colours and detail, as well as precision cut and fit.

The Jean Muir collections gathered dedicated followers the world over, with its clothes designed to skim and flatter the body with movement. Amongst her followers were Lauren Bacall, Joanna Lumley, Barbra Streisand, Judi Dench and Diana Rigg.

The Exhibition is open until Sunday 15 March and admission is free.

Running until 2001 is another Exhibition, a real stunner whose title sums it up well. Treasured: Wonderful Things, Amazing Stories provides the opportunity to discover some of the most extraordinary treasures in the care of the National Museums Scotland, over 300 objects drawn from across the globe and spanning the centuries, celebrating the wonder and diversity of the National Museums' world-class selections.

From a Sumatran tiger to a Victorian corset, Treasured is an eclectic mix of the spectacular, extraordinary, precious and personal. It also serves as a forerunner giving a first glimpse of some of the objects which will feature in the redeveloped National Museum of Scotland when it re-opens in 2011.

Again, admission to the Exhibition, which runs until 2011, is free.

At last - the snowdrops. Yes, plenty of choice here dependent upon where you live. We have selected a country-wide range, starting with East Lambrook Manor, South Petherton, Somerset, where the work of plant collector and gardener Margery Fish who died in 1969, is now bearing full fruit, not least amongst what is generally considered to be one of the best displays of snowdrops in the country.

Another notable display, with a half mile snowdrop walk through the woods and fragrant winter borders is at Hodsock Gardens, Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Additional attractions are provided by a snowdrop shop, teahouse and Victorian beehives. Hodsock is open every day from February 1 to March 2, 10am-4pm.

In Gloucestershire, the Painswick Rococo Garden, a wonderful 18th century garden in a sheltered Cotswold valley are expected to be in their prime in early February. Benington Lordship's gardens surrounding the Norman castle and house in Hertforshire, near Stevenage, contain more than 50 varieties of snowdrop set in magnificent drifts. Open from 2-24 February, 12-4pm, RHS members free.

At Walsingham, Norfolk the grounds of what must have been a magnificent Abbey to judge by the spectacularly set remains, are smothered in a great carpet of snowdrops that bring added lustre to the attractions of this shrine community centred on Little Walsingham. The grounds are open 10am-4pm daily, and they helpfully provide a check-for-best phone number at Walsingham Estate Office on 01328 820259. Whilst there leave time to take in the North Riddle Restaurant, close to the Farm Shop and a top of the range Fish and Chip takeaway counter, all run by the go-ahead local Estate.

Fiona Reynolds, Director General of the National Trust, forecast accurately that the credit crunch and its fall-out would trigger off a return to the simpler things of life, many of which tend to get overlooked in the gadarene rush down the slope in pursuit of so called sophisticated - and expensive - entertainment and leisure. How many of us have forgotten the pleasure to be gained from a garden smothered in these truly beautiful harbingers of Spring, never mind the benefits of a good walk in fresh air?

Michael Tebbutt
Editor, Stately Update