It is at this point I feel like I should introduce the ‘Croome’ of the project’s title. Croome Court is an 18th century mansion and landscape garden situated just outside of Worcester. Croome has a rich and very varied history, but came to the brink of collapse before it was taken over by the Croome Heritage Trust. In 2005 it was leased to the National Trust who then embarked on a project of restoration.
The story of the house started with the 6th Earl of Coventry. Upon inheriting the estate, he began renovating and developing the house and grounds enlisting talent to help realise his vision. The house and gardens were designed by Lancelot “Capability” Brown, with Croome being his first major project. Capability Brown went on to become of England’s most highly regarded landscape gardeners of all time and it was the 6th Earl who gave him his first opportunity. Many careers began at Croome, including that of Robert Adam who designed several of the court’s interiors and its follies.
The court remained in the hands of the Coventry family until the end of World War Two, following the death of the 12th Earl following his involvement with the D-Day landings. The estate has since been owned by the catholic church, who used it as a residential school, and a Hare Krishna convent; both of whom made their own changes to the building, and their presences are therefore still felt at the court.
In order to keep Croome afloat during its turbulent history, nearly all of its furnishings were sold off to private collectors and therefore the house was left completely unfurnished. This presented a unique challenge - how should the house be restored? In reverting it to an approximation of how it would’ve been two hundred years ago to the 6th Earl’s specification, centuries of subsequent history would be erased. Therefore The National Trust is taking a different approach in its restoration of the property - enlisting Tom Bennett as creative director of the Croome Redefined project.
Croome Redefined aims to continue the legacy of the 6th Earl by giving new talent an opportunity, giving young up and coming artists the chance to show what they can do as they aid the restoration of Croome, producing individual projects that use artistic means of representing the history which will create a visitor experience that gives and insight to the history of the house and the individuals that shaped it.
For the past six months I have been working as a member of the creative team on the Croome Redefined project. My main role is to create a document of the development of the site over the five years of planned restoration - photographing the changes to the building, and also to make a record which gives insight into the development of each of Croome’s individual projects. I will be doing this while I work on my own projects in an around Croome, including Redefined and Redeveloped, but also on a project which aims to produce a portrait of every individual who has directly contributed to the Croome project as a whole - a list which will run well into the hundreds!
One of the main reasons I went in to the career in the arts was because of my enjoyment of the whole process of a project - starting with an idea and seeing it through to produce a tangible outcome. Croome Redefined is the largest scale project I’ve worked on to date and it’s an honour to be involved. I can’t wait to see what Croome becomes.
If you would like to know more about Croome Redefined, please read Tom Bennett’s blog - creativecroome.blogspot.co.uk
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