SPRING CREATIVE RETREAT
26 April – 3 May 2025 FULLY BOOKED
Join Bland Badger hosts - Charlotte Bland and Ros Badger - and their very special guests, Amy Fielding, director at JamJar Edit, artist Lucy Kent, Nadine Gibbon of Spinney Cottage Flowers and author Christobel Kent together in Villa Pia’s beautiful setting for a spring creative retreat to reconnect you with your inner creativity.
THE Programme
The art of flower pressing with Amy Fielding from JamJar Edit.
Landscape painting with Lucy Kent, for enjoyment, not perfection!
A photography walk with Charlotte Bland.
Silver clay jewellery making with Ros Badger.
Floral headdresses with Nadine Gibbon.
A day trip to Florence with a unique introduction from local author Christobel Kent.
A confirmed programme for the week is provided to booked guests before arrival.
Highlights
Learn the art of flower pressing with Amy Fielding, director of renowned floral design studio JamJar Flowers, and director and co-founder of sister studio JamJar Edit. Forage for local, autumn flowers to press and then take home your own unique artwork.
Paint the beautiful local landscape en plein air with celebrated artist Lucy Kent. Relaxed and informal, Lucy teaches painting for enjoyment, experimenting and loosening up. For all abilities, it’s about progress not perfection!
Nadine Gibbon from Spinney Cottage Flowers is teaching a foraged foliage headdress-making class. Nadine’s fabulous, fun workshop is always a highlight of the week.
Create a silver charm with Ros in her silver clay jewellery workshop where you will learn to shape and fire your own piece of alchemic magic!
Take a photography walk with Charlotte and learn her tips for developing your own photographic style inspired by the beauty of Villa Pia’s surroundings and the wonderful natural light. Explore the vibrant spring landscape with your camera, any sort of which will do, from phone to film and everything in between.
Christobel Kent, author of many books set in Florence, is visiting us at Villa Pia to share her bespoke Bland Badger Florence itineraries ahead of the excursion day to ‘the cradle of the Renaissance’. No-one knows Florence better, or indeed loves it more, than Christobel and she has compiled the most wonderful round-up of this special city, with three personalised Florentine itineraries, reflecting her knowledge of the city and passion for art, craft, food, and fashion.
The Bland Badger Brocante, the much-anticipated curated flea market we host in the Villa Pia courtyard, is back with local sellers of antique linen and vintage clothing, plus beautiful Ivo Angel splatter ceramics made in nearby Cortona and a host of surprises.
Optional Extras
Cooking classes with the Villa Pia chefs - highly recommended, these popular classes are bookable on arrival and fill up quickly.
Massage and treatments with Villa Pia’s beauty therapist.
Local visits including to Piero della Francesca’s most famous work “The Madonna del Parto” and other local museums.
PRICES
THE MAIN HOUSE
£2195 per person Twin room, ensuite bathroom (to be booked as a group of two friends) ~ sold out
£2250 per person Single room, shared bathroom with one other room ~ sold out
£2425 per person Single room, ensuite bathroom ~ sold out
THE ANNEXE
£2095 per person Twin room, ensuite bathroom (to be booked as a group of two friends) ~ sold out
£2150 per person Single room, shared bathroom with one other room ~ sold out
£2325 per person Single room, ensuite bathroom ~ sold out
Rooms are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Full payment is required upon booking the Spring Creative Retreat. The full payment is made up of a non-refundable £800 deposit and the remaining balance.
Please read the Bland Badger Terms &Conditions carefully before booking.
MEET THE TUTORS
Amy Fielding
Amy is director of renowned floral design studio JamJar Flowers, and co-founder of sister studio JamJar Edit. After graduating with a degree in Fine Art, Amy worked for visionary fashion photographer Nick Knight before finding her calling at JamJar, a bespoke florist situated in a charming Dickensian yard in South London.
A chance commission from Mulberry to press flowers for their SS15 fashion show opened up a whole new world of botanical exploration which inspired Amy and fellow co-founder Melissa Richardson to launch their flower pressing studio and e-commerce shop, JamJar Edit.
JamJar Edit specialise in creating contemporary pressed flower artworks for private commissions, exhibitions and their ready-to-buy collection; they have recorded wild flower meadows, documented entire gardens and reinterpreted historical paintings and stained glass with pressed flowers to create bespoke artworks and large scale installations.
Their work has been featured in Times Luxx, Elle Decoration, House and Garden, Rakes Progress and many other publications and The Modern Flower Press, written by Amy and Melissa, was published by William Collins in 2022.
Lucy Kent
Lucy is a British artist living and working in North Wiltshire in the UK. Having trained originally in portraiture, Lucy felt more of a pull to the landscape around her with a move from the city back to the countryside where she grew up, and she taught herself how to paint her surroundings, working in oil, both en plein air and from the studio.
Lucy’s paintings are a direct response to her environment, and she is most inspired by shifting light and colour and the interactions between high skies and wide landscapes.
Working directly from life and combining knife and brush marks, Lucy’s work is energetic, vibrant and immersive. She loves to travel and paint trips have included Italy, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and Kenya to name a few.
Nadine Gibbon
Nadine is a floral designer based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, specialising in bespoke arrangements for weddings and events. With a lifelong passion for flowers, her work is known for its luxurious, unique designs.
Fuelled by her passion for the craft, Nadine teaches workshops, including Christmas wreath making, from her enchanting woodland studio at her family home, Spinney Cottage. For the past few years, she has also taught sold-out winter workshops at Hotel Endsleigh, in Devon.
Nadine’s Bland Badger headdress-making class, featuring foliage collected on the morning of the workshop, is always a highlight of our week. A natural-born teacher, her expertise is unparalleled. What truly sets her apart, however, is her infectious humour and her sense of fun, making for an absolutely brilliant workshop every time!
Christobel Kent
Christobel was born in London in 1962 and educated at Cambridge University. Several years of her childhood were spent living on a Thames sailing barge in Maldon, Essex, with her father, stepmother, three siblings, and four step-siblings. She has published seventeen novels, starting with four standalone thrillers set in Italy, followed by her six novels in the Sandro Cellini Florentine detective series. She has since written seven psychological thrillers, including the Sunday Times bestseller, The Loving Husband.
Christobel is always an inspiration to our guests, not just with her literary style, but also with her unique personal flair. Having split her time between Florence and the UK for twenty years, Christobel’s engaging talks offer exclusive insights into Florence, and provide a perspective that only a true insider can share.
For 2025, Christobel has crafted three personalised Florentine itineraries reflecting her passion for art, food, and fashion, if you want more, Christobel’s Instagram posts are compulsive viewing for those interested in vintage style, especially as seen in fashion and film.
What’s Included
Room prices include all workshops and materials, activities and all food and drink (except lunch and dinner on the excursion day). The meals (including 24 hour access to snacks, fruit, aperitivos, wine, beer and soft drinks) at the villa are provided for and prepared expertly by the local cooks.
You also have full use of Villa Pia’s facilities, which include a swimming pool and a tennis court.
FLORENCE EXCURSION Day
Bland Badger provides return coach travel from Villa Pia to Florence where you are free to explore the city for the day with Christobel Kent’s bespoke itinerary.
What’s Not Included
Air fares and the cost of transfers to and from the villa
Travel insurance
Optional extra activities
Lunch and dinner on the excursion day
ARRIVING AT THE VILLA
Flights to Perugia, Florence and Pisa are well-located for Lippiano.
If flying to Florence, you can take the train to Arezzo, and then a taxi or hire car from there to Villa Pia. Direct trains run between Florence and Arezzo. If enough people arrive on the Perugia flight, Villa Pia can arrange a group transfer.
Hiring a car at the airport or in Arezzo is a great way to get to Villa Pia and gives you freedom to explore the area. Lippiano is a beautiful hamlet but most local attractions, shops and restaurants are a short drive away.
Arezzo train station is approximately 30 minutes from Villa Pia and taxis are available between Arezzo and the villa at a cost of around €70.
Arrival time at Villa Pia is from 3pm on Saturday. On your first night we have welcome drinks before dinner, which is at 8pm. Checkout time is by 10am on Saturday.
Bland Badger bears no responsibility for flight cancellations or schedule changes.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
It is a condition of accepting your booking that you have personal travel insurance arranged in advance, including cancellation insurance for Covid and other medical reasons, redundancy, jury service etc. for all members of your party. Please note that the use of Villa Pia, its facilities, grounds and swimming pool are entirely at the user’s risk. Bland Badger and Villa Pia SRL, its directors, staff and agents are not liable for any loss, injury or claim of any kind arising out of, or in connection with, staying at, or traveling to and from Villa Pia for you or any member of your party.