Tracy Spiers uncovers a collaboration between the Cotswolds Distillery and Hambletts to create a programme of arts, music and comedy.
Two years ago, part of me took residence at the Cotswolds Distillery. It was a multi-coloured kingfisher, one of 22 large sculptures painted by local artists, which formed the Kingfisher Trail to raise money for conservation work and projects supporting youngsters in the Cotswolds National Landscape. My playful, humorous offering was the designated flying kingfisher, which flew to a different location every two weeks.
Although called Wait a Minnow because this stunning bird eats its body weight in fish every day, and is very elusive, I nicknamed it the ‘gin fisher’ as it visited the Cotswolds Distillery three times. It now resides in a private garden. Yet this fusion of visual art, gin and whisky is a significant mix at this idyllic setting just outside the beautiful village of Stourton, near Shipston-on-Stour, in Warwickshire. And this summer is most definitely going to be a spirited and sparkling one.
For the first time the award-winning company, set up in 2014 by charismatic pioneer Dan Szor, is collaborating with Cotswolds-based production company, Hambletts Ltd for Alfresco at the Cotswolds Distillery, a fun-packed programme of arts, music, and comedy from July 1 to September 2. It is the perfect blend as both parties know their craft well and will ensure their captive audiences will leave in good spirits – and I make no apology for the pun.
Whilst specialising in their respective fields of work, the Distillery and Hambletts share the same vision – to celebrate, collaborate, and create with local communities.
Husband-and-wife team David Hamblett and Judy Reaves have a wealth of experience in providing outdoor events and celebrations, particularly in curating programmes which attract and engage a diverse audience. Between them they have stage management, theatrical production, stage and interior design skills, and an ability to make things happen. When I meet them at the distillery, along with their friend and colleague Deirdre Shields, a talented writer, they generously share their vision, but it is only afterwards that I realise just how good they are at what they do. It is not just about putting on an enjoyable show, festival, production, or music event. It is about removing walls, stage, and barriers metaphorically and physically to allow a fully immersive, multi-sensual experience where actor, musician, performer, and audience are sharing the same space and environment, often come rain or shine.
Dan Szor’s vision for the distillery has always been about people, product, and place – the concept of people making great products in an unforgettably beautiful place whilst blessing local producers, farmers and the environment and bringing people together.
A shared vision
Dedicated to creating single malt whiskies, gins and liqueurs using quality and flavours, he is not afraid to mix flavours and put ingredients together in a unique way. This sense of playful creativity is not contained to the gins and whiskeys produced at the Cotswolds Distillery. He embraces opportunities to collaborate with like-minded creative people who are experts in their own spheres.
Regular visitors, due to their own love for the local spirits, Judy and David saw the potential of creating a comedy, arts, and music programme at Cotswolds Distillery. Like Dan, their ethos is about how a great experience impacts people – the after taste, the feel-good factor, the memories.
Before I talk to Judy, David, and Deirdre, I chat with Rachel Sackman, who is marketing assistant at Cotswolds Distillery, and like my new friends, shares a love for the taste on offer at this enthralling place.
‘Before working here, I used to visit with my fiancé, because he was local. I always thought it would be a lovely place to work and I have gone from being a fan of the products to gaining a full understanding of the process, as well as being involved with the sensory panels which has taught me how to really understand the flavour profiles of our spirits,’ says Rachel.
A former English teacher, Rachel also has a passion for literature and so admits she is thrilled to see the combination of theatrical arts and the art of distilling happening.
‘I think it is very exciting. When I started here, I wanted to highlight the relationship between our spirits and the art of storytelling. I know that Dan is always keen to take people on a journey when they enjoy our spirits; our Harvest Series – Golden Wold, for example – evokes the sense of walking through the Cotswolds countryside in autumn when barley is being harvested and there is a slight aroma of bonfire in the air. For me, my favourite way to enjoy a whisky or gin is tucked up with a good book! For Hallowe’en, I wrote a blog on pairing one of our whiskies, Cotswolds Peated Cask, with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and would love to explore this idea of spirit and book pairings further. For the Alfresco at the Cotswolds Distillery, we are looking at coming up with special cocktails for the events.’
Cotswolds Dry Gin
She hands me a large glass of chilled cloudy Cotswolds Dry Gin, which contains nine different botanicals including juniper, Cotswold lavender, and pink grapefruit peel. I am no expert in gin, but the flavours work. The cloudy appearance is key. Due to the unusually high volume of botanicals used, the gin causes an effective pearlescent cloud to appear when ice or tonic is added. My husband Rog, my lovely chauffeur on this occasion, laughs at the enormous glass in my hand. Put it this way, I am a cheap date. ‘Remember it is gin, Tracy,’ he says, which means don’t guzzle. I enjoy a few sips and put it aside at the risk of not being able to ask any questions or write any shorthand. It is hard enough to decipher at the best of times.
The point is, this refreshing drink contains much more than its elements. It represents thought, consideration, time, sampling, expertise. This gin was the distillery’s first project. Two months was spent on researching botanical recipes with staff distilling 150 individual botanical spirits in a whole range of different flavours. Distillers created over 60 individual gin recipes which was whittled down to one finalist – the Cotswolds Dry Gin, I have in my hand.
Dan’s dream was always to make whisky, which was released three years after the gin, in October 2017 as the Cotswolds Signature Single Malt Whisky, the first whisky ever to be distilled in the Cotswolds and the one which remains at the heart of its DNA. In the years since its launch, the distillery has expanded its range of single malt whiskies. This includes hand-picked single cask releases, its Cask Collection comprising four unique cask expressions and the inspiring yearly limited-edition Hearts & Crafts series, drawing inspiration from the Arts & Crafts movement.
Incidentally, when Dan first decided to champion local artists by using their artwork on the labels and packaging of the distillery’s new whisky collection, the Cotswolds Harvest Series, he asked renowned landscape artist Josephine Trotter.
‘I’ve always admired her impressionistic approach to making Cotswolds landscapes come alive’, says Dan.
Josephine will be taking part in one of the summer events, the Real Garden Festival on Saturday, July 29 where visitors will be able to watch her paint.
‘I distil the local landscape into art, just as the Cotswolds Distillery distils local barley into spirit. We are both mastering our art through different mediums, the Distillery through the art of making whisky and me through painting fine art. They are both instinctive, creative, and natural processes and it is wonderful to collaborate with the Cotswolds Distillery,’ admits Josephine.
Alfresco at the Distillery
This neatly brings me back to the Alfresco at the Distillery summer programme. Just as the distillery’s Cotswolds Dry Gin has nine ingredients, Hambletts’ summer of outdoor events also has nine ingredients – two festivals, an opera, a Shakespeare play, a theatrical production of a classic children’s story, a star-gazing event, an evening of music, a secret bar and New York glamour evening, and a create a choir-in-a-day.
As forementioned, their credentials are impressive. With a background in theatre design, festival direction and production (Coventry City of Culture 2021, ALSO Festival, Stratford Literary Festival, West End, and touring theatre), production management, teaching, facilitating workshops, and charity work, they are committed to nurturing and promoting a wide and diverse range of arts in the UK. They are committed to ensuring that those who attend the events they have organised, go away enriched, uplifted, and create a precious memory they can treasure.
‘Community is really important to me and bringing people together,’ says Judy. ‘Outdoor theatre is a shared experience as the actors and audience are breathing the same air and there is no fourth wall. We are all outdoors together. We have the elements, the sky and it is so much more experiential as all the senses are involved, and the audience takes part. Of course, there is also a risk as we never know what the weather is going to be, but that’s what makes it utterly brilliant.’
Creative people must keep creating, and for Judy and David, this is who they are. They are also sharing a legacy. Judy’s late mum, Janet, was very much a community person, a well-respected local teacher who instilled a love for the arts and interior design and bringing folk together. David’s dad was a writer and with actors in the family, he too had the support when he left the Royal Marines to go into theatre. Their son Charlie is making his name in the theatrical world and appearing in well-known TV productions.
In looking for a venue for the summer, Judy says she couldn’t think of a better place than Cotswolds Distillery.
‘We live locally, and I used to come with my mum. It was around November time when I thought, ‘this would be an amazing venue.’ Dan genuinely cares about crafts and the community. I knew he shared the same values.’
The programme starts on Saturday, July 1 with a Choir-in-a-Day event with Juliet Russell, the head voice coach from TV’s The Voice. In the evening an uplifting evening of music, Summer Soul with Family Funk takes place, starting at 7pm. From Thursday, July 6 to Saturday, July 8, is the three-day Cotswolds Distillery Comedy Festival. Each night, starting at 7.30pm, the audience will be entertained by three different comedians who are all top of their game and guaranteed to evoke laughter, which is the best medicine. A stellar line-up includes Lucy Porter, Hal Cruttenden, Zoe Lyons, Stephen Bailey, Marcel Lucont, and Nabil Abdulrashid. On Saturday, July 29 is another fascinating event – The Real Garden Festival, which promises to be a family-friendly occasion celebrating gardens, nature, and the environment. This is a day of discovery, music, crafting, growing, expert talks and family fun.
In August, The Duke’s Theatre Company performs Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy, Twelfth Night on Saturday, August 12, and on Friday, August 18, is Opera Anywhere – The Mikado, a new production set in ancient Rome for all the family. There is a chance to singing the chorus if you pop along to the rehearsal at 5pm. To end the August events is Stargazing Live on Wednesday, August 23 with Chipping Norton Amateur Astronomy Group, which promise a magical evening under the stars. Two final events in September wrap up the summer events with Speakeasy on Friday, September 1, where there will be a secret bar, fabulous cocktails, dancing, and dazzling entertainment, and on Saturday, September 2, Folksy Theatre will perform their adaptation of the classic children’s story of The Ugly Duckling.
Orchestra of the Swan
As Judy and David explain what’s on their summer agenda, Deirdre turns to me and says: ‘They just create magic.’ But my suspicion is that she does too. You see, whilst the Alfresco at the Distillery programme at Cotswolds Distillery has not yet begun, Hambletts’ launched its first event of 2023 with a high-profile production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford on May 31, which opened the Live at the RSC Festival. Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words & Music, was devised by Judy and adapted from his trilogy by Deirdre. The show follows Lee from Cider with Rosie, to when he famously walked out of the Slad Valley one midsummer morning, and joined the army of young men who followed their ideals to Spain, to fight with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. It is hoped this poignant and timely production of the late Slad author’s extraordinary story, captivated through a weave of music and his own words, will eventually go on tour so more of us can get to see it. Older Laurie and his younger self are played by Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Wolf Hall, Endeavour) and Charlie Hamblett (Killing Eve, Around the World in 80 Days, Ghosts). It also features guitarist Mark Ashford and the Orchestra of the Swan playing a gorgeous musical programme created by David Le Page, that weaves around Lee’s writing, On Wednesday, August 9, a further collaboration with the Orchestra of the Swan, Bhangra Symphonica, is a spectacular evening of music and dance as East meets West at Ragley Hall. Bhangra Rock band, Kissmet and one of the UK’s top chamber orchestras join forces to present a breath-taking fusion of music and dance, story-telling and mesmerising spirituality. This involves the irresistible energy of Bhangra beats and Western Rock, to the meditative calm of devotional songs, all underpinned by an exquisite soundscape of classical strings. It will certainly be a thrilling musical adventure.
There is so much going on, I take a sip of my Cotswolds Dry gin to gather my thoughts. This time I can taste the lavender and grapefruit. I could stay here for ages listening to Judy, David and Deirdre’s stories and observing the endless visitors who stream into the impressive visitor centre on this sunny Saturday morning to enjoy a Tour & Tasting session or a scrumptious sharing platter, cocktail, or coffee. The distillery also hosts Gin Blending Masterclasses and Whisky Blending Masterclasses once a month where you can blend your very own spirits and monthly Cocktail Masterclasses. I can see why my mischievous kingfisher kept flying back for more. It knew a good thing when it saw it.
For more information, and to book tickets for Alfesco at the Distillery, visit cotswoldsdistillery.com and hambletts.com
