Wednesday 30 June 2010

Acle Student Artist Creates New Fairhaven Family Wildlife Character


Charlotte Ware from Acle High School (pictured) came face to face on 28 June with her creation, ‘Oscar the Otter’; the new character welcoming families with young children to Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden, South Walsham.

‘Oscar’ is the family guide at Fairhaven and appears on new map boards and in two new children’s nature trail leaflets.

Charlotte won a Year 7 (age 11/12) competition for art students at Acle High School, to create the new Fairhaven character. Charlotte Ware said: “It was great that Fairhaven chose my character. Oscar looks really good in the leaflets and on the map boards.”

Sally Curtis, Art Teacher at Acle High School said: “We are developing a close relationship with Fairhaven. It is on our doorstep and its good to work with the local environment. The children’s character project was an excellent start. We have also had a Year 10 group in the garden, taking photographs to help them create acrylic canvases, which will be exhibited in Fairhaven’s tearoom in September. Next week we are bringing a group to paint watercolours in the garden.”

Louise Rout, Manager of Fairhaven Garden said: “It was very difficult choosing a winner in the competition, but Charlotte Ware’s ‘Oscar the Otter’ came top with his smiling face. I am very pleased with our new leaflets and I hope family groups exploring the garden enjoy completing the nature trails with Oscar’s help.”

Fairhaven Garden won £500 of design work from Ben Jackson of Communicate Marketing Consultancy in a VisitNorwich competition. The prize was used to design the map boards and leaflets and an additional grant from the Broads Authority Sustainable Development Fund paid for the map boards.

Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden is at South Walsham, nine miles east of Norwich, signposted off A47 at B1140 junction, tel. 01603 270449/270683, www.fairhavengarden.co.uk. The garden is open daily all year, 10am to 5pm (closed Christmas Day), also open Wednesday and Thursday until 9pm from May to the end of August; tearoom, gift shop and plant sales. Admission charges: adult £5, concessions £4.50 and child £2.50, under fives free; dogs welcome on leads (25p charge for pooper-scooper).

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