Fake 159

Polesden Lacey, our nearby National Trust attraction, is presently running a rose festival. We were amused to find that the first sign of roses as one went in from the car park was made of plastic.

For the avoidance of doubt.

Next up was a collection of hand-crafted iron sculptures - somehow more worthy than hand-crafted plastic sculptures. You can have one of these, after the festival, for the modest sum of £399 each. Which I thought, thinking that they were the work of a regular artist, meant that the artist could make one in something less than half a day. 

However, they actually appear to be the work of trainees with the Camelia Botnar Foundation at their West Sussex operation, an operation which provides opportunity for young people in difficulty. See references 2 and 3.

The mortal remains of Mrs. Greville, the last real owner of Polesden Lacey, are to be found off to the right in the snap above. The real roses, along the path to the left. More about them in due course.

PS: there are other people into the metallic art roses business, quite possibly the Fire & Iron people just by the M25. But from what I remember of them, I imagine that they would want rather more than £399 for a rose.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/04/fake-158.html.

Reference 2: https://cameliabotnar.com/. West Sussex.

Reference 3: https://www.fondationbotnar.org/. The foundation more generally.

Reference 4: https://www.fireandiron.co.uk/.

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