Nurseries & Artisans 2024:
See which fairs each nursery is attending:
Freckles & Flora NEW
Long Acre Plants NEW
Middlemoor NEW
Mr D'Arcy's Heritage Fruit Trees
We welcome Robert and Mary Davenport with their beautiful botanical cards, prints and notebooks to our fairs.
It all began in 2020 with an old cardboard box of original watercolour paintings spread out on the kitchen table by Robert, Mary and Lucinda Davenport. These delicate floral images were all painted by their ancestor Sophia. Sophia Walker was born in Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire in 1818 and married John Davenport in 1839; together they had seven children, John, Thomas, Susannah, Edward, Francis, Alfred, and Arthur. In the present generation, Lucinda is Thomas’ great-great-grand-daughter and the first girl to be born into the family for over 100 years. Sophia’s interest in floral subjects was encouraged by her father Richard, an amateur botanist and Fellow of Magdalen College, who researched and published The Flora of Oxfordshire in 1833. She also studied with the renowned watercolour artist William Turner (known as The Oxford Turner, to distinguish him from his famous contemporary, J. M. W. Turner). Turner inspired many of her own landscape paintings and they painted several similar views in and around the city.
Over two hundred years after she was born, Sophia’s passion and lifetime of dedication to her art has been the inspiration for this family business, bringing her floral watercolours to life with greeting cards, art prints, and notebooks.
2024 event list:
Sun 24 March Arley Hall and Gardens Northwich CW9 6NA
Sun 28 April Cholmondeley Castle Gardens Malpas SY14 8ET
Sun 12 May Capesthorne Hall Macclesfield SK11 9JY
Mon 27 May Arley Arboretum Upper Arley Worcs DY12 1SQ
Sat - Sun 8 - 9 June Hodnet Hall Gardens Market Drayton TF9 3NN
Contact Robert and Mary at Sophia Davenport
Website: www.sophiadavenport.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sophiaanndavenport