Harrogate gallery to launch series of events at historic estate after losing its lease
A Harrogate gallery forced to leave its Harrogate home after five years has found a lifeline in a historic country estate in the Dales.
As it looks for a new home after coming to the end of its lease on Royal Parade in Harrogate, Watermark Gallery is delighted to be launching a new arts initiative with the Swinton Estate in the Yorkshire Dales.
Liz Hawkes, owner of Watermark Gallery, said: “It is quite a wrench leaving our home of the last five years but we have exciting plans for the future of the gallery.
"We have a very loyal following and want to ensure they can still access works by the talented artists we support while we search for a permanent new location.
"But we are delighted to have the opportunity to launch this initiative at Swinton.”
The new initiative will see Watermark Gallery hold a series of arts-themed events at Swinton Park, near Masham in North Yorkshire with its Grade II listed castle hotel set in 200 acres of gardens and parkland at the heart of the 20,000 acre Swinton Estate.
Owned and run by Mark Cunliffe-Lister and his wife Felicity, the Earl and Countess of Swinton, the first event will be a three-day, pop-up art gallery staged in the estate’s Coach House, beginning on November 29 - with others planned for 2025.
Watermark Gallery is vacating its premises in Harrogate as the landlord has other plans for the building.
It is now searching for a new permanent location.