December 2019 update for residents!
I will be on site at Ridgeway Farm Academy Tuesday 3rd December at 11am to collect any art work from residents for the community map!  Please meet me there and if you can't make it I will 
next be on site on SUNDAY 19th JANUARY 2020 at 11am
for the next 'Walk n Talk' with Residents. (This will be the last date for delivering art work for the illustrated map!)
In the meantime, I am preparing notes for the Community Orchard to be planted in Autumn 2020 in the field adjoining River View - following the railway line towards the hedge and hope to have drawings of proposed seating/signage/sculpture to show you via this blog and via the email newsletter.
There is still time to get involved and become one of the community champions and orchard project leaders!
Follow this https://melissacoleartistblacksmith.blogspot.com/to find out more about the project and/or sign up for regular updates!
Follow #ridgewayfarmart on Twitter and Instagram
If you would li…

Ridgeway Farm Art ProjectNewsletter #3 November 2019

Location: Ridgeway Farm Residential Development, Purton, Wiltshire.
Phase One: Community Consultation - ongoing to February 2020  for the residents of Ridgeway Farm and the wider Purton community. You may have received a flyer through your letterbox about this project – this is a quick update for you!
Thank you!!
For coming along to the Walk n Talk in October – it was great to have more families, and their dogs explore the development with me and discuss the ideas put forward.  We now have a plan and a group of willing  community championsto take this forward!


The Map:
Please send me drawings either by post or email or bring them to the next meeting on site on TUESDAY 3RD DECEMBER 11am outside the school(or at The Manor Garden Centre if it’s raining - TBC).  
Art work is neededas soon as possible please!  A3 max size, colour or black and white, name and date the work! 

This will be a hand illustrated map of the development including art work …

Ridgeway Farm Art Project Newsletter #2 Autumn 2019

Location: Ridgeway Farm Residential Development, Purton, Wiltshire.

Phase One: Community Consultation - ongoing to February 2020 for the residents of Ridgeway Farm and the wider Purton community. You may have received a flyer through your letterbox about this project – this is a quick update for you!
Walk ‘n’ Talk no. 2 - Sunday 27thOctober 2019
Meet me outside Ridgeway Farm Academy, SN5 4GT at 11am
This is an open invitation for you to join me as we explore the public open spaces that have been identified for a COMMUNITY ORCHARD and Nature trail! Bring your dog / trainers / wellies / camera / notebook/ sketchbook / friend / binoculars / map / flask…!
The aim is to spend a couple of hours as a group exploring your space – looking at where any art work might go and letting you get to know me and find out more about this free project. (Sorry - no unaccompanied children (or pets!) - please come as a family instead!)

The Map:
Following the first Ar…

Ridgeway Farm Art Project Update 21.08.19
Following the first Walk n Talk on Sunday 11thAugust and subsequent site visits, the project is now taking form.
Meeting outside the Ridgeway Farm Academy at 11am we headed up through the houses to Upper Ox Hill where the path leads spiralling around to the top (and has been nicknamed Snail Hill) wild flowers are starting to come through but mostly chick weed is dominant. The views are amazing from there - looking across to Liddington across the centre of Swindon; to Purton and up to the Cotswolds possibly as far as the top of Birdlip Hill.














There is a footpath on the other side of the B4553 road that leads back to Purton but is not clearly accessible at the moment and has new saplings densely planted up to the development boundary.

We crossed over to the public open spaces to the north where once you have negotiated the steps a path leads toward the railway bridge and footpath to the River Ray – a delightful surprise for me that this is so ea…

Newsletter #1 Summer 2019

Location: Ridgeway Farm Residential Development, Purton, Wiltshire.
Phase One: Community Consultation - now to February 2020 for the residents of Ridgeway Farm and the wider Purton community.


Following the launch of this project at Ridgeway Farm Academy Summer Fair on 13thJuly you are invited to come to:
Walk ‘n’ Talk on Sunday 11thAugust
Meet outside Ridgeway Farm Academy SN5 4GT at 11am
This is an open invitation for you to show me your public open spaces and share with me and the group how you hope these spaces will be used in the future.  
Bring your dog / trainers / wellies / camera / notebook/ sketchbook / friend / binoculars / map / flask…!
The aim is to spend a couple of hours as a group exploring your space – looking at where any art work might go and letting you get to know me and find out more about this project.
Ideas already suggested and open for discussion are;
* Entrance Sculpture * Seating – Meeting Places * Nature Trail * Wildlife Sculpture  * Communit…

Thank you for your hospitality and interaction today at the Summer Fair - I enjoyed talking about the project with you and you made some lovely wings!

This is the poster about the launch of the exciting art project coming to the new Taylor Wimpey development near Purton in North Wiltshire.

I will be at the Ridgeway Farm Academy CE School ROOTS PTA Summer Fair talking about the project - come and make a pair of wings from an old map and write down what you hope to see come from the project - if you live on Ridgeway Farm or in the wider Purton community - this project is for you and your public open space.

The is the start of a community consultation period where I will be working with the local community assessing the spaces and watching how they are interacted with by both human residents and the wildlife.  I want to get to know the space and invite residents to join me in some 'Walk n Talk' sessions around the old farm, exploring the spaces and discovering a little more abo…