MATILDA Temperley, an accomplished professional photographer who now runs Somerset Cider Brandy and Burrow Hill Cider, the businesses her father Julian founded, is the new patron of Somerset Art Works. This year the visual arts festival in September will be celebrating Somerset’s rich history and diversity under the theme of “cultural connections.”
Matilda knows the county well. Growing up on a farm on the Somerset Levels, she enjoyed a carefree and creative childhood with her siblings – Alice (now the acclaimed fashion designer), Mary (who runs a skin care company) and Henry (a film maker). The farm is set among 180 acres of cider apple orchards, at the base of Burrow Hill. A regular event in the family calendar remains Glastonbury Festival where they sell cider from the famous double decker bus.
Matilda has been the SAW patron before, and the organisation’s creative director Carol Carey says they are “delighted to have Matilda on board again this year, especially as the theme is so close to her heart and in tune with her local cultural passions.
“Within our Cultural Connections theme, Somerset Art Weeks Festival 2026 aims to bring partners, artists and communities together to celebrate and explore the cultural ties that define us from palaeolithic to present, human and non-human species. We want to experience inspiring journeys that reveal new perspectives on our shared Somerset identity and celebrate the unique cultural richness that defines Somerset.”
Art Weeks is a free visual arts festival with exhibitions, events, and activities at some 100 venues all over Somerset. The event regularly attracts more than 20,000 visitors. This year the festival will take place from 19th September to 4th October.
With venues hosting group exhibitions, curated shows and events from SAW members and invited artists, it is also a showcase for SAW-supported projects, special commissions and new work from bursary artists. There will be a programme of installations /commissions, community outreach, family friendly events, talks and workshops to link into the theme.
Carol Carey says: “Migration is not a new or even a recent phenomenon; archaeological evidence shows successive waves of people have migrated to Britain and Somerset over time, have settled and made their homes here. We want to unlock and discover the stories of migration and community, to uncover new perspectives and celebrate diversity. We look to create a picture of connectivity, from the prehistoric to the present, that builds an understanding of who we are,
living in Somerset today.”
The highlight of the local artistic calendar, Somerset Art Works is a central focus for arts and cultural activities in the county and is promoted throughout Somerset during the summer to local arts and cultural hubs, tourist attractions and centres, libraries, and hospitality venues.
Matilda’s passion for Somerset has yielded projects to discover and document Somerset today. She is probably best known locally for her work in response to the winter floods of 2013–14 which severely affected her family and the community where she grew up. Her sell-out book, Under the Surface: Somerset Floods, won the Royal Photographic Society’s Vic Odden Award.
“I am delighted to be associated with a venture that is so close to my heart,” she says. “Somerset is in my DNA and to celebrate the rich history, culture and landscape with such a creative pulse is a tremendous opportunity.”