Supper & Stories
14th May, 11th June, 9th July, 13th August, 10th September, 8th October, 12th November, 10th December
Supper & Stories at Holker Hall & Gardens invites guests to an intimate evening of seasonal dining, conversation, and storytelling in the atmospheric setting of the Ilex, the function room of the Courtyard Café. Each event features a carefully curated supper, followed by a talk from a guest speaker who shares insights, experiences, or unique stories that inspire, entertain, and provoke thought. From authors and adventurers to local artisans and heritage experts, the series celebrates creativity, lived experience, and the art of storytelling, offering a warm and engaging experience for all attendees.
Supper & Stories takes place every 2nd Thursday of the month.
Food will be served at 6:30pm, with the speaker starting at 7:30pm.
Price £15 per person, ring us on 015395 58328 to book your place.
Here is what to expect:
Thursday 14th May: Zosia Wand
Zosia Wand is an established writer for radio and stage and the author of 4 novels. She currently has 2 original TV dramas in development.
In 1999 she gained an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She has had several plays and a drama serial broadcast on BBC Radio 4:A Half Name For A Half Person, 2002) Between Friends (2003) Heft Like the Herdwick, a collaborative project with 10 new writers (2006) The Inextinguishable Fire (2006) and Between (2007). The Treehouse, a psychological thriller in 5 parts, was broadcast on Radio 4 in May 2014. Bones was broadcast as part of the BBC Contains Strong Language festival in 2020. Ii
Her stage play, Quicksand was premiered at The Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster, in January 2011 and sold out during its run at Theatre By The Lake in Keswick. She wrote and performed the monologue, Pearl, at the Brewery Arts Centre Kendal (November 2012) for Paines Plough Theatre Company’s Come To Where I’m From project, and was one of the commissioned writers for Blackout, a piece of immersive, site specific theatre at the Dukes, with the North West Alligator’s Club (March 2013). In 2014 she was commissioned to write the Lancaster Williamson Park show for the Dukes Theatre, Hansel and Gretel and More Tales From The Forest. in 2018 she selected for the Royal Court Northern Writers Programme.
Her first novel, Trust Me, was published by Head of Zeus in October 2017 and The Accusation followed in 2018. In 2020 she published Once Upon A Place and The Treehouse in 2021. She currently has two TV series in development and is working on a new novel.
Menu – Braised beef in a Bowness bay swan black ale and mushroom sauce, wholegrain mustard mash | Vegetarian – Portobello mushroom and green lentils swan black ale sauce, whole grain mustard mash
Thursday 11th June: Colin Burke
Colin Burke is the author of the popular work A Brief History of Cartmel which has received accolades from within the local community and beyond.
His lifelong love affair with history included spending two years in the 1970’s as an associate lecturer in the History of Education at Bangor University where he had initially graduated. He obtained an MA in the History of the North West of England from the University of Manchester.
Having been seduced out of the groves of academe and into the commercial world via a stint running the student services at Manchester Polytechnic (as was), he spent three years as the Chief Executive of Wigan Athletic AFC in the 1980’s before imparting on a forty-year career as a ‘company turnaround’ specialist.
A resident of Cartmel on a part-time basis since 2002 and full-time since 2018, he has long intended to produce a work both accessible and rigorously researched. The book is aimed at readers with an interest in the history of the village who may be deterred by the length or density of existing studies, as well as at those who have previously shown little engagement with the subject.
Menu: Catalan chicken – Slow cooked chicken thighs with chorizo, aubergine, courgettes, peppers and red onion in rich tomato sauce enriched with smoked paprika, wine and balsamic vinegar, served with rice | Same with quorn
Thursday 9th July: Richard Ensoll and Johan Hoving
Rich, Senior Lecturer in Outdoor Studies at University of Cumbria with a lifetime of messing around on crags, mountains and in boats is passionate about adventures.
Johan, A super talented ball of enthusiasm who loves being at the bleeding edge. A kite surfer, sailor, kite skier, coach and outdoor activities business entrepreneur. Johan said ‘yes’ when asked to have a go at canoeing round Ireland…
They have both circumnavigated Ireland in a vessel inspired by traditional canoe construction interacting with coastal communities along the way and exploring layers of meaning through exchanges of storytelling.
Thursday 13th August: Steve Dickinson
Steve Dickinson is an archaeologist who, in 2024, found the first Viking Age ship burial in England – The King’s Mound – on the west coast of Cumbria. It’s likely that it contains the remains of the burial of a notorious 9th century AD Viking sea-king: Ívarr ‘The Boneless’.
The Mound – 60 metres across and nearly 6 metres high – is part of a large barrow cemetery.
Down the coast and inland from it there are the remains of Viking fleet bases and an enclosure containing a huge 64 metre long by 13 metre wide timber hall – possibly the palace for the royal lineage connected with Ívarr – the royal lineage associated with a ‘lost’ Viking Kingdom in the western Lake District called Laithlind.
Steve has set up a programme of survey, excavation and education to explore some of these sites: the Cumbria Viking Project.
Thursday 10th September: tbc
Thursday 8th October: tbc
Thursday 12th November: tbc
Thursday 10th December: tbc