My Favourite Art Party

My name is Claudia and I am the newest addition to the Royal Windsor Information Centre, which I've managed since January 2020.  Originally I am from a small town in northern Italy, located just between the beautiful Iseo Lake and Garda Lake, but I have been living in the Windsor area for about seven years now and fell in love with it completely, so much so that I have decided to make it my new home and applied for this job so that I can share my passion with everyone that visits the Information Centre.

Steeped in history and tradition, full of breathtaking landmarks and home to a very diverse community, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has so much to offer and never leaves me bored!  One of the “gems of the borough” that I have recently discovered is Norden Farm, in Maidenhead, which I seem to end up at so very often lately.

It all started back in November last year, when my friend told me that she had seen a “Paint and Sip” workshop live at Norden Farm, which would have sounded fantastic if either of us could paint, but I guess the possibility of doing it together, while sipping a nice glass of wine, sounded fun enough for me to give it a try, so we choose the “Winter Robin” workshop, not only because it looked great, but also because it was the only date we could both make.  So it was decided and in a blink of an eye November was over, 10 December had come and we found ourselves at this fun class wearing black aprons and wielding brushes, along with four other friends.  Little did we know that my Elvis robin, and my friend’s Scruffy were going to be born that day (editor’s note: the name Elvis was given due to the peculiar feather arrangement on the head; the name Scruffy, well, says it all…)

Then came January, when I found myself at a meeting held in their beautiful Long Barn, which is actually an extremely well reconverted barn that can host up to 100 people and I had the chance to experience firsthand the hospitality of their front of house team, which included a full show around of the premises and made me fall in love with it all over again, so much so that I had to pick up their brochure to check what event I may be able to attend next.

There was an idea to bring my partner to a movie, interest in the April Artisan Market and lots of diary planning required to fit in a couple of Tai Chi and Salsa sessions, as well as curiosity towards the Middle Eastern Dance classes which regretfully did not pan out due to pre-arranged commitments and this sad Coronavirus pandemic.  However I am hopeful that we can all get back to normal soon and I will keep myself entertained with their online events in the meantime.

Top three things I am looking forward to doing post-lockdown

Other than attending one of the rescheduled events at Norden Farm, I am looking forward to:

• Inviting my family back to Windsor, giving them a veeeeery long hug and treating them to a Sunday Roast at Gilbey’s
• Going wedding dress shopping and doing some wedding planning with my friends over one of the amazing cocktails made by Simona at the Eton Mess, the perfect Gin & Tonic recommended by Jess at the Queen Charlotte Pub or just a lovely Caramel Latte from Esquires Coffee shop
• Hitting the gym at Snap Fitness Windsor so that I can find some needed peace during Sam’s Yoga classes, as well as training to lose some weight after all the eating and drinking, so that I can actually fit in my wedding dress.