Suddenly Kettle’s Yard

Oddly enough, I’ve never particularly cared about Kettle’s Yard, although it’s located in close proximity to the places I love on Castle St. The article is quite interesting, though, as it’s focused on the founder of the place.

Ede was already sixty when he embarked on the venture that became Kettle’s Yard. It was the culmination of all that had gone before in his own life and the world events he had lived through, particularly the First World War. Freeman characterises it as ‘the great adventure’ of his life but the reader may disagree, having been so entertainingly and expertly led through the many other adventures that occupy the first two-thirds of the book. Perhaps Ede’s was not thought to be enough of a name to warrant the full biographical treatment without the more famous ‘Kettle’s Yard Artists’. But a successful biography is made by the author not the subject. Beneath its slightly whimsical presentation in undated sections with titles like ‘Mirror’, ‘Whitestone’, ‘Three Personages’ (and in fairness Kettle’s Yard does have its whimsical side), Freeman has written a perceptive Life of a traditional cradle-to-grave kind. ©