The camp was held a an absolutely gorgeous location in the tiny town of Allendale, an hour’s drive west of Newcastle, at a place called Deneholme. Deneholme is a rambling Edwardian house, situated on acres of woodlands in the peaceful English countryside. I was finally starting to see what making up for the weather in England! The Deneholme house is a conference centre/holiday place that provides accommodation and a personal chef who makes wonderful home-made scones we got to enjoy this afternoon! It was the perfect site for the designers to get well acquainted.
Rachel (from the Dott office, who kindly drove to Allendale) and I walked into Deneholme and felt the positive energy flowing around the group of 16 designers who had come from as far as the USA to take part in the camp. The designers floored us with their big ideas and visually rich presentations for what sustainable tourism in the region could look like. All of which had been researched, generated and put together in just 10 days.
Rachel and I hung around afterwards to get to know the designers and every one of them had had a wonderful time and made new friends for life as they were all busily exchanging contact details.
Rachel and I sadly left Deneholme and headed back to reality. We could not stop talking about design all the way home and what a fabulous time we had just experienced at the Dott07 Design Camp.
Watch this space for the realisation of ideas come October 2007!
