My alumni story: from fashion designer to custodian of a historic farm in Northumberland
In 1987, Lou Renwick came to Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé to pursue a degree in Creative Arts. Today, she’s author of two books and proud owner of 16th century Cragend Farm alongside her husband Shaun, which was recently featured on the TV programme Matt Baker: Travels with Mum and Dad. We were excited to hear her story.
By Bev Armstrong | Published on 21 November 2024
Categories: Alumni;
I studied music, art and drama, majoring in drama in my last year. Creative Arts is still in everything that I do to this day!
After university, in 1990, I went to London to work for fashion designer Paul Costelloe, as a runner for fashion shows, and then went on to work at Bonhams Auctioneers as their Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Services Manager. Buying and selling of artefacts requires a number of specialists in order to ‘get the show on the road’ – culminating in the auction itself, which is pure theatre! As with any major film, art or theatre production, my job was to liaise with everyone so that the auction all worked without a glitch on the day.
Cragend Farm
Following on from that, I moved to Northumberland with my husband in 1999 and worked as a Treasure Seeker for Barter Books, the largest second-hand bookshop in Britain. I helped people buy and sell books, visiting auctions and seeking out lost treasures.
The move meant we were now living on a farm instead of in a city. With that came another great chance to develop my creative arts skillset, firstly as a mother of two, and secondly as we journalled our journey through renovating and rebuilding a derelict historic site in Northumberland. Furthermore, the tours we run today are a performance of story-telling and factual history. We won an award in 2023 for our tours and their curation, through Historic Houses.
The books I have written about the farm are part of my journey. My children’s book is a bedtime story about finding a new home, and is a factual account of the unique historic importance of the site we are custodians of. Matt Baker recently visited us and featured us on his More 4 programme Matt Baker: Travels with Mum and Dad, so there’s always something exciting happening on the farm!
I also run a consultancy business that focuses on many projects such as rewilding, RegenAgri, historic buildings and heritage committees, and Northumberland Rivers Trust.
I am still in touch with a few people from my year at NTU, most around the UK, and others in Australia and other parts of the world.
My creative arts degree gave me confidence to explore the field in many different ways, for me mainly as a creative producer, with a broader and more vibrant vision of the world of performance and The Arts.
Proud to be NTU
There's no better time to connect with the NTU alumni community. With more than a quarter of a million members, it reaches around the world and into every industry you can imagine. Whether you’re looking to find old friends, give something back, or want to take advantage of our range of alumni benefits, we’re still here for you.