Tom is a hotelier in Northampton who owns this beautifully framed painting, he has shared his story on how he bought it -

 

"I was opening a small hotel back around 1990 in an old Victorian house in Northampton which I still own, although it is no longer open for short term guests I do have tenants here.

I was looking at the time for some items of interest as I had lots of wall space and this unframed painting caught my eye in a shop in Northampton called would you believe "Grandad's attic!" I bought it with some other items a water color and some odd ornaments. I decided to hang it in my own part of the house where it still is.

I have enjoyed it over the years and I find it quite haunting, if I may say so, with the mine at the front with the gaping mouth, silent of its stories of times gone by, the detail in the foreground of the landscape and the building behind giving good perspective.

I literally just came across your site as I had google'd Robert Ixer." Interested?