14 July: Summer in the city

Our recent short trip Down South included a glorious walk in the Weald (the clegs down there bite just as hard as up here), a visit to Penshurst Place, and on the hottest day of the year, a trip into London to see the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy.

While many of the exhibits left me thinking of the Emperor's New Clothes, there were a couple of dozen I actually liked, and even one or two I might have been able to stand on the walls at home - if the walls were big enough, that is. Many of the pictures were enormous. So were many prices.

I was intrigued to see that nearly all the artists, who evidently strive to be individual in their work, are completely uniform in the rectangular format; the few non-rectangular pieces were generally much more interesting.

As well as paintings and sculptures/assemblages, there were books (interesting) and architectural models (mostly very boring); and photographs, mostly interesting, though personally I found it slightly irritating that David Hockney didn't stand in exactly the same place every time he photographed The Twenty Five Trees etc.

Of course, with so many items to display, not all of them get a good position - two of my favourites were quite difficult to see properly - one was a huge collage of Babel Towers, which was partly obscured by a gigantic gorilla made of coat hangers, and another was a photo of a Northumberland Beach, which was high up above the end of a wall where a film was being projected.

I was able to knit on the train home yesterday, getting part way up the leg of the second of a pair of socks for my Dear Husband. Now I must get back to the fleece that was being spun before our trip; 6 skeins done already and 2 or 3 more to do.

24 August: Day out in York

We went to York to see the exhibition at the Quilt Museum - very interesting to see some recent quilts. And the building is sensational!

No photography allowed. Over coffee we discussed which quilts we liked best; both of us really admired Future Beaches by Kathy Unwin, a beautiful balance of design, technique, and meaning. Then DH liked the simple red and yellow Welsh quilt, and the extremely intricately embroidered Pawnbroker's Crazy Coverlet; while I was drawn to the black and white Broken Images by Maggie Davies, and loved Gwenfai Rees Griffiths' Harlequin, with its interpretation of Amish colours and layout.

Then we went to see the Treasurer's House, a NT property. Again, no photography in the house, but there is also a lovely garden - here, the house is on the left, and the scaffolding is on the Minster next door -


This path with its alley of trees was particularly attractive -


And the cobbles caught my eye -


Then we walked into the streets, intending to explore the city a little. But it was so crowded and noisy, and so many people smoking in the streets, that it was really unpleasant. We perched on a barrier in front of a church to eat our sandwiches (all seats either full or covered with spilt ice cream), then almost came straight home again. But earlier we had seen people walking along a section of the city walls, and decided to climb up and walk round.

That made a third interesting element to the day. The view of the city, houses and gardens was different, it was not crowded, and we had a pleasant walk all the way round. Where we had to come down and walk on the road across one section, I snapped the wall itself -


As we completed our circuit, the raised position gave another view of the Minster -

And there were only a few spots of rain, once. A grand day out!

15 July: YSP

That's the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We'd been there once before, years ago, and enjoyed it, and thought it was about time to go and have another look.

There is an exhibition of Andy Goldsworthy stuff on at present, till the end of the year.

You are probably aware of the window daubed with cow dung; no photography inside, but this is it from the outside-

This gallery is on the opposite side of the valley from the main part of the Park. A pleasant walk across a bridge and up through fields takes you to the Longside Gallery. (There is access from a road on that side as well.) Then a path takes you back to the main Park along the top of Oxley Bank, which gives wonderful views over the surrounding countryside.

There are more Goldsworthy structures in the woods along Oxley Bank. This is one of three which go deep into the ground, called Hanging Trees -


From our long-ago visit, I remembered a water buffalo by Elisabeth Frink. None of her animals now, but several men on a terrace near the Underground Gallery; I liked the position of this one, under the cedar tree -


The Underground gallery has more Goldsworthys - a room plastered with mud, which is cracking as it dries out; a room with a hanging curtain of horse chestnut stalks pinned together with some sort of thorns; a room with several low stone igloo-type mounds, with holes in the top; a huge shape made from odd bits of oak branches (rather like a 12 foot tall pine cone); and a room which initially seemed totally black till you entered and found yourself in a structure of branches like an igloo, curving in till they make a complete shape - very satisfying.

Out in the Park, down near the lake was this granite piece, "Warts and All" -


Again, a very satisfying shape and texture.

One area has several pieces by Barbara Hepworth, which are all interesting shapes and textures, but most were undergoing repairs to the surrounding turf and had red and white plastic tape round them - keeps you off the new turf, but rather spoils the photos!

In one of the little copses is a bridge over a ditch. The ditch isn't quite a ha-ha, but that's the name of the bridge.


There is one of those Skyspace structures in the Park, called the Deer Shelter. Set in the hillside, you enter at the lowest level and the inner room, which is actually underground, is open to the sky in the middle. Supposed to be a place for quiet contemplation, when we went in, 2 toddlers were screaming round and round the built in stone seating. After they had gone out with their father, we remained with their mother, who was feeding a small baby, and enjoyed the clouds.

And in the open parkland, surrounded by sheep, are a number of Henry Moore sculptures. This one, a woman in a rumpled dress, has a wonderful view out over the valley.


A great day out, thoroughly recommended. There's lots more to see than I've mentioned, and of course there's a shop and a cafe, though we took a picnic (picnic areas are also available).

On the way back, there was a jam on the motorway because it was closed up ahead by an accident. But we have a map and we're not afraid to use it, so when we could leave the motorway, we travelled along some of the smaller side roads of that part of Yorkshire, seeing villages and countryside we would never otherwise go through.

It took a bit longer to get home, but we weren't in a hurry, and the little unplanned detour added to the pleasure of the day out.