A visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

We'd wanted to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for ages and last Tuesday we finally got there.  We'd booked a hotel not too far away but closer to the places we visited the next day (see my last post) so on Tuesday morning we set off driving through Leek, Buxton and Glossop, stopping at Holmfirth for a coffee break and then driving what seemed like a short distance to the park.  

The first sculptures we saw were the outdoor exhibits belonging to a wonderful exhibition called 'Fabric-Ation' by the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE.  I was entranced by these and also the interior exhibits. I was impressed by their colours and textures, their literary and historic references,  in fact by their sheer exuberance.

The most vivid and inspiring work for me was the film 'Un Ballo in Maschere (A Masked Ball)'.  The film depicts, in dance, the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden.  The King was targeted because of his support for the return of the monarchy in France during the years of the revolution and also for the fact that he tried to style his own court on that of a pre-revolution French one.  The King was shot in the back and died thirteen days later.

Whilst I was watching the film I was reminded of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' by Pierre Choderos de Laclos.  I've found a clip of the Masked Ball on You Tube (above)

After the film it was time to go out into the bright sunshine and look at the outdoor sculptures.  We must have spent about three hours just wandering around, sometimes following the map and sometimes following our own noses.  We stopped for a picnic lunch halfway round.  I'm sure we missed lots of things but then that is a good excuse to return one day.  Below are some of the photos I took.  I took loads but a lot were affected by the very bright sunshine so these are some of the better ones.

 Little Girl - Lynn Chadwick

 Rocking Horse - Marcia Farquhar

 Octopus - Marialuisa Tadei

 Giro - Eduardo Paolozzi

 Manus and the Running Dogs - Sophie Ryder

 Seated Figures - Magdalena Abakanowicz

 Sitting - Sophie Ryder

Everything is Connected - Peter Liversidge

 One and Other - Antony Gormley

 Promenade - Anthony Caro

Deer Shelter Skyspace - James Turrell (interior)

Ha Ha Bridge - Brian Fell

Personnage - Joan Miro

Draped Seated Woman - Henry Moore

Propagator - Alec Finlay

Across the other side of the lake and over the Cascade bridge was a 'no dogs' area.  The reason for this was the grazing Highland Cattle.  We wondered if we would see the cattle as we walked to the Dam Head Bridge - we did and I have to say I've never been so close to un-fettered Highland cattle before.

As well as the sculptures the park itself has many interesting buildings, plants and views as far as the eye can see.  It is the most wonderful space.

All too soon it seemed that it was time to leave and drive towards Halifax to find our hotel. 

52 Weeks of Happy - week Thirty Five

It was a 'happy birthday' week for me last week and we went up into Yorkshire for a few days.  We visited lots of wonderful places including The Hepworth and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  My birthday was on the Wednesday and on that day we visited four places all beginning with 'H' so here are a collection of photos from each of those four 'H' for happy places, three were new to me, one I'd visited a few times before.  They were all lovely and I found many things in each place to make me smile.

Hebden Bridge

Hardcastle Crags

Heptonstall

Haworth

There were lots of other happy things from last week too like pretty cards, lovely presents and much appreciated phone calls from friends and also a kind neighbour looking after our cats whilst we were away. All memories from last week that still make me smile. 

Linking up with  Little Birdie  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share. 

The Old House Museum

In my last post I promised to tell you  about The Old House Museum in Bakewell.  We last visited a few years ago and we noticed quite a few changes and much more areas open with the inclusion of a courtyard and outside displays, places to sit and a drinks machine as well as a ramp to enable visitors to see the back of the house.  It is all very visitor friendly both inside and out.

According to the information boards the first part of the house was built in the 1530s by the Ralph Gell  for his steward Christopher Plant who collected the tithes for the parish of Bakewell.  Later in the 16th century the Gell family extended the house and it became a gentleman's residence.  Another wing was added in the early 17th century.  In the 1770s the house was bought by Sir Richard Arkwright and turned into five cottages for the use of workers at  the Lumsden cotton mill, he later added a 6th cottage.  Lumsden Mill was Arkwright's third cotton mill.  Evidence has been found in the cottages that some of the workers may have cleaned the raw cotton in their homes rather than at the factory premises.  The Bakewell and District Historical Society took over the buildings in 1954.

Throughout the museum the displays reflect the different eras that the house was in occupation and the differing work and lifestyles of its inhabitants. 

It is a very 'hand on' museum with lots of dressing up boxes, toys for the children to play with and when we visited a find the 'ratty' rat trail.  There are outdoor games for children in the courtyard too.  The volunteers who help keep the museum open are  friendly and helpful and make you feel very welcome.

I'll let the pictures show you what it is like inside.

Here is a link to the museum website if you want to find out more about it

I've just spotted one of the rats in the photo below!

I've just got home from a few days away so I'll be back with tales of our adventures later and I'll try to catch up with your posts and comments over the next few days. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Visiting the View

This was the view of Bakewell we saw in the slightly sun-gilded mist of a warm early afternoon  as we walked along a public footpath just off the Monsal Trail close to Hassop Station.  We weren't looking down on where we were going though - we were looking down on where we had spent the morning just mooching around - as you do.

We'd parked in the usual place over the river near the cattle market and instead of setting off into the town centre as we usually do we wandered up the hill towards the church and museum with the intention of visiting them both.

We'd been up here before and walked through the churchyard to the museum but had never been inside the church.  I have to say it was fascinating!

In the entrance are loads of wonderful carved stones.  The stones above are the Norse/Anglian stones some with the Northumbrian vine scroll pattern.  The stones below are from the later medieval period dating from the 12th and 13th centuries.  Many are coffin tops but with no inscriptions some having symbols of their profession carved on them.

Inside there are several items of interest including a 14th century font declared 'The finest of its kind in the county' by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner.

Below is the Pre-Raphaelite window of the 'Adoration of the Lamb' designed in 1893 by Henry Holiday.

What interested me most were the tombs and monuments of the Vernon and Manners family from nearby Haddon Hall.  We almost missed them as they are in what is known as the Newark or 'new work' an area which was added to the church during the 13th and 14th centuries.  It now houses a small shop and cafe but beyond the tables and behind a 14th century oak screen we found them.

Above is the monument to Sir George Manners and his wife Grace who was founder of the Lady Manners School in the town.  Below is a detail of one of the carvings from the monument above.

The tombs are of members of the Vernon family.  The nearest to the front of the photo is the tomb of  John Vernon who died in 1477 and behind are the tombs of Sir George Vernon who was known as 'King of the Peak' and his two wives.

On the far wall is the monument to Sir John Manners (d. 1611) and his wife Lady Dorothy Vernon (d. 1584).  Of course the name of  Dorothy Vernon is always linked with her alleged elopement with Sir John Manners and the bridge at Haddon Hall over which she escaped is known as Dorothy's bridge. 

Apparently, according to the information leaflet,  two of the figures of their four children were stolen, I don't know when.

 Below some graffiti from the Vernon tombs - they were covered with initials and dates

 I was fascinated by the details in the carvings showing the patterns on headdresses and ruffs.

 Also in the colour still to be seen in the garments and furnishings.

 Further details from the Vernon tombs - a little pet dog amongst the folds of the skirts of one of the wives

Outside leaning on the west wall are five sarcophagi found inside the church, some in the walls and some under the floor.

 Below is a view of the church from the road up to the Old House Museum which I'll tell you about in my next post.

Four Happy Things - Week 34 of 52

Four things that have made me smile this week............

Coffee in the 'Secret Garden' (more a little continental style decking courtyard with fig, bay and box trees in containers) at the back of the Thornton's Coffee Shop in Bakewell.  They gave us each a little smiley chocolate button with our coffee as well as one of those little biscuits. Sitting in the sunshine sipping coffee and  looking at the bright colour of the geraniums certainly made me smile.

 

A little further along the street at the 'Gift and Bear Shop' a room full of bears - how could you not smile at these?

A visit to the 'Old House Museum' in Bakewell.  I love museums, having spent over two thirds of my working life employed in them in either a salaried or a voluntary capacity I now enjoy just visiting them.  I'll write more on 'The Old House Museum' in a later post.

It's been a week of glorious sunsets and gorgeous moonlit nights.  I managed to get a photo of the moon on Thursday, not really a great one, and it soon disappeared behind the clouds.  Apparently it was a waning gibbous in the zodiac sign of Pisces.

Linking up with  Little Birdie  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share.