Helios

 The latest of Luke Jerram's travelling exhibitions, Helios, has been moving around National Trust properties.  As we'd seen both his Museum of the Moon and Gaia installations  at Derby Cathedral we wanted to see this latest attraction and we found it was to be on display at Kedleston Hall, near Derby.  

We booked our timed tickets, necessary as it was showing in quite a small space compared to the other two.

Helios looked rather wonderful in the domed Salon on the first floor of the Hall.  The sun sculpture is named after the ancient Greek god of the sun.

There were seats around the outside of the Salon and bean bags underneath the installation. Helios is scaled so that each centimetre represents 2,000km of the sun's surface.

The accompanying music, by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, was calm and soothing, and there was a lovely atmosphere as people moved gently and thoughtfully around the room.  The installation has been touring National Trust properties through this year and Kedleston was it's final showing.

I've added below photos of both of the other installations.

 

The Museum of the Moon at Derby Cathedral October 2019

Gaia at Derby Cathedral October 2022

I've just noticed that we visited all three in the month of October as we saw Helios on 29th October.  The exhibition closed on 2nd November.

Helios was part of the Diwali celebration held at Kedleston each year.  This would take a whole new post but in lieu I've added two or three photos to give some idea of how impressive the festival of light was.

All for now.

More on Kedleston

In my last post but one I promised more on our visit to Kedleston during the very sunny week we had earlier this month.

We didn't go into the house this time as we've been in a couple of times before.  We decided to go on one of the estate walks first before lunch and then visit the gardens, bookshop and church.

Lots of sheep baaing in the fields as we walked.  Some were curious, others not.

 

We used Merlin to find out what birds we could hear as we walked along.

Woodpeckers were rat-a-tat tatting almost all the way of the walk.

Kedleston has been owned by the Curzon family since the mid 12th century.  The Mansion was designed by Robert Adam and was commissioned by Nathaniel Curzon in the 18th century c. 1750.  The church is much earlier, probably 13th century and is all that is left of the mediaeval village of Kedleston as it was moved to make way for the building of the Hall.

Inside are many memorials to the Curzon family.  It was difficult to take photos inside as there were a few visitors moving around and also a small group in front of the later tombs.  I was able to take a few photos of the earlier memorials.  the one above from 1456 is of Sir John Curzon and his wife Joan, daughter of Sir John Bagot of Blithfield in Staffordshire.

Both figures have a dog at their feet.

Below, within the chancel, is the memorial to an earlier Sir John Curzon who died in 1406, his wife was Eleanor Twyford.

Apparently he wears  a Lancastrian SS or 'esses' livery collar.  This was an emblem of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

I was trying to work out what animal he had at his feet.

Is it a lion? Or is it a mythical creature? I can find little on google but my book on Derbyshire by Arthur Mee says it is a lion.

Three of the six heraldic shields which decorate the ogee arch above the earlier Sir John's effigy

Two of the stained glass windows which were behind the heraldic shields above.  They both have the inscription Curzon of Kedleston.

Back out in the garden the sun was still shining, but it was time to think about heading for home..

Below is a link to a blog post I wrote in September 2018 about the inside of the Hall.

Post of 2018

All for now.

Wilderness Walk

Firstly thank you so much for your lovely comments on my last post.  I usually reply to them all but I haven't this time so though I'd show my appreciation here.  It's lovely to hear from every one of you.

It's been a busy week!  On Monday we went to see the film Mr Turner which I enjoyed very much.  It was quite a long film but the scenes and settings and acting were wonderful.  Tuesday I had my hearing test and I have to go back again next week as the tinitus I have is a lot worse and I have lost quite a bit of hearing in my left ear.  We also went to one of the Open Hanger Days at RAF Cosford - see Paul's blog for photos of that. 

Yesterday we decided to follow the path of the Wilderness Walk at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire.  We'd looked at the route on line but when we arrived we were given another map as the woodland part of the route had been closed for maintenance.

We set off anyway to follow what was left of the route as we hadn't done this walk before although we have done the other walks at Kedleston several times.

The house and gardens were closed but we did have a quick peek in the shop and intended to go back after our walk to make some purchases but we ended up going back to the car after the walk because our boots were very muddy and then forgot.

Across the bridge and along the side of the lake until we reached a gate that was the start of the route of the walk.  The air was very misty and damp and there was the constant sound of ducks and  geese from the lake and also the cackle of pheasants from the fields nearby.

It was a lovely walk and very quiet too.  The car park was a quarter full and most people had gone into the shop and cafe or had taken one of the other routes.

We crossed a couple of bridges along the way.

We also passed some stunning ancient oak trees at the side of the river.

We eventually reached the start of the village where we crossed the river to walk back down the other side.

There were lots of sheep grazing in the grounds

It was by now getting quite damp and a bit chilly

So it was good to see were back at the bridge where the walk started.

Did I mention that there were a lot of sheep?  Some more curious than others!