I’ve been quite busy since the pop-up finished but I had a lovely day out at Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Tuesday.  This was the latest of the occasional arty coach trips that I started organising last summer.  As always, the coach was from Golden Green with the lovely Rachel driving us.  I’d expected we’d go by motorway, but no, we had a lovely scenic route through the Peak District, through Chinley (Home of Ferrodo Brake Linings, don’t forget) and Glossop.  I’d thought I might have been a bit optimistic in suggesting a 2-hour journey time but she hit it bang on, both ways.  What a woman!  She got a spontaneous round of applause as we arrived back with a lovely bit of balletic coach manoeuvring.  I’m a terrible driver (aren’t you glad I stick to my bike?) so I can only marvel.

And not only did we have a lovely journey, but the Sculpture Park didn’t disappoint either. There was a great exhibition of contemporary Indigenous American Art.  I don’t know anything about the artists or their work but it was really interesting and enjoyable.  I really loved some of the work there. There was an installation in the chapel by Nicola Turner. It was created in wool and the smell was wonderful!  I thought the ends of the tentacles looked like birds’ heads with shears forming the beaks.

I had a lovely peaceful time in the deer shelter sky space.  I had it all to myself and sat for ages watching the clouds pass overhead.  I don’t know if there’s something clever about the acoustics but it really seemed to focus the sound of the birds and the insects outside and the movement of the trees which really added to the whole experience. Perfect. I was sorry to leave, but my stomach was telling me it was time for lunch.

In the afternoon, I headed into the park to look for Sean Scully’s Wall Dale Cubed.  Like the sky space, I remembered this from previous visits and it didn’t disappoint a second time round.  It was really warm and sunny by now so I sat and drew for a while.  It’s so difficult trying to get the proportions right and how all the stones fitted together!  Very meditative though, having to concentrate so hard.

As always I managed to get slightly lost and ended up doing a complete circuit of the lake.  It was a lovely walk, though I did start to panic slightly that I’d be late for the coach (that would have been quite embarrassing, after I’d been banging on to everyone about being on time).  In fact, we were all there nicely in time for setting off home at 4 o’clock – well done guys!  Looking forward to another trip, but I haven’t anything planned yet.  If you’d like to join us next time, or have any suggestions for a venue, then do put it in the comments!