Chihuly at Kew

The 'Henriad' at the Globe didn't finish until late, so I made arrangements to stay over, and on Saturday morning  headed to Kew Gardens, which is currently hosting an exhibition of works by Dale Chihuly. 

I've loved his work since i first saw his glorious chandelier in the entrance to the V and A, but this is the first time I've had the chance to see an exhibition of his work.

Summer Sun

There are a dozen pieces scattered around the gardens, plus several in the Temperate House .

'Paintbrushes'

The exhibition is titled 'Reflections of Nature' and most of the sculptures do seem to be inspired by plants, and they do look at home at Kew. 

Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins

I loved the contrast of the vivid colours against the more muted flower beds.

Ethereal White Persian Pond 

And the way that the glass sculptures and the plants complemented one another - particularly in the Lily Pond!

Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds

The 'Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds' were installed along both sides of a path up to another of the houses, beneath fruit trees, and mirroring the colour of the tulips  there. 

I'd love a few in my garden!

Opal and Amber Towers

The 'Opal and Amber Towers' outside the Temperate House are less reminiscent of plants, but I do love the tentacles, and inside, we are back to plants again  ...

As well as the sculptures in the gardens, there was also a small exhibition in one of the buildings, with lots of smaller pieces, and drawings and commentary.

 Then I went back out into the sunshine for the last of the sculptures.

Niijama Floats

'Niijama Floats', a set of giant marbles, or miniature planets, in the Japanese garden, and finally, and,  I think,   my favourite - 'Sapphire Star', which is like a giant Allium flower.

Sapphire Star

 It looked particularly beautiful when the sun came out and shone through the clear tips of the spikes.

Sapphire Star, in front of the temple

As well as the Chihuly, my other reason for visiting the gardens was to see another sculpture, one which has been there longer,  artist Wolfgang Buttress's The Hive, which I have wanted to see ever since I first heard about it. 

It is a big (17m tall) walk-in sculpture, made up of a honeycomb aluminium structure, and incorporating led lights which light up in response to activity inside one of Kew's beehives. 

Looking up, inside the Hive

I went there first so had it to myself, although there weren't many lights, it was perhaps too cold for the bees to be very active, back in their hive! 

I enjoyed my visit, and I recommend it to anyone who is in London and has the time to go out to Kew. 

The Chihuly exhibition is on until 27th October. And of course, even without the sculptures, the gardens are rather nice!

Old Sarum

I realised a few weeks ago that although I only live about an hours drive from Salisbury, and often pootle in that direction to visit Stonehenge, I'd never actually been to Old Sarum. (I admit, to, that having read Diana Wynne Jones's wonderful 'The Merlin Conspiracy' I am very slightly anxious about it, as deep down I know believe that Old Sarum is both sentient and a little bad tempered and unpredictable. But I digress)

So, today, after a morning which involved some baking (not, I think, 100% successful - I should have listened to my instincts, and added some more extra flour - the shortbread tastes OK but is not perfect) I made a small picnic and drove to Salisbury, and thence to Old Sarum itself.

Inner Fortifications

Old Sarum was the original settlement, later displaced by Salisbury - the archaeology apparently shows that it was an Iron Age settlement, from somewhere between 400 and 100 BC. It was  then occupied by the Romans, when it was known as Sorviodunum, and later there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement, then William the Conqueror put a castle there.

Bridge to inner fortifications

You can see, even now, what a defensible place it is - the pictures above shows the inner Motte, which is big, with a huge, steep ditch around around it, and there is then a further, outer ditch, which is huge.

Outer ditch (with Salisbury cathedral in the background)

In the 11th Century a castle was built inside the inner motte, and a cathedral was built outside, but within the outer earthworks. It was finished in 1092, and struck by lightening 5 days after it was completed, but they were not ut off, and rebuilt it bigger and better! 

However, King John (who did use the castle) and his bishops had a falling out, and by 1220 the cathedral was abandoned and they built a new one in what would become Sailsbury.

The castle is mostly ruins, now, and the cathedral has gone altogether apart from the foundations, but the original earthworks are till there, and very impressive.

Castle ruins, from gatehouse

After walking around the castle ruins, I walked around the top of the outer earthworks - you can see for miles, and can see just how huge the outer ditch is, and how hard it would have been to take this place by force.

Outer Ditch

The path was narrow, and there were lots of wild flowers and grasses, and lots of butterflies, which made me realise how few I have seen this summer - it's been so cold and wet until now.

 There were also lots of bumble bees, and other insects - there was a tiny little spider with  a lime-green body, and some beautifully iridescent beetles,which appeared to come in both green and red varieties.

Across the ditch I could see sheep, grazing in single file on the top of the far side of the ditch, and at one point I heard (but didn't see) something larger than an insect - perhaps a snake or a mouse, among the grass.

There were birds, too - lots of crows, and pigeons, but I also saw (as I walked around the earthworks) goldfinches, and blackbirds, and red-legged partridges.

It was a lovely sunny day, and I really enjoyed my visit.

And after I got home, I learned that Andy Murray won Wimbledon, which is nice to know, as it will make lots of people very happy, and I completely missed the tennis match, which is ideal for me!

A very good day. 

More family stuff

I stayed in Devon for a couple of days after the wedding, hanging out with various family members, which was fun.

 Having poured with rain for the wedding, and on Saturday, the weather improved and Sunday turned out to be sunshiny, almost as if it were properly summer!

I took the opportunity to play more with my new camera, taking pictures of flowers and leaves and baby frogs. And then, of course, on Monday I had to come home (and face a disgruntled cat, who assures me he was starved and mistreated during my absence, although he seemed to be looking very well on it, so I suspect he may have been lying to me.) and on Tuesday it was back to work.

This could have been a bit of a come down, but happily my Aunt S, who lives in the frozen north, had decided to make good use of the fact she'd travelled south for the wedding, and she came to visit for a couple of days, en route to visit other friends over the bank holiday weekend. It's been fun having her here, and having someone to cook and eat with, after work, although as she wasn't here for the weekend, I couldn't go out and play with her!

On Friday, I found that my parents' Local Paper came out, (and that it has a website!) including a story about K's wedding and the ringing afterwards. Which was nice, although I think it's a pity they didn't use a group photo, as the entire band was made up of family members, which they seem to have overlooked..