Tag: Yorkshire

Haworth – Village of the Brontes – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 16, 2014
3 Comments on Haworth – Village of the Brontes – Part One

We spent a midweek break in Yorkshire this autumn, combining a return visit to the RHS Garden Harlow Carr, with a return to Saltaire and a first visit to the village of the Brontes, Haworth. A busy few days full of interest, enjoyment and variety.

First I shall share with you our visit to Haworth a village up on the moors of Yorkshire. The village and the moors are closely linked to the well-known and much loved family of writers, the Brontes. We found the village after miles of travelling high in the moorland on roads with regular steep climbs and descents. The road began to drop steeply as we approached the village and signposts indicated a car park on the edge of the village. We parked up in a car park hidden in woodland and from there a footpath took us into the very heart of the village.

Haworth is a beautiful place! A village with a strong community feel to it and a centre for creativity where many artists and craftspersons live, work and display their work. To add to the enjoyment of Haworth we discovered that Halloween was due to be celebrated fully. We also discovered that the village has some most excellent coffee houses!

The path took us down below the village’s allotments where the hens entertained us with their contented clucking as we passed unnoticed. We passed the back of the church and entered the very heart of the village, the Square.

Small businesses clustered around the Square welcoming visitors. You can see how the street drops steeply away from the Square. We decided that the number of coffee shops reflected the steepness of this hill – visitors need lots of places to stop and rest!

We soon realised that this village had a real sense of community feeling accompanied by an equal sense of pride with a gentle humour running through. Just look at the path gardens under the front windows of these cottages complete with seats. A great place to share your thoughts with neighbours, greet visitors with a friendly smile and watch the life of the village going by. Nearby this little humorous figure enjoyed life in another front garden.

There were frequent reminders too of the place that the Brontes hold in the hearts of the villagers.

We followed part of the village trail that encompassed the places most relevant to the life of the Bronte family. We had to walk to the edge of the village to find the starting point where we began with a look at the Sun Inn where in the mid-19th century turn pike tolls would have been collected, and then close by we found the schoolroom which was linked to the West Lane Methodist Chapel which has since been demolished. Behind this schoolroom, which is now the meeting place for the Methodist congregation, we found the old graveyard which afforded wide spreading views over the valley.

2014 11 01_7031

Close by was the rival West Lane Baptist Chapel which had an extensive school room added at the rear. It seemed amazing that this little village huddled in a valley bottom supported several chapels and a church. It reflects the life style of the time, when employers expected their workers to attend their chosen place of worship in order to keep their jobs. Some believed it would keep them out of the inns and public houses.

The second photo below shows a strange arrangement of old gate post ornamentation now displayed atop a garden wall.

A short walk down the street back towards the heart of the village we found this beautiful and very old building, Townend Farm with its attached barn. These were built in the 17th century but still retained much of the original features including the most beautiful windows.

2014 11 01_7038

We next found a row of back-to-back workers cottages, and we could tell from the relatively large area of upstairs windows that some sort of weaving must have gone on here. The terraces also had basement dwellings below the street level.

The trail leaflet took us back to the centre where we stopped to look at the interesting array of shops. The Tourist Information Centre was housed in this strange thin building squeezed in a small space between two streets as they merged. The building has a short tower and pyramidal roof which was added when it changed from being the “Mechanics’ Institute” to the “Yorkshire Penny Bank”. The square here sits at the base of the wide steps leading up to the church. The village stocks are still in place outside what were once the post office and a temperance hotel. This teetotal hotel was supported by Patrick Bronte whereas rather ironically Branwell Bronte preferred the building opposite, The Old White Lion Inn.

2014 11 01_7055 2014 11 01_7047

The Main Street led us out of the square as it dropped away steeply. We took a detour to the church before embarking on the downhill climb to discover the delights of that street. Part 2 of my Bronte posts will see us visiting the church and the Main Street.

2014 11 01_7056

Tags Brontes, churches, community spirit, Halloween, Haworth, villages, Yorkshire

architecture canals outdoor sculpture Yorkshire

A Week of Culture – Part 4 – The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 13, 2014

Part Four of our culture week sees us visiting the new Hepworth Wakefield Gallery within the city of Wakefield in Yorkshire. Wakefield has been graced with a new gallery partly dedicated to the work of Barbara Hepworth as it was the city of her birth.

We had seen photographs of this newly constructed gallery and had wanteded to visit since its opening. The building itself is an imposing grey structure based on slightly irregular cubes and cuboids. A long dramatic walkway over the canal took us over moored barges with their wood fires adding the aroma of burning wood to the misty damp atmosphere.

From the walkway we spied this character hanging from a crane in the metal reclamation yard alongside the canal. He is made up of all sorts of scrap materials and from a distance he looks as if he is made of huge sweets – liquorice allsorts.

As we got close to the entrance we realised just how vast this gallery is with its grey slabbed sides rising up above us.

Inside, the building is equally dramatic with deeper greys and black being the dominant colours in the spaces outside the gallery rooms themselves, which as expected are all of a stark white. The outside surfaces are matt in sharp contrast with the shining interiors.

With all these straight lines and monochrome surfaces that constitute the fabric of the buiding the art work on show would need to be good and well displayed to brighten the visitors’ experience along with some comfortable seating on which to sit and appreciate the art works. People also make a difference and we received a warm welcome from the smiling face behind the reception desk.

The first gallery contained a couple of pieces by British sculptor Henry Moore – Reclining Figures. They looked good with plenty of space around them and with bright even lighting. But our warm welcome from the receptionist was somewhat negated by the steward in this room who called across at me “You are not allowed to touch them!” when I was pointing out a particularly nice curved line. Sadly because of this we didn’t stay so I failed to photograph Moore’s work. We put it down to bad training and moved on quickly to the next gallery where a delightful surprise awaited us.

We were taken aback as we were confronted by a crazily overcrowded room set. This was the collection of William Alfred Ismay. At first it looked a jumble of worthless pieces of junk thrown together in what is often put forward by some artists as sculpture. We once saw a garden shed in a gallery full of old dusty tools looking as if it had been lifted from a vegetable patch and dropped in the gallery – it even had a radio playing. The gallery presented it as an important installation and went on to propound its value as a work of art. We didn’t buy into that and we had a feeling we might be in for a similar experience here. But no! Here was a collection accumulated over decades by a local Wakefield librarian who became an obsessive collector of quality ceramics. His home became filled to the brim with them covering every surface even the table at which he ate his meals, leaving a little gap just big enough for his plate! A close look among the jumble of items led us to discover pieces from potters whose work we recognised. Most of the well-known 20th century potters and ceramists were in fact represented. Wandering around the room set became a voyage of discovery picking out beautiful pieces from amongt the cheap white goods of his era. The pieces were displayed on pieces of Ismay’s furniture and the whole set up was like looking into his house with the walls stripped away.

In the gallery where Ismays collection was displayed we were again made to feel uncomfortable. A black line surrounded the display and a sign asked visitors not to step over it. Sadly as we walked around the young room stewards followed our every move keeping a close eye on our feet. This must again reflect their training because when we engaged them in conversation they were very pleasant, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

The third gallery we entered was spotlighting the work of American artist Dana Schutz. This is the New York based painter’s first UK exhibition. Her large extremely colourful work did not appeal to either myself or Jude as we found them disturbing in an unpleasant way. This gallery though did give them the space needed to appreciate them coupled with excellent lighting. If you were a Schulz fan you would have appreciated how good they looked in this setting. You can see the hard surface of the bench here. It didn’t invite you to sit and peruse the paintings and did nothing to soften the hard lines of the building and whiteness of the room. Comfortable benches which invite the visitor to sit and consider a piece in more depth are sadly lacking throughout the gallery.

We moved through galleries displaying the work of Albert Wainwright whose work varied a great deal, from simple book and magazine illustrations to landscapes of Northern England and the occasional poster. Photography was not permitted in this room.

We moved on to Galleries 4,5 and 6 where the work of Barbara Hepworth was on show. Her work suited the style of gallery with their huge walls of glass which let the light stream in. The views out of these windows were out over the river towards the city.

We were pleased to see a full sized prototype of the well known piece “Winged Figure” which was designed to grace the John Lewis store in Oxford Street. We think of Hepworth as being just a sculptor so it was interesting to see some of her 2-D graphic works. It was a great privilege to get really close to this iconic piece and see the variety of textured surfaces.

It was strange to see some of her work in glass cases but I can appreciate that these particular pieces are delicate.

Enjoy this set of photos showing the variety of Hepworth’s work.

If we look at the following set of 5 photos we can see they feature a similar simple circle. The first photo is a close up of the last piece in the set of photos above, then we have a photo of the whole of a different piece of work followed by a close up of it. The final shot looks as if it fits with them but all it is is a shot I took accidentally as I walked through the gallery. I was carrying the phone set on camera mode facing down and inadvertently took a photo of the floor with a circle of an electric socket cover. Strangely in keeping!

We finished our visit by going back outside to look at the rest of the building itself and a few pieces displayed on the grassed areas alongside, including more of the Barbara Hepworth “Family of Man” pieces some of which we had already enjoyed at the sculpture park.

We were also able to view the old mill building, The Calder, which will hold exhibitions in conjunction with the Hepworth Wakefield. These old warehouses present a stark contrast to the modern geometric architecture of the new gallery close by.

So that is two parts of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle visited which just leaves the venues in Leeds, The Henry Moore Institute and the Leeds Art Gallery, to discover sometime in the future.

Tags art galleries, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Hepworth Wakefield Gallery, North of England, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, Wakefield, Yorkshire

landscapes outdoor sculpture Yorkshire

A Week of Culture – Part Three – My Favourites at the YSP

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 10, 2014
2 Comments on A Week of Culture – Part Three – My Favourites at the YSP

For this third post in the Week of culture I promised to share with you some of my favourite scultptors who have created pieces to display outdoors. Yorkshire Sculpture Park is the ideal setting with its acres of grounds which was an area of parkland associated with a grand house. The sloping hillsides, the lake and woodland areas provide ideal settings for pieces of outdoor sculpture for both pure sculptors and land artists.

On our visit this winter the favourites we enjoyed were Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, David Nash and Richard Long.

I shall begin with a piece by Richard Long simply because this is the first time we have ever seen any of his work. Much of his work is based on a line, a walk or circles. He is the best known British land artist famous for his work made while walking. He has been honoured with a CBE for his art, the land art, sculpture, photography and paintings and in 1989 received the Turner Prize. At the sculpture park we had to walk along the shores of the lake through woodlands before we found this piece. The photo was taken on my i Pad so do not do the piece justice. The stone pieces were of red sandstone.

My second artist to feature is David Nash who has a few pieces permanently at Yorkshire Sculpture Park but we have also seen a massive exhibition of hs work here a few year ago after his year as artist in residence there. Both pieces we saw on this visit are in the woodland with one on the banks of the lake on the shore between the wood and the water.

The first of his works we found was entitled “71 Steps” and it climbed a hillside up through the wooded slope. The first few photos are to set the scene.

Close by we spotted these beautiful pieces of wood and tree sculpted by Mother Nature and reflected in the water. They were flowing out into the lake.

The second of the David Nash pieces was closer to the water’s edge between the trees and the biscuit coloured leaves. Just like the steps the wood had been scorched by burning. Sadly the camera on my i Pad couldn’t cope with the contrasts so the beautiful colour of the dried reeds has burnt out.

On a piece of rough ground close to the lake we came across a builder’s store where old bricks and building stones were being kept whilst work was being completed on an old chapel in the grounds. We couldn’t help but wonder what a good land artist would have created using these pieces! Close by mother Nature had created a piece of her own land art based on a fallen tree.

Barbara Hepworth’s work is well represented here at the sculpture park as her pieces called the “Family of Man” are displayed most sympathetically on a sloping piece of sparcely planted woodland. On the way to find these pieces we passed this interesting sign where the face of our Labour Party leader had been added. Similar photos of faces had been pasted to trees but the weather had got the better of these.

I have included some close up photos of a few of the pieces by Barbara Hepworth to show where the hand of the artist has left her marks. I enjoy studying the texture of any piece of sculpture as it can be as important as the overall shape of the work.

The bark of this tree caught my eye as we moved between the Barbara Hepworth pieces. It was the texture that attracted me and the pattern of diamonds sculpted into the bark. Even the carved graffiti seemed to add to the character of the tree, telling a part of its story.

You can see from the photo of Jude below that the weather was not making wandering around the site too easy. The ground beneath our feet was very slippery. This meant that when we came to seek out the work of Henry Moore we found it difficult to get to them as the ground was impossible to walk on due to the steep sloping land where they were situated.

But we can enjoy this one piece.

For part 4 of this week of culture we move on to the Hepworth Wakefield Gallery in the city of Wakefield itself.

Tags Barbara Hepworth, David Nash, garden sculpture, Henry Moore, outdoor sculpture, Richard Long, sculpture, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

gardens open to the public landscapes outdoor sculpture photography Yorkshire

A Week of Culture – Part 2 – Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 8, 2014
4 Comments on A Week of Culture – Part 2 – Yorkshire Sculpture Park

At least once a year we go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park so it was bound to be one of the venues on our cultural holiday. It is always a cold place and often wet and windy. We were bound to have rough weather as we were visiting in January during a particularly wet, windy winter. Thank goodness for the coffee shop which provided us several opportunities to warm back up. We arrived before it opened and became so absorbed in the special nature of this place that we left as the grounds were closing.

The four featured artists in early 2014 are Angie Lewin, Tom Price, Dennis Oppenheim and Awar Kanwatr, but as always there are resident pieces all around. Most of the pieces are sympathetically displayed around the grounds in the open grassland, under trees, alongside the lake and on grassed slopes. There is also a gallery where work can be displayed. It is a stunning building with galleries that provide beautiful display spaces. The first of the photos below show the building from the front whereas the second shows how it fits into the slope of the garden hidden by its green roof. All the lawn here is in fact the roof of the galleries.

The original red-bricked wall of the walled garden and its bothy are still here providing unusual display spaces. Alongside the wall we found these “sound benches” part of an exhibition of work by Amar Kanwar, a combination of film and installation.

2014 01 26_6208

The Bothy Gallery itself featured some of the work of sculpture Tom Price. Small bronzes are here to enjoy close up and a huge 9 feet tall figure entitled “Network” was to be searched for in the grounds. I found his work fascinating so it was a wonderful experience being so close to his pieces and his subjects are contemporary people worked in the traditional medium of bronze.

We have enjoyed the work of some great artists here in the past, David Nash, Andy Goldsworthy etc and the artist we were primarily focusing on during this visit was Angie Lewin. We usually come here to look at the work of sculptors or land artists but Angie Lewin is an artist and designer who works in watercolours as well as prints using the techniques of a woodcut, lino cut, screen prints and lithography with much of her work being used as book or magazine illustrations. The natural world is her main stimulus especially skeletal seed heads against the sky. I love her work finding it fresh and lively as well as original. Enjoy this little montage of her work.

To be given the opportunity to view her sketchbooks was a delight and I was tempted to purchase a book of her work after seeing so many beautiful pieces.

But of course there was lots more to see, including a few pieces we seek out in the grounds on every visit. Works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, James Turrell and Antony Gormley.

As we returned to the centre after enjoying our wander around the grounds we discovered another interesting and unexpected piece of work. Every space available is used to provide original and effective display galleries, in this case even a stairway. These little ceramic creatures in a piece called “Infestation” are the work of Anna Collette Hunt and provide great entertainment as you climb the stairs.

This day’s cultural visit was to be the first of two days at Wakefield. The following day we went in search of the Hepworth Wakefield Gallery within the city itself. These two venues are two out of the three that make up the “Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle”. After this cultural holiday we will just have the one of the three corners of the triangles left to see, the city of Leeds. This comprises the Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute. We will soon be planning a few more days away to discover what that venue has to offer. To find out more about the triangle of galleries visit ysculpture.co.uk.

To re-visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park when I share my favourite sculptors with you see my next blog in the “Week of Culture” series of posts.

Tags Angie Lewin, Barbara Hepworth, David Nash, Henry Moore, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

bird watching birds landscapes nature reserves the sea the seaside wildlife Yorkshire

Bempton Cliffs – a birding paradise

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 15, 2013

Bempton Cliffs is far north of here on the Yorkshire coast and a place we had never visited but we had heard much about the bird life there, especially the sea birds. As Jude the Undergardener had never seen a Puffin in her life, even though it is one of her favourite wildlife characters, we decided a visit was on the cards. We arrived with expectations high as we were anticipating spotting some special birds.

We soon realised we were in for a special day when we noticed that the sparrows flocking around the RSPB’s visitor centre were not House Sparrows but the much scarcer Tree Sparrows with their smart brown berets replacing the drab grey of their commoner cousins.

But we were here to look along the steep tall cliffs at the seabirds beginning to claim territories and begin nest-building. We wandered down to where the land dropped steeply away and looked down to see dozens of large mostly black and white coloured birds speedily flying close to the cliffs themselves and occasionally dropping onto ledges where nest-building was just starting. Most of these were Guillimots and Razorbills but the true stars were the smaller Puffins with their large multi-coloured striped bills.

I spent an awful lot of time trying to get photos of Gannets in flight. It was a real difficult challenge and I had lots of failures and no real successes, but here are my best efforts.

I can’ resist showing a couple of failures just to give you a laugh – a near miss and a total miss.

The individual birds were impressive but it was the sheer size of the colonies of the Gannets that amazed us.

It wasn’t just sea birds that made Bempton special though as we saw four sorts of Wagtail – Pied, Yellow, White and Grey Wagtails, two sorts of Pipits – Meadow and Rock. and two sorts of Bunting – Corn and Reed.

After being amazed and stunned by the bird life we were amused by the amphibians. A shallow pond near the visitor centre was heaving with lively frogs.

I shall finish our visit to Bempton with a little gallery. As usual just click on a pic and use the arrows.

Tags gannets, puffins, sea birds, Yorkshire

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs Yorkshire

Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens – a very special place.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 26, 2013
5 Comments on Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens – a very special place.

While in Yorkshire last summer we visited a small and very special garden, full of ideas to be taken home. Ideas on planting and design. This is a garden of many “rooms” each with its own character and atmosphere. Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens, just 6 miles south of the city of York, has been described by Alys Fowler as “One of the country’s finest cottage gardens.”

It is a garden where the plantsmanship and passion of the owner is felt and can be touched. She works closely with nature and understands how caring for a garden and caring for wildlife should go hand-in-hand.

Look carefully at the picture below and see if you can spot a delicate iris.

We were particularly taken with the meadows as they included some interesting additions beyond native species. At the time of our visit the last few flowers were left on the top of the flower stalks of Camassias in whites, creams and blues. We were interested to see that Rosa rugosa were planted in the meadows. When we spoke to the gardener she informed us that they were simply strimmed down along with the grasses and herbaceous materials and they re-grew each spring, flowering successfully every year.

Of all the many garden rooms we discovered we particularly liked the yellow/golden garden full of bright foliage and yellow flowers. The overall feel was of being inside a chartreuse world glowing and warm.

Other areas were more formal with cut box edging, neat lawns and rills. There was a veritable feast of seats of all descriptions on which to rest and absorb all the different atmospheres in these rooms. In complete contrast to the formal gardens were the informal pond and wildlife meadows.

As usual a particular favourite sitting place was the tea shop! Situated in a secluded courtyard with gentle sculptures and calming borders the teashop lived in a beautiful old outbuilding. To illustrate what a friendly place Stillingfleet Lodge is we only have to go into the teashop. Here there is all you need to make tea or coffee and plates of fresh, home baked cakes and biscuits and an honesty box with a price list alongside. True faith in the honest character of the visiting gardeners. Work by local crafts people was also beautifully displayed here.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, organic gardening, shrubs, Vale of York, Yorkshire

architecture buildings Church architecture photography

York – the Minster

Virtually everyone who visits York has to visit the Minster, and so did we.

I was luckier than most visitors as I had two guides. My guide to the exterior was Robin who impressed with his knowledge of all things architectural.

Once inside I relied on Jude better known in my blog as the Undergardener. She was not up to the standard of the Robin however.

To share our visit simply click on a photo and enjoy my gallery. The pictures do not illustrate all the restoration and development work that is necessary to ensure that the Minster continues to dominate the York skyline for centuries to come. So before the gallery is a photo of what the Minster looks like from the front with the ever-present construction machinery.

Tags outdoor sculpture, York, York Minster, Yorkshire

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public hardy perennials meadows outdoor sculpture photography

Breezy Knees

Enough of this cold, wet, miserable weather! Let’s transport ourselves back to warmer times and brighter days in the wonderful Vale of York.

Breezy Knees. What a great name for a nursery! We came across it in an article written by Roy Lancaster for the RHS members’ magazine, “The Garden” and he highly recommended it. So when travelling around the Vale of York and finding ourselves close to it we just had to go and have a peruse. It also has a garden to wander around attached to it, which highlighted many of the unusual herbaceous perennials it sold.

How about this for a bench?

The nursery is less than ten years old and created on open farmland, very open hence its quirky name. We arrived at the end of a period of rain and the day before had seen the nursery’s show gardens closed as much of it was flooded. From the nursery to the gardens entails a ten minute walk between fields and we soon discovered the relevance of its name.

The garden is a collection of small garden rooms displaying different types of garden styles and conditions, from an annual meadow to a rose garden and from raised beds to double borders. The most unusual is the “Rogues Gallery” where garden thugs live together and warn us of their behaviour.

We began our exploration of Breezy Knees with a wander along an enticing path cut through the Spring Meadow, and then moved on through the show gardens discovering some beautiful plants along the way.

If you are up that way, make sure you drop in to Breezy Knees. It will be worth it.

A sense of humour always adds an extra element to any garden. Breezy Knees certainly had plenty to offer. As well as their long bench we were delighted to come across this pair of wonder wellies! Jude the Undergardener looks as if she is checking to see if they are her size!