Kildonan lies on the south east coast of Arran and is named after the Irish monk St Donan who is believed to have lived there in the 6th century. The village is a quiet little backwater, nicely tucked away with access via a smaller lane which loops down to sea level from the main coast road. Kildonan brings with her…
Share this:
From April to June, Combermere Abbey in South Cheshire opens its doors to the public for guided tours of its beautiful manor house. I recently joined one of those tours for a fascinating insight into the history of this remarkable estate and how the current mansion came to look the way it does. Read on for my thoughts on the…
Share this:
Hastings is the site of William the Conqueror’s first castle in England with a history stretching back over nine centuries. Situated on high cliffs, the castle certainly has a strong defensive position overlooking the town and English Channel. Visited by kings, queens and statesmen, Hastings Castle has a rich and fascinating history. History of Hastings Castle Before 1066 The…
Share this:
It’s safe to say I will always remember what I was doing on the hottest day of 2022 – that crazy 40°C and the several 35°C+ days either side. I was in Hastings following a trail of ducks on the Follow That Duck sculpture trail. There are 30 of these large duck sculptures across Hastings, St Leonards and…
Share this:
Wigg Island is a local nature reserve and community park in Runcorn, North Cheshire. It consists of 23 hectares of reclaimed industrial land on a little island between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal and is reached by a traffic light controlled single track bridge. Named The Old Quay Bridge, it is a Grade II listed swing bridge…
Share this:
The Big Hoot is the third sculpture trail that Ipswich has hosted to help raise money for local charity St Elizabeth Hospice. Following the huge success of Pigs Gone Wild in 2016 and Elmer’s Big Parade in 2019, The Big Hoot sculpture trail has gone even bigger, with 50 large owls taking up perch around the town from the…
Share this:
This month I headed down to Cardiff to chase Snoopys! That’s not a sentence I ever expected to say, but thanks to leading public arts organisation Wild in Art in collaboration with the charity Dogs Trust, this awesome Snoopy sculpture has been brought to life on a sculpture trail around Cardiff, Caerphilly and Porthcawl in South Wales. In just…
Share this:
Sometimes the least planned days out yield the most surprises, joy, excitement and happiness. My most recent of these was the day I spent in Easingwold and Beningbrough towards the end of April. Having taken a girl’s weekend away with my mum to the sleepy little Yorkshire town of Easingwold, a quick look at the National Trust website showed…
Share this:
Summer 2021 promises to be a mammoth year for sculpture trails. With so many being postponed from 2020, in addition to 2021’s planned trails, this year there is a bumper crop already ripe for the picking! People regularly ask me – how do you find out about them? I always send them off in the direction of Wild in Art…
Share this:
One of the first big sculpture trails to go live this summer was the Derby Ram sculpture trail, where 30 uniquely painted ram sculptures stampeded onto the streets of Derby back in May and will remain in residence till the 22nd August 2021. Anyone who knows me or has kept up with my blog for any length of time will…
Share this:
Anger, despair, lethargy, isolation, love, community, gratitude, indifference, helplessness, hopelessness, resilience, heartbreak, loneliness, creativity, turmoil, fear, anxiety, kindness, hope… If you recognise this tumultuous range of emotions as a summary of the last 18 months, then you are not alone. The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown us all onto an emotional rollercoaster with the ups and downs of wading through…
Share this:
Sculpture trail season has started in earnest in the TJG household as I headed to north west Norfolk to follow the Explore-a-Book book bench trail in King’s Lynn and Hunstanton. I am so excited for this year as there are some amazing sculpture trails planned in, as well as all the postponed trails from last year too…
Share this:
