Boxing Before Culture

Hello there my lovelies

If you're a long time follower of my blog, you'll know that every couple of years, Chatsworth House has an exhibition of modern sculpture for Sothebys and that Nick & I will move mountains to go and see it.

This year was no exception and on Friday, we were blessed with blue skies and warm sunshine. Perfect for walking around the tranquil gardens. But the day didn't start so promising.

Before we headed off, we already had booked our monthly boxing lesson. There we were outdoors, with our trainer, thumping seven bells out of him, when the sky turned a dark, murky grey and the heavens opened. The three of us scurried quickly indoors to the gym to dry off and continue.

When our hour was up, we looked again at the weather forecast which maintained that it would be sunny over the hills, where we were heading. So we bit the bullet and decided to take the chance.

And lucky we did.

Here's why...

Isn't that such a gorgeous setting?

This piece was highly policed. Apparently there are nine types of Japanese stone used in this sculpture and the reason for keeping an eye on the visitors is that placed around, within and on top of these pieces were small figurines which could tempt the light of finger.

If you notice the area I circled in the previous photo, this is the close up. There were little houses, peacocks, monkeys and lions hidden amongst the stones. And for the eagle eyed, there were tiny human figures having, what I can only describe coyly, as adult fun. Yes I have photos but probably best I show you the giraffes and elephants instead.

Loved the colours of this one against the blue sky & green grass.

A large metal tablet shaped design.

A fragile spiral of white metal coiled into a stunning abstract shape.

This was entitled The Swarm. And round the corner from this piece was an old fashioned ice cream cart where we ordered two large cones, dripping with chocolate sauce and finished off with a flake. It felt just like we were on holiday, sitting on a bench, basking in the sun and indulging our sweet tooths.

An arty shot of a marble sculpture. Love the minimalist style.

Nick in the tunnel which runs underneath Chatsworth's beautiful water cascade. It was pitch black and this photo is down to the flash on my camera.

And finally, me taking a self portrait in a rotating mirrored sculpture which is permanently on display in their vegetable plot.

A perfect day.

We'll be returning to Chatsworth in a week's time as we have tickets to visit their Luminaire Event. We've never experienced it before, so it should be interesting to see the place in a completely different light.

Keeping fingers crossed that we'll be lucky again with the weather and that it won't rain.