Initially I had the idea of visiting the Norwich Sculpture Park on the way back from the seaside, if we felt we had the energy... but like all good plans, we ended up going there first and then not really having the energy for the full two hours walk between East Runton and Sheringham and back.
The journey was fairly tiresome, with the usual pointless roadworks / lane closures with no work being done / 40mph speed limit for mile after tedious mile... so it took us over three hours to get from home to the UEA campus (with a detour via some business park that the Sat Nav took us to).
The indoor part of the sculpture park was fairly unexciting, but there were a few highlights in amongst the museumy dreck. There were several Francis Bacon paintings (which we didn't much care for) but the highlight of the interior displays was the 'Swans' by Richard Slee.
Outside in the grounds there were over twenty sculptures of varying size and quality, here are a selection of the best pieces...
VLADIMIR TATLIN: Model of the Monument to the Third International (2011)
LEIKO IKEMURA: Usagi Kannon (2012-2019)
JOHN DAVIES: Head (1997)
LYNN CHADWICK: Lion 1 (1990) & Crouching Beast II (1990)
LILLIANE LIJN: Extrapolation (1982)
HENRY H CLYNE: Variations on a Square (1964)
JOHN HOSKIN: One for Bristol (1968)
LAURENCE EDWARDS: Man of Stones (2019)
ELISABETH FRINK: Mirage I & Mirage II (1969)
ANTHONY CARO: Goodwood Steps (1996)
According to the guidebook there was supposed to be another sculpture called 'Sun Roots II' around the back of the Sainsbury Centre, but there was no sign of it save for an empty square of prepared ground where it had obviously been standing at one time.
It was quite a warm day (to say the least) and by time we'd walked around the lake to find the 'Man of Stones' statue we were quite glad to go back to the car for lunch. After that we headed off to the seaside and spent a pleasant couple of hours walking to Sheringham and back. By the end we were more than a little frazzled, between the heat and the effort of walking on sand and stones... but it was still a nice day.
All told, by the time we got home, we had driven 306 miles, and spent 7 hours of the 12 hours in the car. Quite a day... next time we'll probably just do the beach on its own or plan to stop for lunch on the way home.
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