MEAL OUT: The Shires (Peatling Parva)

 

Our second visit to The Shires in a fortnight, this time with the Mums in tow (a delayed birthday meal for my Mum from June). I was all ready for a second dose of scampi and cheesecake, but no.... no scampi on the menu! Well, I was a little disappointed, but never mind instead I plumped for the turkey, bacon and mushroom pie, which was enormous. So enormous I didn't have room for a pudding. At all. Rose had fish and chips and the Mums both had lamb cutlets (again, enormous) and my Mum took one of them home in tin foil! A shame we didn't get a pudding, but the mains were so big and so delicious, and very reasonable prices and good service too!

 

DAY OUT: Burning Man Sculptures (Chatsworth House)

Randy Polumbo: Lodestar

After a brief stop off at Ikea, we made our way to Chatsworth to catch the 'Burning Man' sculptures before they disappeared. The sculptures had been there for several months but given the blazing hot weather and the fact that two of them were constructed during the exhibition, we felt it better to wait and see everything all at once.

Adrian Landon: Wings of Glory

As ever with sculpture and art it was a bit of a mixed bag, some really good ones like 'Lodestar' and 'Wings of Glory' and some shitters like the pointless circle of rocks on sticks and... well, actually I think that was the worst one really.

Christina Sporrong: The Flybrary

There were also some trees made out of empty drink bottle (Bombay Sapphire Gin in particular) which looked okay from a distance but pretty crappy close up.

Dana Albany & Flash Hopkins: Coralee

This mermaid was pretty cool, but the endless wittering about sustainability took the edge off it somewhat. It was made of junk basically, which is all very cool and clever, but why can't we appreciate art without it having to being 'worthy'? And if art is supposed to make you think, then shouldn't artists be telling us something we don't already know? Sustainability is as mainstream as it gets and the impact of making something out of crap found in the sea is seriously on the wane.

All in all it was pretty good, if perhaps rather a long drive for so few exhibits. Still the Yorkshire Sculpture Park reigns supreme (closely followed by the Cotswolds one).

MEAL OUT: The Shires (Peatling Parva)

 

Our visit to The Shires in aeons, easily ten years, probably more like fifteen. And what a surprise it was. Huge platefulls of scampi, lovely chips, undressed salad. Followed by baked cheesecake with warm toffee and pecan sauce... OMG. Spectacular. Great service too, only downside it was a Friday night so a bit too busy and noisy, but we will be back (just not on a Friday).

R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II