Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Lovely couple of days in West Yorkshire visiting Archie and Meriel. Got to see the wonderful William Kentridge exhibition at the YSP before it finished at the end of the month. The video installations are particularly excellent. Lovely food and meet ups with old friends and assiociates. Weather was kind to us on Thursday but a bit grim yesterday. Good to see the house coming along. I took a few photos but camera ran out of juice.

Marsden and Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Nice few days in West Yorkshire. More sorting of Dave's stuff. Tooka day off to wander round the YSP to to be amused by the Erwin Wurm exhibition which was terrific and not somebody I'd known really. He has a nice sense of the absurd - dancing sausages, dancing suits, wonky cars, bendy lorries, hot water bottles with feet etc. It cheered us up despite the rain. Also very nice installation in the chapel by a New York artist - piles of broken wood made into an impressive structure. We had a snack in the cafe and then more wanderings around the smaller galleries to see some lost wax workshops and prints in another gallery. 50 acres to explore but the rain put us off and we headed back to Marsden via Holmfirth - where Last Of The Summer Wine was filmed. Had a scone, cream, jam and tea in the infamous Sids Cafe. Thought it would be full of tourists but very quiet. Popped into a few shops to dodge the rain.

Yorkshire Derbyshire Trip

Went over to see our old chum Dave in Yorkshire last week for a couple of days. Hazel bravely drove over the Peaks via Glossop where we stopped off for some lunch and wander around the charity shops. Then on to Marsden via that village where Foggy and Nora Batty live. It's a bit of a tourist trap though so avoided the crowds of geriatrics having cream teas at Cleg's Cafe or whatever its called. Last Of The Summer Wine country. Didn't see any old codgers sliding down the cobbles in an old bath - most suprising!

Dave introduced us to his new neighbour who had bought his barn and converted it into a very nice little cottage - with three bathrooms no less! Amazed at the transformation. Walked round the village and popped into the only charity shop open. Bought some snacks at the health food shop.
In the evening had a nice walk along the Huddersfield canal just behind the B&B we were staying in. Had a delicious and filling meal in the swanky restaurant before retiring. Very warm though and when in night by Hazel trying to wedge open the broken sash window with a pile of paperbacks ( see her blog )!
The next day we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park with dave driving. It was supposed to be 40 minutes but Dave forget his sat nav and we drove around Wakefield for 45 mins trying to spot a sign to it. Found it eventually and managed to park despite the place being choc-a-block. I didn't realise modern sculpture was so popular! Beautiful grounds and so much to see including Jaume Plensa, Mel Brimfield and Andy Goldsworthy etc. You needed a whole day to see it all really and we just had a few hours.