Manchester Drive Forest Garden Project


The purpose of this blog is to document the development of the forest garden project that I have been setting up at Manchester Drive allotment site in Leigh on Sea, Essex, as well as any other random permacultural (or not) rambling thoughts that might happen to stray from my brain. I hope you enjoy it or better still, feel inspired to start your own edible food forest!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Idling benches and the Sheffield Riddle Trail

In today's Grauniard, Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson has a column in which he writes in praise of the public bench;

"Truly, the bench is a boon to idlers. Whoever first came up with the idea is a genius: free public resting places where you can take time out from the bustle and brouhaha of the city, and simply sit and watch and reflect."

He also suggests ways in which public benches could be vehicles for both the expression of artistic creativity and to also promote civic local distinctiveness by commisioning artists and sculptors;

"Each artist would have free rein to play around with the bench, build it from whatever materials he or she likes, engrave it, festoon it with colour, carve it with gargoyles or trees."

This put me in mind of a visit we made to the botanical gardens in Sheffield last summer when we were on holiday as a family camping in the Peak District. We followed the 'Riddle Trail' around the 19 acre site, which featured a series of mosaics, sculptures, carvings and so on placed around the gardens, each of which had an 'nature' theme (dinosaur footprints near the petrified trees, glass tadpoles and frogspawn near the pond, a bronze bear in what was once the old bear-baiting pit, a sunflower mosaic, etc), as well as giving a clue to the location of the next artwork. The works, all made by local artists, were of a very high standard, and the kids really enjoyed the adventure of finding the next section of the 'puzzle'. My personal favourite piece was a bench made of two combined carved trees - as well as being a functional seat made of natural materials that blended into the landscape, it also featured tiny carvings of a host of wild creatures, more and more of which revealed themselves the longer and harder you looked... I've posted up some pictures here to give an idea, but if ever you are in the Sheffield area I'd advise checking this out. Public art at it's best!





3 Comments:

At 12:52 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love those little mousies peeping out of the wood... reminds me of the
witty carvings on medieval cathedrals

- Tom Hodgkinson

 
At 9:28 am, Blogger Wicklow Wench said...

What a fabulous use for the wood. We have been trying to find someone to do that for large oak pieces for a few months....but cannot find anyone who will do it for love nor money ( no, not even the latter...)

 
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