Chatsworth: some favourite artwork and another welcome rest

Finally we came to the Round Pond.  If visitors don't want to or can't walk far a tractor pulling open carriages will take you around the main sights.....

and there are places to get refreshments along the way.  We chose to get a can of lemonade and a takeaway cup of tea and sit on a bench.

What I like about Chatsworth is the fact that the Devonshires  share wonderful artwork with the visitors who come to the gardens.  You can spent time looking at a sculpture and even sit on a piece of artwork as it has been placed there to give pleasure.  

It's difficult to pick out artwork favourites when surrounded by artistic expression in all its forms in these gardens, but here are a few - ones that are new to me because works of art are on loan for a while and others that have been there for many years.

We saw this one when we were looking down from a higher level and then came across it again and were intrigued as we watched a family peering at it.  It just seemed like a block of granite until we got close up to it.

There are holes that you look through and suddenly you realise that the block of granite is not solid, but hollow and growing inside are a lot of  plants.   As your eyes adjust you can see among the greenery the orange flowers of the  strelitzia reginae (bird of paradise/crane flower).

On one side if you look closely you can see strange lettering.

Here's more information about the piece.

A very different sculpture is this lady who is dancing with cymbals in her hands.  I like the movement of the body, the drapery of her garment and her sandals with her toes peeping through.

The present Devonshires like their horses, but they must also keep dogs as I've seen a few contemporary dog sculptures in the grounds.

 

Elizabeth Frink's sculptures are distinctive.  I've seen others outside Salisbury Cathedral and in my home town in the grounds of Reading Abbey Ruins.  This is 'Walking Madonna'.  I like her medieval looking apparel.   If I saw her in the grounds at twilight would I find her comforting or disconcerting?

A traditional sculpture that looks quite old is this one.  It was once installed in the area of the Rockery, but it has been moved and I think it looks better placed among the greenery near beds of wild flowers. It represents a shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders.

There are other forms of art such as these chairs placed in a sunny spot in between the Camellia Glasshouses.  They're decorated with U.S. commemorative coins.  Special editions were made depicting President Kennedy who came to Chatsworth to visit and pray at the grave of his sister who is buried in the small churchyard of St Peter's on the Chatsworth Estate.  Kathleen Kennedy married into the Devonshire/Cavendish family, but died tragically in a plane crash.    

It would be easy to miss 'Flora' the godess of flowers as you leave through the exit booth, but when we visit I like to go and look at the statue and the camellia tree beside it.  I'm thankful that cuttings were taken from Joseph Paxton's camellia plants and now visitors can see them flourishing in the  Glasshouses. 

I hope you found the walk around Chatsworth Gardens interesting.  That's all for now. I'll catch up with your news soon and until the next time I wish you a good day and a peaceful weekend.

Chatsworth Walk Continued

From a seat on the bank overlooking The Maze we watched heads pop up as two visitors climbed the viewing platform in the middle.  Planted up with a thousand yews in 1962 it looks well established.  It's hard to imagine that from 1836 to the 1920s a huge glasshouse once stood on the site. 

Joseph Paxton had been experimenting with glasshouse designs over the years and these inspired the one built at Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851.  He used a light wooden frame, a roof that let in more light and drained rainwater away.  Hollow pillars doubled as drain pipes and special rafters acted as internal and external gutters.  

source: Wikipedia 

At the time the Great Conservatory or Stove was the largest glass building in the world.  The 6th Duke's architect, Decimus Burton, together with Joseph Paxton devised the structure. It had a central carriageway and when Queen Victoria visited Chatsworth she was driven though in her carriage. On this special occasion it was lit up with twelve thousand lamps.  The structure had to be heated in order to grow exotic plants so eight boilers using seven miles of iron pipes were also constructed.  What a lot of activity must have gone on in that area at the time!   Although it was an amazing feat of engineering the heating and maintenance must have been costly.  During the First World War it wasn't heated so the plants died and it was demolished in the 1920s.

Just along the path you can climb down to see the tunnels where the heating system once heated the glasshouse.  We carried on walking instead - through the Bamboo Walk to the Pinetum.  The Pinetum contains 200 year old trees planted in Joseph Paxton's time.

 

The Bamboo Walk

We came across some traditional and contemporary sculptures in the woods - all interesting and atmospheric.

There were busts of the Devonshire family and famous visitors  to Chatworth in the field of the Arts including the playwright Tom Stoppard and the garden designer Sir Roy Strong sculpted by Angela Connor who was an assistant to Barbara Hepworth. 

Looking through a gap in a hedge which had a beautiful art installation fixed in it we knew that we wanted to make our way down to the Canal Walk where we could enjoy the spectacular Emperor Fountain.   Other amazing artwork was seen along the way.

Looking up from the lower level.  'Screen'  by Alan Jones

The Wavy Hedge with a bust, I believe, of  Lord Byron

at one end.  It makes another shady, hidden place to walk.

'Into the Wind' by Nic Fiddian-Green 

made of lead which creates different colours and textures

it reflects the strong connection between the Devonshires and horses.

 

This statue is opposite the Canal Pond and Walk where there's a grassy path and banks of long grass full of wild flowers. 

'Cornwall Slate Line' by Richard Long

the bridge and the river meandering through the parkland

In the end the Czar of Russia never visited but we can still enjoy all the wonderful water features and  everything else at Chatsworth thanks to the ingenuity and creativity of people like Joseph Paxton,  Lancelot 'Capability' Brown who designed the parkland and the team of professionals and volunteers that work there today. 

Thank you for coming by.  Next time I'll share my favourite statues and the Round Pond that we saw this time and that will end my series about our walks at Chatsworth you might be glad to know.

Have a good day!