An Invitation Up the Hill

 Bluebell Lodge, Pentre Higgen, Hay on Wye, HR3 5FG

 

Open weekend: 24th, 25th & 26th September 2021

Directions: Find Forest Road by the Swan Hotel in Hay-on-Wye and follow the signs

 

Follow the signs in the hedges & beware the troll as you approach the Black Mountains! Do not be lured 'into the forest' by following The Glych in your phone

Bluebell Lodge is about 5k out of town & opening times are 11am - 7pm

The sculptures are mainly from 'found objects' borrowed from the local landscape and re-presented with - well, I hope, only minor embellishment & presented in the garden below the lodge

Garden: well, prehaps 'garden' is overstating the case but there's a steeply sided precipice lurching toward the brook that can be negotiated with care. Stout shoes are recommended along with cool heads. Some of the paths are handrailed for safety

Wheeled access is limited to a couple of choice viewing spots close to a good place to park. Kids are most welcome. Dogs on leads please

Refreshments are available indoors & there are tables outdoors if the sun smiles or please: bring a picnic

The work itself: Here's a taste: Acrobat piece:



It borrows from a form I spied in the Barbara Hepworth museum at St Ives. My bit's in oak with two minimalised bird shapes and a jump for joy, a touch of the toes or a skater maybe singing along to Joni Mitchel:

Oh I wish I had a river, I could skate away on

There is a river, by the way, just below the cabin. The Esgryn Brook. In this case Esgryn possibly translates from the Welsh as 'the bones of the landscape laid bare by the brook' and led to Bluebell Lodge's nom de guerre: Bones Cabin

 
Now then: The first accidental bird to arrive appeared in the piece below: Bramble Piece


 

I was into the thorniness of thorns at the time - there are monster bramble thickets up the hill here - and it wasn't until 6 months or so after the piece was finished that I spotted the stylised cormorant, diving into negative space. This was a lockdown delight for me, as was the appearance of further birds


So approach the place with caution, if you come. It'll maybe be as scarey as a scene from Hitchcock's 'The Birds' if things continue apace

furthermore, & with tongue in maybe cheek


I decided to interpret this nose dive between the thorns ecologically, to see it as a comment on the peril that faces anything with a penchant for a stable climate, and, furthermore, was pleased to be able to interpret more of my stuff with an eco-twist

 

Bird and Chick rest on a flawed plinth underlining the fragility of, golly, everything,  Weathervane Angel runs away with the wind and a version of Sheela Na Gig beguiles us from the dingle & from forever ago

Plus: Objects of outdoor furniture: 'objet d' funiture' & some other pieces too, from friends of mine, around and about and mainly in the tea room


That's the stuff > and that's all folks, for now