worth it

northbound today - "three hours to chatsworth," says mother. optimistically, as it turned out - 4.5 hours later and we finally made it... let's just say we were all a bit tired and tense! far too fried to go in the house, so i opted for the garden, with dad, but mother decided she didn't want to do the house alone so missed out on the thing she'd been wanting to see all trip *sigh*. however, the gardens at chatsworth (all 105 acres of them, most of which we did not see) are pretty special, so it wasn't too much of a hardship in the end. the grand cascade is grand indeed, the emperor fountain is all the more impressive when you know there are no pumps involved, just gravity and pressure, and the rock garden... well, i was expecting something big, but somehow hadn't anticipated a rockery in which the rocks are the size of small cars! i resisted going into the maze (far too hot to wander further than needed, tho one day... - what can i say, i'm fascinated by mazes!), but failed to resist taking shot after shot after shot as everywhere you turned there was a sculpture perfectly framed or a long vista or fabulous view to the park or the house.

this beauty lies just outside the kitchen garden (fascinating in itself for those of us who like our veg). it's a water sculpture by angela conner called 'revelation'. i spotted it thru the trees and snapped it, then dragged my parents to look at it and saw it perform - it's a water-powered kinetic sculpture-cum-fountain and is just lovely. the above shot is of it wide open, but then it somehow fills with water until the central ball drops down and the petals close above it, then you wait and wonder for a minute whether it's shut up for the night (it was almost closing time when we found it), then suddenly the water gushes out of the bottom and it reopens. i would make a collage out of the series of shots i took but i'm so far behind on backblipping i daren't take the time!

speaking of which... head here to start the catch up

edit: a year ago was also a day involving big pieces of art!