Lands End with The Family

During the summer holidays we all ventured over to Lands End, somewhere that my Father in Law and his partner wanted to visit while they came over from France. I was suffering after my tonsillitis still and the antibiotics had started making me feel quite unwell but I'm still pleased I went because I had a wonderful day.

On the day we visited the Shaun the Sheep exhibit which showed off the behind the scenes making of the movie. We saw sets from Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit and even saw Timmy Time too. The exhibit had drawing to have a go at and large character models including a sheep, bunnies and a rocket which the children loved.

A rather big sheep!

Little A very pleased to see Timmy

Midge and T with a rather cute chicken

Tacing  cartoon characters was fun

We went into Arthur's Quest which scared the life out of Little A so I very quickly found the exit point leaving Midge with her cousins. She said it was scary but very fun. We ventured over to the 4D cinema which was showing a short Jurassic park film. This was my first 4D experience. Little A was better than I thought, not keen on the water that sprayed from the seats but then neither was I! I enjoyed the experience but not as much as a normal cinema film showing! Midge mostly hated it, especially the seats moving but at least she can say she tried it!

We bumped into my dad before lunch whilst he was working which was a lovely surprise. I had a jacket potato while the children went off for a walk with their Granddad. We also enjoyed a picnic earlier in the day; a good old fashioned car picnic! I managed to go in some shops and we all sat down to look at the view which was, naturally, a very beautiful one.

We all had a wonderful day and it was lovely for the children to see their grandparents, cousins and both their aunties too.

Cupcake Mumma

Plymouth University Art Exhibition

I went to Plymouth yesterday not to shop (although we did allow extra for browsing the stores and having some fun) but to go and visit Plymouth University's art and media exhibition. I really, really enjoyed myself. I love it when the rooms are empty, this may be seen as a bad thing but being someone who enjoys art and being able to flick through folders and stare at photos or other visual art pieces without feeling claustrophobic or having to move on so others can get a good view it's a good thing.

In this post I give you my favourite pieces from the exhibition. Anyone who lives near Plymouth please go and visit the university and have a look around, there are some fab pieces there.

This is the reason myself and my family went to view the exhibition in the first place. This is a photo taken by my brother, William Goode, one of a series of photographs of Loe Bar in Cornwall. I adore this photo in particular and I'm secretly hoping he'll allow me a copy so I can hang in my home! I think he could sell these prints. This is my favourite because he has captured the colour so well, the blue against the brown and then the scenery in the background. I also love the prints left by horse riders.

There was no name surrounding this art but it was a large black and white print on paper stuck to the wall in the corridor. There were crayons hung up and an invitation for you to add your own little mark. As you can see many people have contributed to this and I love the idea for this reason. I'm sure you can see what I added to this great idea?

Couldn't resist! I've effectively tagged it- hope they like it!

Now this was a powerful piece. There were three large canvases all representing Amy's horse, Rosie, who had to be put down after a fall. It's horrible seeing an animal put down but for horse riders it must be particularly painful. Amy has photographed effectively what is left after the loss of someone she loved. One photo was the riding school, maybe where the horse fell I do not know, the other is this very poignant shot of Rosie's reins. Amazing photography.

'Picture Confessions' was another piece I loved. A group of people have been rounded up and asked to write something on a board, something I would say they have never admitted to in their lives. This ranges from one person admitting they stepped on and accidentally killed a pet, a good looking lad admitting to being single for a number of years...and still counting, to a man admitting he found joy in self harming for a number of years..very interesting. I wonder what I would write?

 Now, below is my favourite piece by far. This is probably because I am a mother, so it tugged at those maternal heart strings. Olivia Edmonds followed a young woman through her whole pregnancy recording in photographs every step, even when her baby was transferred to the neonatal unit shortly after birth. What a difficult thing to go through but yet still allow someone to document this time for you.
This piece is called T.R.A.P which I know sounds odd, but the reason for this is because the woman (Miranda) was not only pregnant again and experiencing those wonderful feelings of happiness, delight and anticipation but she was also grieving the loss of one of her children too.

In Olivia's words:
 'With life and death being the components to our existence, you do not expect to have to cope with these conflicting factors at the same time'

Miranda's very generous bump!

Reminding me of the birth of my babies.
A diary kept by Miranda, baby grows and much more..

I can't imagine my baby being attached to all these wires...

 All in all a really amazing experience. I'm hoping to visit my local college to support the students there and hopefully see some more work and learn some more names to look out for! I got some lovely postcards to remember some of the art work above for my collection.

To round off, we did a bit of shopping before our train journey stopping once for doughnuts and another time to spend just short of £20 on a bear!!

'Pretty Star' She's well loved already.

CupcakeMumma