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Sunday 17 July 2016

Trip to Oxford.Picture heavy post


 So.
We went to Oxford for a couple of days. Stayed in a cheap and cheerful Travelodge with a saggy bed but it was ok.
Our main reason was to visit 'Art in Action' the very last one. 
We've been a few times before and had always said we'd go again, and as it was the last it was now or never.
Its a feast of every kind of art. Painting , print, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and so on. It was wonderful. 
Here are a few photos.
I took this one for my son's friend who does drawings on the underground. (I'll credit this photo when I find the catalogue!)

It was delightful to sit under lovely trees and listen to the music.




 The Gardens at Waterperry nearly made me cry. 
I wish wish wish I could grow things like this.


 I have one delphinium which hasn't yet flowered!


Please enjoy these garden pictures. Sigh....




The sculpture area 






In the Textile Tent I saw Carol Naylor, who once gave a workshop to our textile group and stayed with us.
I also met Este McCloud whose paintings I have long admired.

I can't begin to convey the loveliness of Art in Action. 
So sad it's over.

 In the evenings of our trip we dined in lovely places found by my husband who was tasked with finding said beautiful places.
The Perch, Binsey was one such.

 Lovely place, delicious food.


You could walk through fairy-lit arches to the river.



 Not mad on this picture 
but it shows the fairy lights.

 Oxford is a place I have often driven past and never explored. It's truly beautiful with so much history (obviously.) 
I popped into a church where Cardinal Newman had preached and Gerard Manley Hopkins had been curate. 
Just there..just passed by and there it was..amazing.

I liked this alternative to a brass plaque on a door, such a beautiful stone carving to announce yourself.


 We met my cousin's daughter  and her daughter in The Barefoot Bakery Jericho,where we ate lovely toasted banana bread and I bought a super blouse in a charity shop. Very very lovely stuff in Oxford Charity shops! Noa-Noa, Toast, White Stuff, Gudrun Sjodern.
Here are Freya and Fiona in the cafe.

The cakes were delish.

 I was envious of the vegetation which springs out of every crevice voluntarily. 
Imagine the trouble I'd have trying to grow hollyhocks in my garden?


 And my cousin had an 'accidental artichoke' in her garden!!!I don't think I could grow one deliberately.


 Then we set off for the Ashmolean Museum.

I'd wanted to visit since I did a research project on The Minoans when I was at College, and it wasn't disappointing. Many of the objects are reconstructions but it didn't matter. There was so much to see.



After the Archeology we looked at the paintings and found a concertina-playing sailor in this Holman Hunt painting.


After lunch in the (sadly over-rated) rooftop restaurant we tootled along the road to the Pitt-Rivers museum
The first part is spectacular enough, the natural history section.

My husband was a bit worn out by then so became a specimen himself for a few minutes.


Many many bones.




A beautiful building.


Then we went through to the actual Pitt-Rivers bit. I was blown away. It has hundreds of glass cases each holding many artefacts from all over the world. I wish I could remember all the different categories. A lot of photos follow to give an idea of what we saw.

A case of combs







Masks



Votive tokens


A garment which looked like silk but was made from seal intestines..aleuit.


Bark cloths


Bells rattles and xylophones.

Lamellaphones are a kind of Jews harp mouth instrument.

Lutes

Harps

Spindles


Don't know what this is, but it's so cute.


As is this!


Masks..again..different ones!


Eel and rat traps and one was a hedgehog trap



Sieves...sieves!

Axe heads. I took this because we found a similar one on the beach at Cley in Norfolk years ago.


an of course a  hat made from a fish!


Skates and snowshoes!


Carved spoons


More combs

General view showing the totem pole.


A case full of things made from recycled materials. Guitar!

Mind boggling and I'll never feel as if my house is cluttered again. I have my own little Pitt rivers type collection here you know! Butter paddles, rolling pins, scissors.....

I could spend days and days in the Pitt Rivers and more days in the Ashmolean. Both are free, the staff are fabulous in both and children are welcomed in both.

On the third days after visiting my cousin at home, we went into town and saw many sights and sounds and really too many people. 
I was glad to get out. 
Here's a young man doing a show on top of a telephone box, as 
you do.

So Oxford was wonderful and we enjoyed every minute but its always nice to be home isn't it?
And breathe....

15 comments:

  1. I was in Oxford both times I was in England - alas, I don't remember a whole lot about it, other than being impressed with the architecture and the fact that there was a piece of grass that absolutely no one was allowed to walk on (evidently hadn't been allowed for centuries)...which led to the question in my mind as to how on earth they would cut it.

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  2. What a wonderful trip. I was sad not to have made it to Art in Action this year but couldn't have stood and walked all day on this wretched ankle. And I've never been to Oxford!

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  3. My goodness, yes, what a mind-blowing assemblage!

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  4. I so enjoyed your trip. Thanks for sharing it.
    Hugs

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  5. You certainly didn't waste time on your trip to Oxford. I feel as if I had been there with you. So many wonderful things to see and take on board and plenty of inspiration. Thank you for sharing it all.

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  6. What a fabulous trip. I loved Oxford on the two brief visits I had there, sadly did not make it to the Ashmolean. that would probably have needed another couple of days!!!
    The gardens look so beautiful, but don't despair - the people there might be able to grow flowers, but I'll bet they can't make felt like yours!

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  7. Loved your post, I never managed to get to art in action, I won't get the opportunity now! I visited Oxford when I was very young but don't really remember much about it, I think it must go on the list of places to visit......

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  8. I know Oxford primarily from detective series...on the murder mystery circuit, Oxford is known as the most deadly place to live :-). Would love to is it one day, but I truly enjoyed your trip!

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  9. Jeanette we didn't see a single murder. The death toll may be overrated.

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  10. Lovely to see all your pictures of my city. The flowers growing in Jericho are at the college that I worked at. Was it the MIND shop, if so I have had some great finds in there too. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

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  11. Looks and sounds like a truly wonderful trip! I wish I could grow hollyhocks in my garden too, they are soooo pretty.. thanks for all the lovely photos x

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  12. I do enjoy both reading and looking at your blog. It's lovely to see pictures of the "old country" Thank you.

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  13. Great to see Oxford thru others' eyes. Gutted to have missed A in A as that's where my eyes were really opened but that beautiful border will hopefully always be there. My grandfather worked at Pitt Rivers as his retirement job - the totempole was my favorite, the shrunken heads not! My hollyhock has finally flowered!

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  14. Great to see Oxford thru others' eyes. Gutted to miss A in A as that's where my eyes were really opened - that flower border will still be there hopefully. My grandfather's retirement job was at Pitt Rivers, the totem pole was my favorite, the shrunken heads not! My hollyhock has finally flowered ;)

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