It was a lovely Spring morning as I, along with Meg and Gracie headed off to Castle Howard for a walk around the grounds and have a look at the Tony Craggs futuristic Sculpture exhibition, which runs from the 3^rd May to 22^nd September 2024, and as well as the sculptures, I wanted to photograph the Tulips and Rhododendrons which are in full flower at the moment.

It was just after 9.15am as we left the car in the car park and headed to the café for a coffee and piece of cake, before our walk around the grounds. I was surprised as to how busy the café was at that time in the morning as the house doesn’t open till a little later, anyway, suitably refreshed we crossed the courtyard to the ticket office where I collected a special map showing where the sculptures are sited around the grounds.  

A warm sunny day was forecast, the hazy sun was tying to break through the early morning mist, and the sky was blue with a light scattering of white wispy clouds.

It was only a short walk on to the North lawn to see the first of the works of art, two stainless steel sculptures set on a concrete base, overlooking the North lake, entitled ‘Points of View’. Just over a hundred yards from the first one is the second, a huge sculpture, standing at 6.5 metres tall, white, and made from fibre glass, entitled ‘Senders’. Again, it was another short walk to the third sculpture which was situated on the lawn close to the North entrance to the house. This piece is much shorter than the last, made from Bronze and entitled ‘Masks’. It consists of two forms pushed tightly into each other to create an image of inseparability. It is a steady walk through the wrought iron gates and up the slope into ‘Ray Wood’ to the reservoir which feeds the ‘Atlas Fountain’. Set on the ornate plinth in the middle of the reservoir is the fourth sculpture, entitled ‘Over the Earth’, it is just as well it is made from fibreglass. Its shape and form reflect nicely in the water below.  

Before going in search of the next sculpture, I continued my walk through the wood to admire the beautiful colours of the Rhododendrons which were in full flower, the colours and scents were quite spell binding. We came out of ‘Ray Wood’ at ‘The Temple of the Four Winds’, no matter how hard I looked I could not find the ‘Eroded Landscape’ sculpture at the Temple, it wasn’t until I returned home that I read the sculpture here was actually inside the Temple! We continued our walk back along the ‘Temple Terrace’ passing ‘Earl Forms of St Gallen’, another large Bronze elongated sculpture measuring 5.5 metres and weighing approximately 2.5 tonnes. Continuing our walk along the terrace we passed ‘Versus’, a vibrant orange painted Bronze sculpture, suggestive of the burning fires of the sun. Heading down to the South Lake stands the ‘Runner’, this large Bronze sculpture presents zig zagging columns of profiles. Finally, the last sculpture and my favourite, ‘Industrial Nature’ a colourful, vibrant piece, consisting of a cluster of petals and propellors, sitting on the South lawn between the Atlas Fountain and the main house. I didn’t see the ‘Points of View’ sculptures inside the colonnade, hopefully I will find them on my next visit.

After leaving ‘Industrial Nature’ we headed back onto the South lawn to take some photographs of the beautiful bright orange tulips which were in full flower in the raised beds, they certainly made for a lovely picture with the house in the background. From here we had a gentle stroll through the walled garden before ending up back in the courtyard for a very nice late brunch with Meg and Gracie in the Courtyard restaurant before the journey home.