I was on the wooded slopes of the Holywood hills during the week.

Not that Hollywood.

Our Holywood, with one ‘l’, overlooks Belfast Lough and across to the County Antrim coastline.  For once, I was more interested in my immediate surroundings.

Originally, Culloden Estate was built as an official palace for the Bishops of Down, in 12 acres of beautiful secluded gardens and woodland and is only 6 miles from Belfast City Centre.  Culloden Estate and Spa is now a 5 star hotel.  It was built in 1876 and took two and a half years to complete, and most of the stone came from Scotland by boat, arriving in the County Down fishing village of Portaferry and being brought to the site by horse and cart.

Not sure I would like this guy outside my front door.

Ninth Life

This bronze sculpture was the work of Barry Callaghan, it was commissioned by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 1992 and made available to Culloden Estate & Spa.

I am hoping to have a few more lives left before I reach my ninth!

In this life, my reason to visit was for ‘Art In The Garden‘, the first event of its kind in Northern Ireland.  In association with the Culloden, Gormleys Fine Art were hosts of the event.  A veritable feast of over 100 sculptures – some life size and others suitable for indoor display.

Every corner you turned or every pathway you followed provided a veritable feast.

The marquee was the display area for the smaller items.

Over the next few Sundays I will focus on some of the pieces.