Art trip to the sculpture park

Art students from across courses went to North Devon to visit one of the region’s major arts centers. Broomhill lies in one of the most glorious valleys in North Devon surrounded by hundreds of acres of beautiful woodland and bound by its own stream. Rinus & Aniet Van de Sande moved to Bromhill in 1997 from Holland and created the Bromhill Art Hotel and Sculpture Garden.

The once beautiful gardens, neglected for decades, were developed over the past 5 years into a sculpture park with national recognition. 300 sculptures by 60 sculptors are sited in 10 acres. A wonderful balance is found between art and nature and the winding paths will take you to sculptures in woodland gardens and the trout lake.

The woodland gardens provide all year round interest and are particularly beautiful in the spring with a succession of spring flowers including snowdrops, daffodils, primroses, bluebells and azaleas. Two magnificent magnolia grandiflora are a feature of the terrace producing huge scented flowers.

We made the trip up to North Devon which was familiar to us because it was near where we went on our residential trips. It’s a lovely part of Devon with great little towns and lots of stunning coastline. The sculpture park is situated in a forested area and this adds so much to the experience because it feels like you are walking around in a strange dream. Plus, you are never sure what’s around the corner.

The weather was awful as we left Torquay so we were all really happy when the weather improved as much of the park is outside. We had the most amazing lunch prepared for us and the café area was a great place to relax in.

The park has many artists who display works some from the UK but many international artists with a huge range of styles. Some tackle very serious issues while others have a little more fun which again adds to the dream like feeling you get as you walk around. Seeing so many interesting styles and on such a grand scale has really inspired students and it was a fantastic day.