March – The Landscape at Compton Verney

March presented some foggy, atmospheric days which in their own right can be really special – if a little hard to capture on camera! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb

Warmth from the March sunshine is, as always very welcome, bursting here into the coppice. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb

With the spring sunshine of course came visitors to the Moore Rodin exhibition. It was fascinating to see a ‘desire line’ develop between the sculptures as people moved through the exhibits. However, with a particularly good growing season developing, the grass grew rapidly ensuring good repair – all remained green and pleasant! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

Those who visited Compton Verney during the fairer months of 2014 will have encountered ‘the twelfth plinth,’ which proved a real success, allowing visitors to strike their own sculptural pose – although I can’t figure out which pose this is! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

Whilst the lawn areas were busy with visitors, work continued elsewhere in the grounds with some coppicing work shown here (+ follow up bonfire!) There’s a handful of areas that have become overgrown with bland, lifeless soil beneath. We’re continually improving these shrubbery areas with selective cutting back and re-planting. In time they will become more interesting themselves; helping ultimately to control views to key vistas in the landscape. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

During 2014 mowing became something of a challenge – a noisy ride-on mower not adding anything positive when quietly contemplating sculpture! Adam found a way through the issue however, keeping the lawns looking as good as ever throughout the exhibition. In this image, the rock presents an altogether different obstacle! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

A lone plum blossoms in the coppice, although fruit once again failed to appear in any quantity. The recent planting also put on good growth during 2014 as roots are finally starting to make themselves at home. Additional plants are planned for 2015 to further enhance this area. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

Of course, with much of the grounds focus towards those impressive sculptures, it would be easy to overlook the background efforts towards the Heritage Lottery funding project called Re-Viewing the Landscape, a key part of which is the restoration of the chapel. Much work was happening behind the scenes to detail and cost the project, and also to raise the all-important match funding; without which the project couldn’t move forward – a mammoth achievement for the development team indeed. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

And one final image for March, showing just one of the countless photographic opportunities created with the sculpture in the landscape. New picture opportunities were created all over the grounds and I can’t imagine how many pictures were taken over the course of the exhibition – thousands for sure! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014