Dinefwr Park & Castle Land Art Project

(Page 2 of 2)

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With the exhibition in the Old Laundry up and running Pat turned her attention back to the  ‘Celtic Circle’ she was constructing in the grounds of the Dinefwr estate.

After forming the basic willow ring she shielded the rather ugly but necessary wooden frame that held it upright but which hardly entered the structure of the circle itself. The initial shielding was done with a simple, flat type of loose hurdling but later she expanded this to form a structure similar to an overturned Welsh fishing coracle - an ancient, very small boat used on rivers and estuaries.

 

When the circle was finished it formed a double-sided viewing position; from one side it looked away along the edge of the imposing house, through a shallow, gently falling valley (often the place of pasture for the famous Dinefwr White Cattle, a herd that can trace its roots back to the time of the Welsh King who lived on the site of the castle above) and also where the park deer frequently come to graze, on and over the landscape to the distant hills and the almost elfin-like Paxton’s Tower, a folly that can be seen for miles around - a beautiful, man-made view.

 

From the other side the circle looked back into the ancient woodland, full of ancient trees that, even so, are young compared to the woodland itself which was probably walked through by stone-age, bronze-age and iron-age folk who eventually looked with awe upon the Roman Fort that was constructed close by within the present park’s grounds.

 

In this way the circle served also as a kind of Time Machine . . .

 

The first photograph (above) shows two of the children who attended the Family Fun Day (and had discovered the ‘secret’ tower room) gazing down on to the ‘Celtic Circle’ in the grounds below.

 

During their lessons with Pat Bullen-Whatling they had each made a miniature ‘Celtic Circle’ either of woven materials or, for the younger ones, a cut out cardboard circle decorated with smaller coloured objects which they had studiously glued on. Pat then walked with them out to the circle in the grounds, instructing them to hold up their own circles on the way and to look through them, teaching them to frame a view themselves and look into it - almost as an artist or a film director does when framing their next ‘take’.

 

Three groups of children attended the workshops and, though the weather was broken, they made the best of it and clearly and noisily enjoyed themselves!

 

The second photograph (above) shows the construction of the ‘Celtic Circle’s’ base and the view beyond - and the third photograph (below) shows the children suddenly and spontaneously bursting into applause as they thanked Pat for the fun they had enjoyed.

 

Each of them took their circles (and perhaps some happy memories) home with them - and though Pat and the Dinefwr staff who worked with her were thoroughly worn out they were also thoroughly charmed by the joyful energy of the children.

 

The ‘Celtic Circle’ itself, which was only about 50 yards (or metres) from the main gates at the front of the house, proved very popular with adults too and many who later visited the main exhibition in the Old Laundry room had already paused there to admire it. Indeed it proved so popular that, although it was only planned to leave it standing for the length of the exhibition, it remained there until January 2010 - still proudly directing the viewer’s gaze out (and into) the beautiful Welsh landscape.

 

Pat would like to offer her very great and heartfelt appreciation to all those who attended and also, and very importantly, to all the staff of the National Trust, both from Newton House, Dinefwr Park and Castle and those from further afield, who made both the Land Art and the internal exhibition possible and who offered sage advice, friendship and welcome and kind comments on her work. It might seem rare to meet such a lovely group of people in one place these days - but she suspects, now, that amongst National Trust staff it is not!

 

Please click here to read Page One of the story.

Please click here to read about the internal exhibition.

Please click here to read some of the visitors’ comments.

Please click here to see more extraordinary photos of the ‘Celtic Circle’