At last, it stopped raining! On one of those quiet days at home, I had read my emails more assiduously than usual, even taking the time to take in details of an exhibition from one of those monthly mailings that seem to come far more frequently than that. Somehow, we’d missed an interesting sounding exhibition at a local gallery which was closing soon. Might we squeeze in a visit?

We had already made arrangements to meet friends at the cinema for this weekend’s MetOpera Live. Neither of us knew Fedora, but always enjoy discovering new and interesting works like this, so were looking forward to Saturday evening. Perhaps we could get tickets for the gallery on Sunday and make for a weekend of culture?

Common Ground had been there since October, so quite how we’d missed it, who knows. Never mind, we secured our tickets and on Sunday morning headed off in glorious sunshine.

Sad to say, we were a little disappointed.

The concept was interesting and the execution, on first look, fascinating.

The detail and the artistry was first class.

It was just a little laboured. I mean, once we’d seen the first river “leaking lines”, did we need to see another? And another, each one created in the same way, simply with a different source.

The same was true of the next exhibit, which consisted of ten very similar hangings, each one created to the same formula.

Yes, we got it.

The panels to the side translated the braille phrases, adding to what my Hero described as the “preachiness” of the works here. It wasn’t really what either of us had been expecting.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the poster piece, which extended over the whole of the gallery wall.

But generally speaking, the content here was a bit thin.

Never mind. We can always find comfort here at Compton Verney.

A visit to our favourite Chinese vessel always lifts the spirits and we couldn’t come here without paying a visit.

Around the corner too, was a collection of Dutch flower paintings. This wasn’t something we’d have made a special visit to see, but since they were here, let’s take a look.

Firstly, how old these paintings were! Still fresh and filled with vibrant colour though.

Especially this one in its extraordinarily brave frame! We enjoyed wandering through this small show, hung in dark, black walled rooms and turned the corner into the last of these galleries.

The ka-pow moment! The last exhibit was a modern piece by PomPom Factory which prompted an instant response from us both. Oh my…after all the virtuous art that we had come to see and the collection of fine Dutch paintings we’d just worked our way through, it was a gaudy arrangement of paper flowers that hit the spot!

Judging from the wall of floral creations made by visitors, we were not the only ones to have been inspired by what we’d just seen.

Time to make our way back to the car, then, over the beautiful bridge and through the Capability Brown landscape where currently, some installations by Morag Myerscough are creating a talking point. Not with us though, for our focus was on the roast chicken we were looking forward to, it being Sunday and all of that. The fresh air had made us both hungry!