A Visit to Paradise

A cold and damp day was left behind in order to visit paradise, located for now at The Queen's Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. It's an exhibition called: Painting Paradise; the art of the garden. It's a beautiful show incorporating not just paintings but also ceramics, botanical drawings and even beautifully embroidered chairs. I loved the audio tour the gallery provides for visitors. It was very informative and also had lovely music to accompany the exhibits. The catalogue too is gorgeous although I recommend buying it after visiting the show. It's a very hefty tome and you don't want to carry it around while looking at the exhibition.

At the entrance to the gallery there are two facing doors, featuring the lion and the unicorn respectively, symbols of the United Kingdom, the lion being the one for England and the unicorn for Scotland. The unicorn is accompanied by a view of Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park while the lion features Edinburgh Castle and the skyline of Edinburgh.

The show will continue till the 26th February so plenty of time for a visit. I then treated myself to a cup of tea and a scone in the coffee shop next door before walking back to the car park nearby in the streaming rain.

It was good to get out of the house, that feels so very empty at the moment.