Granite and Gesso

 This display has now finished. This was a display in a window in the cafe and focused on the Gansey Collective and their drive to revive the Janner Gansey.  A Gansey is a thick woollen jumper typically worn by fishermen.  Different communities had distinctive patterns that were only used locally, but Plymouth lost their gansey. The Conscious Sisters CIC, supported by the Box and others, worked with local knitters and artists to revive the Plymouth Gansey.  They were able to find two photographs showing original Plymouth ganseys and these were used to redevelop a pattern for the Plymouth Gansey. The display obviously had an example of the Gansey and the pictures that helped revive it but it also contained some tiny little knitted sweaters and some fish.  I particularly liked these! I had known nothing about Ganseys but I really like crafts and think its so important that they are retained.  By doing this research and developing patterns they ensure that the...

 This event has now finished  Luxmuralis events take place across the country.  If you follow them on facebook you can see what events they have coming up.  This the second year that Truro Cathedral has hosted a Luxmuralis display.  Last January we were lucky to see the amazing Space, so we had a pretty good idea what to expect. The event lasted several nights but unfortunately we were unable to go during the week and ended up going early on the Saturday.  It was exceptionally busy.  The first few slots were completely sold out.  On arrival, they were managing access to the event by having people for each time slot queue in different queues and checking their tickets in advance.  The queue for our time slot then went in, in two halves. Backtracking a little, we usually park in the Old Bridge Street car park and then take the path through the Cathedral car park, past the Chapter House.  Due to damage from Storm Goretti, we had to walk the...

 This is an ongoing exhibition We only had a quick look round this gallery, as we were done by this point, there is only so much our brains can absorb.  Although it's an area I am hugely interested in, I also have a pretty good background in it.  This means this introduction is of less interest to me.  It's obviously well produced and visually interesting.  I think it's really important that people get to see these things and learn about the world around them.  I think it is especially important for children.  These types of exhibition absolutely fed in to my early interest in science and environment.  On our first visit, it was absolutely full of families, so it obviously does this well! As you go in you are greeted by Mildred.  Mildred is a lifesize mammoth reproduction and she is just lovely to see.  Apparently she wears seasonal hats and is looking forward to her Easter bonnet. Amongst the geological displays, I was really pleased to...

 This is an ongoing exhibition at the Box. Plymouth as a port has been the starting point of so many epic journeys, for better or worse.  The ships of Cook, Drake and Scott all left from Plymouth, as well as the Mayflower on its voyage to the Americas.  This exhibition looks to divide these journeys up into a few categories, each in a different display case.   There was the lady who delighted in being a tourist and visited nearly every country in the Empire.  She collected many items and left some to the museum.  I loved ornate Asian fabrics.  They are just so beautiful. There were the people that completed grand tours on the continent and brought back souvenirs, such as paintings of places they visited. Many military people have travelled the world from Plymouth and there was a display of items donated from their collections. There as a display about Scott and his expedition.  I particularly liked seeing Hodgson's socks. There was displays a...

 This is an ongoing exhibition at the Box. This exhibition looks at the history of Plymouth from the the people of Whitehorse Hill on Dartmoor to its modern history.  The focus is it's use as a port.  The exhibition was very goo and I learnt a lot.  Not living in Plymouth, much of this was completely new to me. The exhibition began with a film narrated by Dawn French.  It was very cleverly produced with a flat area which often played the part of the sea and a curved backdrop that was often the sky and a few protrusions at the base that often played the part of the land around the harbour.  The film was then projected on to this landscape.   I found this 3D set up very interesting and it really helped me understand the layout of Plymouth. I learnt about the development of Plymouth as a port and how there are as many as 600 shipwrecks around the area.  The port was (and remains) an incredibly busy port but it was vulnerable to the weather....

My husband is a keen cyclist and we started watching documentaries some time ago on GCN (Global Cycling Network).  We often watch documentaries of people doing long distance rides, adventurous rides or extremely challenging ones.  We have also branched out to watching similar documentaries for other sports.  I admire the people who do this very much.  It's obviously difficult but these people train hard and have a certain personality type.  It's obvious to me that the people who are successful at this and making documentaries like this are at the top of their game physically and mentally.  They are adapted to these challenges.  I am not saying they don't find them difficult, that they don't have extreme lows.  I do think though, that they work through it better than the average person. Some of these adventures are supported, so people are not alone and have support and their needs met.  Jenny Graham is the most well known long distance female...

 This gallery features a permanent display of media related items as well as containing a cinema space where a variety of films are screened.  These films change regularly and may be connected to other exhibitions. This room features the audio visual history and will be a popular room with anyone who appreciates these sorts of technical items.  It was interesting to see how technology has come along with many items being familiar, but other versions being before my time.  For instance there was a large display of Televisions, each one different.  I grew up with a small portable TV that had an aerial and a dial to tune in different channels.  These are things I remember, but I imagine must look pretty alien to younger viewers.   It's a room with nostalgia.  This was added to by the series of clips shown across the televisions that featured things I remember seeing before.  I had seen the BBC news piece where they looked at holiday traffic...

 This is an ongoing display In the double height section of the modern extension at The Box, above the Cafe, there hangs a remarkable display of fourteen figureheads.  These Victorian works or art are on loan from the National Museum of the Royal Navy.  They have been painstakingly restored and during this, the decision was made to restore them to colourful perfection. You can observe them from the ground looking up in the cafe, from a slightly higher level in an area adjacent to the shop where you can get up close and personal to Royal William known as King Billy.  My favourite though is the view from the Active Archives mezzanine which takes you alongside the very largest of the figureheads. They have been cleverly hung in a sort of V shape, with a gap at the bottom.  The smallest are hung near the base of the V with the largest at the top of the two arms.  This means you can get a really good look at each figurehead from somewhere in the museum. The figu...

 This exhibition finished on the 11th January 2026 Beryl Cook was familiar to me from an early age, she was a favourite of my mothers and other family friends.  I remember one lady had cuttings, postcards and prints of any Beryl Cook paintings she came across in her downstairs toilet.  It was endlessly fascinating to me.   This exhibition was a rather small taster, a teaser, for the larger exhibition soon to open in St Luke's at the Box.  It featured a number of small displays that included artworks, copies of adverts, leaflets and other material that featured her art.  It was a lovely introduction to her works and an opportunity to see some I had not seen before.  There were maybe five different windows and then also a interview with Beryl was also being shown. I enjoyed the interview and liked Beryl very much.  She came across as a typical middle class British housewife in many ways but yet she had both a naughty streak and a keen interest ...

 This exhibition closed on the 11th January 2026 This exhibition looks at how artists explore conflict and activism.  We first have to remember what has previously happened, because this is important to understand what is happening now.  We then form a response to what is happening and then we resist.  This exhibition looks at these themes across several spaces.  The exhibitions feature works from the British Council Collection and the the exhibition was part of the UK / Poland Season 2025. The first gallery we entered was the one above the 100 Journeys gallery.  This large gallery featured artworks from a number of different artists and included many different medias including sculpture.  The works looked at war and resistance from a number of different artists.  From depictions of people sleeping in the underground stations during WW2 by Henry Moore to a large tapestry by Goshka Macuga 'Make Tofu Not War' that looks at the climate war.  Thi...

 The Box was opened in 2020 and is a lovely merging of the old and new.  They provide spaces for permanent exhibitions with Plymouth as the star as well as temporary exhibitions of national standing.  There are also spaces for research.  All exhibitions are free but you may need to book a ticket for exhibitions that are expected to be busy, to reserve your spot. The original Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery occupied a lovely old building on Drake Circus.  Plymouth Central Library was opened in 1910, but almost immediately, it was too small.  In 1970, the city acquired Luke's Chapel which is just across Tavistock Square and this became an annexe to the Museum.  In 2016 the library moved into a revitalised 70s Building Society building on Mayflower Street.  The original Library and Museum buildings were then redeveloped with the original façade remaining on Drake Circus and a modern extension on the other side on Tavistock Place.  St Luke's also...

 From Cornwall, Plymouth is easy to reach by road.  It's a trip along the A30 to Bodmin then across via the A38 for me.  I love the Glynn Valley, it's such a beautiful road, the only issue is that it is a twisty single carriageway with a heavy flow of traffic.  If there is an accident, everything snarls up.  Further along, it becomes a dual carriageway mostly, but traffic is also joining at this point from Truro and St Austell.  Lastly, as you reach Saltash, traffic also joins from North Cornwall via Callington.  It then all funnels through a tunnel and across the Tamar Bridge. The view from the Tamar Bridge is amazing.  It's a toll bridge and you pay £3 for a car, unless you have a tag.  If you are going to use the bridge regularly it's worth getting a tag.  The bridge is pretty high up and vulnerable to winds. There are two other road routes but they require quite long detours, unless you are over that way.  The first is the Torpo...

 The beautiful museum has been a feature in Exeter for over 150 years, with it's stunning façade of local stone.  Although there had been calls for a museum for some time, it didn't gain momentum until it was decided it should be a memorial to Prince Albert following his death.  It was extended several times and then more recently a new gallery, entrance and courtyard were added. The building originally included a library, college and art school but over time, these moved out.  The museum had quickly become overwhelmed with the collections.  Many remain on site but a significant proportion are stored at the Ark in Marsh Barton.  Like many museums, they can only display a tiny proportion of their items at any one time. It's a stunning building with a grand front entrance that leads into a stunning lobby with a grand staircase.  On the first landing of the staircase, halfway up, there is a statue of Prince Albert.  When I visited, the statue was loo...

 This exhibition runs until the 22nd March 2026 Gallery 20 features displays from the Fine Art Collection.  There are too many pieces of art in the collection to ever have them all on display so a regularly changing selection from the collection is displayed in this gallery. The current exhibition features prints, paintings, photographs and sketches featuring food.  Obviously food is really important to us!  The art on display was hugely varied. I must admit, I often find fine art tricky.  When people have so much skill that they can produce something that looks perfect, I admire their skill, but it sometimes leaves me unmoved.  I may, or may not find it interesting or beautiful.  Without a real and deep understanding of it's story, I may well find the art...  un-absorbing.... I increasingly find that I enjoy more modern art.  I like colours and geometry. I appreciate the opportunity to see such masterful pieces of art but I think my uneducat...

 The Finders Keepers gallery at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum is situated on the first floor and is mostly a permanent display.   People have a habit of collecting things, it's something people still do and many people have in the past left their collections to museums.  This gallery focuses on some of the collections it has and each part of the display gave an example of the items in a particular collection and then a little bit about the person who collected them and the why and how of the collection.  Some people, like Victorian naturalists set out to deliberately specimens of species they were interested in.  Their collecting habits can be horrifying to us now as they collected multiple specimens of species that are now endangered or even extinct.   It isn't all specimens though, there was a naturalist who documented the life he found in tidal pools in a series of drawings.  It wasn't even all Victorian naturalists.  There were pe...

 This exhibition ended on the 4th January I managed to squeeze in a visit just before this exhibition ended and I was really pleased that I did.  It cost £6 to go in and took up galleries 21 and 22.   The first section of the exhibition consisted of art showing landscapes, animals and plants.  In amongst these was a video showing photographs on a loop.  These photographs included things like plants growing amongst rubbish or through cracks in concrete, animals such as butterflies and birds. signs about conservation areas or conservation efforts.  These photographs gave important context to what was being asked with the art in this room.  What is wild?  What landscapes count as wild and just how wild are they?  Does it matter how wild they are in terms of deciding their ecological value?  How wild is the pigeon or the hawk?  How do we define wildness so we can keep a little around, because it really is beautiful....  and we...

 Exeter is pretty much at the limit for a comfortable day trip for me and because of this, I really have not been there many times.  In fact, this was my first ever visit to the city centre.  I have been to the theatre and gigs at the Uni.  We often stop at the service station on our way to and from Cornwall.  Once many years ago, I even went to a club in Exeter.  There are closer places to shop. I am sure there are plenty of parking places if you choose to drive.  I am sure you can get a long distance bus.  I got the train.  Exeter St Davids is on the Penzance to London Paddington mainline.  This station is not in the centre of the city though, Exeter Central is.   Exeter has three branchlines.  You can go to Barnstaple or Okehampton via Crediton or in the other direction you can go to Exmouth.  Exeter has an unusually high number of train stations for it's size because of this.  As well as Exeter St Davids and ...