Et in Arcadia ego

Last week we spent a few days at Grandma and Grandad's. One day it looked like a small ray of sunshine was threatening to poke its thumb through a cloud so we grabbed our brollies and headed off to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. What an amazing place! Bill Packer of the Financial Times described it as "probably the finest exhibition site for sculpture in the world". While I can't claim to have visited the alternatives, I'd be inclined to agree with Bill. With Hepworths peppered across a hill, a sculpture by Richard Long reclining by a lake and numerous Henry Moore pieces popping out between sheep in a meadow, a backdrop of Yorkshire countryside and a faint smell of silage in the July air, what more could a northerner ask for? West Yorkshire has produced more than its fair share of iconic sculptors, and boasts Hepworth and Moore amongst its famous sons and daughters. It is therefore wonderful that the county houses such a great collection... and the pieces look utterly at home in their surroundings: aptly signposted Arcadia (in poetic fantasy Arcadia represents a pastoral paradise).

The Sculpture Park was also great for Culturebaby. The site comprises around 500 acres of countryside with hills, animals, lakes, a country house and sculptures popping up round every corner. There are good paths, most of which are pram and wheelchair friendly and fabulous views. She bounced with excitement in her pram as we walked around.





Our three favourite things from this visit were:

1. The first major UK exhibition of sculpture by Joan Miró, which contained some wonderful, bright sculptures in primary colours, and large images. Culturebaby was really interested in these, and the only disappointment was that she wasn't able to reach out and touch the exciting textured surfaces!
2. In the Orangery we stumbled upon William Pye's Offspring. This was the highlight of the whole trip for Culturebaby and a fantastic sensory experience. The sculpture, in polished mirrored steel, is a large waterfeature with water running down the surface. She was able to touch the sculpture, put her hands into the water, splash and view herself in the distorted reflective surfaces. She spent a long time with the work, babbling away at it, and continually reaching out.
3. I'm rather a fan of Richard Long's work. He speaks both to my inner archaeologist and art historian with his themes of walking and creatively leaving marks on the landscape. (For a good book on this see Renfrew's Figuring it Out.) In a beautiful spot by the lake we found Red Slate Line (1986). Perhaps it was because it was a glorious day, but the red of the slate, though incongruous with its surroundings, helped to pick out the purple of the foxgloves, the trees and the lake, lending the scene an otherworldly quality. The walk there was exciting for Culturebaby, along the side of the lake, passing a number of interesting works, and we had great fun exploring the site itself. The loop from there back to the car also took us through a meadow with sheep and Henry Moore sculptures.

A couple of hours was nowhere near enough to scratch the surface of the park (particularly given that we rather misjudged our explorations and had to dash up a rather steep hill at the end - we must have looked rather a sight (at least to the curious sheep) - a trail of increasingly flustered bodies taking it in turns to push a pram), but it served to whet our appetites. For all of us it was an ideal combination of fresh air and nature, art and entertainment. Next time I think a few more hours will be required...

These are a few of my favourite things: Music

Right from the day we brought Culturebaby back from hospital she's always shown a real interest in music. When we laid her on a rug in her first couple of days and put on my retro Fisher Price record player musical box next to her (thank you mum the hoarder...), it was amazing to watch her turn and follow the sound. This week has also been rather a musical watershed. Culturebaby has begun spontaneously bouncing and dancing along whenever she hears music. It's incredibly cute, and very exciting to watch.

Whilst music is a subject of lively debate and contention in our household, (I stand by my lifelong love for Paul McCartney despite ridicule from a number of quarters), and it is possible that Culturebaby will grow up with rather schizophrenic tastes that will range from 90's Northern Indie and 60's Rock and Roll, to UK Independent hip-hop, jazz, classical, Motown and a dash of cheesy musical thrown in, I hope that our combined enthusiasm will at least have some effect.


The Science

There is some evidence to show that babies can hear and are affected by music played to them in the womb, and can remember it up to a year after birth. From around 20 weeks, babies can hear, although this will be muffled by the liquid and tissue around them (like listening to music while underwater). In a well known (and mildly worrying) experiment, Peter Hepper of Queens Belfast showed that newborns seemed to respond and stop crying when the theme tune of Neighbours was played to them if their mothers had watched it regularly during pregnancy. Those whose mothers hadn't, showed no reaction. I'll know I'm to blame if Culturebaby displays an unexplained and slightly misplaced patriotism towards the United States, or a tendency to overly verbose and precocious musings on life during adolescence (The West Wing and Dawson's Creek kept me sane through several weeks of horrendous sickness)!

There is certainly rather a lot of debate on the internet about whether playing classical music to babies pre and post-birth helps their brain development. Some believe that it does, others question the evidence, but it is believed that listening to music reduces stress for a pregnant mother, which (if anyone had as rotten and puke-themed a pregnancy as me) can only be a good thing for mother and baby (for an interesting article on this see here), plus, of course, listening to and playing music as a child (while it may or may not make you better at map reading or maths), is likely to make you more musically adept.

I was, therefore, not one of those mothers who lay on the couch with earphones blasting out Mozart strapped to my belly (I was too busy hugging the loo, navigating the London tube system in the heat of summer, finishing work and trying to stay awake long enough to get through dinner)... but simply, playing instruments, singing and listening to music has provided a huge amount of happiness in my life, and this is what I want for my little lady and I've tried to introduce this to her in a number of ways.

Here's some of the ways that Culturebaby and I enjoy music together:

1. Turning our days into a musical: It doesn't really matter how well or badly you sing. Babies love and recognise their mother's voice and enjoy the attention and chance for reciprocal communication. Culturebaby absolutely loves being sung to. It wakes her up or helps to calm her, sends her to sleep or gets her excited. We have songs for everything, from fabulous classics to the amateurish addition of new words to stolen tunes. It doesn't really matter to her. She happily gurgles along in rather a sing-song way, and has done from a few months old. One of my favourite videos of her is lying on her (musically talented) uncle's knee at a couple of weeks old, staring intently at him as he played on her brand new Ukulele and sang the Beatles to her. Interesting research also shows that singing traditional lullabies and nursery rhymes to babies and infants before they learn to speak, is "an essential precursor to later educational success and emotional wellbeing" as "... song is a special type of speech" and "...lullabies, songs and rhymes of every culture carry the 'signature' melodies and inflections of a mother tongue, preparing a child's ear, voice and brain for language."
2. Going to music classes: There are so many music classes available for babies that it can be rather overwhelming. We attend a simple and lovely weekly drop-in session with a woman, a guitar and a basketful of percussion instruments. The babies and toddlers seem to love it, and it provides an excellent chance for me to revise long-forgotten tunes and rhymes.
3. Learning action songs: We attend a wonderful baby signing class which uses music and British Sign Language to provide another opportunity for early communication for babies. The local library and childrens' centres also run free rhyme time and music sessions with lots of fun action songs. Even if Culturebaby can't do much more than wave and shake her maracas at present, she adores watching older toddlers dancing and doing the signs. I can see her trying to move with them and it is clearly an inspiration for her to join in.
4. Experiencing live music: This can be rather tricky as concerts are not always the most appropriate places for babies! I recently considered strapping my bottle-rejecting little lady to my front to attend the Stone Roses reunion tour in Manchester, but of course in the end I sold my ticket, had a little weep and carried on... If you are in London there are some great opportunities to attend tailored classical concerts, but I've found that Culturebaby just loves any live music, from bands at weddings to hymns at mass. This week we've been visiting her uncle and had a couple of brilliant times together when he played the guitar and she bounced around and moved her legs to the music. Amusingly on our return journey, when we put on one of his recorded tracks, she stopped crying and started tapping her foot.
5. Dancing together: I don't quite have two left feet, but I'm no ballerina. However, fortunately, at this stage the little ones are not that picky and Culturebaby is completely delighted every time we dance together. It's one giant, exciting chance for either great exercise or a cuddle and we both have a penchant for a bit of Ella Fitzgerald at the end of a long day...
6. Music to sleep to: We have a great baby monitor that plays soothing classics at bedtime. It really helps Culturebaby to calm down and prepare to fall asleep. Even more welcome - with a touch of a (lovely lovely) remote button - it often helps to get her back to sleep if she wakes in the night. Musical mobiles also provide an ideal combination of sights and sounds for little babies and can be attached above a cot. We've customised ours to keep the music and change the mobile attachment from time to time (as babies clearly get a bit bored of looking at the the same thing hanging over their head after a couple of weeks).
7. Singing along to books: There are some great, and beautifully illustrated books of nursery rhymes and songs - from the classics (such as those by Kate Greenaway), song books with feely textures, my dusted off childhood favourites (such as Oh Soldier Soldier and The Hums of Pooh), to new versions such as Doing The Animal Bop and Whoosh around the Mulberry Bush.
8. Watching little clips: Culturebaby doesn't really watch TV - I don't think she needs it - but I do make the exception for occasional song clips and videos. She bounces with excitement when we watch and sing along to tunes from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music or Disney classics.
9. Playing musical instruments: I've always had a rather bizarre habit of collecting musical instruments in every country I've visited on holiday, plus there are so many gorgeous and affordable wooden percussion instruments for children I've encountered that we've amassed quite a collection. Our basket of instruments is one of the most versatile of our sets of toys and is as exciting to four year old visitors as babies - and can entertain them both at once (excellent for babysitting duty). Whatever we are listening to, from The Beach Boys to Beethoven, we get our instruments out and shake them along. The best musical instruments are always the simple and natural ones - and Culturebaby seems to prefer these to more snazzy electronic versions. Some of the best items in our basket are: A Ukulele, rainmakers, a wooden painted shakey egg (absolute favourite), various sleigh and hand bells, shakers, castanets, maracas, a couple of tambourines, drums and a monkey drum, a xylophone and a mini-piano.
10.  Visiting exciting musical places: There are many great museums with the opportunity to try out musical instruments. We already wrote about the fantastic collection of interactive musical instruments at the Horniman Museum, the chance to try a Grand piano at Dunham Massey and the sound garden at Stockwood Discovery Centre. We've also recently found a real old cinema organ to try in St Albans Museum's exhibition about the old Odeon.
11. Making classical music exciting: When I was a baby, my mum used to introduce a new classical piece every week. She'd play it every day and I'd learn to recognise it. It must have worked well as I can still remember the excitement of acting out Grieg's In The Hall of the Mountain King- creeping round and round the lounge, progressively faster and having to dive behind the chair and hide before the door to the mountain closed! Babies learn from repetition and I've been trying this idea out with Culturebaby. I thought I'd acquaint her with her 1/8th Cossack, so this week we've been listening to Prokofiev's Troika. This is such an amazing and exciting piece for anyone (and encapsulates the excitement of Christmas perfectly!). Culturebaby has begun to recognise it as it starts, smile and laugh and shake her sleigh bells. There are times she has also focused her gaze on the speakers and babbled until it has been turned on again. We've varied what we've done as we have listened to it and used percussion, humming, dancing and even watched videos of it on You Tube. It's been hugely rewarding and, I think my mother's idea will be resurrected as a weekly tradition. Hmm... what for this week?

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."(Ray Charles)

There's no place like home

Yesterday we went to Manchester Museum with CultureGrandad. I've mentioned in a previous post that one of my enduring memories of my childhood was my love affair with this museum. Though quite a bit has changed, and at times I felt the sort of disorientation one feels when a much loved house is redecorated, the place still feels like home, and I wandered around (coincidentally wearing my ruby slippers), bombarded by a flurry of wonderful memories. One of the things I adore about this fabulous collection is that it is a melting pot of so many types of museum under one roof. It has natural and ancient history, dinosaurs and minerals, anthropology and live animals. As a child this provided hours and hours of interest on a regular basis, and (for better or worse) it is completely responsible for my ongoing obsession with Egypt.

So it was not a surprise to me that this fantastic museum provided one of Culturebaby's most exciting experiences to date. We went to visit the vivarium. This was one of my favourite areas as a child and once contained an alligator and some large snakes. These are no longer living there, but there is an excellent and colourful collection of frogs and lizards. I think it was a bit tricky for Culturebaby to spot some of the more camouflaged or still creatures but she found other tanks extremely exciting. She waggled her legs and stroked the glass of the flooded Amazonian rain forest. This was fascinating with water vapour recreating damp rain and lush green foliage with lizards and frogs. She also seemed to be trying to splash the water in the tank with the tadpoles. However, we couldn't have imagined what was waiting for us round the corner. The Museum has recently acquired a vibrant young Panther Chameleon. This little chap is apparently the exact same age as Culturebaby, a little over 8 months, and perhaps it recognised a peer or potential playmate as she looked into the glass. It saw her, moved down the tank onto the glass next to her hand, peered back at her and reached out its own hand under hers. This was such an amazing moment that it gathered rather a crowd and I think will remain a rather magical memory for us!

We were then really pleasantly surprised to find that we had stumbled across the time that the public are able to meet and touch some of the animals. Apparently the museum tries to do this between 3 and 4pm in quiet times during the week (not school holidays). There were a number of children present and they each (along with Culturebaby) were able to stroke the very tolerant and friendly lizards who are available for handling. Again this was an unexpected and thrilling sensory experience for her.

I'm not going to talk about the rest of the museum in this post, but bear with me a moment as I go slightly off brief to rave about a wonderful and highly original exhibition the museum has at present for slightly older children. As a child I wanted to be an Egyptologist and, unlike most children perhaps, I never grew out of this. I could only have in my wildest dreams imagined at the age of 7 that such an exhibition as Unearthed would be available. While the mummies section of the Museum is being revamped (due to reopen in the Autumn), the curators have thoughtfully provided a quality temporary exhibition on Egypt aimed at Key Stage 2. However, with some parental support I think the intelligent 3 or 4 year old would also get something really valuable from the experience. You enter the exhibition to a video of Dr Digby (played on film by Terry Deary, author of Horrible Histories) introducing his dig. For a taster see here. To your right is also a professor's study (an installation by American artist Mark Dion, ‘Bureau of the Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacy.’) While an artwork in its own right, it does a marvellous job in setting the scene and creating an atmosphere for the exhibition. Dr Digby explains to visitors that he has collected so much from his years of exploration and discovery in Egypt, that he hasn't had enough time to investigate and record it all. The visitor enters an emotive store room with artefacts in display cases, topped by packing cases and luggage, and surrounded by archaeologists' tents. They are invited to select a worksheet for a topic (such as belief, language, the home etc...), complete unfinished tasks and claim a certificate. The exhibition really gets the visitor of whatever age to focus on the parallels between ancient and modern items, and take the time to observe, measure and draw them. Descriptions of the objects from visitors are displayed as part of the exhibition, building on the idea that it is all a work in progress. Other highlights include a creative video produced with local primary kids showing the process of mummification and the discipline of archaeology (think Morph being disembowled and mummified!) and a dressing-up box with the opportunity for a photograph in front of the pyramids. And even Culturebaby got something out of the experience - she selected a mirror from the modern artefacts and had a whale of a time carrying it round the exhibition, while she looked at the eye-catching decoration, videos and artefacts on display and sported an explorer's hat.

Sometimes in a museum there is so much to see that you don't really take anything in. This exhibition ensures that you really look and think about what is in front of you. I thought it was wonderful, and created that warm fuzzy feeling where you feel like a part of the excitement of your childhood, long forgotten, has itself been unearthed. In that respect there's something for all of us there. Please keep it Manchester.

Nature Baby

Last week we took Culturebaby to our favourite place; The Lake District. As William Wordsworth said of their mountains: "in the combinations which they make, towering above each other, or lifting themselves in ridges like the waves of a tumultuous sea, and in the beauty and variety of their surfaces and colours, they are surpassed by none". So true Will.

We go every year at least once if we can. We spend half of the week dreaming about potential career options that could allow us to live there, and then the second part of the week lowering our expectations again for the return trip to our hill-less home. We never learn.

It was rather a tricky visit last summer. With a bump the size of a beach ball it was surprisingly difficult for me to find manageable walks waddles to do. Fortunately I had a friend with me who had a broken ankle (well not fortunate for him really) but the pair of us must have been a rather amusing sight as we hobbled from pub to pub as the rest of our party went rambling. Suffice it to say, we didn't make it very far and I couldn't wait to get up some hills this year and to show the place to our little lady. We did three great walks that I would recommend for a baby, with lots to see and exciting new experiences for little senses.

1. In the first few days of our holiday I have rarely seen so much rain, so we donned our wellies and went for a short wander along the Greater Langdale Beck (map) to see the fast flowing river and the roaring weir, which had more water running over it than normal. This was a really exciting experience for Culturebaby, who loved being carried around in her Baby Bjorn (under a brolly of course), taking in the sights, sounds and smells of nature all around her. The air is different up there and there is so much wildlife that it was a really new sensory experience wandering under the trees in the rain.

 2. A couple of days later the sun (finally) came out in force, it was absolutely stunning and clear, and we made our annual pilgrimage up the Langdale Pikes. The walk is quite hard work, with sections that need to be scrambled up, but Culturedad managed admirably with the Baby Bjorn. We passed a surprising amount of families with young children, sporting a bewildering array of baby backpack carriers (next on our wish list). This walk really has it all and Culturebaby seemed to love it - a river and sections of waterfall, a good climb (ensuring you really feel like you've achieved something), stunning views all the way up, and a tarn half way which transports you right to Middleearth (you half expect to stumble across the the door to the mines of Moria round the corner).We only made it to Stickle Tarn this time (enough...) but it's a fabulous walk if you want to go further. For the pre-history buffs amongst you it is also a hugely important heritage site: the Langdale Axe Factory (see map). In the Neolithic period, the 'new stone age' (from 10,000 years ago), people were beginning to learn to farm and stone tools were needed to exploit the land or clear areas of forest. Early Cumbrians mined the hard greenstone in the remote volcanic rocks of Langdale to produce axes, and the evidence can still be found today (though despite being an archaeologist I have sadly never yet spotted an axe as I've treked the pikes). It is unclear whether these particular axes were used for work or whether they had a more ritual significance (they seem at least to have been exported out of Cumbria), but if the latter, it does make sense to me. You can clearly see as you gaze from the mountains across the panorama of the heart of the Lakes below, that this is truly an extraordinary, even otherworldy place. The climb back down always seems a little longer, but there's the promise of a pint or a cuppa at the bottom. The National Trust has recently taken over The Sticklebarn pub at the base of the pikes. It's friendly and and you know your money goes towards caring for the local environment.

 

The Potter family at Wray Castle www.vam.ac.uk

3. With sore backs from our climb the day before, we opted for a rather more relaxed (and flat) stroll the following day. We bought the Windermere Cruises Walkers' Ticket and followed a part-cruise and part-walking route from Ambleside. This began with a ferry ride across to the newly opened Wray Castle, run by the National Trust. (NB. You'll need to fold your pram up on the ferry). This Victorian mock-gothic building (complete with fake arrowslits) was recently opened to the public following a decision not to turn it into a hotel at present. We joined one of their friendly tours and learnt that the castle was in fact designed by the original owner's accountant (who incidentally killed himself drinking before the house was furnished). This perhaps explains a number of bizarre features such as drainage systems in the walls and fake ruins. What I found interesting is that one rarely gets to see a National Trust house in a state of undress, so to speak. It still looks like the conference centre it had functioned as in recent years, with strip lighting, dodgy wallpaper and damp in the basement. The Trust is trying to make the best of the temporary space by filling it with lots of family activities and games, including a dressing-up room and giant cardboard fort. They are also asking visitors to record their views on what the castle should become in the future. One of its more interesting connections is that the Potter family stayed there in 1882 when Beatrix was still a teenager. Here she first met Reverend Hardwicke Rawnsley, also a co-founder of The National Trust. I personally think it would be interesting to explore this connection further in any future plans for the building. The Castle also has stunning views over Windermere and a much needed tea shop (on a walk from Ambleside to Ferry House a previous year we realised quite how far one can go on this side of the lake before reaching civilisation, or a toilet!).

 

We then walked the 4 miles from Wray to the Ferry House. This was a pretty gentle stroll, with the exception of the rough road which was at times tricky with the pram (prams with small wheels need not apply...). It took a couple of hours. At times there were great views of the lake and, at others, a shaded forest walk. We then (just!) caught the last boat from Ferry House, changing at Bowness (enough time to pick up an ice cream) and returned to Ambleside about 5 hours after we began. The openair journey and views from the various ferry routes were wonderful, and Culturebaby loved it all - and for those of us actually walking it was an ideal combination of sights and exercise!

The Lakes was a new experience with a baby (for a start the local pub at night was out), but it was also completely wonderful. We found ourselves thinking about the many fabulous memories we both have of visiting the Lakes from childhood onwards and getting excited about our daughter growing up there each year too. CultureGrandad's favourite childhood book was Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, set around Coniston. I loved the '70's film as a child too. Nothing captures childhood innocence like this adventure book, and I very much hope my daughter experiences something of this too in her trips to the Lakes - and that she too will have the opportunity to have that sort of old-school, dam-building, boat-sailing, hill-climbing, nature-loving, camp-building authentic childhood.