A grand day out

Every couple of years, Belsay Hall in Northumberland puts together an art exhibition to take my breath away. I coveted this beautiful life size horse made of Swarovski crystal designed by Stella McCartney. It was housed in the deserted ruin of Belsay's castle. Sadly, the horse has moved to new pastures, but not before rekindling my affection for sparkly things. As a result, one of the guest rooms in my home has 600 crystals set onto a Chinoiserie pattern of birds and peonies. You will see more of the room when it appears on our regular Tour Of The Stencilled House posts. In the meantime, here is a detail from the walls.

This year the Belsay exhibition is called "The Picture House". Artists, film directors, actors and musicians have been invited to fill Belsay Hall's empty rooms with installations to delight and amuse the visitor. It was fabulous! I recommend that you take a full day to explore all the installations and Belsay's famous gardens. There was much to see, some of it was baffling and some was wonderful. I think my favourite rooms were by Geraldine Pilgrim's, but judging by other's comments, they were not everyone's cup of tea.

Another of her rooms featured trees growing in a bedroom, forming a canopy over the ceiling.

I would like a room like this. Tree by the side of the bed please, not through it! The branches would be perfect to hang chandelier droplets. Another highlight was a fabulous room of moving, pulsing wallpaper created by

recently graduated Francesca Steele. Amongst the many transitions of colour and pattern were these few.

Our journey around the Picture House at Belsay started with this gilded bride by Viktor & Rolf and ended with a wonderful sound installation resounding around the stone cellars. For more information go to Picture House Belsay or better still, go and visit! Oh, and it's only 25 minutes from our shop!