Sense of Place art installation at Brean Down Fort

On Sunday we set out for a walk along Brean Down, a local headland jutting out into the Bristol Channel. We wanted to visit the "Sense of Place" art installation at the Napolionic fort situated at the end of this piece of land. I had been wanting to visit for a while, but a nasty cold got in the way of our plans.

This week we were all fighting fit and raring to go. As you can see from the photo at the top of this post...Mr. M and Magoo were really raring to go! We had been talking about how the BFG would be able to jump and stride onto Steep Holm (the little island in the distance). I suggested they see how far they could jump and this photo was the end result. It has had a really positive reaction over on my Instagram feed. I think it was one of those moments when I pressed the shutter at just the right time. I love the energy and it makes me smile every time I look at it...

I've been walking along Brean Down since I was a little girl - it's an atmospheric place, bleak and beautiful all in one. I was so pleased to hear that a group of artists had collaborated to put together the "Sense of Place" installation within the wall of the fort at the end of Brean Down.

I couldn't take many photos of the actual exhibits because the Officers Quarters and various ammunition tunnels where the art was housed were very dark and my camera couldn't cope with the low light levels. If you head over to the "Sense of Place" Facebook page you can see more photos of the artwork being created and installed. You can also visit the Somerset Cool blog to see the images they captured a few weeks ago.

The fort is fascinating, steeped in history and pretty eerie. Just looking at soldiers names carved into the stone walls gives you an idea of how bored, homesick and scared they must've been. The "Sense of Place" installation attempted to tune into this history and I found it very moving. I loved the large groups of candles lighting the darkest rooms and it added to the atmosphere of each piece.

Brean Down's fort was built to defend the country against a possible Napoleonic invasion. The fort is now a ruin, but we still love walking around the buildings and have visited a few times with Magoo. The photo above shows a barrack window with views looking back at the landscape at Brean Down. People have lived & worked on this piece of land for thousands of years. This peninsula is very exposed and life must have been hard for anyone deployed to the fort...

The walk started out grey and overcast, but the strong winds steadily blew the clouds away. By the time we were due to head back the Autumn sun was shining. It was incredibly windy up on the top of Brean Down, but at least it pushed the gloomy skies away. Definitely one of our favourite walks to blow away the cobwebs...it certainly clears your head up there.

This week I'm linking up to these lovely blogs:

"Point + Shoot" over on youbabymemummy.com

"Whatever the Weather" over on monkeyandmouse.co.uk

"Country Kids" over on www.coombemill.com