The Animal Art Fair Sculpture Gardens opens tomorrow! Sunday 3rd May 1pm – 5pm

It has been a very busy week at Stody Lodge Gardens.  Thirty life size sculptures by the UK’s leading animal artists have been safely installed in their new home for the next month.  The artists themselves travelled from around the UK to see the safe delivery of their pieces and to choose where they will be sited in and amongst Stody’s 14 acres of rhododendrons and azaleas.

Creativity was flowing with one artist, Ian Edwards, opting to cover over the entire sundial in the middle of Stody’s Old Rose Garden with a large plinth on which his soaring sculpture, The Calling, was placed. Behind this visitors can catch a glimpse of Kate Denton’s majestic stag, the Young Pretender, striding confidently across Stody’s expansive main lawn.

The gardens are now bustling with a huge variety of beautiful birds, fish and animals, all of whose energy and vitality belie the metal they are made out of. There are deer, sail fish, horses, badgers, hares, warthogs, leopards, dogs, crows, donkeys, raptors – even a touch of the magical with a griffin! Sculptors include Kate Denton, Jamie Wild, Ian Edwards, Bruce Little and Tom Hiscocks.

Visitors are invited to come and discover these life size pieces both in its open lawn areas but also along Stody’s winding woodland pathways under canopies of rhododendron blooms. With the Sculpture Gardens and the wide range of art on display in the exhibition marquee, this event promises to provide enjoyment and interest not just for gardening enthusiasts and art-lovers but for all those looking for a fun afternoon out in unusually beautiful surroundings.

Entrance £5, children under 12 free.