Crawick Multiverse

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On Easter Monday we set off for home after a lovely weekend in Galloway. We planned to stop at Crawick Multiverse, but were first distracted by the Red Deer Range in Galloway Forest Park. I admit I wasn’t too keen, as I thought the deer would just be a few specks in the distance, but they came right up to the hide.

Red Deer Range
Red Deer Range
Red Deer Range
Red Deer Range
Red Deer Range

Onwards to Crawick. What is it, I hear you ask? A former open-cast coal mine, it lay abandoned for 30 years until the landowner, the Duke of Bucclech, commissioned landscape artist Charles Jencks to transform it into the artland it has been since 2015. The site’s themes are space, astronomy and cosmology, with features and landforms representing the sun, universes, galaxies, black holes and comets. Having seen Jencks’ work at the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and at Jupiter Artland I was very keen to visit Crawick. It didn’t disappoint.

I’m not sure I can explain much more – you really have to see it. All the features have names, but I haven’t included captions because a) I can’t remember which is which in some cases and b) it would be very time-consuming to label them all. The two mounds with spiral paths which appear a lot represent the Milky Way and Andromeda, but other than that I’ll let the slide-show do the talking.

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There is absolutely nothing else at Crawick Multiverse – maybe this will change in the future, but for the moment the ticket office is a Portakabin and there’s also a portable toilet. If you want to eat, the nearest town is Sanquhar – although you might find, as seems common in this area, that kitchens keep very restricted hours. However, we had a good lunch in the Oasis Restaurant, part of the Nithsdale Hotel.

So ends our short stay in Galloway, a beautiful part of the country to which I can’t wait to return.

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50 Comments »

  1. MrB would love to go for the history, me for the art . . . . . maybe if we are allowed out again we could meet up there 🙂 (assuming of course a cafe is now there!!)

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  2. Pingback: April Squares: Crawick Mulitiverse – The Glasgow Gallivanter

  3. Wow! And this used to be a mine????
    I really really like all those ‘sculpures’. They give a sense of tranquillity.
    Pity for the lack of services. But I’m sure that, if the public keeps reacting positively, they will have to start offering a cafe and toilets at the very least 😉

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  4. These deer look scruffy but so cute. I’m glad they are as friendly as they seem to be. The picture of the art didn’t show up here for some reason. I will have to try again and see if it does show. It sounds like a great way to showcase art.

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