The exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday 31^st October to Monday 2^nd November between 10.00am and 6.00pm at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Northgate, Wakefield.

From December 7^th, I will also be exhibiting work in the ‘Big Hang’ exhibition at Sheffield’s exciting new Arts Centre, Bank Street Arts. With work from a wide range of artists on sale, this will be a great exhibition to take in during those tedious Christmas shopping trips and could well be the place to head for some unusual and creative Christmas gifts this year.

Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital has a great ‘Arts in Health’ programme and as part of this, operates The Clock Tower Gallery, which is going from strength to strength and is gaining a reputation for showcasing some excellent work by a wide range of artists. The gallery is open to everyone, not just hospital staff and patients.

Their latest exhibition is the Summer Open, which commences on 15th July and will run until 5th August and will include work from artists of all kinds, including painting, fine art, jewellery and photography.

I will have three pieces in the exhibition and have selected the favourites from my recent ‘Aspects of Africa‘ solo exhibition.  The last exhibition in which I participated at the Clock Tower Gallery had some terrific work on show and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s work at this latest show.

Most work is for sale and 25% of the sales proceeds are donated back into the hospital’s Arts in Health programme, so it is a good chance to get a unique piece of art work for your home whilst also supporting a very good cause.

The Clock Tower Gallery is at the Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield and can be found in the clock tower, near the entrance to the Chesterman Wing.

Number 1 – The Okavango Delta – bush camping 

Forget fancy hotel and lodges – for me, bush camping is the only way to stay when visiting the awesome Okavango Delta in Botswana. Travelling in quietly by Mokoro canoe reveals wildlife watching opportunities that simply wouldn’t be possible in a 4×4 or plane, giving anyone who is willing to get back to basics a real chance to be at one with nature for a few days.

There is something quite spectacular about camping in the wild and hearing lions roar and hyenas call in the early hours of the morning – scary but overwhelmingly exciting at the same time.  Added to this, few things can top the sight of elephants coming to drink at the river, just feet away from camp.

With no loo, shower or any other creature comforts it it takes guts to give it a go, but our guide was a wealth of information about the local wildlife and habitat, making it a privilege and pleasure to be there.  Using guides from the villages helps to sustain local communities, protecting traditional lifestyles and supporting conservation work.

If you don’t unpack unless you’ve checked out room service and the mini bar, it’s probably not for you, but it’s out of this world if you have a spirit of adventure.

Number 2 – The Daintree Rainforest – Cockatoo Hill Retreat 

We’re constantly searching for special little places to stay on our travels and came across the Cockatoo Hill Retreat quite by chance whilst we were searching for eco tours of the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia.

Our stay was for a special birthday, so we’d been desperately hoping that it would be as lovely as it sounded on their website. Stepping into our tree house room on arrival was almost overwhelming, as it was so utterly perfect, we couldn’t have asked for more.  With a veranda overlooking the forest canopy, the rainforest was alive around us and we knew we’d found somewhere exceptional.

Our hosts Carmen and Gilles looked after us superbly and made a special event forever memorable.

 Number 3 – Victoria Falls National Park – The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge 

The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge was apparently once listed in the Conde Nast list of the world’s best places to stay.  Located overlooking the Victoria Falls National Park, with its own water hole attracting elephants, buffalo and other wildlife for an evening spectacle in the sunset, we could well see why. Guests can stay in the main hotel, or opt for a more economical, but still fairly luxurious self catering Lokuthula Lodge in the grounds of the hotel, with access to the main hotel facilities.

It was a real heart twister deciding whether to include this place in my top five list, because it appears to be incongruously luxurious in a town that has been badly affected by the present economic and political instability in Zimbabwe.    However, as tourism seems to be one of the few remaining sources of income for Victoria Falls and its residents, it felt right to include it, as it was without doubt one of the most spectacular places I have been lucky enough to stay in. 

During our stay we tried hard to put some of our money into the local community by eating at local cafes, buying from independent craft outlets and engaging a local wildlife guide directly.

It was an awesome place to spend a few days and we can only desperately hope that life starts to improve for everyone there.

Number 4 – Tsavo National Park – Saltlick Lodge 

I love Africa, so it’s yet another African one, but then, it is my list.   The guest rooms at Saltlick Lodge are on stilts overlooking the African savannah of Tsavo National Park, so there is always a chance of spotting big game or wildlife from the comfort of your own room and the location is tranquillity itself.

To top things off, the rooms have canopied beds, which although designed to keep mosquitoes out, do add a touch of romance to the already fantastic setting.

The whole point of staying within the National Park is to see the wildlife, so a stay here rotates around sunrise starts and sunset finishes, as these are the best times of day to go game spotting with a guide. It’s all worth it to have the privilege of experiencing such a breathtaking place though.

Number 5 – Langley Castle – Hexham, Northumberland 

Langley Castle was built in 1350 and is one of the last remaining fortified mediaeval castles in England. Now operating as an independent hotel, it is absolutely steeped in history and if you ever want to plan a romantic surprise for someone, it is pretty much guaranteed to knock their socks off when you pull up at the castle gate.

It is most certainly worth paying a little extra to experience one of the 9 deluxe or feature rooms, which are in the castle itself and therefore have the full majesty of a castle room, such as 7ft thick walls with window seats and four poster beds. Sitting in the window seat of the Percy room, I was momentarily transported back in time to14th Century England, pondering the lives of Lords and Ladies of the realm who had no doubt occupied the very same seat to look out onto the estate’s woodland. 

If you take a pair of sturdy walking boots and explore the surrounding countryside and Hadrian’s Wall, you can retire to the hotel with a sense of smug satisfaction to toast in front of an open fire and enjoy fine dining in the restaurant.

The exhibition is called Aspects of Africa and will showcase some of the images I have created during visits to Africa over the last seven years, including Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.

I absolutely love Africa and find it an endlessly fascinating place to be, with its miles of stunning landscape and wealth of wildlife.  The exhibition will touch on all these defining characteristics of Africa, but will also include a reminder that there is still immense hardship and poverty for many people there.

Responsible tourism is one way that visitors can do something to help reduce this poverty, by planning trips with local companies or by using tour operators who support and use local companies, to ensure that communities get a fair share of the income from tourism, rather than it being swallowed by a faceless corporate entity.

The Aspects of Africa exhibition will be on show from 1st April to 30th April 2009 at Castleton Visitor Information Centre, Buxton Road, Castleton, S33 8WN. 

A series of my local prints and greetings cards are also available from the visitor centre shop.

Skipton Auction Mart, more commonly used for the sale of livestock, underwent a mini transformation, as artistic swags and finishes were applied to the pens by more than 50 regional artists who were on hand to showcase and sell their work. With everything from paintings and photography to textiles and ceramics, there was unique art to suit all tastes and budgets.

For me, it was an interesting two days. I hadn’t done this particular show before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as several thousand visitors turned up during the two day event, there was ample opportunity to meet and chat to some very interesting people, including a couple who spotted my fine art print of a Sunset on Bonaire and explained that they are shortly moving out there and this view will be the one that they have from their terrace!

It’s a small world… emphasised by the fact that in the ‘pen’ next to me was a very talented photographer called Jon Scurrah, who specialises in 360 degree panoramic images – whilst chatting we discovered that we had both owned houses on the same street in Leeds within the last decade.

If I met you during the show, thank you for dropping by to check out my site and my other work. If you bought something from me during the show, I hope that you are enjoying your purchase, but either way, if I can be of any help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

It proved to be a completely fascinating two hours. About 10 of us trundled along after our expert, who explained that there would be plenty of opportunity to taste things along the way. We all swapped apprehensive glances, as he clearly wasn’t referring to a tea break at Forge cafe.

We needn’t have worried though, as he most certainly knew his stuff. The first tasting was of Sweet Cicely, which has a beautiful sweet aniseed flavour and can be used for all manner of things, from sweetening sour fruits in cooking, to the creation of herbal remedies for disorders such as indigestion. Although it looks uncannily like Cow Parsley at first glance, it wasn’t long before we got the hang of the differences and we all started making our proud identifications of the plant as we wandered along. You wouldn’t think that Forge Dam was so full of plants, but during the walk we discovered the amazing properties of no less than 20 plants that we wouldn’t have given a second glance to without the endless knowledge and enthusiasm of ‘Bendle’

The event was organised by Sheffield Environment weeks and is one of more than 200 activities taking part throughout the city, which aim to promote environmental awareness.

I went along out of personal interest, but it was very valuable and I’m sure that some of the information I gathered will be of great use as I develop my new range of greeting cards called ‘natural healing’.