Trentham Gardens 6 August

Over the weekend, my family and I stayed in a spa hotel in Stoke-on-Trent, as this place is halfway between my house and my Auntie's. On the Saturday evening we went out for a lovely meal at Nom restaurant to celebrate my parents' and my Auntie and Uncle's wedding anniversaries, where they received complementary drinks.

The next day, we went to Trentham Gardens which was a short drive from where we were staying. I was pleasantly surprised about how much there was to do there, as I expected there to be just a garden with flowers in it. However; there was a courtyard full of shops (spanning from well-known brands to independent businesses),there was a fairy trail on the way round to interest children, a walk around a large lake, a café to get lunch from, a stage where a brass band played - as well as the expected aray of flower beds.

Whilst walking round, we noticed a tree to our left which looked unusual. Upon further inspection, there was a carving of several otters in the wood. These were incredibly detailed and I expect they chose to carve otters as there is a family of otters that live nearby which can be viewed (if youre lucky enough to spot on) from the otter hide which is within the trees. In this photograph, the tails of the otters are the focal point as they have the plain sky behind them which creates a contrast between the plain background and the tails. As the otters face downwards, the eye then follows the direction of where the otters are heading.

We walked past one patch of land that was entirely mud, rather than grass like in all the other areas of the gardens. From this land grew jagged trees which created interesting lines. One thing that particularly drew my attention to these trees is that the branches form quite angular shapes, whereas usually you expect branches to be relatively straight and branching out from the centre. With this tree, there is no defined trunk and also no leaves which, giving the time of year that it is, gives a colder atmosphere rather than that of the day which was warm and filled with a content vibe. The sporadic branches form lines that I could link to Mark Tobey's work as the lines he uses in his work overlap and vary in thickness, similar to the branches in the above photograph.