Botanic lights
Dec. 23rd, 2023 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anefLike many other places the Cambridge Botanic Gardens have installed evening illuminations this year, during December. I had booked for us to go, but then we got Covid (to be precise, I caught Covid and then gave it to M, so on that evening I was just coming out of it as he was going down). We tried to give the tickets away but failed, and then thought that if we could find somewhere nearby to park we would probably be up to walking round it, and we could wear masks to avoid infecting anyone. So that's what we did.
I'm sure you know what sort of thing it is - a son et lumiere type exhibition that you walk round in your own time, on a pre-set path. Many of the trees are illuminated in different colours, there are sculptures and light displays. There are soundscapes and music.
I thought it was delightful. There were parts that were more crowded and I was glad that we had worn the masks. My office used to be very near to the back gate of the gardens and I spent many happy lunch hours meandering round its paths, and learning the names of plants that I recognised from our own garden (or just lying on my back under a tree). But the darkness and the lights made the landscape completely unfamiliar, so that I kept being surprised by finding myself in places that I knew.
Perhaps the most interesting part was when gentle illumination would reveal the structure of a tree, and I would think, Oh, I have seen that tree in a completely new way. The lights meant that you could see the trunk and branches much more clearly than usual through the leaves. There was one part where we just walked between trees to the gentle sound of birdsong - I felt I could have done that for ages.
There were bright lights and saturated colours, and some rather irritating pop music in parts, but overall I felt it struck a good balance between entertainment and enhancing your experience of just being in the gardens. There were some areas that were charming, and some that were silly (tiny doors attached to the tree trunks) and others that were very peaceful and meditative.
I'm sure you know what sort of thing it is - a son et lumiere type exhibition that you walk round in your own time, on a pre-set path. Many of the trees are illuminated in different colours, there are sculptures and light displays. There are soundscapes and music.
I thought it was delightful. There were parts that were more crowded and I was glad that we had worn the masks. My office used to be very near to the back gate of the gardens and I spent many happy lunch hours meandering round its paths, and learning the names of plants that I recognised from our own garden (or just lying on my back under a tree). But the darkness and the lights made the landscape completely unfamiliar, so that I kept being surprised by finding myself in places that I knew.
Perhaps the most interesting part was when gentle illumination would reveal the structure of a tree, and I would think, Oh, I have seen that tree in a completely new way. The lights meant that you could see the trunk and branches much more clearly than usual through the leaves. There was one part where we just walked between trees to the gentle sound of birdsong - I felt I could have done that for ages.
There were bright lights and saturated colours, and some rather irritating pop music in parts, but overall I felt it struck a good balance between entertainment and enhancing your experience of just being in the gardens. There were some areas that were charming, and some that were silly (tiny doors attached to the tree trunks) and others that were very peaceful and meditative.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-23 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-24 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-07 02:58 am (UTC)Yes! I've had that experience too.