Over 300 stone sculptures are dotted between hedges and under trees, beside the pool, lake, the lush Windrush meadows and the interior of an Oxfordshire manor house for a midsummer exhibition.
Some 39 artists have their works dotted around the ballroom, peeping over the top of greenery, inside buildings and in St Nicholas Church next door to Asthall Manor near Burford.
Works are by eight sculptors never seen before at the month-long on form exhibition while nine sculptors have brought in work from Europe, including a group from Pescarella studio in Pietrasanta, the traditional home of stone-carving in Tuscany.
The exhibition has a ‘please do touch’ policy with visitors urged to pat and stroke the stone.
on form was founded by Rosie Pearson, owner of the Manor - which was the home of the Mitford sisters - and Anthony Turner in 2002. Ms Pearson is a newly elected Green councillor on West Oxfordshire District Council.
Curator Anna Greenacre said: “A whole other sensory world appears here, for a month. Sculptures bring contours, texture, intrigue - provoking thought and conversation – and plants have a lovely way of softening them. Life hums around each piece."
This year, a recreation of a sculptor’s studio has been set up in the ballroom to give visitors an experience of the process and craft of sculpting with stone.
Four local charities Refugee Resource, The Wychwood Forest Trust, Wild Oxfordshire, and Bridewell Organic Gardens has a presence at the exhibition each week.
And there is reduced price entry, a special drink at the Potting Shed Cafe and even a sculpture discount for anyone not arriving by car.
The exhibition runs until Sunday July 10.
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