We don't usually go far for our trips out as neither of us likes driving - we did too much of it in our past lives. However we made an exception, having read about this:
http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/?page=exhibitions/thefabricofmyth.html
We felt we had to visit an art exhibition that showed signs of taking textiles seriously, although it took us a couple of hours to get there.
I think that if you visited expecting it to be an embroidery exhibition, you would be disappointed. It is an art exhibition about the association of textiles and myth, particularly Greek Myth, so there are textiles but also textile related images. Having said that - there is quite a lot of embroidery.
I felt that some of the associations were a bit tenuous, particularly in the later rooms,but I loved some of the juxtapositions of objects that resulted. For example the first room contained a 5th century AD Coptic tapestry of Ariadne, and a huge Louise Bourgeois sculpture of a curved needle. In the second room the exhibits ranged from a 4th century BC drinking vessel showing Circe and her loom, via a 16th century embroidery by Bess of Hardwick to a 21st century Alice Kettle piece.
It was interesting to see some of the work of Mary Queen of Scots, having written about her embroidery in my magnum opus. These were some of the slips from the Oxburgh hangings, which were much bigger than I expected.
The building is interesting, and the grounds beautiful [what we could see through the rain]. And the cafe does a great cream tea!
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