Adelboden

This year's family holiday was taken in Adelboden, Switzerland, in early June. The resort had only just reopened after its spring shut down - the perfect time for walking in the higher pastures amongst the Alpine flowers.

This was the view from the hotel dining room, it was about a four mile walk to the base of the waterfall and the a cable car ride to the corrie above where the snow had only just melted and the grass was still brown.

Gornergrat at approximately 11,000 ft was a wonderful viewing platform for the surrounding mountains and glaciers, although still snow covered it was obviously melting fast around the observatory. Alpine Choughs congregate around the viewing areas in the hope of an easy meal, beautiful birds and quite magestic in flight.

Taking the train back down to Zermatt we decided to disembark at one of the stations and walk part of the way back. Only a couple of thousand feet lower than Gornergrat most of the snow had dissappeared and the alpine flowers had begun to blossom. Gentians (above) were the highest flowers that we saw although there were also pulsatillas, anemones, saxifrages and auriculars (below).

The melting snow had filled this lake at Elsiganalp. Deep, cold and clear the lake was surrounded by barbeque pits, obviously a very popular spot in high summer. We could not find an outlet for this lake but on our way back to the cable car found a stream welling up in the middle of a meadow which must have been where the waters from the lake resurfaced from underground streams in the limestone.

Zentrum Paul Klee

Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland houses a large collection of works by their most famous son. It is housed in a fabulous modern building which incorporates exhibition, library and education facilities as well as large outside spaces for modern sculpture.

Abegg-Stiftung

The Abegg-Stiftung Museum in Riggisberg, Switzerland is a stunning collection of textiles and ancient artefacts.

Each year they hold a temporary exhibition and this years display is of 15th and 16th century costumes that they have conserved.

Farnham Graduate Showcase

It's always a joy to visit the BA Graduate Showcase at Farnham and this year was no exception.

Julie Coakley glass

Jewellery designer Emma Simone Madden

Rhizotron & Xstrata

Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop Walkway are new features at Kew Gardens aimed at giving the visitor a new perspective on the landscape in the arboretum.

Rhizotron is the 'secret place' showing the underground world of trees with its rich diversity of insects, invertebrates, fungus and root systems. Xstrata treetop walkway allows the visitor to literally walk amongst the treetops of the sweet chestnuts and oaks and see the gardens from a completely different view point.

Although it was only on its third day of opening on my visit I was highly amused to see that a pigeon had already begun nesting in the fork of one of the huge metal support posts and was completely unfazed by the large numbers of people looking down on it.

Loop at Kew

Design duo Loop have undertaken a residency at Kew Gardens as part of the ArtisanCam series.
Camalonian Columns are based on the structure of the vessels in trees that deliver water and nutrients to where they are needed.
Fabricated from lengths of fibreglass rods of differing thicknesses to form interlocking rings of variable complexity these self-supporting, extremely lightweight structures have been installed on the lawn, beside the pond between the Palm House and the Woodland Garden.

Beguiling Time

Beguiling Time is a selected exhibition of Contemporary Lace by the 98 Lace Group at the De Morgan Centre.

Symphony in White, neck piece by Australian member Vishna Collins.

I'm not a fan of lace behind glass and unfortunately the placing of my Bowl of Night in a glass cabinet meant that it was not lit to produce the shadows that are such an important part of the piece. It would have been far better on a plinth where the audience could have walked around it and seen the subtle nuances of the purples and midnight blues, amongst the blacks, that come to light from different angles.

Carol Quarini produced a three layer panel, Cloths of Heaven, (detail right) which could also have been hung more sympathetically. Given space between the panels the subtle play of light could have enhanced this work. It's unusual to see Carol work in such strong colours but she has shown that she up to the challenge with the colours from one layer blending into another through the translucency of her delicate silk papers. Her bobbin lace inclusions are, as always, the stars of the show drawing the viewer in for closer investigation.