The Stoney Wood Walk and the Art Trail

For my #wednesdaywalk initiated by @tattoodjay, we had a walk around Stoney Wood in Wirksworth. The place used to be an old quarry which was filled in and made into a park/community garden.

Once through the entrance, we first came across the communal fire pit.

To our right, further up the hill, was the 'Infinity Stones' by artist Veronica West. You can just make out the figure of eight.

As we started to walk up the hill there was a small labyrinth with bunting all around it.

Unfortunately, the hill turned out to be quite steepish, and as it was getting quite warm, we took a breather and stopped to read the information board. Apparently, the idea for the community garden originally came from the people of Wirksworth who visited their twin town of Die in France in 1994.

They were shown round the ‘Foret Giono' woodland, where a lot of tree planting had been done by local children. The French project was inspired by writer Jean Giono’s story of a shepherd who planted trees on the mountainside.

The people of Wirksworth thought they could do the same. I think they've succeeded because the trees and views on the way up and at the top looked great.

There was an interesting peace pole carved as a flame, by artist Anthony Frost called 'May Peace Prevail on Earth'.

As well as the benches, there were also some picnic seats with some nice carvings on them. They were a bit low for me, though. I wouldn't be able to get back up!

The next thing we came across was a chain sculpture that commemorates the quarry workers of the area. Thankfully, there was another bench, so we had another breather and just sat and enjoyed the views.

Next was the orientation disc, which told us where we were in relation to other places. The six stones nearby were Solar Calendar Stones showing where the sun rises and sets by local engineer Keith Hunter.

At the end of our walk, there was a Star Disc by artist Aidan Shingler. Here, you can learn all the star constellations and their names. Apparently, it lights up at night. There was a viewing platform that gives you a view of the star disc from above and the lovely views of Wirksworth down below. Apart from the steep hill, it was a really nice walk with lots of interesting artwork along the way.