Another Place

Today we went to Crosby to see Anthony Gormel's Another Place. The sculpture consists of 100 cast iron figures which face out to sea, spread over a 2 mile (3.2 km) stretch of the beach. In common with most of Gormley's work, the figures are cast replicas of the artist's own body. As the tides ebb and flow, the figures are revealed and submerged by the sea. Another Place was first exhibited on the beach of Cuxhaven, Germany in 1997 and after that in Stavanger in Norway and De Panne in Belgium. It was due to be moved to New York, United States in November 2006, but there was a controversial proposal to retain the work at Crosby, and this was approved in March 2007.

From there we went on to Formby, a lovely unspoiled area of beach, sand dunes and pine forest, largely in the hands of the National Trust. It's hard to believe you're so close to the city of Liverpool. It's also one of the few remaining places where you might catch a glimpse of the endangered red squirrel. We were lucky enough to see one, but I was busy eating an ice-cream at the time, and that hampered my efforts to get my camera out!