liverpool

Another weekend with a culture vulture…

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Friday 31 July 2026 to Sunday 2 August 2026

Another year passes and, lo, my arty friend from London comes to visit again and what a weekend we have in the two majestic Northern cities of Manchester and Liverpool!

Manchester is busy! It’s sunny! It’s the weekend! It’s ever energetic. The GMEx is hosting a ‘Megacon’ event and the trams and the streets teem with young people in colourful costumes. We meander through the crowds and the turn into the calmer St John’s area, to find  the Aviva Studios. The venue the Ai Weiwei’s Button Up! Exhibition. And, for me, this exhibition is jawdroppingly good!

The critics describe it as ‘monumental’ and ‘colossal’ and the sheer size of exhibits inside the vast warehouse space gives me an instant wow factor! Which, if you are, like me, not an art afficionado, is most welcome! But then, as I begin to explore more deeply, I recognise the perfect nature of the setting. The room itself is so huge that the exhibition feels spacious and there is room to take a thoughtful 360 tour of each work and to study and learn about it in more detail. I read many reviews, some good, some less so, of this event but I chime most with the critic from ‘The Reviews Hub’ who describes it thus:

Button Up! is both awe-inspiring and intimate. The sheer size of the installations demands leisurely contemplation and Aviva Studios offers also the rare opportunity to get close enough to study the craftsmanship involved in their construction and appreciate the meticulous work.

But we voyage on. Onto the M62 to be precise for a day on ‘The Beatles Trail’ in Liverpool. This is far more of a regional tour of the areas such as Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, that shapes the real lives of the ‘Fab Four’ and inspired some of their catalogue. There is more walking and outdoor trekking and it is a lot of fun!

So time to end this brief snapshot of the wonderful culture of two cities: one I call ‘home’ and the other now my place of work! But this was a fabulous weekend in which to slow down and take the time to see them both in a bit more detail.

A weekend with a culture vulture…

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Sunday 27 July 2025

When my ‘culture vulture’ friend comes to town, I know it is going to be a full on weekend of arty exploration and experiences …

On Saturday we head to Haworth and Bronte country. The picture postcard town and the Parsonage, where the family lived, are popular tourist spots; but this is not the main focus of our trip.

No we park the car, don our walking gear and set out on the 4-mile hike to Top Withins, a ruined farmhouse on the moors, which the Bronte hopefuls have suggested may be the inspiration for Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights itself. Could any expedition be more up my street…I really struggle to imagine one!

Whilst the literary critics are less convinced about the theory and the Bronte Society itself claims that ‘The buildings, even when complete, bore no resemblance to the house she described‘, no-one can deny the setting, which is wild, remote and wonderful

“Top Withens and the views from it encapsulate the landscape that inspired the Brontës’ writing and continues to be a place of pilgrimage for visitors from all over the world“

And I am sold. My mum claims that my middle name was chosen in homage to the heroine of this novel and so, in my fanciful head, even the wind carries whispers of ‘Cathy’ and ‘Heathcliff’ as we trek towards our destination.

Yet, even a romantic fool such as I cannot ignore the clear signs along the route that we have moved on from the 19th Century. The beautiful ‘Bronte waterfall’ lies roughly half way along the trail and, not only are there quite a few other ramblers gathered here, but also signs in both English…and Japanese!!

Well… you can’t have everything I guess . Plus, as we eventually, find our way back to Haworth, ( after trying to forge our own circular route adds, in hindsight, an extra 30 minutes to our journey) I must confess that the distinctly modern reward of an Iced Matcha Latte is a welcome delight!

Revived and refreshed, we find time to stroll the pretty cobbled streets of Haworth and visit the family home at the Parsonage before wending our way home.

Sunday dawns and we set the SatNav for Liverpool and the Biennial, the UK’s largest contemporary visual arts festival.

Liverpool is always a fantastic place to visit, pulsating with life, colour and personality. And it is a perfect setting for such an innovative arts trail. We see videos and installations in Chinatown, located in small warehouses and even a housing association. We explore exhibits in new arts centres and also established and esteemed galleries across the city. And we tour the magnificent Anglican Cathedral to admire tapestries and glass sculptures.

It is not simply art, its is also the location, and the festival celebrates the amazing sights and diversity of Liverpool itself. Between the installations, it is terrific just to stroll and enjoy this town. Lunch on the Docks with the sun dancing on the famous Mersey and the backdrop of the Liver buildings, well what could be better?

A fantastic weekend indeed and as my friend and I part company, at Lime Street Station, one of us on the train to London and one one of us heading back home on the M62 , we know we shall be meeting again soon. The question is … what adventures we’ll get up to next time!