Those who’ve been around these pages for a while will know that I am a philistine when it comes to art, even though I have surprised myself recently when I’ve been able to correctly answer quite a lot of questions about art and artists on University Challenge. Somehow though, outdoor art is different. I don’t know if it’s just that Cornwall and Devon attract artists that are somehow more organic than other places but it’s true to say that I find myself loving these installations that rise up from the soil, especially where they happen to rise up from the soil in a place that’s special to me.

So, to hear that I LOVE this giant hand rising from the earth in the mother orchard at Cotehele in Cornwall shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone reading this. What’s not to like? It’s in an orchard, and not just any old orchard, the mother orchard – a specially created orchard containing ancient Tamar Valley fruit varieties that are in danger of extinction. In other words a place that is vital to the maintenance of our biodiversity. It’s not just an orchard in another sense too – it has been made with wildlife in mind. The National Trust, on whose property it stands, has designed it with integrity.

It’s a few years since I last visited the mother orchard and it’s wonderful to see that the trees actually look like trees rather than sticks in the ground now. Brendon Murlass’s sculpture still looks fantastic even though the apple is looking a bit tatty now – I’m not sure if it’s the fact that it’s the end of a long, dry summer or if it’s just not lasted as well as it should have done. Either way, the overall effect remains as striking. the artist declares that it is up to the spectator to decide its meaning. I think it's about power and strength in the fruits of the earth.

My parents asked to go to Cotehele today and so I got the opportunity for a few moments in the orchard. I also got to sample some Cotehele apple juice – a juice as expensive as a bottle of wine from Aldi or Lidl (luckily for me I didn’t have to pay for it). It was delicious, I might even say it was like nectar of the gods. The mother orchard is utterly wonderful. Hurrah for the NT for having the courage to look to the future by preserving what’s precious of the past.

BTW – that’s not to say that a trip to Cotehele should ONLY take in the mother orchard. Their other orchard is a long-established one and is a place that I would be happy to live in in a little wooden hut if necessary.

DM tells me I should describe the scale of this - the hand would easily be big enough to hold a family if they were tucked up - see this photo of the artist with the sculpture.