My family and I visited Manchester a month ago to get a feel of the place as my brother is going to university there. We popped into the Manchester Art Gallery to gain a cultural aspect of the city and also at my own insistence.

The gallery houses a range of different art from Turner to Banksy. The art is a little muddled up as there are pieces of modern art amongst the classical, more traditional art.

There was a wide range of sea scenes, which is very relevant to a piece of music that I am composing at the moment, I might write a blog post on that next! I was looking at these sea scenes while listening to pieces of classical music (I know I sound like a nerd). From this, I gained several ideas for my piece of music and felt very inspired.

Meanwhile, my parents were following the tour guide around who was explaining the key pieces of artwork. I joined later on in the tour, but this tour guide was very engaging and explained her thoughts behind each painting and allowed the group to discuss it. If you find yourself in the gallery, go around with the tour guide. It is free and you will learn huge amounts.

We had a lovely time at the gallery and it was a free admission so it makes it even more worth it!