Miro/Hepworth

Why does the sun always shine in Yorkshire? I don't know but it was blazing away last Saturday, making the grass look greener than it had in Manchester that morning. And yes that really is a Miro sculpture I see before me. The Yorkshire Sculpture Park looks fabulous on a bad day, and in the sun, viewing the current Juan Miro exhibition, if you half closed your eyes you could almost imagine being somewhere several degrees of longitude further south, the scent of wild thyme on the breeze, azure waves breaking on white sand ...

Yet more talent

One of the most surprising things about organising the Prestwich Book Festival is the number of local historical novelists who have got in touch. They’re sadly too late for this year, but next year's festival will be full of talent if this lot are anything to go by.