David Nash's first attempt at a 'Willow Ladder' was eventually eaten by a hungry deer, but until that fateful meal it stood by the road just up the hill from the Bogle Crag car park. It was constructed by pieces of pruned willow and in keeping with Nash's style, it was made solely of wood, as you can see in the picture tot the right, which is taken from the Grizedale Archive. In Peter Davies and Tony Knipe's 'A Sense Of Place', David Nash laid out his ground rules for creating art in Grizedale:

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"1. The sculptures should work with the environment using the materials and conditions the forest naturally has to offer.

2. The sculptors should acknowledge the relationship of the forest and those who work it; using their materials and tools and calling on their experience of planting, growing, tending and cutting.

3. The placing of the sculptures should activate otherwise neutral spaces and not occupy areas that already have a positive sense of 'place'.

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Many sculptors at Grizedale used this as their mantra, and it was this outlook that contributors began to push back against, around the turn of the century, led by the newly-appointed Adam Sutherland as Director of Arts at Grizedale, who believed this devotion to working with non-invasive materials had led the sculpture project to grow stale. Only in recent years has the emphasis returned to the more natural, wood-based works which Nash and his contemporaries favoured.

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Also by this artist:

Fork Ladder 1978

Horned Tripod 1978

Running Table 1978

Standing Branch 1978

Sweeping Larch Enclosure 1978

Wooden Waterway 1978

Willow Ladder II 1979