Arriving at Arrowmont

(Apologies in advance if I offend anyone from these towns)

Travelling from Cornwall to Tennessee took me a day and a half.

I started to wonder what kind of torture I was in for as I passed through Pigeon Forge.
The place is tacky beyond belief and so wildly over-the-top that it is almost a parody of over-the-topness!
Just along this one stretch of road in quick succession we have all kinds of nightmarish places to have a 'themed dinner'.
Battling Lumberjacks anyone?

Here's some snaps that should come with some kind of disbelief warning

My personal favourite below; a full-on (slightly) scaled down Titanic replica complete with iceberg.

(for scale you should realise this is on the opposite side of the three lane highway and we are in the middle of the three lanes on our side of the road!)

Hard to choose though.
It was a close call between the Titanic and the Totally Upside Down Mansion!
Yup, it's resting on the pointed roof there.

Sorry the snaps are not the best but I was shooting in horror from my taxi, thinking somebody had slipped something into that airplane coffee!

And once we got to Gatlinburg, my heart sank because the surreal 'situation' didn't get any better.
However, I needn't have worried because hidden away down a little lane in the middle of this ghastly place was an oasis of peace and tranquility.

Ah Arrowmont.

Sigh.

It seems somehow appropriate that I find myself staying in the WILD WING though

These friendly folk will be my fellow classmates for the next two weeks for the Shell Forming class. 

And this photo is taken in the all-important dining hall; venue of many a good meal accompanied by interesting conversation. 

The studio is fab. Spacious and well equipped

Filled with creative bods ready to work

There's a clever viewing balcony which runs through all the workshops up near the ceiling which means visitors can see whats happening without even entering the studios. 

Looking down on the studio from the balcony you get an idea of the size of the workspace

Looking forward to getting stuck into some hammering!