Thornes Park is the largest of Wakefield's public parks — sixty-five acres of lawns, ornamental gardens, woodland, and a small ornamental lake on the south-west side of the city. It was opened in 1893 in what had been the private grounds of Thornes House, an Adam-period mansion that was destroyed by fire in 1951.
The park is a working public space — a children's playground, a skate park, several sports pitches, a small open-air theatre — rather than a tourist destination, but it is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon and a useful break between gallery visits. The path along the old terrace, where Thornes House once stood, has good views east towards the city.