Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park covers five hundred acres of rolling parkland six miles south-west of Wakefield, and is one of those rare places where landscape and art genuinely enhance each other. Henry Moore bronzes occupy the upper sheep pastures; Andy Goldsworthy walls and stones run through the woods; a series of indoor galleries — including a former chapel, a curved glass underground gallery, and the much-praised Weston building from 2019 — host substantial rotating shows.

You can spend a full day here and still not see everything. Entry to the park itself is free; you pay for parking and for any ticketed exhibition. On a clear day with deer grazing between the sculptures it is hard to think of a better free day out in England. Allow at least four hours and bring sturdy shoes — the trails are uneven and parts of the park are a real walk from the entrance.

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A story
The park opened in 1977 in the grounds of the eighteenth-century Bretton Hall estate, founded by Peter Murray as the first sculpture park of its kind in the UK. Henry Moore had been born nearby in Castleford; he visited often, and his estate has since lent the park substantial holdings of his work, set in the rolling fields that resemble the landscapes he grew up in.

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