I’ve wanted to visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a couple of years now, but hadn’t yet managed to make the trip down the M1.
Last week I took a few days off work for my birthday and had planned to go to Berlin. Unfortunately, our flight was cancelled and we had to abandon the trip. That meant that I had some spare time and I decided that a visit to YSP was in order.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an outdoor gallery, situated on a 500 acre site in West Yorkshire, on the grounds of Bretton Hall. With more than 80 sculptures on display across the site, it’s a great place to wander around, enjoying the beautiful landscape interspersed with unexpected and often striking installations.
We arrived on a cold December day, a couple of days after snow swept across the country. By then the snow had gone, but the parkland was covered in a fine layer of frost and much of the lake was still frozen.
Unfortunately, the rain began as we explored, coming down so heavily that we decided to give up and seek refuge in the café, where we enjoyed a delicious pre-Christmas lunch of pork (for him) and turkey (for me) sandwiches.
Despite the weather, I really enjoyed our visit and was struck by how peaceful the place was, although we did benefit from visiting on a winter weekday, in the summer I imagine it’s much busier. I look forward to returning when the weather is a little better.
Entrance to the park is free, but you do need to pay for parking.