Yorkshire Sculpture Park offers a powerful and curious selection of sculptures in a glorious open air countryside setting. It’s an unusual combination of an artistic adventure and a weekend walk, so your dog can come too.
The Weston restaurant has an interesting lunch menu (£8-12) and classic teatime fare. The Lemon and Raspberry Drizzle cake and a cup of Lemon and Ginger tea went down well after completing the 4-mile circuit.
My favourite bits:
- A hearty stroll up to the site’s centre past Damien Hirst’ s Myth (pictured),a flayed unicorn, and the half-peeled giant The Virgin Mother.
- David Smith’s story in the Underground Gallery, told through his elegant and economic blacksmithing (pictured) and his weighty anti-war Medals of Dishonour.
- An intimidating Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (pictured) staring down like a disapproving council of aldermen, created by internationally renowned artist/political prisoner Ai Weiwei.
- A pair of ornate medieval chessmen (pictured), King Hezekiah and Moses doing various unpleasant things to unfortunate snakes.
The scores:
Exhibits: 8/10. World famous names from the contemporary scene and generations past.
Environment: 9/10. A beautiful and unique site, loses a point for its remoteness.
Refreshments: 7/10. Tea and cake perfectly fine, I’ll need to try the lunch menu next time.
Cost & Location: 7/10. Free entry, plus £3.50 to £12 parking… and you’ll need a car!
Overall Score: 7/10.
The links:
- Main website: https://ysp.org.uk/
- Directions: https://ysp.org.uk/visit/getting-here
- Parking: https://ysp.org.uk/visit/parking
