Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Travel Pages visits the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and sees outdoor art by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Damien Hirst, Andy Goldsworthy and many more.

We were holidaying on the edge of Derbyshire’s Peak District in the lovely little Derbyshire town of Dronfield, but realised one day we were less than an hour’s drive from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We had to go. It wasn’t exactly a scenic drive, around the nether regions of Sheffield, but it was worth it. In fact, if we’d realised how big and how good the park was, we’d have set off earlier and got a few more hours in.

Where is the Yorkshire Sculpture Park?

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is seven miles (11 kms) south of Wakefield, twenty miles (32 kms) north of Sheffield and twenty miles (32 kms) south of Leeds. It’s just a few minutes from Junction 38 of the M1, so is very easy to get to. There’s a large car park and parking is free.

How Big is the Yorkshire Sculpture Park?

The park covers 500 acres (200 hectares) of parkland, with some indoor exhibition galleries too. For comparison with the inevitable football pitch, it’s equivalent to almost 500 of them.

That’s a lot to cover and you should plan for a full day there. Fortunately there’s a great café to have lunch in! We weren’t surprised that it was voted the Yorkshire Tourist Attraction of the Year in 2023.

What’s In the Yorkshire Sculpture Park?

There are 90 sculptures on display in all, which doesn’t sound that many but some are set in grand landscapes, and others dominate smaller areas. The layout makes you focus on the sculptures as well as the parkland. Some of the larger sculptures can be seen from some distance away, growing more impressive as you approach.

There are works by famous names such as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Antony Gormley, Andy Goldsworthy, Damien Hirst and Elisabeth Frink, but the sculptors are from all over the world, including artists from the USA, Japan, Spain, Chile, Brazil, South Korea, Armenia and India, amongst others.

Daniel Arsham

As well as seeing stunning work by those famous names, we also discovered new artists whose work was equally impressive. One of the best for me was Daniel Arsham, whose works were big and bold, and certainly made you stop, and look, and think. His ET bicycle on a stone in one of the park’s ponds was whimsical and fun, his Bronze Eroded Bunny was menacing, and while his Unearthed Bronze Eroded Melpomene may have a pretentious name but it also had power, and almost everyone stopped to gaze at it.

Dining at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

There are two main dining options at the park, the first being the Kitchen Café in the main Visitor Centre, where you buy or show your tickets. Here you can have a Full English (i.e. Yorkshire) Breakfast, or a cooked lunch such as Soup of the Day, Baked Gnocchi or Smoked Trout. The dishes sound as if they ought to be pricey, but they are incredibly inexpensive for the quality.

And we can vouch for the quality as four of us dined at The Restaurant at The Weston, which overlooks the park though is actually a few yards outside it. You’re supposed to show your ticket again to get back in but the booth at the gate was unmanned on our visit. Here we had four different dishes, including salads and main courses, along with glasses of wine or beer, and everything was excellent… and affordable. There’s also a wonderful gift shop here, with local produce for sale alongside arts and crafts by international artists.

All in all it was a delightful day, and we only left because it was approaching closing time. We sadly hadn’t allowed enough time to explore the interior galleries, or the galleries in some of the buildings scattered around the park, but that’s just an excuse for another visit.

Be sure you take a map with you, if there’s anything in particular you want to see, though even with one the park is so huge that it was easy to get lost. Alternatively just wander at random – you’ll still discover some of the finest outdoor sculptures you’ll see anywhere.

Visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

For opening times and admission prices, check the website. Note that the park is extremely popular and it’s recommended that at busy times of year, and especially at weekends, you should book a timed entry on the website.

All photos (c) Mike Gerrard