Monday 26 August 2013

A Day Of Culture

I've wanted to visit The Yorkshire Sculpture Park for some time now and we eventually got there yesterday. It's only a short trip down the M1 motorway, so I don't know why it's taken so long to visit.


The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is in the parkland of Bretton Hall in West Bretton, Wakefield and the sculptures are dotted around the grounds.




It's the most beautiful setting with such a wide expanse of land and the River Dearne running through it, which is dammed to form two lakes.



The grounds themselves are a haven for wildlife, we saw lots of small tortoiseshell butterflies amongst others, different moths, black hairy caterpillars which I can't identify, ducks and even a heron. You'll need to look hard to see it in this photo, it's right at the waters edge. I definitely need a zoom lens for my camera.


There were some beautiful trees in the grounds, just look at this one. It's branches stretched out so wide.



I think it's going to be a good conker year, this tree's laden with them.


On to the sculptures themselves then. My favourite is Sitting by Sophie Ryder. I don't know what it is about this sculpture that I like, perhaps it's the animal connection. It has the head of a hare and its body is modelled on Ryder's own.


It's a bit weird being cut in two as it is though.


Three Riace Bronzes by Elizabeth Frink. Archie didn't like these much, he growled at them.


Buddha by Niki de Saint Phalle.


Ten Seated Figures by Magdalena Abakanowicz. A bit weird as they have no heads.


One And Other by Antony Gormley. His other famous works are Angel of the North and Another Place on Crosby Beach. Many of his sculptures are based on moulds taken from his own body.


Monolithe by Lambert Rocour.


These are just a few of the sculptures dotted around the grounds, there's many more, and there's also five indoor galleries, though we didn't visit those as dogs aren't allowed inside and we had Archie with us.

It was a lovely day and we spent quite a while here. Just a word of warning though if you intend to visit, the car park charge is quite steep if you intend to stay any length of time, £7.50 for stays over two hours. We parked in West Bretton and walked, it only took about ten minutes.

Before coming home, we decided to travel on a little further to Elsecar Heritage Centre and have a look aroung the shops. It's located in the old ironworks and colliery workshops and is now an Antique, History and Craft Centre. The little shops there are interesting to look round.







Elsecar Heritage Railway is also here. Volunteers have restored a variety of rolling stock and undertaken a range of track work, a project which is ongoing.



We popped in to the old fashioned sweet shop to buy supplies for our journey home, cinder toffee and Pontefract cakes.


It was an enjoyable day out. Mick's on holiday from work now so we hope to have a few more days out this week.

26 comments:

  1. Sculptures like that don't really interest me so I'd be looking at the trees and wildlife.
    I'd certainly enjoy the Heritage Centre though.
    Have yourselves a good week. Flighty xx

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    1. I'm interested in sculpture, but I don't really get most of it. The grounds would definitely be your thing though, they're vast and there's plenty to see. Elsecar Heritage Centre is another lovely place and there's often events held there too. There was a Body, Mind and Spirit event on yesterday, but we didn't go in to that.

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  2. I love both places Jo, both fab for days out.

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    1. I've been wanting to visit The Yorkshire Sculpture Park for such a long time, I'm pleased I've finally got there. I think we'll be going back to Elsecar soon, the cafe and golf course has reopened in the park over the road from the Heritage Centre, and the rest of the family are keen to have a go.

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  3. This looks like an interesting place to visit. I enjoy parks like that. We just had some sculptures installed at our local library, on the grounds outside, and they're unusual but it's very nice to have real art to see when you go there.

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    1. It's great when places like libraries invest their money this way, there's so many people who don't get to experience art otherwise. I don't really get what most sculpture is about, but it does interest me.

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  4. What a wonderful day out. I've seen both places featured on other blogs in the past and thought how fab they both look and they are so close to you.
    Both so interesting for different reasons.
    Lisa x

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    1. We've visited Elsecar Heritage Centre previously, and I've blogged about it, so you've probably seen it here before. Always worth a second mention though, it's a fab place. I really enjoyed The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and it's a place we can take Archie too which is always a bonus. There's so many places where dogs aren't allowed.

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  5. I'm not sure about the sculptures but I loved the house and the grounds and the wildlife. That's reason to go! The Heritage Centre looks interesting. Great news that they are restoring the railway.

    Sft x

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    1. I know that sculpture isn't everyones cup of tea, but as you say, there's something for everyone in the house, grounds and wildlife. I'm fascinated with old railways and how people give up their time to restore them, so worthwhile.

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  6. Ooh! It's ages since I went to the Sculpture park, but Hubby's football team are at Ossett later in the year so I may have another go. And Elsecar looks fab, well worth a visit too! I love heritage and history, especially industrial heritage so I will happily go and look.

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    1. I'm hoping that Mick and Daniel's cricket team are promoted this year, they'll be in the same league as West Bretton then, it's a lovely ground and only a stones throw away from The Sculpture Park. I wouldn't mind going with them then. I'd definitely recommend Elsecar Heritage Centre, and take a look at the park and reservoir over the road too.

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  7. I had to laugh that Archie barked at the 3 bronze statues. You go, Archie! LOL

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    1. He's a feisty little thing when he's that way out. Butter wouldn't melt at other times though.

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  8. Just catching up on blogs. The Sculpture Park is lovely even when most of them are away for cleaning, as we went in 1991 and there was only a giant footballer sprawled trying to catch a ball. The Heritage Centre looks a nice place to visit. Glad you last bank holiday was pleasant.

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    1. What a shame that the sculptures were missing when you visited, though as you say, it's such a lovely place even without them. The Heritage Centre is great for a wander round, it's not much further on than The Sculpture Park, so ideal to include them both in our day out.

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  9. It also made me smile that Archie has artistic taste and opinions about statues! I suppose that they could look a bit threatening from his height. Have a lovely week. Jx

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    1. Archie definitely knows what he likes and what he doesn't. He was actually more interested in trying to get in the lake, he loves water.

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  10. We've visited both Elsecar and The Sculpture Park with our daughter and the grandchildren as there's something for everyone at both of them. Our grandson and his friend enjoyed racing down the hill to one of the Henry Moore sculptures, I recall, and we had a lovely picnic there. There must be different sculptures since we were there so a place to return to for another enjoyable experience.

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    1. There's definitely something for everyone at both places. They have different exhibitions which visit for a set period of time, some indoors and some outdoors, so it's a changing attraction. Certainly worth another visit.

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  11. Hi Jo,

    It's funny that you mention the sculpture park as we are hoping to visit it next weekend (weather and time permitting) as we're off up to York for a long weekend to celebrate our tenth anniversary! I know it has always been on our 'to-do' list and yet we've always managed to miss it somehow. Hopefully next weekend that will change! It's also nice to see how much wildlife there is round about the park.

    The Elsecar museum also sounds really interesting. We were planning to visit the National Railway Museum in York as I haven't been there since I was a child and enjoy such things quite a bit.

    Best wishes,

    Tash from vintagepretty.org

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    1. I'm sure you'll enjoy the sculpture park, there's plenty of wildlife to enjoy as well as the grounds themselves, and of course, the sculptures. It's a while since I've been to the National Railway Museum but it always gets good reviews. We used to go when the kids were younger, they regularly had Thomas The Tank Engine days. Happy Anniversary, I hope you have a lovely weekend.

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  12. We have not visited Elsecar,looks interesting, but have been to the Sculpture park. Which is nice. Sounds like you had a nice day out.

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    1. We enjoyed both aspects of the day. Elsecar is definitely worth a visit. The park over the road from The Heritage Centre is nice for a wander round too.

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  13. I used to be based at Woolley which is very near to Bretton and we held some meetings there.

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    1. I bet you didn't mind that one bit, such beautiful surroundings.

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