The beauty of visiting Yorkshire is that you are only a stone’s throw away from each of its towns and cities. Waking early, well early enough for a Sunday morning, we hopped into the car and left Sheffield for the short drive to Wakefield.
As you may know, I am from the small, industrial town of St Helens. Six years ago, a Channel 4 TV series saw us receive a 20 metres high statue called ‘Dream’ by Jaume Plensa (you might have seen it in this blog post here). Wakefield is home to Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) and more sculptures by Plensa. So, the boy and I decided to check it out, whilst we were in the neighbourhood.
After a picnic pit stop and a McDonalds refuelling session, we arrived at YSP. Free to enter, the park boasts 500 acres or rolling countryside and some amazing sculptures to boot too! Yes, you have to pay £7.50 to park, however that’s any Yorkshire man’s bargain when you consider it equates to £3.75 per person!
Now, I’m not a huge fan of sculpture, but I am an advocate of strolling around beautiful gardens in the sun and taking lots of pictures. Look at what my camera spied…
Molecule Man! An almost identical sculpture stands in Berlin’s River Spree. It just goes to show that you’re never too far away from a blog post banging on about Berlin! You will be pleased to hear my next jaunt is far, far away from Berlin. Phew!
Obeying thy stomachs, we decided to find a picnic spot in the 500 acres. I’ll admit, it was a definite highlight of my day Then again, that was until the midgies caught up and we were forced to move on and take yet MORE pictures!
I was so relieved to see a piece by Antony Gormley. Finally! An artist I knew at least two facts about. I’ve even seen his other work, not to brag like. I was in awe of the piece so much, I forgot to take a photograph…doh.
Escaping the heat, we headed inside to see Yinka Shonibare’s exhibition, Fabric-ation. Unfortunately, there was no camera action allowed, which is a shame as his Blackberry wielding, bling covered ‘Urban Fox’ was pure genius. We did snap this little beauty in the YSP entrance though.
The perfect end to a smashing weekend? Putting the roof down on the car, soaking up the last rays of sun and finishing the last bits of our picnic. Bliss!
As always, much love,
Donna (Apparently, a culture vulture these days!)