Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Driving back from Yorkshire yesterday we called at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I've been coming here since I was a youngster, indeed before the sculpture park was opened some 30 years ago. I used to go swimming in the lake.

I always thought it was a great place to display the sculptures of people like Henry Moore and Dame Barbara Hepworth. Much of their work was made for the outdoors. But my favourite sculptor, who, if memory serves me right, has been exhibiting here almost as long as the park has existed, is Andy Goldsworthy.

Goldsworthy sculpts from nature, usually in the place that he finds his materials. Invariably his work is lost as the elements take over. Sometimes he uses shards of ice, other times twigs or tree branches. Some of his work involves arrangements of stone; some uses leaves, arranged in interesting compositions.

The exhibition of his work running at the park until January 6 is superb and should not be missed if you are heading up to Yorkshire in the next few months. In one room is a curtain made from leaf stalks; another room has cracked mud walls and another features a wood-lined chamber.

One of the reasons I like Goldsworthy's approach so much is that he is not precious about his work. He has not cashed in on high gallery values as others among his contemporaries have done. His work is transient, often preserved only in photographs like these.

Another favourite inside the Park is the Deer Shelter by James Turrell. Inside is a square roof opening, revealing the sky. It's a peaceful place to sit and reflect on things for a while.


If you're one of those people who prefers to look for an alternative to Motorway service stations on a long drive, this is worth the detour and there's a good restaurant and cafe overlooking meadows with mature trees and grazing sheep that complement the sculptures. The park is at West Bretton, five minutes away from turning 38 on the M1.