THE Yorkshire Sculpture Park may be 30 years old, but it's a new discovery to me.
We first visited earlier this year after another debut: a trip to Meadowhall, where we felt crushed by the colossus of consumerism. Do we really need that many shops?
Sanity was restored shortly afterwards when we arrived at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, a few junctions north of Meadowhall on the M1 and about a 40-minute drive from York.
The first thing that strikes you about the park is its scale. Set in the 500-acre, 18th century Bretton estate, it's massive. A carpet of green unfolds at every turn. The sky is limitless. The sense of being outdoors completely envelops you. As great escapes go, this is pretty top notch.
And it gets better. Amid the miles of country park are wonderful works of art. A great game to play with the kids is "spot the sculpture". It won't be long before they are running around, whooping in delight at yet another weird and wonderful discovery among the grass.
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, the YSP is staging its largest and most ambitious exhibition, featuring the work of British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy.
Goldsworthy has been described as a "rural alchemist", which perfectly sums up the artist who uses natural materials in his stunning creations.
He first worked at the sculpture park in the 1980s, but for the 2007 exhibit Goldsworthy has completed four new outdoor commissions, as well as worked on four new installations for the Underground Gallery.
The work is spread around the YSP site and, although there is a free shuttle bus for visitors, a proper exploration will require a good few hours.
Anyone pressed for time should focus on the Underground Gallery. It is conveniently sited next to the visitor centre, where there is an information room showing a film about Goldsworthy, next to a pile of stones where kids can experiment with creating their own sculpture. The visitor centre houses the shop, loos and a family-friendly café, selling hot food, sandwiches and drinks.
The first exhibit in the Underground Gallery is a giant pine cone, constructed from an assortment of oak branches, all interlocked and held together without a single nail.
Logs of coppiced chestnut are weaved together in a similar, self-supporting way in the Wood Room installation, where Goldsworthy had taken 760 logs and turned them into a giant, upside-down nest. Stepping inside, the darkness and dank smell suggest you are in the heart of an overgrown forest at midnight. Looking up, you can only gaze in wonder at the architecture of the piece and ask: how does he do it?
Entering the Leaf Stalk Room, you move from dark to light, and have a sense of time standing still as Goldsworthy works his magic once more. Mid way into the bleach-white room, a pattern of tiny dark strokes appear, like painted lines, evenly spaced from ceiling to floor. Look closer and you discover they are in fact leaf stalks - 10,500 of them, to be precise - held together with blackthorns. It's as if they are free falling in synchronicity, frozen in time.
There are other exhibitions being staged throughout the year, including a photographic display of some of the iconic images from the YSP's three decades, which can be seen in the upstairs café.
But much of the joy of the YSP lies outdoors and in seeing sculpture in the rural landscape. Many of Britain's best-loved sculptors have work here, notably Henry Moore, Anthony Caro and Anthony Gormley.
On a fine day, there are 100 acres to explore. Enjoy a picnic and let the kids off the leash. Take a detour through the woods, weaving through a labyrinth of paths and twisted branches, and you lose the sense of where nature ends and art begins.
And don't miss a visit to the Camelia House, a stone building in the heart of the park that is a veritable floral paradise. Inside are more than a dozen mature shrubs, shedding big fat blooms in every hue from red to pink.
With so much to see, a second visit has to be recommended. And since entry is free - you have to pay for parking - there's no reason why you shouldn't make many happy returns to the YSP.
- The Andy Goldsworthy exhibition will run until January 6, 2008
Fact file
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield. Tel: 01924 832631 www.ysp.co.uk
Getting there: One mile from M1 junction 38. Follow brown heritage signs.
Parking: At the visitor centre, or when full, at the overflow site at the neighbouring country park.
Admission: Free, but car parking costs £4 for the day.
Opening hours: Until October 28, 2007, 10am-6pm (or 5pm for visitor centre, shop, restaurant and Underground Gallery).
Free mobility scooters are available, call 01924 832631 to book.
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