"A visit to a fine house, and an estate that's been transformed into an acclaimed Sculpture Park."
Walk directions
Be sure to have paid the entrance fees to YSP and then from the car park, rejoin the main road and walk right along the footpath for 200yds (182m) before going right again into Jebb Lane. Follow it past some cottages and around a bend, shortly turning off just before a barn on the right onto a track. Through a kissing gate at the end, head out across a field, closing with a wood on the left. Beyond the trees, cross a stile by a gate and continue right, along the other flank of the fence towards more trees. Swing left at the field corner and climb beside the boundary to reach an opening into the estate.
Bear right through a gap in the wall to a fork in the path. Take the right branch, signed as a footpath, which descends gently into woodland. Breaking cover, fork right and continue down to a second junction. Ignore the path off left, but at a fork a few paces further on, keep right into more trees and another junction.
Those with dogs must go left on a path skirting the perimeter of Menagerie Wood. At the far end, pass through a field gate and walk forward to a track. Turn right through wrought iron gates into the park. Without a dog, you can take the right path, which, after crossing a sunken fence, winds through trees to a junction by the lake. Turn left through a gate and continue through the woods, where highland cattle freely roam. There are occasional views across the lake to Bretton Hall. The track runs beyond the lake, leaving through a gate. Turn right along the main drive away from the wrought iron gates.
Follow the drive over two bridges to more wrought iron gates, passing through to continue gently uphill alongside the perimeter fence. Keep ahead as a path joins from the left, but at a fork just beyond, bear right beside a field gate and continue up to emerge at the edge of a car park. The café at YSP Learning is just ahead, but the main complex lies a little further on.
There are any number of routes you might take through the Sculpture Park to explore the art, one being a bowered path that drops from the bottom of the car park, near the point at which you first entered. Meeting a crossing path, go left towards the hall. At the next junction, swing right towards the river and lake. However, just before reaching a bridge turn left through a gate to parallel the river at the edge of the open park. Through another gate, keep ahead past the foot of the lake and through more parkland. Eventually joining a drive, follow it right back to the Weston car park.
Dog friendliness
- Dogs can enter the YSP but must be on leads and stick to dog-walking routes. Dogs not allowed in the galleries spaces, Menagerie Wood or around Upper Lake
Parking
- The Weston entrance car park, beside A637 near M1 junction 38
Toilets en route
- At car park and the Sculpture Park
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) was established back in 1977, which makes it the first such venture in the UK. Exhibitions of contemporary art are displayed in 500 acres (202ha) of Bretton Estate and four galleries, providing a changing programme of exhibitions, displays and projects. This... extraordinary ‘art gallery without walls’ is home to works by Dame Barbara Hepworth, who was from Wakefield, and sculptures by Henry Moore. Born in Castleford, Moore began his artistic career at Leeds School of Art and remained close to his Yorkshire roots, whilst his reputation was international. He was a pioneer of outdoor sculpture, often creating works with particular landscape locations in mind, where they would be encountered by people who might not otherwise visit a gallery. So it seems fitting that a dozen of Moore’s monumental bronze figures have found a permanent home here. For more than half a millennium, the Bretton estate had been held by just three families, the Dronsfields, Wentworths and Beaumonts, passing from one to the next by marriage. It was Sir William Wentworth who demolished the medieval hall and chapel in 1720 to make way for a fine new mansion in the grand Palladian style, a design inspired by memories of the classical cities of Europe visited during his Grand Tour. He sited his house on the hillside to take advantage of the views across the valley of the River Dearne and his son Sir Thomas continued his vision by landscaping the park and creating the lakes, which remain outstanding features of the estate. The long line of tenure finally came to an end when it was sold to West Riding County Council after the war in 1947. The hall then became Bretton Hall College for a time, but is now being converted into a hotel.
Everybody knows that Yorkshire has some special landscapes. The Dales and the Moors first spring to mind, but what about West Yorkshire? That’s Leeds and Bradford isn’t it? Back-to-back houses and blackened mills… Certainly if you had stood on any of the hills surrounding Hebden Bridge a hundred years ago, and gazed down into the valley, all you would have seen was the pall of smoke issuing from the chimneys of 33 textile mills.
"A visit to a fine house, and an estate that's been transformed into an acclaimed Sculpture Park."
Walk details
1hr 15min
Difficulty:
Easy
Gradient:
Gentle
Distance:
3 miles (4.8kms)
Ascent:
279ft (85m)
Walk directions
Be sure to have paid the entrance fees to YSP and then from the car park, rejoin the main road and walk right along the footpath for 200yds (182m) before going right again into Jebb Lane. Follow it past some cottages and around a bend, shortly turning off just before a barn on the right onto a track. Through a kissing gate at the end, head out across a field, closing with a wood on the left. Beyond the trees, cross a stile by a gate and continue right, along the other flank of the fence towards more trees. Swing left at the field corner and climb beside the boundary to reach an opening into the estate.
1 of 5
Bear right through a gap in the wall to a fork in the path. Take the right branch, signed as a footpath, which descends gently into woodland. Breaking cover, fork right and continue down to a second junction. Ignore the path off left, but at a fork a few paces further on, keep right into more trees and another junction.
2 of 5
Those with dogs must go left on a path skirting the perimeter of Menagerie Wood. At the far end, pass through a field gate and walk forward to a track. Turn right through wrought iron gates into the park. Without a dog, you can take the right path, which, after crossing a sunken fence, winds through trees to a junction by the lake. Turn left through a gate and continue through the woods, where highland cattle freely roam. There are occasional views across the lake to Bretton Hall. The track runs beyond the lake, leaving through a gate. Turn right along the main drive away from the wrought iron gates.
3 of 5
Follow the drive over two bridges to more wrought iron gates, passing through to continue gently uphill alongside the perimeter fence. Keep ahead as a path joins from the left, but at a fork just beyond, bear right beside a field gate and continue up to emerge at the edge of a car park. The café at YSP Learning is just ahead, but the main complex lies a little further on.
4 of 5
There are any number of routes you might take through the Sculpture Park to explore the art, one being a bowered path that drops from the bottom of the car park, near the point at which you first entered. Meeting a crossing path, go left towards the hall. At the next junction, swing right towards the river and lake. However, just before reaching a bridge turn left through a gate to parallel the river at the edge of the open park. Through another gate, keep ahead past the foot of the lake and through more parkland. Eventually joining a drive, follow it right back to the Weston car park.
Dog friendliness
- Dogs can enter the YSP but must be on leads and stick to dog-walking routes. Dogs not allowed in the galleries spaces, Menagerie Wood or around Upper Lake
Parking
- The Weston entrance car park, beside A637 near M1 junction 38
Toilets en route
- At car park and the Sculpture Park
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) was established back in 1977, which makes it the first such venture in the UK. Exhibitions of contemporary art are displayed in 500 acres (202ha) of Bretton Estate and four galleries, providing a changing programme of exhibitions, displays and projects. This... extraordinary ‘art gallery without walls’ is home to works by Dame Barbara Hepworth, who was from Wakefield, and sculptures by Henry Moore. Born in Castleford, Moore began his artistic career at Leeds School of Art and remained close to his Yorkshire roots, whilst his reputation was international. He was a pioneer of outdoor sculpture, often creating works with particular landscape locations in mind, where they would be encountered by people who might not otherwise visit a gallery. So it seems fitting that a dozen of Moore’s monumental bronze figures have found a permanent home here. For more than half a millennium, the Bretton estate had been held by just three families, the Dronsfields, Wentworths and Beaumonts, passing from one to the next by marriage. It was Sir William Wentworth who demolished the medieval hall and chapel in 1720 to make way for a fine new mansion in the grand Palladian style, a design inspired by memories of the classical cities of Europe visited during his Grand Tour. He sited his house on the hillside to take advantage of the views across the valley of the River Dearne and his son Sir Thomas continued his vision by landscaping the park and creating the lakes, which remain outstanding features of the estate. The long line of tenure finally came to an end when it was sold to West Riding County Council after the war in 1947. The hall then became Bretton Hall College for a time, but is now being converted into a hotel.
Everybody knows that Yorkshire has some special landscapes. The Dales and the Moors first spring to mind, but what about West Yorkshire? That’s Leeds and Bradford isn’t it? Back-to-back houses and blackened mills… Certainly if you had stood on any of the hills surrounding Hebden Bridge a hundred years ago, and gazed down into the valley, all you would have seen was the pall of smoke issuing from the chimneys of 33 textile mills.
