Earlier this week it was announced that the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has named the 2014 UK Museum of the Year. The open air museum in Wakefield was described by the judges as “a truly outstanding museum with a bold artistic vision” and picked up a £100,000 Art Fund prize.
The museum has been open since 1977 on the 500 acre grounds of Breton Hall and has a reputation for hosting ground breaking and world class sculptures. In the past the YSP has held exhibitions for the likes of Eduardo Paolozzi, Lynne Chadwick and Ai Weiwei. Its collection of works by Henry Moore is one of the largest open-air displays of his bronzes in Europe.
The YSP has been rightly credited for its fantastic blend of beautiful rolling countryside and stunning modern art, which is fused together to create what Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund and chair of judges, said is “one of the finest outdoor museums one might ever imagine”. The museum has also received a great deal of praise in the past. Bill Packer of the Financial Times described the YSP as “probably the finest exhibition site for sculpture in the world.” The People also viewed the park as “a great way to combine culture, exercise and fresh air for all the family.”
From a less able perspective, the reviews are slightly more mixed, largely this is a result of the nature of the park. The planned structure of the park coexists with the rural environment of the grounds on which it sits. So while the buildings, including the park’s five indoor galleries are all accessible, problems are more likely to come with getting from one to the other. The size and landscape of the site means that some terrain is not suitable for everyone. The YSP say on there website that “some areas of the Park are difficult to access with certain kinds of wheelchair.”
In order to combat the difficulties, they have built paths into parts of the park to get between galleries. These are there to help wheelchair users get around as well as as a guide for able bodied visitors. However, even these routes don’t go everywhere and they can still be bumpy and contain some steep gradients. In a power chair or scooter the park should be accessible but in a manual wheelchair it may be rather an uncomfortable ride. Lucky then that scooters are available for hire at the entrance for people who need them. This goes some way to making a tricky site more accessible if not perfect.
There are disabled toilets in various points around the park and they have blue badge parking spaces but bear in mind that you have to pay to use them.
Despite being the UK’s Best Museum, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is, by its nature, not the best place to visit if you are mobility impaired. However, with paths built into the rolling countryside and scooters for hire, they have made the park reasonably accessible. Hopefully they can use some of their £100,000 to make the museum more accessible than ever.
For now, we give the Yorkshire Sculpture Park a provisional 2 BBS Ticks. It’s a museum which needs a cautious, case by case approach for potential less able visitors but if you and your suspension can put up with a slightly bumpy ride it could be a really good day out.