Yorkshire Sculpture Park was always somewhere on our 'things to do when we have a baby list'! We chose an early spring day for our visit - dry, but with a threat of rain. Entry to the park is free, however there is a charge for car parking. I had done some research and knew the park was wheelchair friendly, so assumed that meant the same for prams. With our little one tucked up in the carrycot we headed off on our walk.
If I'm honest, we really struggled to find paths to follow and almost immediately headed back to the main visitor centre for directions and to feed our little one. Staff were incredibly helpful and allowed me to use the first aid room in order to feed. We headed out again and found that the paths on the map were grass paths with rubber netting underneath. Not much good for a pram after a very wet winter! We persevered, keen to see the park, but struggled with the mud that quickly clogged up our wheels.
It is a beautiful spot with the sculptures dotted around the park. However, we really needed a better map in order to do it justice. We also felt that we needed more information about some of the sculptures, or maybe that was just our uneducated eye! I'd really like to do the longer walk up to the Longside which we couldn't do because of the mud. The visitor centre is a really eye catching building and on the cold day that we visited was warm and inviting. Facilities are good and clean. There is a restaurant in the visitor centre, that we didn't use this time.
I think we would visit again, however we certainly wouldn't recommend taking a pushchair unless it had been really dry. I would also hopefully choose a warmer day! For children, I would say it is a bit of a walk for toddlers but there's plenty of space for older children to roam.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park website - www.ysp.co.uk
