WALKS OF ART
Head off on a gentle ramble and enjoy ingenious art installations to exercise both body and mind
There’s therapy to be found in the nation’s landscapes — of course there is — but we don’t all have to rush to the top of snowdon to find it. There are plenty of walks all over the country where works of art bring an extra dimension to a breath of fresh air.
These gentle rambles combine nature’s handiwork with the creativity of man, providing food for curious minds as well as exercise for legs and lungs.
NO TROUBLE AT MILLS
The Irwell Trail in Lancashire is a 33-mile sculpture walk through the heartland of the industrial revolution, from Bacup to salford Quays, and tells a restoration story.
Its route connects former mills and factories that have been largely reclaimed by nature, where the Irwell river now runs sparkling and clean.
The 70 sculptures are mostly organised in clusters such as in Bury’s Burrs Park, once the site of a spinning mill, and the Clifton Country Park, a former colliery. some celebrate industry by incorporating bits of machinery, while others are pure whimsy, such as Tara In her Trainers, a cheetah wearing shoes. ( irwellsculpturetrail.co.uk) STAY: ramsbottom’s eagle and Child restaurant with rooms has B&B doubles from £80 ( eagle-and-child.com).
CAPITAL INVESTMENT
London’s freshly opened public art walk cuts through a challenging cross- section of urbanisations.
The Line starts at the olympic Park, stratford and its Japantown of apartment blocks. From there it heads down a hotchpotch of waterways with ramshackle marinas and ends up hopping the Thames via cable car from the excel to the o2.
The four-mile route features 12 installations, including a giant female figure engrossed in her mobile phone. The cable- car ride is a head-turner, descending to showpieces such as Antony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud and richard Wilson’s Cross section Through A ship, on the waterside around the o2. ( the-line.org) STAY: The stratford, overlooking olympic Park, B& B doubles from £ 128 ( the stratford.com).
SURPRISE DISCOVERY
IT’s billed as the UK’s largest outdoor collection of contemporary art, but even that won’t quite prepare you for the huge leap Folkestone in Kent has taken into the creative universe.
This Victorian resort-port has had a tough old time. Blitzed by the Luftwaffe then undermined by the Channel Tunnel, it has undergone a renaissance of late.
some 74 artworks by the likes of Tracey emin and richard Woods are distributed around town, and finding them is an absorbing treasure hunt, during which you’ll walk for miles.
The old town, by the fishing harbour, is where the creative community has set up shop. seek out the lonely watcher under the pier — Gormley’s Another Time — by the restored harbour railway station, a slice of glamour from the Boat Train era. ( creativefolkestone.org.uk) STAY: The relish has doubles B&B from £98 ( sawdays.co.uk).
TOWERING WONDERS
There’s a real stop-and-stare moment on the Forest of dean’s dedicated four-mile sculpture trail in Gloucestershire. Towering forests are regularly compared to cathedrals, and the stained glass window hanging over the trail is also titled Cathedral, further filtering and dappling the light that has already been filtered and dappled by filigree branches and leaves.
Most of the route’s other 16 works are more discreet, with many referencing its mining and hunting heritage. Keen-eyed visitors will also spot older works gradually returning to the forest floor in the eternal circle of life .( forest of dean sculpture. STAY: Former courtroom and hunting lodge speech house has doubles from £57 ( thespeechhouse.co.uk).
WOLDS APART
Historically, east yorkshire’s heather-laden moorland and its stone-embroidered dales have attracted most visitor attention — until david hockney started to paint the understated world of the Wolds. And now the Wolds Way, an undulating 79-mile national Trail that sashays northwards from the humber, is developing a reputation for the arts.
That’s thanks to the Wander project’s series of site- specific creations such as the spiral mound at Thixendale and the guardian warriors and dewpond near Malton. But there’s another dimension at work, where Wolds walkers can conjure up relevant artworks out of the ether via their smart phones .( yorkshire wolds secret art. STAY: north star sanctum’s two-person lodges in the east riding cost from £309 for three nights ( north starsanctum.co.uk).
PIE IN THE SKY
The Kielder Water reservoir in northumberland, completed in the 1970s, has gone creative. Part of the northumberland national Park, it is now also a major dark sky Park.
Meanwhile, its shore and the surrounding forest — one of the biggest in europe — has borne strange fruit.
There’s the giant slices-of-pie installation Viewpoints, which dot the landscape depending on where you stand; the surreal silver Belvedere, a Tardis-like observation shelter; the three Janus Chairs, outsize swivelling chairs with 360-degree views.
The most memorable of all is the giant forest head, silvas Capitalis (below), pretty scary after dark. ( kielderartand architecture.com) STAY: Landal Kielder Waterside has four- person lodges with hot tubs from £ 545 for three- night breaks ( landal.co.uk).
SCOTTISH CREATIVES
Art comes with the territory in scotland’s mellow Loch Ard and Lochan spling in the Trossachs, where delightful russet sunsets are both water- reflected and mountain-framed. This region of lochs, hill and forest is a place to hike, to spot ospreys, and to speculate about local outlaw rob roy — goodie or baddie? For out- of- season adventure, the environment of Loch Ard is actually more gently rolling than well ’ ard, and its fourmile sculpture trail is gravelled and peppered with whimsical recreations of the local wildlife, whether that be ninja squirrels wielding lightsabers or foxes of polished steel. STAY: The Loch Ard sculptor rob Mulholland offers glamping cabins south of Aberfoyle, from £340 for two nights ( arcadiaglamping.co.uk).