Day Trips from Manchester

In brief. Though not associated with much in the way of an interesting back story, Beningbrough Hall is a refined 18th century country house near York, now run by the National Trust . Though described as Baroque , Beningbrough is quite restrained, with a balanced exterior, fine interior woodwork and a tasteful walled garden. A visit to the hall itself includes period furniture and fittings on the ground floor and changing art exhibitions on the first floor, so overall a visit provides a variety of experiences.  The hall from the back garden. What's here? Though some country houses seem designed to impress with excess, Beningbrough seems more inclined to show off through good taste. On arrival, the walled garden is an obvious first place to visit, and features  borders and fruit trees. Overall, though there are gardens surrounding the house, these are not extensive, so this is not a place to come for exercise. Commendably, there is also a modern Mediterranean garden, reflecting...

In Brief. Barnsley is a market town, once surrounded by many collieries, with a grand town hall that hosts a modern local history museum,  Experience Barnsley , near to on the Cooper Gallery  that contains bequeathed art collections from various locals. Reflecting its status as a market town, Barnsley still hosts a thriving market, established as long ago as the 13th century. Town Hall and Crossing Vertical sculpture. What's Here? Though Barnsley covers a wide area, formally containing many surrounding settlements, the main features of the town centre are close together. Though the main shopping street contains a variety of more-or-less modern buildings, which tends to provide the opportunity for some to look past their prime, in fact the centre was bustling during my weekday visit, and everyplace seems well looked after.   The shopping area contains the popular market, and is adjacent to both a leisure area and the civic buildings. I first visited the Cooper Gallery , wh...

In Brief. An earlier blog visited the extensively renovated Leeds Waterfront , anchored by the Royal Armouries Museum ,  whereas this reports on a visit to the City Centre, for which the Leeds Art Gallery and Leeds City Museum were the target destinations. I walked up from the waterfront, and overall Leeds City Centre gives a good impression; it is much larger than I had expected, and includes an interesting blend of historic buildings and modern shops, offices and flats. The museum and art gallery provide pleasant modern exhibition spaces, though they aren't huge, and there are many retail opportunities, especially in some grand historic arcades. The Victoria Quarter What's Here? The rather austere frontage of the Leeds City Museum opens into spaces that sympathetically combine the existing historic building with modern galleries and a light, spacious coffee shop. The museum is not on the same scale as, say the World Museum in Liverpool, but contains an interesting history...

In Brief. Harewood is an imposing country house in West Yorkshire, designed, furnished and landscaped by the best 18th century architects, furniture makers and garden designers that money could buy. The result is impressive, with the carefully balanced house overlooking restrained formal gardens and rolling parkland. Inside, the interiors are grand without becoming too showy, and include sensitively displayed artworks, old and new. All this good taste was funded off the back of sugar plantations in the West Indies, as is reflected on explicitly inside the house and in some artworks. Harewood House from the Terrace. What's Here? Harewood house is surrounded by a variety of landscaped gardens.  Immediately to the rear of the property is the terrace (pictured), which is fine in itself, but perhaps most noteworthy for its wider views over rolling countryside. The terrace cafe provides a civilised location for taking it all in. However, there are also a variety of walks to other parts ...

In Brief. Bradford Museums and Galleries have a range of venues, including the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery and the Bolling Hall Museum and Library .  The former is an imposing Baroque building from the turn of the 20th Century, located in the rolling Lister Park, with several themed spaces including a David Hockney Gallery.  Bolling Hall seems much more like a country house, if we ignore the fact that it is no longer in the countryside, with a variety of interiors from different periods. Cartwright Hall and Mughal Gardens What's Here? The Cartwright Hall Art Gallery seems much smaller inside than outside, but perhaps that is just as well given the scale of the building. I was interested to see the David Hockney Exhibition, which is compact, but in being arranged chronologically provides an interesting review of the artist's evolving techniques and subjects. I particularly liked a video that captures the process of creating some of his iPad paintings. This complements the Dav...

In Brief. Liverpool is well served for museums, and previous blogs have covered visits to The Museum of Liverpool , the Maritime and Slavery Museums , and The Beatles Story and Beatles Museum . So, it was something of a surprise to find a further, substantial museum with the ambitious scope of covering The World.  A grand Neo-Classical building adjacent to other imposing civic piles, The World Museum  provides a sensitive modernisation of a Victorian building, with a variety of spaces on different floors covering different places and times, including Egypt and World Cultures galleries and an aquarium. That it is almost next door to The Walker Art Gallery means you will need to bring comfortable shoes. The World Museum and Liverpool Library. What's Here? The World Museum has a central atrium, from which different galleries and exhibitions are reached over what seems like quite a few levels if you use the stairs!  There are some temporary exhibitions, for which there may b...

In Brief. This visit was to the heart of Sheffield, where the Peace Gardens occupy the square beside the Town Hall, Plants fill a modern Winter Garden and Pictures are among the objects on show in the Millennium Gallery . In fact, the Millennium Gallery more strongly features craft items, and the nearby Graves Gallery is the place to go for paintings. All of these are deserving of attention, and the compact town centre seems to have emerged strongly from a series of development initiatives. Sheffield Town Hall from the Peace Gardens What's Here? Perhaps the Peace Gardens are the definition of the centre of Sheffield, occupying the public space in front of the town hall. It won't take long to visit them, but the combination of lawns, water features and levels, from the late 1990s, manages to be be both stately and calming in the middle of the bustling town centre. The Winter Gardens The Millennium Gallery and adjacent Winter Gardens were the original focus for my visit. Neither...

In Brief. Port Sunlight is a model village, built from 1888, to house the workers at Lever Brothers soap factory, now part of the multinational Unilever. The village includes small blocks of worker's cottages in a variety of architectural styles, alongside a range of open spaces, a museum and the Lady Lever Art Gallery , adjacent to a substantial soap factory. Walking tours provide an interesting overview of the history of the site, there is an informative museum and the art gallery exceeded my expectations. The Lady Lever Art Gallery from the slightly out-of-season rose garden. What's Here? My visit started with a successful tea and cake in the Art Gallery's basement cafe, and continued with a wander sround the gallery. The gallery has a grand main hall, lit from above, and a collection of themed rooms. The themed rooms include Wedgwood and Chinese ceramics, tapestries and a series of rooms that combine art, decor and furniture to reflect a period or style. There is also ...

In Brief. The Hepworth Wakefield , named after the sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born in Wakefield, is a bold modern gallery on the banks of the River Calder.  The building itself, which was opened in 2011, contains ten light and spacious galleries, five of which are focused on the sculpture of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, with the remaining five housing temporary exhibitions. There is also a garden alongside the gallery with densely planted borders and some additional sculpture.  The Hepworth from the garden. What's Here? The Hepworth seems like a successful take on what a modern gallery can be. Anchored on the sculpture of Barbara Hepworth, whose work is represented by examples from throughout her career including early figures through assorted experiments with different materials and forms, to a scale model for the 6m tall Winged Figure. There is also a room that includes various tools from her workshop, and a discussion of how certain sculptures were made. These a...