The Hepworth Wakefield — Attraction in Wakefield

Great Art dedicated Attraction housed in a fantastic modern building with a picturesque location down by the River Calder. There is a series of Art Galleries which is a mixture of paintings and sculpture art all of which is magnificently presented and looks very exquisite on the eye. The Sculpture Art is probably the best presented to the beautiful attention to detail paid but also the way it is been sculpted out and the type of sculpture art made that comes in all shapes and sizes. The paintings on show are just as good with the paintings depicting still life art particularly good with the flower painting being breathtakingly and beautifully presented. There are examples of Sculpture Art done by Barbara Hepworth as stated earlier which looks outstanding and amazing and there is some information about how they has been sculpted and the materials which is particularly interesting. There are other examples of Sculpture Art by Kim Lin and some displays about her life and what inspired to do Art and there are some fantastic works by Andrew Cranston and tje details to Cranston's works are also brilliantly displayed. There are displays next to most of the pieces of the art detailing the the rationale for their inspiration which is very intriguing. There is a garden which is an amazing and spectacular array of colour and is a nice little escape from the art gallery for a brief period and there is a cafe and shop on site selling souvenirs and refreshments at reasonable prices. The Art Gallery also has nice relaxing views of the River Calder and you can also whilst wandering around the garden you marvel at the marvellous and excellent architecture of the beautiful modernistic building. The admission fee is £13 for Adults but Wakefield Residents can go get in free if they ID proof in form of driving licence, passport or utility bill. There is also a charge for parking which is £2 for 90 minutes and £4 for 9 hours. Overall this is a great place to visit to see some of the finest examples of Sculpture Art in the UK and see a great...

I visited The Hepworth on 5th August with my friend, her baby, and my five-year-old son. The reception staff were lovely, and the activity they had downstairs was brilliant, my son had a great time and the staff running it were friendly, engaged, and created a really fun atmosphere.

Sadly, the day was ruined by an upsetting incident in one of the exhibition rooms. There was a large chocolate fountain which, understandably, had completely captured my son’s attention. He was stood watching it, fascinated by the bubbling noises, while I stood right next to him, holding him and explaining he mustn’t touch or climb on anything.

He briefly lifted one leg onto the ledge for a closer look, and I immediately said, “No, get down,” which he started to do. At that exact moment, a staff member who had been sitting behind us suddenly leapt up and shouted “NO!” loudly. It made him jump out of his skin and burst into tears. I completely understand the need to protect artwork, but the way it was handled was way over the top, especially as I was clearly right there, dealing with it. A calm, polite word to me as the parent would have been enough.

From that moment on, my son didn’t want to see anything else and just wanted to leave. He’s brought it up a few times since, so it clearly stuck with him which is heartbreaking, because he’d been having such a good time.

To top it off, when we went to the café, the service was just plain rude. Our food was practically thrown on the table by the waitress without even a smile or eye contact. For the prices they charge, you expect better. The food itself tasted great, but the service left a bad taste.

I emailed The Hepworth about this over a week ago and have had no reply. It’s a real shame, because they’ve got some lovely activities and brilliant front-of-house staff, but our day was completely overshadowed by how this incident was handled and the poor service...

Our last visit 2 weeks ago was the first time we've returned to the hepworth since before covid times. We used to visit regularly and since we were so made up with our return visit to Yorkshire sculpture park the week previous, we thought it would be nice to return here too... £5 to park, wouldn't be too bad if you could spend all day here but our visit never lasts more than a couple of hours. We thought since entry to the gallery was free it was worth the charge. When we arrived we were sickened to find it is now £12 per adult. Having already committed to parking we thought it must at least mean some great new exhibitions were awaiting us. The majority of the exhibitions were the same as what we saw on our last visit before covid times, some 3 or 4 years ago. We went from room to room hoping for something we hadn't seen here before. The cafe used to be a highlight of this place. The interesting menu has been replaced with mediocre selection of sandwiches, of which only 3 were available on the day we visited. The space feels lifeless and as far removed from a high quality exhibition space as you can imagine. The shop was equally disappointing. The hepworth branded merchandise dominates the retail offering. The whole visit took less than an hour. It took 45 minutes to drive there, and the same back. I emailed the hepworth immediately after our visit to request a refund on our admission given our anger and disappointment, but in keeping with the rest of the experience they declined our request. We wont...