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We were invited to join a trip to Wakefield, with two other couples, to visit the Hepworth Wakefield for the special exhibition “Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life”, a celebration for the museum’s tenth anniversary. Hepworth spent much of her life after WW2 in Cornwall, but Wakefield lays claim to her because she was born there.

The trip was a first for us, we would have to charge the Polestar 2 away from home. The return trip being too far for a full charge. Rosemary experienced range anxiety on the way there, but Steve had planned several charging locations in Wakefield, and scouted out some emergency stops on the motorway.

The idea was all three couples on the trip would stay at the Holiday Inn Express, meeting up for outings. Restaurants and pub venues had been booked or selected by Norman.

We set off at 9.40 and arrived at our first stop, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, at 12.20 with more than 40% charge remaining in the battery. The others visited different places.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

There are two entries to the park, we chose the larger main entry to the North. It seemed very busy with families coming to walk around the extensive grounds. First stop the loos, after which we munched on our Ginsters Cornish Pasties for lunch. We did not do the park justice, it is absolutely huge. We did not even go near to the lake, let alone walk on the lakes south side. Three Henry Moore sculptures were set in open park land, and there were many Barbara Hepworth bronzes in the series ‘Family of Man’. Good to fantasize about which we’d like to have at home. The sculptures I photographed were:

• Masayuki Koorida, Flower
• Squares with Two Circles, Barbara Hepworth
• Eduardo Paolozzi, Vulcan
• Barbara Hepworth, The Family of Man
• Niki de Saint Phalle, Buddha
• Elisabeth Frink, Standing Man
• William Turnbull, Large Idol
• David Nash, Barnsley Lump and Three Stones
• William Turnbull, Large Horse (R wanted this one)
• Kenny Hunter, Bonfire
• Marialuisa Tadei, Night and Day
• Marialuisa Tadei, Octopus
• Nigel Hall, Crossing (Horizontal)
• Dennis Oppenheim, Trees: From Alternative Landscape Components
• Kimsooja, A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir
• Ai Weiwei, Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads
• Anthony Caro, Promenade
• Anthony Caro, Dream City
• Mark di Suvero, The Cave
• Henry Moore, Large Two Forms
• Sean Scully, Crate of Air
• Henry Moore, Three Piece Reclining Figure
• Ursula von Rydingsvard, Heart in Hand

Afterwards we made our way to the Asda on Asdale Road, Wakefield, mainly to charge the car on a 50KW charger. It was occupied, but by the time I had registered on the ENERGIE app and entered my credit card details, the owner of the charging car had returned and disconnected the charger. I dutifully parked and plugged in and started the charge. At the 40% level, the car was able to take the full 50KW, but slowed down when 80% was reached. We waited until we had a full 90% charge. We were there charging for a few minutes more than an hour. Surprisngly, I found the charge was free. R went into Asda in search of polish & preserved whole lemons, but neither was to be had.

Next we checked in at the Holiday Inn Express. Rosemary had found out that parking was limited, and it was, but we managed to find a space and parked. Basic hotel (well it was only £55 a night), but comfortable with friendly staff. After settling in, we walked to Harrys Bar, a pub selected by Norman for its reported good beer. We located the pub, nearby, but it was a little difficult to find the entrance. Norman and Valerie were nowhere to be seen. A few mins later, messages from them confirmed they had gone the wrong way, but after recovering from this detour, they still could not find the entrance immediately. Viv and Bill were a little later, but had no issues finding the bar which had an excellent selection of beers.

We thought Harrys Bar had been selected for its proximity to Dolce Vita, the Italian restaurant where we were to be eating later. This was not the case, and was pure coincidence because the location of Dolce Vita had been assumed to be elsewhere (we think confusion over a bakery with a similar name some distance away). The Dolce Vita restaurant is in a rather ugly building when viewed from the outside, looking very much like a utilitarian discount store. Inside it was light, clean and very welcoming. We had an excellent meal here, which started with a Negroni for me, and Negroni with added prosecco for Viv and Valerie (think R had an espresso martini). A nice end to the day.

Barbara Hepworth

Next day we were up for breakfast, which for R and I was the full English (R made a mistake in her ordering cos she didn’t really want it) then it was to the Hepworth Museum (a treat in itself) to see the special exhibition. We spent three hours there, including a light lunch in the café. We spent a couple of hours afterwards, walking around in the rain, first visiting the Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin, which is built on a bridge over the River Calder. R and I also walked to the Trinity shopping Mall to see a Barbara Hepworth, but that had mysteriously changed into Hubert Dalwood’s, Minos. A visit to the Cathedral, and then back to the hotel.

We all met up for a drink at the Black Rock pub, another pub with a good selection of beers, before eating at the nearby Qubana. Modern tapas menu, or starter mains. Very noisy to start with, no sound deadening upholstery in the restaurant. This abated somewhat, as most of the diners appeared to have come early to eat before going on elsewhere. It was again a good meal at very reasonable cost. Norman chooses well.

From the visits to the pubs, I was directed to an app called Real Ale Finder. It shows pubs selling real ales, and is updated by the landlords to show what is on tap. Unfortunately is appears to have a mainly Northern following, and is not much used by pubs around here.

National Trust Nostell Priory

Another morning and breakfast saw us checking out and making our separate ways. But we happened to go the same way as Bill and Viv, to the National Trust house of Nostell Priory. A house set in parkland. We managed a tour of the house. The most notable exhibit to me was the wooden clock built by John Harrison in 1717 when we was only 24. John Harrison went on the build the marine chronometer which aided navigators in calculating their longitude.

Lunch in the courtyard and a walk around the walled gardens before we set off home, arriving back with plenty of power left. With more and more green electricity being produced, it is great to believe the coal mine owners and oil producers will be going broke. So long as they and their investors are made to clear up the mess, and are not allowed to divest their liabilities into shell companies designed to go broke..