Back in February I had a few days away in a forest cabin near Farnham; as one of our “days out” my girlfriend and I visited “The Sculpture Park”, which was an absolutely brilliant venue for a spot of photography.
The Sculpture Park is set in a 10 acre arboretum around 3 small lakes (or 3 very large ponds depending on your point of view) with hundreds of sculptures on display. When we visited there were over 800 sculptures on display from life-sized stone heads, to a dragon made from driftwood with a 20 foot wing span! With so much to see and so much woodland to wander through you should allow several hours to explore.
As you enter the park you join the first of the trails you’ll be following during your visit. After a couple of minutes you’ll arrive at reception where you pay your £10 entrance fee and will be given a map and catalogue. The map guides you along 3 different trails that twist and turn through the arboretum, and the catalogue allows you learn about the sculptures you’ll encounter every few feet.
The catalogue will also tell you the price of everything should you decide a little shopping is in order (the driftwood dragon by the way is a little on the pricy side at £168,000). At reception you’ll also find toilets.
You’re perfectly welcome to take photographs, although some of the paths are steep and winding so you’ll probably want to wear walking boots or similar, and wouldn’t want to carry a lot of kit. Equally although desirable a tripod may be impractical, and on a busy day probably wouldn’t make you too popular.
Your entrance fee allows you to exit and re-enter the park. You are allowed to picnic (although I’d suggest doing it discretely), however just outside the park is a rather nice pub which serves hot and cold drinks and food.
If you’d like to learn more about “The sculpture park”, you can visit their website here.