Northumberland art trail named as one of nine amazing sculpture parks in the UK

Kielder Art and Architecture Trail has been named one of the best sculpture parks in the country – even though it’s not actually a sculpture park

Northumberland has a swathe of unique sculptures and public art dotted across the county.

In Cramlington, you’ll find a giant spoon tucked away in a field, at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea a couple look out across the North Sea from a platform out in the bay, and of course there’s Northumberlandia, the largest landform structure representing a person in the entire world. However, if you want a high concentration of off the wall artworks, you need to head up to Kielder Water and Forest Park.

Home to a giant screaming head in the forest, rotating seats offering views out over the reservoir and cubes which tell the story of salmon and their relationship with the River Tyne, the art and architecture trail brings one of the most remote parts of Northumberland to life. And that’s part of the reason it has been named one of the most amazing sculpture parks across the UK – even though it’s not actually a sculpture park!

Read more: Remembering the Queen’s 1982 visit to Northumberland to open Kielder Water

The trail covers the 26-mile shoreline of the reservoir, so it’s quite difficult to see everything even when cycling around the lake, while almost impossible to see it all on foot. However, taking a walk to Silvas Capitalis, the forest head; or the Janus Chairs can quite easily be achieved in a couple of hours.

As well as those already mentioned, Kielder Skyspace, Kielder Belvedere, Freya’s Cabin, Wave Chamber and Bakethin Hide are also popular among visitors, with this collection of public art added to regularly over the last 27 years. It’s not the first time this year that the Kielder Art and Architecture trail has received attention in the national press this year, back in January the Guardian bestowed a similar title upon it.

Speaking to the Chronicle back then, Hilary Norton of Visit Kielder said: “You can’t just go from one thing to the other, but we get very good feedback on individual sites or those who try and do a couple by walking or cycling. I think like any art, people have different responses to it. The majority of pieces reflect the landscape and I think people like that.”

The article in Time Out read: “Keen walkers can discover 22 massive sculptures and interactive installations on the 27-mile forest trail around Northumberland’s Kielder Reservoir, which offers plenty of entertainment for younger visitors. Make your way through the Minotaur Maze, take rubbings of the brass plates on the two-mile Kielder Keepsake trail or enjoy the view from the ‘Janus Chairs’, three giant rotating seats on a peninsula jutting into the reservoir.

“Other sculptures worth the trek are ‘Skyspace’ by James Turrell, the tree-hanging ‘Mirage’, a huge stone camera obscura called the ‘Wave Chamber’, and ‘Silvas Capitalis’, a huge timber head surrounded by pine trees.”

To read the full article on Time Out, click here. To find more information on the Kielder Art and Architecture Trail, visit the website.

What’s your favourite sculpture or public artwork in Northumberland? Let us know!

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