The Hepworth Wakefield - Wakefield

Rubén M. F.

Shame on me: I had not visited this truly fantastic museum before, despite living less than an hour from it.
It is worth visiting just for the building itself. The way the whole lot is perfectly combined with the location, its surroundings, including the river, with a cute garden housing some sculptures, the main bridge to access the museum from the car park, is superb.
The curated collection in the museum is simply magnificent. I visited attracted by Helen Chapwick's "Life Pleasures" exhibition, and my high expectations were gladly met: thought provoking, full of unexpected beauty, really original.
The shop is well supplied, and the coffee room was quite enjoyable: well attended, with great coffee and a good variety of food.
The atmosphere was the best for me, in my opinion: although not empty, it was quiet and I had the chance to go across some of the pieces without waiting for others to leave me room. I guess it helped I went in a school day.
There were plenty of lockers to leave your bags should you want to. But I could enter with my small backpack.
The toilets, like the rest of the museum, were very clean, and all working well.
The only negative remark is the car park: my sat nav did not give me the right directions, and I found the sign directions were not totally clear? It cost £4 for the full day. Considering that the ticket to the museum was free (as a resident in Wakefield district), I do not think it is fair to complain.

laura S.

great place. Quiet on a sunday mid morning. nice welcome . different exhibitions of sculpture and paintings. lovely small garden along side next to old mill. food and coffee was nice. didn't experinece the shop

Phil S.

A wonderful experience after a long drive up from Devon. This made our day. Fabulous exhibitions of paintings, ceramics and sculptures.

P R.

It's a big gallery with a good range of permanent and temporary exhibitions. The actual gallery spaces are well lit, and the object descriptions are good.
There is a large 'coffee and cake' type café and a small shop.
Outside, there is an interesting garden. There are great views out from one of the galleries onto the weir and river.

DragonDrop

Absolutely brilliant visit. Love the place. The current exhibitions are superb and work very well together. Excellent accessibility and inclusion. Nice gift shop - small but with some interesting stuff.

They don’t accept Amex - I get how the fees are higher and they are a charity.. but kind of - I’m not if that makes sense - I am personally missing out by not using Amex. Would rather the ticket price be slightly higher if you needed but if you’re going to show Amex accepted on your contactless pay terminal you should accept it.

Downside - the car park over the road has THE most confusing pay experience I’ve ever come across (I’ve been driving for 30+ years). It may not be owned or run by the Hepworth but from an outsider looking in perspective, it’s their car park, all signs suggest etc. absolutely dreadful experience.

Angie B.

The gallery was excellent.We saw the Helen Chadwick exhibition. I would highly recommend it.
Sadly, the cafe had a long wait for food. However, the quality more than made up for the wait. It was delicious.

Fen

Interesting building from the outside & well organised within.
Good choice of food in the café, nice selection of goods in the shop & the bathrooms are clean & well maintained.
The galleries are well laid out. Barbara Hepworth's sculptures were fascinating, as we're the other collections.
The staff are really helpful & friendly. Plus there are lightweight resting stools on hand if benches are full on busy days.
Very enjoyable visit.

Matthew G.

A brilliant variety of work that covers most forms of art... Staff were amazing, knowledgeable and extremely friendly... Loads of on site activities for the younger ones to keep them engaged. And a great bacon butty, what else do you need