Tag Archives: arty

For decades, cheap flights, nightclubs and booze made Prague one of Europe’s stag party capitals. City officials have spoken out about tourists’ drunken behaviour, but Prague remains popular among men dressed as Smurfs drinking 50 koruna (£1.70) pints of pilsner. I arrive on the train from Dresden, the German city …

Make the trip for … Cookham, a Thames-side village in Berkshire, was described as “a village in heaven” by the artist Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), who lived there most of his life. He is best known for his paintings of biblical events transposed to Cookham’s streets, gardens and riverbanks. Today the …

Make the trip for … Wakefield is the UK’s unofficial city of sculpture. As the proud birthplace of the sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, it has two major art attractions in their honour. The whopping 500-acre Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), and the Hepworth Wakefield. At the YSP, just outside …

Make the trip for … Shrewsbury, a gorgeous medieval market town, was put on the art map in 2021 with the launch of the Shrewsbury Arts Trail. The event goes from strength to strength: this year it boasts three sculptures by Salvador Dalí. Two are outdoors: the 5-metre-tall Surrealist Piano …

Make the trip for … Newmarket in Suffolk is the home of British horse racing, with equine attractions aplenty. There are the two race courses, the Rowley Mile and the July Course; the gallops where the horses are exercised; the National Stud, where they are bred; and Tattersalls, where they …

Make the trip for … Barnard Castle, a well-preserved market town in Teesdale, County Durham, grew up around the 12th-century castle after which it is named – and was immortalised during the pandemic as the site of Dominic Cummings’ eye test. But its other claim to fame is the Bowes …

Turner Contemporary, Margate For a top-notch art fix without leaving the country hop on a train to increasingly creative Margate. There’s a colourful exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Brazilian Beatriz Milhazes, one of the leading abstract artists working today, and a major installation in the Sunley Gallery …

Make the trip for … Eastbourne, a Victorian seaside resort that is edging its way back into fashion, is in the spotlight this year thanks to its venerable art gallery. Towner Eastbourne is celebrating the centenary of its opening (a mile away from the current building, in the town’s Manor …

Make the trip for …North Norfolk is peppered with grand houses with impressive art collections. Houghton Hall near King’s Lynn, which was built for Robert Walpole in the 1720s, is no stuffy stately home. Its parkland is a treasure trove of modern sculpture by Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, Henry Moore …

Make the trip for …Southend-on-Sea, a traditional British resort, may not be an obvious art destination, but it is an emerging street-art destination. Southend City Jam, its inaugural street art festival, took place last September. More than 100 local and international artists created murals for the city centre and seafront, …