3 Best Sights in Yorkshire, England

These distinctive, slightly skewed concrete blocks by architect David Chipperfield form the largest purpose-built gallery in the United Kingdom outside London. Overlooking the River Calder, they house an impressive permanent collection of important works by 20th-century British artists, notably sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, as well as L. S. Lowry and Ben Nicholson. Rolling exhibitions devoted to contemporary artists are displayed in the Calder gallery. It's in the down-to-earth West Yorkshire town of Wakefield, 12 miles south of Leeds off the M1.

This outdoor gallery near Wakefield is part of a former 18th-century estate encompassing more than 500 acres of fields, lakes, exotic trees, and rolling hills. The park, garden, and Underground Gallery—three galleries cut into a hillside—are filled with a carefully curated collection that includes works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, as well as modern sculptors like Antony Gormley, Anthony Caro, and David Nash. A visitor center offers a café, a self-service restaurant, a table service restaurant, a gallery for temporary exhibitions, and information about the ecology and history of the estate. You can get here easily from Leeds by train or car.

A grand country estate in the middle of a city, this huge Elizabethan and Jacobean building—the family home and birthplace of Lord Darnley (1545–67), the notorious husband of Mary, Queen of Scots—contains one of Britain's most important collections of fine and decorative arts, including furniture, paintings, and ceramics. Surrounding the house are 1,500 acres of parkland, lakes, gardens, miles of woodland walks, as well as a working rare breeds farm, where kids can enjoy a petting zoo. The park and gardens were created by noted 18th-century landscape designer, Capability Brown. Temple Newsam is 4 miles east of Leeds on A63; Bus 10 runs directly from Leeds Central Bus station from Easter to mid-September.