May 2009
Rowntree Park isn’t near where I live, so it’s a while since I visited, though at least one website visitor has recommended I should. It’s changed a bit since I was last here, most obviously changed by the addition of these very handsome sculptures, placed around the park. I’m a great fan of sculpture placed in green places. Here in Rowntree Park I was rather enchanted by the horse. (Actually, it’s more like the Knight chess piece, but I just saw a horse. More details from it below.)
On the other side of town, there’s another park given by the Rowntree family for use by the citizens of York – the Homestead. Homestead Park is smaller, more, as its name suggests, ‘homey’ – small and intimate, with areas of herbaceous border, and a pond area, that are rather like a large back garden. Where Homestead Park is nestled between the corners of two roads, and is more of a square, this park is a large, open space, rectangular, more like a traditional municipal park, with a large pond, formal, with concrete edges. Though there are elements like the pergola and a sitting area which feel more like a garden – these are perhaps newer additions, or perhaps I just didn’t notice them before. And still in the centre of the park, the gateway housing bronze plaques commemorating those who lost their lives in the two world wars, ‘and in thanksgiving for the courage and steadfastness of the people of York throughout those years’.
Ooh, here’s another dramatic sculpture, under the trees.
There’s a lot to do here if you’re a small energetic person wanting to run around, and there are places to sit if you’re an older person needing a rest while the younger people run around. But for this particular person, popping in here with a camera, these sculptures are the best part of the park. They’re very impressive. I’m really pleased I made the effort to have a wander around here again.
Links
For information on the park – including a full list of facilities, and details of opening times, see the City of York Council website page on Rowntree Park.
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