Fresh perspectives: the best outdoor art trails in the UK this autumn

Free walking routes connect sculptures, murals, soundscapes and more in locations across the country – from butterflies in Brontë country to ceramics in Stoke

Bradford is 2025’s UK City of Culture, and Wild Uplands is part of the year-long celebration that involves four new installations on the moors above Haworth, 10 miles west of central Bradford. There are pink marble butterflies designed by Meherunnisa Asad. On the ridge above, Steve Messam’s 10-metre tower of locally quarried stone looks out over heather-purple hills. These works are dotted around the lake and abandoned quarries of Penistone Hill country park and a family-friendly guide charts a route around all four. While wandering over the moors, you can tune into a geolocated immersive soundscape, Earth & Sky, which includes music by Bradford-born composer Frederick Delius. The Brontë Bus from Hebden Bridge via Keighley stops three times an hour in Haworth, and it’s then a 15-minute stroll past the Parsonage to Penistone Hill. Haworth’s steep, cobbled Main Street is lined with pubs and cafes such as the Writers’ Bloc, which opened in November 2024 and serves cream teas inside a hollowed-out book. At the bottom of the street, Haworth Old Hall has a choice of locally distilled gins.
To 12 October, bradford2025.co.uk