Britain's Best Wild Art | Incredible Installations and Stunning Sculptures
From a striking mirror-cube in the Cairngorms to a giant wooden hand hidden in Welsh woodland, Britain's wild art rewards those willing to venture off the beaten track – and the journey to see them is an adventure in itself.
27th November 2025 | Words by Dave Hamilton | Photographs as credited
If you’re not a fan of austere, white-walled spaces or scowling gallery assistants telling you to ‘shush’, maybe it’s time to get your next art fix in the great outdoors. Because some of Britain's most compelling artworks exist where weather, wilderness and walking converge. Out here on coast, moor and mountain, art transforms with the seasons – as mirrored surfaces reflect early evening stars, impassive stones offer shelter from biting winds, and haunting humanoid figures stand sentinel against churning waves. Outside of the artificial confines of a gallery, art becomes much more than the sum of its parts. Light and shadow, the effects of the elements and the backdrop of the surrounding landscape all influence your perceptions.
What’s more, their beauty lies not just in the sculptures, landscape installations and other natural artworks themselves, but in the journey to reach them. This effort becomes both adventure and reward. There’s the steep ascent that earns you Goldsworthy's stone chambers, the moorland crossing that reveals Sabin's disorienting urban maze, and the coastal path that leads to Gormley's solitary sea figure. Best of all? You don't need an overpriced exhibition ticket or an art history degree to appreciate these works – just a sense of wanderlust and a willingness to take it all in.
A moody shot of Andy Goldsworthy’s Clougha Pike Chambers. Image by Mountain Monochrome via Alamy.
Clougha Pike Chambers, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire
Andrew Goldsworthy’s Chambers are a trio of block-like art pieces which double up as shelters from the elements. You’ll find them midway between the summits of windswept and remote Clougha Pike and Grit Fell in the Forest of Bowland. From here, there are spectacular views over Lancaster, Morecambe Bay and Blackpool Tower.
Goldsworthy is known for his site-specific artworks, typically making use of materials found in the surrounding landscape. These can be short-lived works made from branches or leaves, which will naturally decay over time. The chambers on Clougha Pike ought to endure for generations to come though, since they’re built from local stone sourced from an abandoned quarry. This ensures they blend in with the landscape, enhancing it rather than contrasting with it.
You don’t have to be an art lover to appreciate these works either; rather cleverly, they also act as welcome shelters for hillwalkers. Each has an eye-like opening at the front and a small stone seat inside. So, if the weather turns – as it so often does in this part of the world – you can brave it out until the worst of it passes.
The three structures were built between 1999 and 2001, with Goldsworthy focusing on one a year over this three-year period. Funding for the project came from the Duke of Westminster’s Abbeystead Estate, with the aim to bring more visitors to the area, which it has done since they were completed.
How to get there
Take the Wyresdale Road east from Lancaster. Stay on the road through Quernmore and pull into the left when you see Jubilee Tower. The path up to the chamber starts at the rear of the car park. The route seems straightforward but can be confusing, especially if the weather comes in, so map and compass and/or navigation apps are useful. Head up the path to the brow of the hill and go over the step ladder to your left. Remain on this path, heading towards the sea. After approx. 800 metres, you should see the geometric shapes of the sculptures and a path that will lead you to the chambers.
Aerial drone photo of The Coldstones Cut, which is positioned on the edge of Coldstones Quarry. Image via Adobe Stock.
The Coldstones Cut, Nidderdale, North Yorkshire
Even when you are within its walls, it’s hard to envisage the scale of The Coldstones Cut. Measuring 70m by 50m and situated at 420m above sea level, it is a work of epic proportions in every sense. Created by artist Andrew Sabin, the piece comprises a maze of twin spiralling walled walkways to viewing platforms, placed either side of a long, straight walkway. In turn this leads to a large open, plaza-like area overlooking an active quarry.
With stone walls and a mock urban landscape complete with bollards and yellow lines, it is a slightly disorientating place to visit. It feels very otherworldly, a little like being dropped in an unknown country or perhaps a real-life game of geo-guesser. Sabin wanted to mix old and new, using ancient stone blocks juxtaposed with a contemporary street scene. It took him and his team nearly four years to complete, and the sculpture was opened in 2010 by Dr Penelope Curtis, the director of Tate Britain. Since it opened, it has seen countless visitors and won the Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.
How to get there
Take the B6265 (High St) west from Pateley Bridge for 2 miles, pull into the car park (or take the number 820 bus from Pateley Bridge). From here, follow the footpath at the south of the car park all the way to the top of the hill.
The sculpture ‘Still’ by Angus Ritchie and Daniel Tyler in early summer. Image by John Bracegirdle via Alamy.
Still, Cairngorms National Park
Beautifully positioned on a raised platform overlooking the picturesque, rolling Cairngorms landscape, Still is a mirrored cube designed and installed by architects Angus Ritchie and Daniel Tyler. The idea behind the work was to give a new perspective of the surrounding landscape. As you climb into the piece, the surrounding hills are reflected in its mirrored sides. However, it really comes into its own on clear winter nights. Given its enviable position inside a dark sky reserve, it shows spectacular reflections of star-studded skies and even, on rare occasions, the Aurora Borealis. Two other works, The Watchers and Connecting Contours, by Daniel Smith and Philip Zoechbauer, were also commissioned along this Snow Road Route (the Old Military Road), all of which are within short walks of the roadside.
How to get there
Travel north from Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre on the A939 for just over a mile and pull into a large layby on the right. You should see the cube; it’s along the path to the back of the car park and up to the left.
Antony Gormley’s ‘Grip’ figure, silhouetted against a blue sea and a fire-red evening sky. Image by Noel Feans.
Grip, Mull of Kintyre
British sculptor Anthony Gormley is perhaps best known for Another Place, his collection of 100 cast iron figures stretching out over 3km across Crosby Beach. But tucked away in a secluded spot on the Mull of Kintyre is another of his works, Grip. It is a single humanoid figure made up of geometric shapes, positioned in the shallows of Saddle Bay. The work was installed as part of a series of works around the UK entitled LAND to celebrate the Landmark Trust’s 50th anniversary.
Gormley said about the piece: “There is an excitement about making a sculpture that can live out here amongst the waves and the wind … like a standing stone, a marker in space and time … having a conversation with a future that hasn’t yet happened.”
Fun fact: long before the work was installed, Paul McCartney used the exact same beach in his video for the song Mull of Kintyre. These days, more Gormley fans than McCartney fans make the pilgrimage there.
How to get there
From the Esplanade in Campbeltown, Kintyre, travel north past the War Memorial and take the left fork onto Princes Street. Turn right at the crossroads onto the B842 and go through Peninver towards Saddell. Before Saddell, you’ll go round a tight bend to the right – take the next left after this to park in the Saddell Abbey car park. From here walk back to the main road, turn right to go over the bridge, then turn left down the lane to the beach. It’s a 12-minute walk of about 1 km or just over half a mile.
The abandoned site of St Ninian’s Quarry, a former open-cast coal mine turned landscape park near Dunfermline, though the project was never completed. Image by Dave Hamilton.
‘Walnut Whips’, St Ninians, Dunfermline
If you’ve ever driven the M90 north of Dunfermline, you may have caught sight of two enormous spiralling mounds topped with tyres as centrepieces. Locals have affectionately named them the ‘Walnut Whips’, since they bear a striking resemblance to these favourite chocolate treats from the 1980s and ‘90s. However, they are in fact part of St Ninians, an abandoned landscape park designed by Charles Alexander Jencks, a Baltimore-born artist known as the creator of Jupiter Artland, Craswick Multiverse and the Garden of Cosmic Speculation. Work began at the former open-cast coal mine in 2009, when there were grand plans to transform it into a huge art project. Its intention was to show Scottish history on a scale never attempted before. The 700-acre site still has remnants of the project, and you’ll find the large spiral landforms along with sculptures made from abandoned machinery, small lochs and boulders. In 2013, the project stalled as the site owners, Scottish Coal, went into administration. Despite plans to restart the project, it remains unfinished.
How to get there
There is a large car park at 56.1093, -3.39789 and a bus stop down the road (Memorial on B912). Follow the main path ahead; it is impossible to miss the mounds. To reach the top, take the first large path left at the two white fences. A short way down, there are two paths to the right; the gravel one takes you on a longer circular route, while the grassy path climbs steeply, straight to the top.
Tree carver Simon O’Rourke’s incredible giant’s hand, sculpted from the trunk of a damaged Douglas Fir in woodland near Lake Vyrnwy, Powys. Image by Dave Hamilton.
Giant’s Hand, Vyrnwy, Powys
Until 2011, one of the tallest trees ever to grow in the UK stood in the woodlands surrounding a large reservoir in Powys called Llyn Efyrnwy (Lake Vyrnwy). During a fearsome storm, the 63.7m (209ft) tree was so badly damaged that it had to be felled due to safety fears. But rather than destroy the whole 124-year-old tree, the Forestry Commission decided to leave around a quarter of it standing as a memorial to the original Douglas Fir. A call was sent out to artists to submit their designs to carve the remaining stem into a long-lasting tribute to the former giant. Simon O’Rourke, an artist based in Wrexham, finally won the bid, carving his giant hand reaching to the heavens. The hand makes up a small part of the ‘Giants of Vyrnwy’ walk, which takes walkers past some of the tallest trees in Wales.
How to get there
Park in the ‘Giants of Vyrnwy Trail’ car park at 52.78097, -3.48356 and follow the path for approximately 150m to reach the hand.
Dave Hamilton is a writer, photographer, forager and explorer of historic sites and natural places. He is the author of multiple books, including "Where the Wild Things Grow: the Foragers Guide to the Landscape", “Wild Ruins” and “Wild Ruins BC”. His latest book, “Weird Guide Britain”, published by Wild Things Publishing, is out in May 2026.
