Saltaire Arts Trail & Shipley Glen Tramway

We had one more day in the Bradford area, since our short flight back to London didn't leave until 7:25pm. While researching the trip, I'd learned about Saltaire, a World Heritage Site located in Shipley.

Saltaire

Saltaire was established in 1851 by Titus Salt to house his factories and homes for his workers, and although it's still a living/working village, there are lots of opportunities to learn about what life in Saltaire was like in the Victorian age.

We took a cab from our hotel to a random corner in Shipley that seemed to be close to Saltaire, and eventually found our way to an information station to get some guidance. Our visit coincided with the Saltaire Arts Trail, so there were a lot of interesting things to see.

While wandering the streets and getting our bearings, we came upon The Sunday School Gardens, an oasis of vegetables next to a parking lot maintained by Veg On The Edge. They had an information table set up as part of the Arts Trail, and I purchased a few vegetable-themed notecards.

Next we stepped into The Salt Mill, an imposing building that is now full of shops, galleries, and restaurants. We spent our time in a few galleries, and there are three that stood out to me.

Gallery 2 had a special exhibit: Being Inbetween by Carolyn Mendelsohn. It was a portrait series of girls from 10-12 years old, with quotes about what they thought about the world, or how they viewed their future. We spent quite a bit of time in this exhibit and talked about it for days afterward. Read more in this Huffington Post article and on the artist's website.

We climbed the stairs to the top of the mill to catch an exhibit from the Leeds Photographic Society. A massively cavernous space was filled with photos from amateur to semi-pro photographers, and visitors could choose their favorites. I believe this was meant to show that you don't have to be a trained artist to take great photos. There were some really great ones on display.

We also visited the gallery showcasing The Arrival of Spring exhibit by David Hockney. These prints are based on drawings Hockney did on his iPad daily from January 1 to May 31, 2011 to capture the changing season in East Yorkshire. While Aaron was not particularly interested in this exhibit, I enjoyed the style and was fascinated that all these pieces originated on an iPad. You can learn more about this exhibition in this wonderful digital collection from the Pace gallery.

Shipley Glen Tramway

We stopped off at a pub for lunch, then wandered through Robert's Park for a bit. With quite a lot of time left to kill, we decided to check out the Shipley Glen Tramway, Britain's oldest funicular railway. This seems to be a popular attraction for families. It's also a way to skip climbing up through Walker Wood to Shipley Glen.

When we reached the top, we continued on Prod Lane to a scenic overlook, the the Baildon Moor. There were some great views up here, and families were enjoying a slightly overcast spring Sunday afternoon.

There is a Public House/Cafe up here, as well as a well-placed ice cream truck if you find yourself in this beautiful wide-open space yet in need of refreshment.

Leeds to London

We took the tram back down, and ended up at The Hop Saltaire until about 4:00 p.m., when we caught an Uber back to our hotel where we had stored our luggage. We grabbed our bags and took a taxi to the Leeds airport. Although it's a fairly small airport. we were able to access a lounge thanks to the Priority Pass benefits that came with our American Express Platinum card. This came in handy when our flight was delayed for over an hour. We didn't really mind, since we had access to complimentary food and drink and a comfy place to lounge. Our flight back to London was uneventful. We transferred from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4 so we could walk to the Hilton airport hotel, where we crashed right before midnight, woke up and enjoyed a free breakfast (thanks, Diamond benefits!), and then caught our flight home. There was nothing exciting about that travel day to merit an additional blog entry.

But...Aaron took a lot of video on this trip, focused mainly on beer. So next week, in honor of the entire year it took for me to get this trip blogged and published, I'll post his UK beer roundup.

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