It's fair to say Wakefield is not the first port of call for tourists visiting Yorkshire, covered in the light of Leeds city and the historic charm of York. The small cathedral city has recently found fame as a wakewine home. This can invite customers hundreds of miles thanks to the virus' social media videos.
But as I and my companion Vanessa discovered on a two-night trip, from its amazing food and drinks to must-see art attractions, there's far more to recommend Wakefield as a visitor's destination.
Forged spirits is one such draw. It produces drinks that produce craft distillery drinks that celebrate this nameless slice of Yorkshire. Based in Tullyyard North, an 18th-century factory in the city centre, organic gin, Prime Yorkshire wheat vodka and Bondscro certified rum are sourced responsibly.
It is also home to Forged Gin School. There, owner Gary Ford guided us by producing our favourite bottle of tipple. Forged gin bottles are particularly eye-catching. Elaborately, Art Deco is designed to capture Wakefield's mining, textile and manufacturing heritage, featuring small, intricate label designs such as hammers, anvils and coal.
For our own gin, Gary encouraged us to smell and taste different plants, picked up a maximum of 8 to add to the standard juniper that all gins should contain, and recommended coriander and root.
The selection was then distilled with individual 2.4 liters of copper stills neutral grain spirits before bottled for the house. The mine contained almonds and apricots, but Vanessa chose grapefruit and rose, but she had to wait a month before trying to allow the plants to sleep completely.
As an engaging insight into the skills and thoughts behind every bottle, it was first class. (Gin School £95pp)
Wakefield is a great short break destination with plenty to do. Once a vibrant centre for coal mines and textiles, today West Yorkshire sees rounded roads and reclaimed factory buildings rubbing their shoulders with stunning modern architecture.
Our two night base was at the Waterton Park Hotel, based in nearby Walton Village. Interestingly, there are two hotel buildings. A modern alternative with Walton Hall, a stunning Georgian mansion located on its own island in the lake.
In the early 1800s, the former resident of Hall was Charles Waterton, a leading natural player who worked to maintain wildlife habitat in the face of the Industrial Revolution.
He transformed his home into a natural history museum, blocked out wildlife, locked out poachers, created the world's first natural reserve, and surrounded his ancestral estate with a nine-foot wall.
Our huge deluxe twin room in the modern part was spectacular with two double oak framed beds and a refined claret velvet sofa.
At the new Grand Cafe, breakfast features main dishes such as smoked salmon and scrambled eggs along with a self-service buffet, while a savory glass sea bass and stewed beef shin dinner maintained a decadent atmosphere.
A walk along the foot bridge to the old hall, we were also treated to the taste of tranquility that Waterton cultivated during a Twilight session at the Hotel Spa.
Wakefield carves himself to become the capital of British sculpture. World-renowned sculptors Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore were born there, and the city is eager to scream about it in nature.
Opened in 2011, the impressive Hepworth Wakefield, along with other contemporary artists, shows off some of its most fascinating pieces. (£14)
But for us, the real cracker was the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It is the largest Aladdin art cave in Europe, with around 90 works scattered around the 500-acre Breton Hall Estate.
Memorable bits included Damian Hearst's 33-foot tall statue of a pregnant woman and a multicolored Buddha by fashion model-turned artist Niki de Saint-Far. (From £9.50)
We then visited the black whole farm shop and chatted with fresh pies and cakes and homemade meat. The brownies loaded with Rolos and their famous pulled pork sandwich were seriously good.
It's the perfect time to sample the cultural and culinary aspects of Wakefield. It not only hosts events, exhibitions, lectures and live music, but also features a cafe, bar and Mexican restaurants.
We arrived in town through a smooth, stress-free 2-hour LNER service from London.
If you want to upgrade to first class, push into a free brunch bacon roll from Taste Tradition Rare Breed Specialists.
Upon arrival, the Wakefield Museum proved to be a solid starting point, outlined progress from the booming Wool Trade Centre (free admission).
The end of our trip was at the National Coal Mines Museum in nearby Overton. The Centerpiece is an old mine tour led by a former miner.
Wearing a hard hat, and after offloading the phone to eliminate the risk of fire, they traveled 460 feet underground on one of the original lift shafts used by the workers themselves.
It gave us the creepy taste of the dark and convulsions that we once suffered (free admission, underground tour £7.50pp).
Book a holiday
LNER offers a standard £23.60 and first class to 1 year old fare for £58.60, from London Kings Cross to Wakefield Westgate. The lner.co.ukdirect trains also operate from cities such as Leeds, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Plymouth, Bristol, Newcastle and Sheffield.
