Itinerary: Flying Visits

Start your visit in our 300-seater Restaurant serving a range of hot food, sandwiches and cakes prepared by our in-house chefs.

Our selection changes daily, using regional and seasonal ingredients from suppliers based within a 40-mile radius of the Arboretum. 

Just outside the Restaurant you’ll see the stunning Blown Away sculpture which is on permanent loan to the Arboretum from Peter and Carole Wilcock. 

Across the avenue you will see the Polar Bear Memorial. The first memorial to be unveiled at the Arboretum in 1998, the Polar Bear Memorial remembers the 49th West Riding Division. Their name came from active service in Norway and Iceland in heavy snow drifts, where their commanding officer, called them his Polar Bears believing that they would not survive the campaign. The Polar Bear was later adopted into their badge and remains so today. 

Finish your exploration with the iconic Armed Forces Memorial, dedicated in the presence of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 12 October 2007. This memorial remembers the names of over 16,000 Armed Forces Personnel who have died on duty, in operational theatre or were targeted by terrorists since the end of the Second World War. 

Our knowledgeable volunteers at the Armed Forces Memorial can provide a short talk, answer questions, assist finding names on the Memorial and provide a buggy shuttle from the base of the top. Look out for them in green uniforms.