Upright Motive No.9

A bronze sculpture rising from the ground near Ware catches you off guard - Henry Moore's Upright Motive No.9 is the sort of artwork that works best when you stumble upon it without warning. The piece dominates its space with that characteristic organic abstraction Moore was known for, all curves and voids that seem to shift depending on where you stand around it.

It's genuinely worth the detour if you're already in the area, though you'll need to know roughly where to look since it's not exactly signposted with fanfare. Sculpture enthusiasts will get the most from it, obviously, but there's something about encountering public art outdoors that appeals to families on a country walk too - children often find these monumental forms fascinating rather than baffling.

The real sell is that it fits perfectly into a longer ramble around Hertfordshire. Base yourself at Toad Abode just over a mile away and you've got a straightforward morning mission before heading to one of the nearby parks like The Wild Retreat at Redricks Lake for something less cerebral. Allow twenty minutes to really examine the work from different angles, though many people tire after five.

There's no visitor facility here - it's simply out in the open, which means it's free and you can visit whenever you like. That said, the lack of infrastructure means go in decent weather. A grey drizzly afternoon in Hertfordshire won't do it any favours, and frankly neither will it do you any favours.