One of the towns nearby is called Beverley, it is a gem. Fabulous minster, very smart properties. Population is about 35,000 but feels smaller when you wander about the pedestrian friendly old centre. Must be reasonably wealthy as the town has a M&S, Simple and well stocked Tesco Superstore. If they had a Co-op supermarket it would be a different town.
On Monday we decided to go back to the coast as the weather was forecast to a least be dry. We were keen to do a walk from Boggle Hole to Robin Hood Bay and return. If the tide is in your favour then you can walk across the cliffs and return along the beach as an option. Boggle Hole was a smugglers cove but now has a YHA offering youth camps. Dozens of very excited children were haulng their bags down the steep access.
Not exactly Whites Bay but a perfect smugglers cove.
Spectacular views as you walk to Robin Hood Bay which is a fishing village. A few boats seen dragging netts and line fishing. The town gets lots of day trippers like us to just watch the marine activity.
Lots of folks sitting on the viewing area in the foreground watching the North Sea at Robin Hood Bay.
No space wasted, boats compete with cafes and cars for a spot.
We were amused to see the Kodak sign still in place. Forgotten the last time we used a film in a camera. This is your classic village shop sells all and sundry.
A great story hauling a lifeboat overland.
The tide was not in our favour for walking along the beach back to Boggle Hole so the high path back again.
Next along the coast was Whitby. It had been the home of Captain Cook with his house now a museum displaying some of his maps etc. The town is a real tourist mecca with its old buildings, cobblestone streets and the vistas. We had a great wander about and found a cafe at the bottom of the 199 steps to the church that most visitors feel compelled to undertake. Interesting watching these folks tottering up.
The river Esk divides the town and then discharges to the North Sea. A automated bridge is over the river. It splits into two swinging to the riverbanks to allow ships to pass up the river.
This is a replica of the HMS Endeavour used in Cook's scientific expedition of 1768. The replica was built by Whitby locals at 40% of the ships original size.
Very robust breakwater built on the west in 1835 with lighthouses at the end. Other side built 1855. The pounding they take from the North Sea is testimony to their construction.
Bottom of the 199 steps tearoom. We are holding our sandwiches out front to draw the dogs attention so the waitress could take the photo.
On the way home we spotted Heather in flower in an area off the A169 called Whites Way Heads ( just love some of the names in the UK).
Tuesday it was pouring with rain in the morning so a shopping expedition to York, mainly Marks and Spencers. Weather had cleared midday so another hike plotted called "The National Farmers Union loop" from Huggate, I kid you not. Was conceived in honour of a local farm foreman, David Midgley, at Huggate Wold Farm, who worked there for 36yrs. The farm was immaculate, huge clean hectares of cereals, massive sheds for drying, storage and every farm machine a man would want. A good mix of dales, woods to walk.
Shorthorn cattle at the bottom of the valley.
Some local artisans made the resting benches as Poet's seats to rest and gain poetic inspiration.
Sheds with a purpose and not full of junk when so many we see can be stuffed with dead equipment, old balage, vehicle chassis etc.
At the front gate of the farm a statue of Mr David Midgley, foreman extraordinaire.
The main event for the week was the Driffield Agricultural Show. A one day affair attended by 20,000 pp forecast. We were at the entrance before 9am and got to see most of what interested us in the next three hour's. By then the grounds were pretty busy. From our perspective seemed a pure Agri Show with very little non agri stores or displays. There was a bit of tatt and lots of food outlets but in the main it was all about farm animals and products.
A good range of British cattle to see. Limousin, Lincoln Red, Charolais plus the usual dairy breeds. Most of the time Jeff and I agreed with the judges 1st prize!
First prize winner in the pig arena, Gloucestershire Old Spots.
British Blue are smaller than Belgian Blue cattle, they are double muscled and give a lot of lean meat from their carcass compared to a more conventional say Angus. The downside is they can have difficulties calving. One breeder told us he only buys in stores so as not to have to deal with calving. They are receiving £3.45 per kg live weight for what they call Commercial beef from a British Blue sire.
Some odd breeds of sheep, Valaus Blacknose, you would have to love them. Texels, Lleyn, Hampshire, Suffolk and the Beltex are common breeds in the north east.
On the arable side of farming we were impressed with a mobile cereal dressing plant invented by a local chap. They can dress up to 10 tonnes an hour depending on how clean the crop originally is. The truck drives to whichever farm contracts them, processes the oats, barley, wheat etc. All bagged and off they go to the next place.
Hand roguing is what has been conventionally undertaken - walk through hectares hand pulling plants that should not be in the wheat field I.e wild oats which is time consuming and mind numbing.
Not something you see in NZ. One of our friends helps with this as a volunteer each week.
Ferret racing, only in the UK. Having bought the deadly pests to NZ to control rabbits, which of course found our ground birds particularly yummy, we are tormented by this.
We thought of the shepherd hut we stay in in Hanmer Springs that our friend Hamish Monteath dreamed up and built himself. The models at the show were the 5 star versions.
As well as cows, sheep etc there was the "feather" and " fur" sheds - chooks, pigeons and rabbits, hamsters. Crafts, sewing, homemaking just like NZ Agri shows of old. Found it hard to get excited about racing pigeons. The wood craft interested Jeff.
Another dry and warm day Thursday so a hike to Welton and Elloughton Dales. We debated about taking the dog for 3 - 4 hours walking in what for here is a hot day. She has got so used to heading out with us each day so we gave in to her sad wee look. Walk started at the village of Welton which was very English with its church square.
Mostly on public paths or bridleways. The walk gave a good mix of woods, views and skirting around the edge of cereal crops.
Looking out towards Sheffield in the far distance.
We came across a forestry operation where they were chipping what they call the brush whereas we call in slash in NZ. No brush is left behind in the UK it is all chipped/ mulched for biomass used in energy/ electricity plants. We spent sometime at the Driffield show on the forestry stand talking to a forestry machinery owner about selective/mass logging and dealing with the waste. Of course here there are not the hillsides like we have - think Gisborne - and they are logging Ash, Sycamore, Beech etc. Everyone seems to make money out of logging particularly with the biomass need. He was appalled when we said that the majority of pinus radiata in NZ gets shipped to Asia as logs for paper. Different price points.
Still need our hiking app as the signs are not always this clear. The metal post is an old fence strainer post.
Lunch break. The dog lasted 3 hours until she favoured a hind leg. We carried her for 20mins and then she was OK for the final half an hour.
You see various oddities in these old villages
Thursday was forecast to be a roaster for Yorkshire, 26C, after only 16C on Tuesday! A walk along the River Derwent from the Kirkham Priory early morning seemed a good idea. We started out well but found the track not to have been maintained as well as it could be. The particular plant growing along the path was overwhelming and given all the wet weather underfoot was soggy to say the least.
Kirkham bridge dating from 1120's still in use being maintained over the centuries.
Ruins of the Kirkham Priory behind the Derwent River weir. Folks use the Priory carpark and picnic along the river. Honestly would not put my big toe in the water. Yorkshire rivers all a turgid brown due to silt and clay not a clear water gravel bed to be seen.
On the right is wild astilbe or meadowsweet. No scent though.
Invasive plant called a Himalayan Balsam can get to 3-4mtr in the right conditions I.e. beside a river.
Gorgeous flower notwithstanding.
As plants became giants we gave the track away and cut across a paddock filled with inquisitive 2yr old heifers, thankfully we did not have the dog with us, then across a rail track onto the dryer hillside.
So a very pleasant outing for the morning. We had kept a visit to Sledmere House for the afternoon as we understood it had terrific wooded grounds, walled garden etc.
Sledmere is a village as well as the historic estate. The Sykes Family originally came from Cumberland as wealthy cloth merchants, then shipping and finance onto trading in pig iron, money begets money as they say. Built the mansion in 1751 and planted thousands of trees, every generation after added to the building and planted yet more trees not to mention purchasing further land holdings. Capability Brown was the architect of the park like grounds in 1777 and to their credit the various generations stayed true to his plan.
This was until 1911 when by then the 5th generation had let basic things like keeping chimneys clean go which caused the mansion to burn down when a fire started in the chimney breast. The mansion was restored by the next generation.
There is a Ha-Ha just after the pond as this defines the deer park at the rear. The middle section has just been used for an annual concert called Tribfest. Dozens of tribute bands perform for all comers.
We chatted to the head gardener in the extensive walled garden about yams of all things. He had substantial vegetable beds in his care for the family, of whom one does not like potatoes - an English staple - so the gardener was trying yams, kumara. Effort goes into design and different successive crops to always have something on the go for visitors. The gardener loved trying different seeds so I told him of the " how to get parsnips to strike trick". He was a big fan of companion planting. He can bring in seeds from anywhere which travelling NZers cannot. They had the best sweet peas on a frame we have seen anywhere.
Not so sure about the ghastly fan palm but thyme and Lavender doing well.
There was a wisteria archway throughout the centre which had different varieties so that flowering was prolonged.
Cosmos, borage and nasturtiums amongst it all.
The best 'till last was the park like grounds planted in Beech, Limes (Tilea), Oak and various spruce. The Copper Beech were so old their lower boughs were curved to the ground. A few mown paths to some trees otherwise long paddock grass and little weed very enjoyable strolling about and the shade was nice.
The wee dog Lottie and I in front of a massive copper Beech.
During the First World War, as in many villages many of the men went off to fight and never came home. Farm labourers, tenant farmers, drivers etc of which there were over 1,000 from the local area, were acknowledged by the Baronet Sykes who rebuilt the mansion. He had two monuments erected in the volunteers honour for their efforts as "wagoners" due to their skills with horses and carts providing support to those in the trenches. He had been a Boer War veteran. Unfortunately this Baronet died of Spainish Flu having just fixed his father's errors and erecting the monuments.
Today was the Bishop Wilton fair nearby, a much smaller version than the Driffield. Lots of ponies, horses and a craft fair. Other than admire the latest in combine harvesters, I know we are sad, we purchased some handmade gifts and headed back to the house to tidy up before we depart tomorrow down south.
To get this down the road they take off the table and put it lengthways on a trailer.
We have enjoyed house/pet sitting here at Middleton on the Wolds.
From the back garden
Lottie loves going in the car to whatever we gave planned
Eva a slightly nervous cat but no trouble
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