Yorkshire #3 15th July to 20th July

 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.

Village of Welton

Six fabulous lime trees.

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

Looking the bruiser cat.

Yorkshire #2 9th- 14th July

 

These are a couple of photos of Robert Thompson Mouseworks at Kilburn. Handmade oak furniture with a signature mouse somewhere on the piece. Everything from dining  tables, sideboards, coffee nests and lamp stands. Beautiful workmanship. Jeff had been hoping to chat to one of the craftsman but not to be. Was a very wet day and few folks about for the showroom and viewing area. Strayed into Ampleforth for lunch but on a wet Tuesday, all was closed. Helmsley next stop was open for a bite, we decided to come back another day for an easier look about.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Water Gardens was the next days outing. A movie was being shot inside the Abbey by Danny Boyle (think Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) so only a walk around the perimeter of the ruins and gardens was possible. I argued the toss about having to pay full admission price to no avail. 

The ruins are near Ripon in North Yorkshire and a National Trust site. Back in 1132 thirteen monks were expelled from a York Abbey and decided to do their own thing on land by the River Skell, which was gifted to them. The valley had stone, woods, plenty natural springs hence the monks called the new Abbey " Fountains."  The Abbey did very well for 400 years but then fell to the dissolution of monasteries declared by Henry V111, whose henchman was Thomas Cromwell. The dissolution was to eliminate all Catholic monasteries, convents etc ( some 900 religious sites) and all their wealth given over to the crown. Henry splurged the funds on military campaigns.

Photo taken from a pictorial board in the Visitors Centre as the weather did not offer sunny views.

Although bridges have a function an effort was made for them to have some style several centuries ago.

There were culverts carrying water throughout the site. Learnt from the Romans we guess and still doing their task.

The water gardens (English for lakes and ponds) were cleverly laid out. The grounds were full of enormous trees, follies and viewpoints known as Studley Royal Park, all 800 acres of it.

To the left one of the follies (building of no practical use; built as a pretender)

The dog and I dwarfed by a Sycamore tree.

The family that came to own Studley Royal Park and the Abbey ruins from 1760 erected two churches to honour family members killed in various overseas campaigns such was their then wealth. The park area reminded us of Richmond Park in London with Sika deer mooching about.

There were two National Trust members at the church providing information and Bill who played by ear even gave us a tune on the organ. Was such a dreary day and  they seemed grateful to chat to a couple of kiwis. Chap had an encyclopedic knowledge of the church history. On a good day they can host 100 pp but today maybe half a dozen.

 

We strolled past with the dog and the deer did not even look our way.

Next day the Driffield Turkish Barber had a visit from Jeff. There is a market there on a Thursday morning but we have been terribly spoilt by the markets in France so an English one did not come anywhere near.  Set off on a 12km hike in the afternoon with the dog. Followed canal paths, through villages and fields. Stopped in at the Nafferton pub to give us and the dog a break. Greek owner of 15years had plenty of interesting chat. He felt cafes were also killing country pubs as they offered lunches every day which is not possible for them. He has one of the few free houses (not brewery owned) but said every day was a struggle.

Nearby to where we are based is Hull, a port town on the river 25miles inland from the North Sea. The Humber bridge was the worldest longest single span bridge when built in 1981 at 2.2km. Quite a feat of engineering and we wandered the walkway below along the north bank . There is also an old mill that used to crush limestone into a slurry that is then used in everything from pharmaceuticals to food. Was powered by sails initially (trashed in a storm) then given over to fuel.

The bridge can handle a 4m sway with the way the platform is constructed.

A chap from the local council was in attendance at the mill who for two mornings a week chatted with visitors like us. We thought this was a good use of council staff who are often invisible to ratepayers, other than in high visibility jackets surrounded by cones. ( in NZ)

Drove to Easington to see the lighthouse but pretty wet so called into Keyingham for lunch. Everywhere we go the dog can come in with us and she sits under the table good as. The town had a stand alone butcher so we went in as we always like to see prices, product sourced etc. The butcher, who took over from his father, said business was not as good as it could be due to the poor summer weather, BBQs not happening. When he came into the business there were 6 or 7 butchers in the surrounding villages but now just him. He sources his meat from the surrounding farms from guys he went to school with, who took over their father's farms, so he was very confident of his meats provenance. He was already filling his order book for Xmas as the busiest time of the year for him. We asked how he thought he was still in business (notwithstanding the superb window display) and he thought it was because he loved it and wanted to stay in business hence constantly looking for what folks wanted/ offering service. We wished him well after purchasing some smoked bacon.

Villages go all out with flower displays.

The Helmsley bakery had folks queueing out the door.

Saturday thought we would have another go at visiting Helmsley sans driving rain via the Malton market. Too wet for much to see at Malton but the scone and coffee were great! In Helmsley enjoyed wandering around the village. Good bookstore and Jeff was given a proof copy of a book he had wanted no charge! Local church bells were being rung continuously which we enjoyed. Onto Rievaulx Terrace to see a couple of temples and the view over Rievaulx Abbey ruins ( which we had hiked to in a previous visit).

A coat day.

Rievaulx Abbey was started by William 1 in 1132 but like so many others became another statistic in Henry V111 drive to rid the UK of Catholic monasteries.

Jeff with Lottie in front of one of the temples/ follies on the terrace which was built over 8 years by 100 chaps from 1749 so that the landowner could host visitors from Duncombe Hall. They walked from one temple along the terrace to the next.

This temple was really a glorified tea room for the landowner to show off his wealth and the views from the terrace over the Abbey ruins.

Inside the temple, the ceiling was lovely. There was another floor under all this that were the kitchens to prepare food etc.

Onto Scampton Hall with its walled gardens. Dogs were allowed on the 80 acres of arboretum but not the walled gardens. Many of these country estates were landscaped by Capability Brown, who was famous for his grand landscapes using water and stunning park design where money was no object. Mature trees were moved about to get just the right vista.

No one lives in Scampton Hall. Your London flat probably warmer and brighter than these historic piles.

Absolutely stunning Copper Beech tree vista. Fussy clipped hedging in the foreground.

Cannot imagine making waves out of beech hedging.

Inside the walled garden. Using perennials with blue, lilac colours which bees adore in cooler climates.

Sunday we had planned to do a walk at Filey Peninsular and loop through the town, was wet but if you allowed that to stop you here you would barely get about. There was a huge parking/ camping area at the start with extortionate parking fee of £4 for two hours. Many campervans and even tents park up because it is summer? And beside the sea. Was steady rain and wind when we started out. The dog packed a complete sad after 5 minutes, sat down and would not move unless we turned around and went back to the car. So she goes back into her car seat and we continue on.

We laughed when we read on a good day you can see to Bempton cliffs ( where the puffins were).

Wild and slowly being eroded by the pounding North Sea.

A couple from Manchester took this for us, we were not the only walkers determined to get out and about. At least their dog was a trooper with its dog raincoat.

Tonight is the football match between Spain and England, from 8pm many will be glued to BBC 1 free view or at the pubs, in the hope England wins the European Cup. We are quietly rooting for Spain!