Yorkshire Trips And Places | Yorkshire

Chevin Attractions

On June 24, 2010, In Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

Chevin Forest Park is an area near Otley managed by Leeds Council. Chevin is linked to Welsh ‘Cefn’ or ridge.

White House Cafe

In the middle of the main part of the Chevin there is a lunchtime cafe 10 am-2 pm but it is CLOSED AT WEEKENDS AND WHEN YOU WANT TO USE IT! SO ARE THE LOOS! I did say it was run by the council.
There are birdbox cameras set up around the estate so cafe vistors can have their own Springwatch.
You can walk to the cafe in 20 minutes or so from Surprise View, Johnny Lane or East Chevin car park.A bit longer uphill from Otley town

Surprise View

From the top of the Chevin in the Royalty car park (the pub, not where the Queen parks) you can look down on Yeadon airport with planes landing and taking off not necessarily in that order.
Park at the official car park opposite the pub and walk towards the ridge you will get a ‘Surprise View’ of the Wharfe Valley and the north.
At Easter there is a large wooden cross errected on the summit after it is hauled up from Otley in the valley below.

Walking

There are Chevin ranger guided walks between April and September and from June 26th 2010 for one week there is Otley Walking Festival
The Chevin is used for Orienteering and Geocaching. Geocaching started in America and starts with an interesting item hidden in a box that other must find with or without GPS. (Sounds like a riot!).
Chevin Forest Trail details
If you are not quite up for walking there is a rural pursuit vehicle capable of carrying a wheelchair. There are also mobility scooters

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Wild Flowers in Yorkshire

On June 9, 2010, In Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

You would expect the Royal Horticultural Society to grow decent flowers. Last summer they produced a large bed near the Gardens Through Time pictured above and below.
This year they are being more ambitious with a large part of the planting in front of the new library and learning centre sown with wild seeds. Already, within a couple of weeks of sowing there are numerous seedlings – I put it down to the damp weather we have been ‘enjoying’ recently. I recommend a visit in early August to see the display.

If you want a wild garden area of your own read Gardeners Tips for some ideas. For more technical information there is this book by Howard Beck

Below is another view of the Wild area at Harlow Carr last summer.
Another great Yorkshire location on a bigger scale was the meadow owned by Paul Sykes between Ripon and Studley Royal. This was more natural even though contrived to look the part.
I hope that it is going to excel again this year, you can see for yourself if you take the picturesque walk along the stream from Ripon to Studley A walk from Ripon Market Square to Studley Deer Park and Lake. This is an easy to moderate walk through woodland, open fields and park land – 8½ km or 7½ km (approximately 3½ hours). See map and details Studley Walk

Tagged with: gardens

Wensleydale Tulips

On May 31, 2010, In Villages and Towns, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

The 2010 ‘Tulip festival’ may be finished but Constable Burton still has a lot to commend itself.
The house by John Carr, sadly not open to the public, is set in beautiful countryside at the entrance to Wensleydale. Fine trees and woodland walks combine with an interesting collection of alpines and extensive shrubs and roses. Explore the stream garden with its large architectural plants and reflection ponds or take a walk in the adjoining Parkland.

A wide range of Tulips in all shapes and sizes were on show in May.
See other Tulips on Gardeners Tips

Constable Burton gardens and Parkland are not to be confused with Burton Constable Gardens Skirlaugh,
East Yorkshire HU11 4LN

Tagged with: gardens

Ten Top East Riding Churches

On April 7, 2010, In Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire History and Heritage, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

Beverley’s church of St Mary has a magnificent west front,outstanding porch and splendid tower built around 1530. Some norman remains but essentially an early English church. The woodwork is fantastic on the stalls and misericords. A rare Priests room contains ecclesiastical relics. A focal point for all visits to Beverley.
Hedon St Augustine although much reduced from former glory this is still one of the grandest East Riding churches. Imposing black marble grave slab form 13th century and a late 14th century effigy with a beard.

© Copyright Scott Rimmer and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Flamborough St Oswald has a nineteenth century tower shown in this photograph but a Norman font and chancel-arch
Hemingborough St Mary linked to Durham Abbey in 1426. Architecturally it has a slim spire rising from a thirteenth century tower.
Holme on Spalding Moor All Saints has one of the best churchyards in the East Riding’. There is a fine tower, patching to the roof and an eighteenth century porch of note.

Steve Punter Creative Commons

Hull’s Holy Trinity was rebuilt in the 14th century as the town grew It became the largest parish church in England and is now surrounded as can be seen for the photo. Inside and outside there are many monuments and a 14th century effigy in the south transept.
Partington St Patrick One of the finest parish churches in England built around 1300-1345. The elegant spire is enclosed with an open gallery like the cresting of a crown. Also includes fine architecture with Jacobean benches, screen and pulpit.

St Nicholas North Newbold is known as the most complete Norman Church in East Riding and one of the finest in England, was built around 1151. The upper tower, chancel and priest’s vestry were rebuilt in the 15th century. The church has been called the Cathedral of the Wolds. The church has a fine organ.

Winstead St German largely rebuilt during the perpendicular period and further restored in the last century. Main features include 15th century glass, medieval monuments and jacobean family chapel. On the floor of the south chapel are ten eighteenth and nineteenth marble tablets to members of the Hildyard family.

North Grimston St Nicholas with 13th century coffin lid and statue of St Nicholas above the west window. Remarkable font with primitive figure carvings.
Wetwang St Nicholas is a Norman church modified in the 13th century with a tower and transepts. Restoration and modern furnishings in 1902

Research credit to Frank Bottomley and ‘Yorkshire Churches’ and Pevsner

Tagged with: churches

On Yer Bike to Farndale Daffodil Valley

On March 13, 2010, In Food and Drink, Yorkshire Dales, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

Farndale, aka ‘Daffodil Valley’ by virtue of the ‘Lenten Lilies’ which carpet the valley floor in a sea of yellow each spring. The Daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, were probably brought to the valley and Douthwaitedale by 12th century Monks and got the old name Lenten Lily from the fact they normally bloom around Easter, a little later than most British Daffodils. If you are not worried by crowds then a weekend trip at the end of March or April will repay your perseverance. Because of the cold weather this year you may find a warmer and quieter time to visit will be mid-week mid-to late April.

Walking The Dove and Farndale

If you are not on your bike ‘Walking world’ has a range of interesting walks including Church houses in Farndale on this site. Wikipedia’s entry for Farndale must have been written by a southerner who dislikes moorland as ‘Farndale is surrounded by some of the most inhospitable moorland in England, and is sandwiched between Bransdale and Rosedale. …… Around the north of Farndale, is the track bed of the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway which forms part of two Long Distance Footpaths these being Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk and The Lyke Wake Walk’. Well they are right about walking so forgive and forget. There are many fine walks along the banks of the river Dove starting at the small hamlet of Low Mill where a nearby field is used to accommodate the hundreds of cars which arrive during the daffodil season.

Tea Rooms and Refreshments

Refreshments are available at the Daffy Caffy at High Mill and the Feversham Arms Inn at Church Houses. The “Daffy Caffy” cafe tearoom is situated on the well known daffodil walk in beautiful Farndale, North Yorkshire, England. The scenery and walking is quite magnificent, whether it be along the river or climbing up to Rudland Rigg on the North York Moors. In the hamlet of Church Houses, Farndale, the Feversham Arms ‘serves good food and beer for the passing walker’. Just up the road is St Mary’s Church a small moors village church built in 1831 and well worth a visit even when the Daffodils have gone.

Other Village Activities

Alt country bands, renown folk singers and even Yorkshire Countrywomens Associations use the Band Room in Farndale variously described as ‘England’s tiniest major venue,’ ‘The greatest small venue on Earth,’ and ‘a corrugated iron shed in the middle of nowhere.’ There is a big gig no 29th August 2010 the night before the 103rd Farndale Show staring Megafaun ( I will say that a bit louder). Built for the Farndale Silver Band in the 1920s this 100-capacity wooden building adds atmosphere to most performances if you can get a ticket.
Picking Daffodils is not an activity that can be pursued as Farndale is now a protected Nature Reserve. Leave the flowers for others to see and the seeds to reproduce naturally.

Tagged with: churches • tea • walking

Stalactite & Stalagmite at Stump Cross

On March 10, 2010, In Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

Remember the Difference between Stalactite & Stalagmite

A stalactite is named from the original Greek stalasso “to drip” and meaning “that which drips” (drips do not go up except in science fiction.)
A stalagmite also from the Greek stalagma is the “drop” or “drip” that ends up on the floor or running down the walls. (Sounds like a student flat)
You can remember the Greek derivation and work out which is which or you can recall the schoolboy incantation ‘As the tights come down, the mights go up!’ or another memory aid A stalactite – with a “C” – hangs from the “C”eiling in a cave system or cavern. A stalagmite – with a “G” is on the “G”round of a cave system or cavern.
Helictites are a delicate cave formation of calcium that changes its axis from the vertical at one or more stages during its growth creating a curving or angular form. Helictites have been described in several types, ribbon helictites, saws, rods, butterflies, “hands”, curly-fries, and “clumps of worms”.( I do not mind meeting Curly Fries but Clumps of Worms ugh!)

Stump Cross Caverns lie between Pateley Bridge and Grassington in Nidderdale. The limestone cave system at Stump Cross extends beyond the show caves which are open to the public to an overall length of approximately 4 miles. Many of the deeper caverns are only accessible to experienced cavers.(see below) In both areas there are numerous Stalactites and Stalagmites to inspire and damp corners to explore.

How the Caves Were Formed

The formation of Stump Cross Caverns began millions of years ago, when the area which is now the Yorkshire Dales was covered by oceans. Sediment from the ocean floor would eventually form limestone, the basic material from which the caves are made. The caves themselves began to form as the limestone was eroded by weak acid rain, created when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere mixed with the precipitation to form carbonic acid.
Many years ago, underground streams found their way into the cracks and began to expand the cave system as more rock was worn away. Once the streams had gone from the upper levels of the valley the cave system was left behind, and the mineral structures that are present today slowly began to form as water dripped through the caverns.

The caves at Stumps Cross were discovered in 1860 and have long been a visitors attraction. As I child I remember the’ butchers block’ a lump of stalagmite that was lit be a gruesome red glow. The impressive reindeer cavern was opened to the public in 2000 and development continues. The Stump Cross centre now includes a spacious tea rooms to cater for Patrons, who work up an appetite touring the caves, via a ‘Luxury Yorkshire Afternoon Tea’. Cave entry for the public is about £7 and more details and opening times are available here.

Caving as a Hobby

There is a list of Yorkshire Caving clubs and societies on the My Yorkshire web site. This may prove useful if you want to take up Potholing or caving as a retirement hobby but I think I will remain with my feet on the above ground. The Stalactite & Stalagmite formations have taken millennia to form and are very fragile so the British Caving Society produce guidelines on conservation access and protection.

I have no photographs as yet of the Stump cross formations so I have borrowed these American images from: Series: Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 – 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 – 1942 Created By: Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Branch of Still and Motion Pictures. Photographer: Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984

Tagged with: locations • tea • Yorkshire Dales

Tea Rooms to Visit on the Yorkshire Tea Council Trail

On March 1, 2010, In Food and Drink, Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

In 1919 Frederick Belmont opened his first Bettys Café Tea Rooms in the fashionable spa town of Harrogate. It seems like I was queuing from that date as the people snaked around the corner last weekend. There are six Bettys Café Tea Rooms to explore: the spa town of Harrogate has two branches one in the town centre and a second at the RHS garden at Harlow Carr. York has one in the square opposite St Helen’s and Little Bettys is just around the corner in Stonegate. You can also also find Bettys in the market towns of Northallerton and Ilkley.

The above logo from the Tea Guild has an Afternoon tea group that may interest those who like to pause in welcoming surroundings with a good cup of tea and a bite to eat. The Yorkshire locations include:

De Vere Oulton Hall – West Yorkshire

The George Hotel – Huddersfield

Swinton Park – North Yorkshire

Bagden Hall – West Yorkshire

Grinkle Park – North Yorkshire

Other Tea Council locations include Elizabeth Botham & Sons, plus Bullivant both of York and The Black Swan Hotel, Market Place, Helmsley. The Bridge Tea Rooms in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire has been named as the winner of The Tea Guild’s prestigious Top Tea Place 2009 Award but that is not the Bradford Yorkshire where I have still to discover a true tea room but see Shipley’s earlier story.

The UK Tea Council’s “incognito” Tea Guild inspectors have taken tea in tearooms and country and city hotels across Britain, to find the finest tea experience. The anonymous judges award points in fifteen different categories which include the variety and excellence of the teas offered, efficiency and knowledge of service, décor, hygiene and cleanliness, ambience, presentation skills and most importantly the choice and quality of teas served. That seems like a fine job to have I wonder how much you have to pay them to go eating and drinking Teas?

Just a note on the Tockwith Tea Party where Betty’s of Fat Rascal fame sought to stop Fat Betty’s Cheese Nibbles from being made and sold. I understand the Cheese nibbles won but crumbs what a fuss.

Tagged with: dayout • tea

Top York Churches

On February 8, 2010, In Yorkshire Cities, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

York St Cuthbert St Helen on the Walls and All Saints Peasholme is some name for a Church Administrative unit. Now working with St Michael le Belfrey, St Cuthbert’s is currently applying for planning permission to improve the external appearance of the surrounding grounds. Who said this Administrative unit was not in use today. Reputedly the oldest parish church in York it was reconstructed by Saxons using roman masonry.

St Saviour’s Church, St Saviourgate which like many other churches in York has been re-purposed and is now put to a community and educational use. If you use a snickelway down the side of Fibbers in Stonebow you get an unusual view of St Saviour’s church demonstrating how in medieval times the church was built on a hill.

St Michael’s le Belfrey was rebuilt between 1525 and 1537, during King Henry VIII’s break with Rome. John Forman, the Minster’s master mason was responsible for the Tudor gothic style with renaissance influence. It was, and still is, the largest parish church in the city, originally serving a wealthy community of merchants and craftsmen. Furnishings are nineteenth century, pews and reredos with 14th century glass in East window. Guy Fawkes was baptised at this church. It is within a few yards of The Minster.

This Marygate church, St Olave’s, was badly damaged during the Civil War. The font dates from 1673 and there is some medieval glass in the center of the east window

To make up a tour of churches visit All Saints North Street for exceptional glass, Holy Trinity Goodramgate, St Mary Castlegate for pre-conquest masoary, Holy Trinity Micklegate, St Helen St Helen’s Square, and St Martin-Le-Grand Coney Street which was badly bombed during the second world war.

See also Gods own County top ten West Riding Churches and top North Riding Churches

Days Out for Kids to age 92

On February 5, 2010, In Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

With Half Term and Easter just around the corner you may want some ideas where to take the kids or grandchildren for a day out. This is just a short selection of Yorkshire based attractions and I would add the Royal Armouries in Leeds and the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Jorvik Viking Centre is a York based time travel experience that is worth queuing for ‘Whether it has been five or fifteen years or even your first time to visit JORVIK, the JORVIK Viking Centre has something new for everyone’ ‘Vikings were warriors. More precisely, Viking is the name by which the Scandinavian sea-borne raiders of the early medieval period are now commonly known.’ Dig around in York there is a wealth of interesting historical activities you can get the children involved with.

The Magna Science Adventure Centre at Rotherham ‘Leap, twist and climb your way around mind-blowing structures and gravity defying activities at one of Europe’s largest outdoor play areas or Spray, squirt, mist and drench…and more importantly get very, very wet at one of the UK’s largest outdoor water play areas.’ If that sounds like the fun your children will enjoy then Magna may work for you.

The Deep ‘The worlds only Submarium’ in Hull is a winner of many awards which include gold award for The Green Tourism Business Scheme and silver for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2009 and it should have got another award for inventing a new word so it can claim to be ‘the worlds only’. With attractions such as Slime, Coral Realm, Kingdom of Ice and a Twilight zone there is something for everyone including the 3500 fish. The Deep in Hull you will find fun and an education about our seas.

Eureka moments come only occasionally when you get to my age but kids up to age 10 experience them at every twist and turn of this Halifax museum. ‘Everything at Eureka! has been designed to inspire children to find out about themselves and the world around them through 100s of hands-on exhibits’.

National Coal Mining Museum (NCM) at Overton near Wakefield explores mining through the centuries. Don a hard hat and descend into a mine then visit the pit ponies to find out what they did for the mining effort. Admission is free!

York Castle Museum ‘is one of Britain’s leading museums of everyday life. It shows how people used to live by displaying thousands of household objects. It is best known for its recreated Victorian street, which combines real shop fittings and stock with modern sound and light effects, to evoke an atmosphere of Victorian Britain. Prison buildings are explored in York Castle Prison, where visitors come face to face with ex-prisoners including highwayman Dick Turpin, who was hanged in 1739 for horse stealing.’ Tickets do allow you to revisit during the next 12 months if you can’t take it all in at one visit.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park is South Yorkshires newest attraction of 45 acres of walkthrough including Lemur Woods and Wallaby walkabout. Ideal for environmentally friendly children who want to see a range of animals including the most endangered the Painted Hunting Dog. May only open at weekends until summer but check here.

Tagged with: dayout • trips

Art in York at New School House Gallery

On February 4, 2010, In Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire Arts & Music, Yorkshire Trips and Places, By brian

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‘Crunchtime 2010′ is an event depicting International Artists’ Responses to Global Issues running in York until 6th February 2010. Sorry it is crunchtime if you want to visit the various venues where events are taking place, as you have only a few days left. There is a seminar at the Guildhall at 5pm this evening and talks, debates and screenings tomorrow and Saturday.

My visit to the event introduced me too the New School House Gallery in Peasholme Green near St Cuthberts and the Quilt Museum.

‘Housed in a grade II former schoolhouse, the gallery is showcasing work in contemporary ceramics, glass, wood and metal, textiles and jewellery by both established and up-and-coming makers. It will also exhibit paintings, prints, mixed-media work, sculpture and installations by artists from the UK and abroad.’ read more on the New School House Gallery website. This new venture is planning a series of themed Exhibitions starting on 11th February with Home , then 1 April – 22 May with Reclaim followed by Navigation, 53º North and Open in August. If that isn’t enough reason to visit the gallery it is located in The Secret Garden’ . After a mind broadening trip you can have coffee and cakes at Le Langhe delicatessen.

Yorkshire – God’s Own County

A tribute to Yorkshire Heritage