North Yorkshire
Spring on the Moors: First Signs of Life in North Yorkshire
Spring sneaks in when you’re not looking. One minute it’s all hard ground, bare trees, damp mornings. Then you look again, and something’s changed. Just a little. Something green pushing through. The smell of the air different somehow, softer. Like the land’s stretching itself awake after months of hibernation. We needed a walk. Proper walk. ... Read more
A Proper Yorkshire Catch-Up: Pubs, Friends, and Familiar Faces
First proper Yorkshire pint. That’s the moment you know you’re truly back. Not the drive. Not the Moors. Not even walking through the door of the house. It’s that first sip in a dimly lit pub, where the air smells like old wood, slow-pulled ale, and conversations that have been going on for decades. We ... Read more
Back to Pickering: A Spring Return to the North York Moors
You just know when it’s time. The light shifts. The days hold onto themselves just a little longer. The air stops feeling so damp, so heavy. And suddenly, you’re standing in the kitchen, staring out at the Galician hills, thinking about the Moors. Pickering starts creeping into conversation. “Maybe we should head back for a ... Read more
Majestic Malham Cove
Malham Cove. It’s one of those places. The kind that turns up in guidebooks with words like breathtaking and majestic, but actually lives up to the hype when you get there. Which is a good thing, because getting there is not quick. We took the Imp, which protested the entire way. Yorkshire Dales roads aren’t ... Read more
Coastal Charms of Robin Hood’s Bay
Back to Robin Hood’s Bay. Again. Because apparently, I can’t stay away. If you’ve been, you get it. If you haven’t—picture a tiny village clinging to the cliffs, twisting alleyways leading nowhere in particular, and the sea looking like it’s got a grudge against the land. Proper Yorkshire. It was blowing an absolute gale. The ... Read more
Serenity at Fountains Abbey
Right, so we went to Fountains Abbey today. One of those places that everyone in Yorkshire tells you to visit at least once. Been before, but it’s the kind of place that changes every time—depends on the weather, depends on your mood, depends on whether your dog decides to behave (he didn’t). Weather was classic ... Read more
The Mystique of Whitby Abbey
We went to Whitby Abbey today. You know, the big ruined monastery up on the cliff, looking all dramatic and windswept like something out of a gothic novel. (Which, let’s be honest, it kind of is—thanks, Bram Stoker.) The weather was doing that classic North Yorkshire thing where it can’t decide between freezing you or ... Read more
Exploring Pickering Castle
In my first ever post on my retirement blog, Patricia, Bertie, and I set out to explore one of North Yorkshire’s gems: Pickering Castle. The castle has interesting Norman origins and is less than a mile from our house so it makes perfect sense to start here.. It was originally built as a motte-and-bailey fortress. ... Read more