2022 Summer Holiday Part Two - Yorkshire Delights!

 Yorkshire is just such a fantastic place to be. For a start, it's so beautiful. Rolling hills, natural habitats, sprawling farms, it's a delight to behold. It's also interesting, so much history and culture. Everytime we go, we get to experience such a varied mix of things, and today was no exception. Today we experienced everything we love, historical ruins, beautiful sighs, seafront amusements and ice creams. What could possibly be better?

Our first port of call today was Kirkham Priory. Well, it was a slightly abrupt visit, we arrived to discover a note on the entrance saying it was closed due to unforeseen circumstances. It's annoying, but it's just a part of life you can't control.

It's a very beautiful and tranquil place, with the sheep in the field by the bridge, and the sounds of the river flowing. We stood for a bit watching the sheep wander about, and I took a quick photo of the gatehouse before we left. It really is a rather spectacular gatehouse! Imagine rocking up ready for a prayer service and being greeted by it.

We then decided to head over to Wharram Percy, one of England's most famous deserted medieval village. The village was inhabited since prehistory, but was at it's peak around the 1100's. The village then began a slow decline, and the last few residents were evicted in the early 1500's by the Hylton family who owned the land, in order to make more space for sheep rearing. From then, it had a quiet few centuries, before the site began to attract the interest of something other than sheep, the archeologists. Arguably, Wharram Percy is one of our best known and most researched deserted Medieval villages, and had yearly excavations revealing so much about life in the village.

Surrounded by green fields and trees, it's a tranquil but often windy place, and you can imagine the general feel of the medieval village, particularly the noise of the livestock as they were herded about.

A view of the old farmhouse on the site, which is fully boarded up.

While you can only see some of the earthworks of the houses, and occasionally the odd outlines in the ground, the biggest remaining landmark is the ruins of St Martins church. It sits in a dip in the valley, the top part of the ruined bell tower sticking up and gazing over the ruined remains.

Wharram Percy is under the care of English Heritage, and is free to visit.  Just please be aware it's often muddy, and the main path there is quite steep. If you'd like to know more about England's most famous deserted Medieval village, then please have a look at EH's website, or if you after a slightly more curious approach, this article not only has a wonderful picture from above which shows off the buried remains of the village, but also talks about Medieval superstitions, including about the living dead!

Wharram Percy & the Medieval beliefs of the living dead

Moving on from Wharram Percy, we had a walk around nearby, following the old railway track, which has sadly become overgrown and forgotten about. But we did see this, the Northern end of the Burdale tunnel. The Malton & Driffield railway used to pass through, but in the 50's the line was closed and the tunnel was bricked up in 1961. It's an interesting piece of railway history, and you can follow the line from Wharram Percy quite a way. It's hoped that it will be able to be restored and reopened for the Yorkshire Wolds Railway at some point, but I think it's been put on hold due to the tunnels condition. It seems like several collapses have blocked the tunnel entirely.

We then decided to grab ourselves something to eat and so we headed to Scarborough. We've been several times, and love the place. Yes it's dated and in need of some investment, but it's a fun and charming place, and we always enjoy ourselves here.

We spent some time in the arcades, failing to win any spectacular prizes, but we did win some sweets! And here is proof that I am finally better than James at air hockey! I normally lose, but today I was on fire!

We then jumped in the confusingly named Central Tramway, and headed into town to have a look around. I say confusingly, because I think it's actually a funicular railway, not a tramway. But then Central Funicular Railway doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?

After a little shopping, we came back down again to the seafront, where we treated ourselves to a sundae. Who doesn't like a sundae? I remember James telling me that he had a friend once who didn't like ice cream. I think I would disown anyone that doesnt like ice cream? It's the perfect food!

But we ate up, had one last little walk across the beach, before heading back to the lodge to make ourselves some dinner. Can days like this get any better?