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Cornwall to Yorkshire and back again - a 5-day trip report.

Cornwall to Yorkshire and back again - a 5-day trip report.

Old May 2nd, 2011, 12:32 PM
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Cornwall to Yorkshire and back again - a 5-day trip report.

Cornwall to Yorkshire in a day? you must be mad.

Cornwall to Yorkshire via Coventry? you’re crackers.

Cornwall from Yorkshire via Aberystwyth? completely bonkers.

Yes, I confess to all three. We had an excuse - DH and DS wanted to watch their beloved Redruth Rugby Club play its last match of the season against Wharfdale [whose ground is in Grassington, North Yorks], and we had to get DS back to uni in Wales just afterwards, so one of us had the bright idea of combining that with a few days in the Yorkshire Dales. We based ourselves in Grassington itself, staying 4 nights in a B&B [of which more later], and then spent a night in Aberystwyth before dropping DS off in Lampeter, and driving home. Then after everything was booked, grandma was able to visit for Easter, which involved the detour via Coventry to take her home before we could head for Yorkshire.

Actually, the run up to Coventry was fine. The drive from Coventry to the outskirts of Yorkshire was bearable. The bit that was really awful was when the satnav [nicknamed “Sally” after the song] took us through the middle of Bradford in rush-hour; by then it was my turn to drive, DH kept grumbling at the way I was riding the clutch/changing or not changing gear [I drive an automatic but my car wasn’t big enough to get in all the stuff that DS needed to take bak to uni, and our things for the 5 days we’d be away, AND grandma’s things too] and in the middle of this, DH announces that if he’d looked at the map earlier, we could probably have avoided the middle of Bradford. GRRRRRR. “Never mind, darling, we’ll probably never have a chance to come this way again” I said sweetly. [believe that and you’ll believe anything].

Eventually, about 9 hours after leaving home, we arrived at our B&B, Bridge End Farm, just on the edge of Grassington. [www.bridge-end-farm.co.uk]. I cannot say enough good things about this place. To start with, the position is lovely - right on the river with gardens leading down to the water’s edge. There is plenty of parking, and tables and seats placed in the gardens for guests to use. The en-suite rooms, even DS’s single, are pretty spacious, and we were lucky enough to get the ground-floor Kingfisher room which gave us not only a large bedroom [and queen-sized bed] but also a nice sitting room and kitchenette. Breakfasts are lavish, with as much cereal, muesli, and fruit-juice as you could want, grapefruit, tea, coffee, toast, and as large a cooked breakfast as you want, with eggs, bacon, local sausage, tomatoes, fried bread and mushroom, plus baked beans were on offer when we were there. It’s eaten round a communal table which makes for good conversation plus an exchange of information on nice places to go, pubs, walks etc. not just from the friendly hosts, but also from fellow guests. I know that this sounds like something they would write themselves, but honestly we were bowled over by the place, [DH says it's the best B&B he's ever stayed in] and we won’t hesitate to stay there again.

Having arrived quite late, we quickly unpacked and made our way up into Grassington, an uphill walk of about 10-15 minutes, to see what we could find. Our hosts had particularly recommended the Devonshire Arms, but they seemed pretty busy [actually, they got busier every night we were there, so we should have taken our chance when we could] and the Forresters Arms, so we opted for there and were not disappointed. Both DS and DH had meat dishes, [DH slow-cooked minty lamb shoulder and DS 3 very large lamb chops both of which were pronounced excellent], and I had a bean and veg casserole, which was pretty good, but there was much too much of it! None of us had room for puds, and pretty soon we were rolling down the hill to the farm, for a good night’s sleep.
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Old May 3rd, 2011, 01:32 PM
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Waiting for the next installment, toes a'tapping - we lived in and around Bradford for years and still have family there but even we avoid the City Centre - too much construction going on

We regularly drove to Cornwall from Yorkshire in a day - but we'd set off at 2am and arrive about 10ish having stopped for breakfast at Gordano. As kids we slept most of the way until Bristol so the journey wasn't too bad and we were fresh as daisys but my Dad (the driver) flagged around 3pm.

Grassington? Love it! my In-Laws had a mobile home on the outskirts (a hop, skip and a jump from Shipley) so we took every opportunity to go for the weekend, most of my memories of my girls growing up involved that area.

More please!
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Old May 3rd, 2011, 01:41 PM
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glad to have brought back so many good memories, alya - here you are!

Day 2 - get those boots on.

After breakfast [which I won’t describe again - you can read what I wrote above if you want another excuse to drool] we strapped on our walking boots, and set off up the main street of Grassington to try to find the start of the walk we’d decided to do, which we reckoned should take us about 3 hours. Well, despite the assistance of two guide books and a map, we spent the first 1/2 hour trying to find where it began. Does that happend to you? It frequently happens to us. But we got there in the end, and set off across a field on a well-marked path, which led to several more fields, and less well-marked paths, until we reached the woods and lost the path completely. But we pressed on, and eventually picked it up again on the edge of the Dales Way, which goes past Grassington. There are some very interesting limestone structures in the area, one being a sort of mini-table-mountain, and to the side of this, we almost trampled all over a patch of early purple orchids. All around us were the lovely hills of the dales, bathed in sunshine, and at our feet these beautiful flowers - perfect. And hardly another soul in sight.

The path then took us across the northern edge of the woods where we found several other varieties of spring wild flower such as wood anenome, red campion, viola, and of course early bluebells, and finally down the side of the river Wharf, sadly not too full of water due to the lack of rain, finally bringing us back into Grassington some 5-6 miles later right beside our B&B which was very welcome! By now it was time for a cup of tea, [the walk had taken longer than we’d thought!] and then we went for a drive round, first of all doing a bit of shopping in Skipton [which frank ly did not live up to DH’s billing of it from a previous visit] and ending up only a mile or so away from Grassington at the Fountaine at Linton - one of the loveliest country pubs I have ever seen. Stood next to it are some palatial almshouses, designed in the paladian style, and between them, a village green, with a brook running through it, crossed by a tiny pack bridge. As it was a bit early to eat [though they have an early bird deal where you pay the time you order - so it’s £6 pp for two courses if you order at 6pm] we booked a table for 7pm, and just had a drink - the beers of the area are very good and I think I drank more beer in 4 days that I had in the previous 4 months.

The meal, which we ate in the restaurant, though you can eat the same menu in the bar, was as good as we’d hoped - for starters I had a black and white pudding stack, with apple fritter, DH had homemade terrine, and DS had chinese duck pancakes. For mains, both DH and I had 1/4 honey roast duck and DS had roast poin of pork all seved with a choice of potatoes and fresh vegetables - we didn’t see a frozen vegetable all the time we were in Yorkshire! Only DS could manage a pud, so we had coffee whilst he scoffed a chocolate brownie. Then we didn’t so much walk as waddle back to the B&B and our beds, trying not to disturb the resident geese as we crept into our room.
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Old May 3rd, 2011, 04:38 PM
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Lovely details--I love to "hear" the author's voice speak through. Write on (tell me more of yet another place I'd love to plan a visit to!)
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Old May 3rd, 2011, 05:05 PM
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Grassington can get very busy in the summer months especially at weekends, but you only need to walk for a few mins out of the village to get peace and quiet. From what you say you walked up the main street, turned left at the top (Chapel Lane) and then headed across the old medieval village to Grass Woods. You can't see any medieval village remains, just lumps and bumps in the grass, and some field formations. I think the 'orchids' would have been crocuses, very popular here in North Yorkshire.
I know Linton and the Fountaine Inn well, although we tend to use the village to park and start walks, so I've never eaten there.
I always maintain the food in Yorkshire (and Lancashire) is terrific, with so many country pubs and inns serving local produce of truly fantastic (and award winning) quality.
Did you visit Linton Falls - best seen after a period of rainfall.
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Old May 4th, 2011, 08:52 AM
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thanks, texas. I'm doing my best to take you with me, if only in spirit.

Morgana - shame that you haven't eat at the Fountaine - we thought it pretty good - better than what you can get at most Cornish pubs, for example. we did see the Linton Falls, but they like all the other falls and "strids" we came across were nothing like in full spate due to the lack of rain.

you have the route correct, but no, the orchids were indeed orchids - confirmed as such [though being a gardener I know a crocus - and an orchid - when I see one] because a) I've seen them before, b) they were shown as such in the orchid information centre at Malham Tarn and c) they looked just like these ones!!

http://www.edgeofpant.co.uk/shropshire_orchids.html
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Old May 4th, 2011, 08:04 PM
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"Morgana on May 3, 11 at 9:05pm
I always maintain the food in Yorkshire (and Lancashire) is terrific, with so many country pubs and inns serving local produce of truly fantastic (and award winning) quality."

Morgana - if you're in the neighbourhood I can totally recommend the Dog and Gun in Oxenhope, they have a really good Chicken Liver pate and the Lamb Henry is always amazing - watching the sheep in the next field as you eat it?? Not so good

http://www.dogandgunoxenhope.co.uk/menus1.php

Back to business - Where is Ann? Slacker
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Old May 5th, 2011, 09:22 AM
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Enjoying this ann, and looking forward to more!

I've never been to Yorkshire - the fact I once attended a Northern Jockeys' Dinner Dance at Scotch Corner doesn't really count because I don't remember any of it due to far too much champagne! - and I really must make the effort to venture further north, you all make it sound so enticing!
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Old May 5th, 2011, 02:19 PM
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Back to business - Where is Ann? Slacker>>

LOL - been hard at work.

Julia - you should try to make an opportunity to go - it's not THAT far from Cirencester!

here's a bit more:


Day 3 - Royal Wedding Day - a confession.

After another fabulous breakfast [which in my case was getting smaller every day, else I’d have gone home the size of a house] we set off for the village of Kettlewell, about 10 miles away, intending to walk to another village and back before lunch, mainly following the river. But it started to rain, we weren’t sure about how far the next villlage was, and DS was walking about wanting to do a higher walk, so after about 30 minutes, we abandoned the walk, and headed back to the village where we regrouped, with DS and DH heading off to walk back to Grassington, and me nobly "volunteering" to drive the car back.

once DS & DH had departed, I fancied a drink, [well, i had my duties to my fellow fodorites to consider, didn't I?] and on going into the nearest hostelry and ordering my haIf pint of bitter, I found that they were all glued to the telly, watching - guess what - the Royal Wedding. well, being a confirmed republican, i had made a big thing of avoiding it, but as it was on, and it was still a bit wet, it couldn't hurt to sit down and watch for a little while....so yes, I confess, I watched it too. The SHAME! what was most amusing was the demographic of the other spectators - mostly young and roughly 50% male. I was really surprised that the blokes were as glued to the telly as the girls, though they weren't dabbing their eyes quite as much.

After they had set off for the palace, I decided that I'd had quite enough of frocks, uniforms and carriages, and thought that I would take my opportunity to do some further research into local hostelries. So i wound my way back to the Grassington area, and ended up at a pub the owners of our B&B had recommended, the Craven Arms at Appletreewick [allegedly pronounced Ap'trik by the locals, though our B&B owners said that they had never actually heard any of the locals call it that].

The pub is a lovely old building, set on a ridge overlooking a valley, with loads of tables outside and by the door a "weather-forecasting stone". The plaque next to it read roughly thus:

"stone wet - it's raining
stone dry - it's stopped.
can't see the stone? - it's foggy
snow on top - it's snowing.
stone swinging - it's windy
stone on floor - tornado.
stone under water - flood, but the pub's still open"

inside there were any number of cosy low-ceiling rooms, [apart from the stunning high ceilinged thatched barn at the rear] crammed with a miscellany of tables and chairs of all ages and sizes, and bedecked with the memorabilia of eons. I particularly noticed a portrait of the local "Dick Whittington" - a local lad who went to London to find fame and fortune, became Lord Mayor, and came back to endow schools, hospitals, etc. etc.

the sun was now shining strongly, so I got myself a half pint of beer [noticing a theme here? - all in the cause of my research, of course] and sat outside drinking in the beer- and the view. the pub was clearly popular with walkers and cyclists, as well as lazy drivers like me, and it was hard to drag myself away. but looking at the leaflets I'd brought with me, I realised that there was a garden just down the road that i quite liked the look of, so finally I set off to find the garden of the Bishop of Bradford at Parcevall Hall. [www.parcevallhallgardens.co.uk]. I'd never heard of them before, but i don't really know why, as they were very beautiful and well-kept. After parking at the bottom of a long drive, I walked up through masses of daffodils and late pheasant-eye narcissi [accompanied by several pheasants! and a few guinea fowl] to an orchard area where the apple trees were in full blossom. It doesn't matter how many times I see blossoming fruit trees, they always lift my heart. Particularly striking were the ones inside a walled garden whose flower-decked limbs could been seen trailing over the wall - lovely.

at the top of the garden is a wooded area which was full of camellias and rhododendrons, and to the right a really big rockery, one of the best I've seen, as great efforts had been made to make it look look part of the landscape rather than the rather sad heap of stones that many rockeries resemble. then finally I wandered down through the walled gardens and back down to the reception area, where i treated myself to a cup of tea and a plant that caught my eye - a bright red lupin, which I hope will prove to be rabbit proof!

By this time I reckoned that DS and DH ought to be getting towards home, so I decided to drive myself slowly back, and amazingly, we managed to arrive at almost exactly the same time, though they had spent some time in the sweet shop up in Grassington on their way back.

I obviously did a good job in describing the pub I'd been to, as DH suggested we should go there to eat that evening, and we had a great meal of roast beef [DH] pork [me] - both accompanied by fresh veg AND enormous yorkshire puds, and a steak and ale pie for DS, followed by typical pub desserts like sticky toffee pudding, chocolate brownies, etc.

As we wandered back to Grassington, we could see fireworks being let off over the village and they put on a fine display. we on the other hand, went back for an early night.
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Old May 5th, 2011, 03:06 PM
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As an avoid London-lover, I actually liked Yorkshire a bit better. Sshh. The countryside is lovely and I find the people a bit more friendly up North. York has to be the one o the prettiest walled towns.
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Old May 5th, 2011, 05:49 PM
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Ah yes, - can see you are a gardener and wouldn't get your crocuses and orchids mixed up!
Parcevall Hall is pretty well known up here because although North Yorkshire is lovely it isn't really famous for its more formal gardens.
Near to Parcevall Hall is an amazing natural 'wonder' called Trollers Gill which I've walked through half a dozen times and each time it's totally creeped me out but that's possibly my over active imagination. Do google it!
Although I live in the Dales I am reading your report whilst on a longish holiday in Florida - and it's making me more than a little homesick!
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Old May 6th, 2011, 11:16 AM
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emily - yes, we found the natives friendly too.

morgana - my plan had been to go to Harlow Carr but the fates thwarted me. i just goggled Trollers Gill - looks fun, but a 9 mile one way hike might be beyond me in an afternoon! I'm pleased that I'm the cause of home thoughts from abroad!

more soon - I hope, though i am busy packing for my trip to italy on Sunday.
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Old May 6th, 2011, 12:12 PM
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Oh, ann -- you're my kinda gal! Thanks for this trip report! My next trip is back to Yorkshire and I've emailed this to myself to use for planning. I must see Parcevall Hall Gardens now.
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Old May 6th, 2011, 12:17 PM
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And Morgana... thanks so much for the info. for Troller's Gill (and all your information forever and always). The walk looks both creepy and glorious -- which is perfection. (I think I rather like being scared as I walk -- speaks to my rather dull everday life, I suppose.)
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Old May 6th, 2011, 12:23 PM
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chgoGal - when is your trip going to be? How many times have you been to Yorkshire?

I have to say that we are hooked, and I'd be happy to go back next week, were it not for the fact that I'm off elsewhere.
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Old May 6th, 2011, 12:34 PM
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Just been the one time a couple years back and my 10-day trip wasn't nearly long enough. I hope and plan to return in September -- but am trying to work out where I want to do my walks (and hoping weather will be all right) -- the Lake District, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales or the Moors. It's almost impossible to choose.
But have a great time in Italy! Travel safe!
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Old May 6th, 2011, 01:02 PM
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Oh, I'm so enjoying this. Hope you finish before gallivanting off to Italy . . .
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Old May 6th, 2011, 01:13 PM
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oh janisj, i haven't heard the word "gallivanting" for ever such a long time. yes, I'm sure that's what DH thinks i'm doing, but he's too kind to say so.

Chgogal. I have to say that I'm sold on the Dales - so many wonderful walks, reasonable transport [at least where we were] lovely pubs to recover in, little towns and villages to provide interest when the legs get too tired. Of course the Lake District is great for that too. as for the moors, we spent a long weekend there once and really we did not enjoy ourselves half as much as we did this time - the walking was far less interesting, towns and villages far more widely spaced, far less to do apart from walk, and the scenery was not, to our mind, half as good. I don't know the Peaks at all; perhaps someone else has a view.
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Old May 6th, 2011, 01:52 PM
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Day 4 - the boys done good.

By now I had almost forgotten why we had come to the Dales in the first place - have you? come on, pay attention, we've got a rugby match to play - and win! but first, what to do with the morning? My plan had been to go to Harlow Carr [RHS northern garden] but my silver-tongued husband had other ideas - wouldn't it be nicer to go for a walk? didn't Malham Tarn sound lovely? H'e really like to go - and if he and DS went there, there was no way I could get to Harrogate and back, AND pick them back up. so there it was, no Harlow Carr for me this time.

Ideally we'd have parked in Malham and walked up to the Cove, but DH didn't want to be late of the match [more like, he didn't want to miss out on too much of the free beer that as a committee member of the visiting team, he'd get at the club-house!] so we made for the tarn and parked nearby. First stop was a bird-hide by the lake shore - at first we really couldn't see anything, but gradually we became aware of a grebe displaying nearby, and then its mate, and then their nest, a jumbled heap on reeds floating in the water near the lake shore. we couldn't see any eggs, but they were still building the nest, so hopefully there was still time.

we tore ourselves away, and set off round the lake. you can't walk all the way round the shore. but for a while we could, and enjoyed another wonderful show of orchids - much taller and paler than the ones we saw before but we put this down to their being in a much kinder environment, which enabled them to grow more lushly. i suppose that it took us about 2 hours to do a complete circuit - except that you can't, and have to walk across the surrounding open ground to pick up the road and thence return to the carpark.

One of the advantages of having a communal breakfast table was the chance to share local information and this paid off greatly as we headed off down the other side of the hill following the back route down from the Tarn, a stunning road over and down a pass through the hills, which winds its way down to the bottom of the valley and the village of Arncliff; a very pretty village with a green and a very nice looking pub.

as we had a bi more time than we'd thought, we decided to stop and do a bit more research on the beer, which turned out to be a real treat. Kept in metal barrels by the bar, the landlord first of all decanted it into a jug, and when it had settled, into your glass. His till was simple to the nth degree - a wooden box. when I said that the cost of a half pint was cheap [£1-45] he said that when he ran out of 5ps, he'd be putting it up to £1-50. He was a rugby fan, and kindly served DS and DH, despite the fact that they were wearing Redruth shirts, and we had some "friendly" banter about the match. we also admired his pub - unchanged [and probably undusted] for as long as Elizabeth [I or II?] had been on the throne.

but eventually we had to drag ourselves away so we drove back to the B&B and ambled up to the Wharfdale rugby ground which is in a stunning position surrounded by rolling hills. DH was able to saunter in with his free ticket; Ds and i were left to pay for ourselves [he got a student discount] - still I suppose that it's for a good cause. we had about 30 mins to kill before the match started, but we were able to spend that chatting to the other Redruth supporters who'd come up on the supporters' coach. then they were off - and despite a few early setbacks, by half-time we were ahead, and we finished the match 33-22. Hooray! My first away match was a huge success. Some beer had found its way onto the pitch [only after the end of the match] and we all stood around congratulating the team and drinking in the atmosphere for quite a long time. the result did not guarantee that the team would stay up, but they had done their best.

next - we go back for a well-earned lie down and an exciting episode of Dr. Who!
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Old May 6th, 2011, 04:45 PM
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Enjoyed this thoroughly Ann. We will be visiting Yorkshire for the third time in early June, sandwiched between The Peak District, after we arrive in Manchester, ending with a weeks stay in The Lake District. Plan to include Parcevall Hall Gardens, and made note of the pub Fountaine at Linton.
I do remember that Skipton had good shopping, but that was 3 years ago, on a market day.
This report comes at a good point in my research.
Looking forward to the rest.
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