The Historic Village of West Tanfield.

When we go up to Masham, we have a choice of two routes: the scenic one, which is via Otley, Farnley,  Dacre, Dacre Banks, Summerbridge, Brimham Rocks, Risplith, Grantley, Kirkby Malzeard, Grewelthorpe and Masham, or the most direct one, which is via Otley, Harrogate, Ripon, then taking the A6108 to North Stainley, West Tanfield and Masham.

This time we took the most direct route, because I remembered that we passed through West Tanfield, six miles north of Ripon, which is a lovely little village on the banks of the River Ure.

The village has a monument called the Marmion Tower, a 15th century gatehouse which belonged to the now vanished manor house formerly home to the Marmion family. At first floor level there is a fine example of an oriel window.

The Marmion Tower

The Marmion Tower - note the Oriel Window above the entrance.

The Oriel Window

The Spiral Staircase in the Marmion Tower - looking upwards

A plan of the Marmion Tower, showing the three floor levels. The tower is now in the care of English Heritage.

Next door to the Marmion Tower is the church of St Nicholas.



St Nicholas West Tanfield - the East End

I mentioned in my comments on routes that West Tanfield lies on the banks the River Ure. The pub on the corner of the bridge which crosses the river (The Bull Inn) boasts one of the most picturesque settings for a pub beer garden.

The River Ure by the Marmion Tower, near the beer garden of the Bull Inn

                               

Beer Garden at the rear of the Bull Inn - note the Marmion Tower & St Nicholas Church Tower (top left)

Are the Critical Comments on Trip Advisor Fair???

Are you one of the people who uses the web comparison sites? On the face of it these seem to be pretty useful. Opinions are given by people who are not connected in any way to the product/services they are commenting on.

But all is not what it seems. I often have a look at Trip Advisor, which gives users comments on Hotels, Pubs Restaurants, Cafes, etc. and some of the critical comments bear very little resemblance to what I have experienced of the hotels they are commenting on!

In particular I refer to the Kings Head in Masham.

Below is part of a comment on one of the rooms we stayed in two months previously, and the description bears little or no resemblance to what we found!


I feel it my duty to give my feedback about our stay at this hotel to avoid other 'would be' customers enduring our experience. On arrival we refused the first room 'Coach House' - The carpet was disgusting and the cushions on the bed and the settee were so filthy (I wouldn’t have allowed my dog to use them) how...

When we stayed in this room it was neat and tidy, with clean cushions on both the bed and the settee. How a room can be so different in such a short space of time puzzles me. Maybe there is a clue in the bad grammar used in this, again from the same reviewer....


If the weather had not been so bad we would have drove home immediately!

The Coach House (Exterior)

We returned this year (April 2012) for our fifth consecutive visit. Hardly what a dis-satisfied customer would do is it?

The Tack Room - (where we stayed this year)

Tack Room - Bedroom (Interior)

Tack Room - Bedroom (Interior)

View of the Courtyard from the Tack Room Doorway - The Coach House is the large curved window to the left of centre.

My review was dated January 2012.

We have stayed at the King's Head between Christmas and the New Year for four or five years, which tells you that we must be satisfied with the accommodation!

The hotel is situated at the side of the market square, and is a characterful Georgian building, which at one time was a Posting House and an Excise Office! For the first four years it was managed by a couple who had been in post at the King's Head for approximately 12 years. Whilst the building was "characterful" it was showing signs of needing refurbishment - both in the decorations and fittings. A complete overhaul took place in June 2011, when new management took over.


If you are looking for a slick city type 5 star accomodation then forget the Kings Head. It has a very laid back atmosphere. On each occasion when we have arrived there has been a wait at reception, probably due to the fact that an extra member of staff would have made all the difference.This is not a direct criticism, merely a comment on how the hotel tends to run. Rush and speed are not words within the vocabulary of this hotel - it runs at a far more relaxed pace.


The staff have always been helpful and friendly, even though at times it is obvious that they are working in a very busy set up. Once again an extra pair of hands would have made life a bit easier for them!


This is a dog friendly establishment, and as we always bring our chocolate labrador with us,we have always had one of the rooms set aside for dog owners. These are in the stable accomodation at the rear of the hotel.


The rooms contain a very comfortable bed, wardrobe, dressing table, tea/coffee making facilities,hairdryer,telephone, en suite toilet with bath & shower, and TV with a goodly selection of channels. We have always found the rooms to be spotlessly clean on each of our visits. As the weather is usually cold when we arrive, it is lovely to go into a very warm room. One niggle would be that it is sometimes too warm! However judicious adjustments of the radiator thermostats can set the room temperature to a more manageable heat!


The food is farily basic hotel chain fair, but there is quite a reasonable selection on the menu. I have seen comments from other visitors that the fact that breakfast is a separate charge (at £5.95 for continental and £7.99 for cooked) and is a bit steep, and would tend to agree. Evening meals tend to take a little while to arrive, and this is probably due to the fact that an extra pair of hands is needed!

So there you have it!








CD Bargains!

During our trip to Masham I paid a visit to the Wensleydale Railway Station at Leyburn. We have travelled on this railway on a previous visit, but the reason for calling at the station was not to buy tickets to travel on the train, but to peruse the second hand CD's, DVD's and Books which are for sale there. Someone who donates CD's to the F.O.L.S. (Friends of Leyburn Station) is a classical music lover, and it is very rare I visit the station without purchasing, some classical CD or other!

This time it was a recording of Smetana's Ma Vlast (My Country)

performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker and conducted by James Levine, and a double CD of music composed by the Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly.

I had seen this double CD on sale in various online sources for £10.00 - £12.00 but I got it from Leyburn Station for £4.00!

The following day we visited Thorp Perrow Arboretum near Bedale, and after having a bowl of soup in the cafe at Thorp Perrow, we went into Bedale. There is an Age Concern Charity Shop in Bedale which usually has a good selection of CD's, DVD's and Books, and I came away from there with 3 CD's, and, it must be a sign of the difficult economic times, when the lady behind the counter said "We're selling them at three for the price of two!"

My selection was, again, all classical music......

This contains a selection of classical music which Torvill and Dean skated to. You will most certainly remember their version of Ravel's Bolero, which scored them a top "10" marks in competition.

I bought this simply to see what the CD companies are pushing as Wedding Music.There were the usual Bridal Chorus and Wedding March and Trumpet Voluntary, but one or two surprises. I was quite surprised to see J.S. Bach's Bist du Bei Mir, Boccherini's Minuet and Walford Davies God be in my Head listed, as well as Sigfreid Karg-Elert's Marche Triomphale "Nun Danket".

There was the usual selection of popular classical pieces on this CD, including Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, John Williams' Star Wars Theme, Nessun Dorma, Vivaldi's Four Season, Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, Khachaturian's Sabre Dance etc.

Thorp Perrow Arboretum

We have friends who are members of the Royal Horticultural Scoiety, and from time to time they have visited Thorp Perrow Arboretum where they can gain free entry during the months of January, February, July, September and December.

For a goodly number of years they have suggested that we would enjoy a visit here, so being in the area (Masham is only six and a half miles from Bedale, where Thorp Perrow is situated) so we decided to visit the Arboretum on Tuesday.

Although the weather was pretty wet, we had a most enjoyable time there. If, like me, you are under the impression that an arboretum is just a collection of trees, you will be decidedly surprised if you visit Thorp Perrow. Let me list you some of the attractions.....

100 acres of beautiful woodland walks, one of the finest collections of trees in the North of England, daily displays at the Birds of Prey Centre, Meerkat Island, Wallaby Wood, hosts of golden daffodils, bluebells and lots of other flowers too.

Thorp Perrow is considered to be one of the finest collections of trees and shrubs in the United Kingdom. The Arboretum was created by Colonel Sir Leonard Ropner (1895–1977).He began the Arboretum in 1931 and in July 2006 the gardens celebrated their 75th anniversary by planting the 1,750th tree.





As well as the gardens founded by Leonard Ropner, Thorp Perrow also includes Milbank Pinetum planted by Lady Augusta Milbank in the nineteenth century and the 16th century Spring Wood.


Thorp Perrow is home to five National Plant Collections; Tilia (Lime), Fraxinus (Ash), Cotinus (Smoke Bush), Laburnum and Juglans (Walnut).


Thorp Perrow also boasts 66 Champion trees in its collection.

So lets have a look at some of the vistas..........

 

Wallaby

Meerkat

Falcon

If you are in the area of Bedale, do take time to visit Thorp Perrrow Arboretum!

Four Days up at Masham - A Nostalgic Trip Down Memory Lane - Locations of All Creatures Great and Small.

At the beginning of this week we took a break of four days in Masham. We usually go there for a few days between Christmas and the New Year, and in 2011 I had planned to look up some of the locations of the BBC TV Series All Creartures Great and Small, which tells the humourous adventures of the vet James Herriott. His real name was Alf Wight.

However, the weather was not very good, and some of the sites of filming are along very narrow roads, with sheer drops on either side, so we decided that it would not be sensible to try The James Herriott Trail in such cold and inclement weather. This last week we were blessed with some very clear sunny weather so we decided that one of the days we would retrace the footsteps of James Herriot (as told in the BBC TV Series.)

Just prior to our visit to Masham last year I had come across an article by Carol Drinkwater (the original Mrs James Herriot) in which she revisits some of the scenes of the filming, so using this as a starter we set off on our journey.

If you remember the opening credits of the series, an old fashioned car is shown going through what in England is called a ford, but is probably more commonly known as a watersplash, as this is exactly what the water does when a car is driven through it at any speed above about 10 miles per hour! Nowhere in Carol Drinkwater's article did she mention the watersplash, so after a bit of research on the web I discovered that the location was between the villages of Feetham and Langthwaite.

If you want to refresh your memory of the scene, google Youtube, then enter All Creatures Great and Small. Select the one which is described as All Creatures Great and Small Theme w/Credits Season 1 Ep. 1. The seventh shot in the opening sequence is the location I was looking for, and success! I actually found it!!

The Watersplash featured in the BBC TV Series All Creatures Great and Small.

About sixteen years ago, Dot took me away on a surprise holiday to the village of Askrigg. We stayed for a couple of nights at the Kings Arms. I later learnt that this was the pub which featured in All Creatures as "The Drovers", so a visit was made to Askrigg......

The Bar in the King's Arms Askrigg, which was named "The Drovers" in All Creatures Great and Small.

In this second shot you will see lots of hooks in the ceiling of the bar, and in "The Drovers" there were all sorts of agricultural implements hung from the ceiling.



Now I was hot on the trail. Do you remember that the surgery in the series was at Skellgate House? well, would you believe it the actual building used as Skellgate House was across the road from the King's Arms/Drovers!

This hotel, with the ornate doorway was "Skellgate House"

There was ample proof that the Kings Arms had been used for the filming, with lots of photographs of the cast on the walls.

Photos of Seigfreid Farnon, (Robert Hardy) Tristan Farnon (Peter Davison) and James Herriott, (Christopher Timothy)

Carol Drinkwater and Christopher Timothy (Mr & Mrs James Herriott)

Robert Hardy (Seigfried Farnon)

Apart from our finding the locations we had a most enjoyable journey through some stunning scenery in Wensleydale, Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.

Snow still in evidence on the hill tops

 Snow still in evidence on the hilltops

Old Lead Miners Cottage

Good News, Winnie the Hedgehog, and the Weather

It seems a long time since I did a blog, so here goes!

Since I was last in the land of blogdom various things have happened. Hannah started a temporary post at a local Primary School, for one term, this was extended to two terms, and has been extended to three terms. It is at this time of year that she starts to wonder if there will be a permanent post going for her next year. This basically all depends on if any teachers are leaving, or if there is funding available.

She had her teacher observation today (something that all first year teachers have to have each term) and this has gone very well, but the best news is that her head called her into her study a couple of days ago and informed her that a permanent post was available for her next year.

On a completely different tack, we received a phone call from her today to say that she would be calling round with a surprise. When Dot asked was it living she said "Yes!" We had visions of yet another dog....


Imagine our surprise when she arrived with a young hedgehog which had been found on the school playing fields.

Having looked after hedgehogs for a local First Schools caretakers wife, who ran a hedgehog hospital, she is something of an expert on them! She also arrived at our house with two sachets of cat food - (their staple diet when in captivity)  and fed it one before taking it up into the fields at the rear of our house, where we have released dozens of them in our time!

Ruby was extremely interested in the little creature, and had to get in on the act.

Ben and Hannah took Ruby with them when they released the little hedgehog, and Ruby obviously didn't want to leave the little creature, and kept going back up to the hollow tree to keep an eye on it!!

On the weather front, snow has fallen in Scotland and the forecast is for snow in Northern England tomorrow.The temperature is due to fall to freezing overnight and the local gritting wagon was out just after tea. Our English weather is incredible. This time last week we were basking in temperatures of 23.5 degrees!