Knaresborough

Ten minutes up the road from Harrogate, perched on a limestone ridge above the Nidd Gorge, the ancient town of Knaresborough is a picture perfect market town with a vibrant heart.

This is the lush, fertile Vale of York, once an ancient passageway used by the Romans which provided limestone for some of this area's most distinguished buildings - including York Minster.
Occupying a commanding position 120 feet above the gorge are the ruins of Knaresborough's Norman castle, which offer some of the most scenic views across the town towards the impressive railway viaduct which spans the River Nidd.



I arrived in the beautiful market town just as the balloons and bunting were going up for the annual Knaresborough FEVA - a colourful festival of entertainment and visual arts. Now in its 8th year, the festival will be reaching its climax this weekend with free entry into the castle and museum, a free guided walk through the Nidd Gorge (Sunday 10am) and a classical evening concert in St John's Church.



For those whose visits don't coincide with the festival, there's still plenty to explore. When, or if, you finally tire of the views across the gorge, wandering around the town's pretty streets, you will undoubtedly stumble upon the oldest chemist shop in England which is now the home of Farrah's famous Harrogate toffees. The chemist shop dispensed its medicinal wares in around 1720 but these days the shop is more famous for its sticky treats and vast array of Farrah's toffee tins.

You can also explore the cavernous birthplace (and its picturesque riverside surroundings) of Knaresborough's most legendary resident, Ursula Southeil. Better known as Mother Shipton, England's most famous prophetess, she lived during the reign of Henry VIII and is said to have accurately foretold the Great Fire of London and the events surrounding the defeat of the Spanish Armada. She also predicted the end of the world in 1881 - but two out of three ain't bad, as they say.

Mother Shiptons Cave
Prophecy Lodge
High Bridge
Knaresborough
HG5 8DD

Tel: 01423 864600
www.mothershiptonscave.com

Fat rascals and a strong Yorkshire Brew

As I'm journeying through Yorkshire, i can't help reflecting on the three years I spent (or misspent) here as a student. I'm a little bit sad to say that i don't think there's a single trace of Yorkshire lass about me. Even down to the way I make a cup of tea - I like it weak, like dishwater - I'm definitely a soft southerner through and through.

Tea, you see, is pivotal to Yorkshire life. And Bettys, Yorkshire's most famous teashop - is nothing short of a national institution.

Bettys was founded in 1919 by Swiss confectioner Frederick Belmont, who, on arrival in London was planning to head to the popular southern seaside resorts to establish his business but took the wrong train and ended up in Yorkshire. His inital dismay was quickly replaced with a love for the beautiful Yorkshire countryside which reminded him of his alpine home.

In spite of the fact that I am a tea and cake fanatic, an almost 90 year old tea shop patronised by what I imagine to be coachloads of the blue-rinse brigade doesn't overwhelmingly appeal. I like to think my taste is little more 'bijou' so I feel sure I'll be disappointed.

But I'm pleased to report it's actually a not-to-be-missed experience: the height of elegance and gentility and the rainbow-coloured spectrum of cakes and tarts is a dazzling sight to behold. And little wonder its packed full with tourists eager to immerse themselves in the quintessentially English pursuit of taking afternoon tea.

I have a friend who had a Saturday job at Bettys when he was young (beats working in McDonalds!) and his top tip for my visit was to try a warm buttered Fat Rascal - a Bettys part scone, part rock cake speciality (pictured on display in the window below). I duly indulged and can confirm that they are freshly baked, crumbly perfection - the melted butter part is a must.

There are now six Bettys tearooms - all in Yorkshire. And they also have a mouthwatering mail order website from which I pinched this beautiful picture of a plate of Fat Rascals with Emma Bridgewater's adorable bespoke Bettys pottery - all of which can be ordered here online.

Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms
1 Parliament Street
Harrogate
HG1 2QU

Tel: 01423 502746
www.bettys.co.uk

Open every day from 9am to 9pm

National Parks Week

The sun is shining and if you need any greater excuse to go and explore the Great British outdoors, next week is 'National Parks Week' (28 July - 3 August). 

There are 14 National Parks in the UK (one of which is the Peak District which became Britain's first national park in 1951). These 14 parks form part of a global network of 6,555 protected areas covering 12% of the earth's surface. That's quite a stat isn't it?!

According to the organisers, National Parks Week aims to reconnect people to the beautiful open spaces around us particularly highlighting local food and farming. To help us make this connection, lots of events have been organised and you can even 'eat your way around' the 14 parks with this collection of local recipes. 

For more information, have a look at the National Parks website.

Neglect and decay threaten Britain's heritage sites

This week, English Heritage has raised the alarm on the thousands of historical sites which are at high risk from decay and neglect. Of the 70,000 heritage sites assessed so far, they say that one in twelve are threatened - that's well over 5,000 listed buildings, ancient monuments, battlefields, gardens and landscapes which face an uncertain future.

Thanks to protective legislation, demolition is no longer an option, but as Times columnist Richard Morrison points out, listed buildings which have been abandoned because they're no longer 'fit for purpose' are now deliberately left to decay in the hope that someone else will pick up the restoration bill.

You can read more about this here or go to the Heritage at Risk section of the English Heritage website to find out what can be done to ensure our heritage is preserved for future generations.

Peak Palaces and Puddings

Apparently Derbyshire's most famous dish, the Bakewell Pudding (or Tart) has been falling from favour among health-conscious 21st century Brits. Reports from Kipling Towers suggest that sales of Mr Kipling's (over-sweet and unauthentic) cherry bakewell version have fallen 30-odd per cent in the last few years.

So in a selfless bid to help save this local delicacy from extinction, I decided to hot-foot it over to the small market town of Bakewell and put my sweet-tooth to good use for once.

As I entered the Peak District National Park, only one thing stood in my way - the breathtaking vision of Chatsworth House's honeyed palladian facade nestled on the banks of the River Derwent. My pudding craving momentarily had to go on hold...

Chatsworth, which lies about three miles to the east of Bakewell, has been the the ancestral home of the Duke of Devonshire and his family, the Cavendishes since 1549. The first house was built by Bess of Hardwick and her husband Sir William Cavendish. The first Duke of Devonshire rebuilt the house at the end of the 17th century which later became the backdrop to the colourful life of Georgiana Cavendish, wife of the 5th Duke, which has been depicted by Keira Knightly in the film The Duchess (due for release in September).

I've never quite made it inside the house - exploring the grounds alone could probably take a few days. There are some beautiful walks to explore, winding up the rocky, bracken-clad slopes to the open peaks behind the house (I once spotted then Home Secretary David Blunkett with his black labrador Lucy enjoying a wintry walk here a few years ago).

Another highlight is the Chatsworth Farm Shop, situated on the estate in the village of Pilsley on the way to Bakewell. Benefitting from a recent £500,000 expansion, story boards above each section introduce you to the local producers who supply the shop with, among many other things, estate-reared beef, lamb, venison and pheasant, free range eggs, poultry and ice-cream and a huge variety of locally grown fruit and veg.

Having got completely sidetracked by just a tiny fraction of what Chatsworth has to offer, I finally arrived in Bakewell, just as the Bakewell Tart Shop was closing and the tourist coaches were departing. A peep through the shop window though and I reckon the legacy of this famous local delicacy is in safe hands with the people of Bakewell (oh, and Jamie Oliver who apparently did a great version in his book Jamie's Dinners).

Chatsworth,

Bakewell,

Derbyshire,

DE45 1PP

Tel: 01246 565300

Web: http://www.chatsworth.org/

The Chatsworth farm shop,

Pilsley,

Bakewell,

Derbyshire

DE45 1UF

Tel: 01246 583392

The Crooked Spire

I'm returning to old stomping ground for the next leg of the trip as I studied in the Steel City (Sheffield). I've come to re-visit the Peak District national park, whose vast expanses of incredible scenery open up within, literally, a five minute drive of the leafy west side of the city. (This happens to be the area occupied by Sheffield's enormous student population and I'm ashamed to say that this fact was largely wasted on me and most of my student colleagues.)

First pit stop en route to the Peak District is Chesterfield. Having passed the town's most famous attraction - the crooked spire - countless times on the train from Euston to Sheffield, I decided to stop and take a closer look.

It really is quite an arresting sight. The steeple of Derbyshire's largest church, St Mary's and All Saints, twists 45 degrees and leans nine and a half feet to the south west. The church was largely constructed in 1350 following the Black Death outbreak and the spire was added later in 1362.

It's wonkiness is attributed mainly to a dearth of skilled craftsmen at this time and their use of unseasoned timber. There are (of course) several more colourful explanations including the story of a local blacksmith who was so nervous about shoeing the devil that he drove a nail into his foot. Leaping over the spire in pain, legend has it that the devil knocked the spire out of shape.

Standing beneath Derbyshire's answer to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I was not comforted to learn that the spire isn't even attached to the church tower on which it sits. Apparently, due to the wonders of science, it's weight (all 32 tons of it) holds it in place...

Not being particularly scientifically minded or inclined to figure out how this feat of botched engineering has remained in place for over 600 years, especially on blustery days like today, I beat a hasty retreat (in what I believed to be a north-easterly direction) to the nearest coffee shop.

A Stomp through Robin Hood Country

Beguilingly perched somewhere between the realms of fact and fiction, the legend of Robin Hood has fascinated people for over 700 years. My personal knowledge is based largely on Kevin Costner's dashing portrayal of the hooded hero in the 1991 film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and a sporadic dip in and out of the BBC's latest TV series. But do these modern day depictions bear any resemblance to any real-life historical figure? Did he even exist?

Rather than embark on the University of Nottingham's new MA programme dedicated to England's national hero and most celebrated underdog, I decided to see if I could glean more from a trip to his famous home - Sherwood Forest - which is en route from Lincoln to Derbyshire.

Though still impressive, these days, the ancient forest is shadow of its former self. Covering 450 acres to the northeast of Mansfield, Sherwood's 100,000 acres dominated the county of Nottinghamshire during the reign of King John and stretched 30 miles from just south of Sheffield to Nottingham.

In Norman times, Sherwood Forest was a designated Royal hunting ground and was ruled by a special set of laws designed to preserve the King's 'vert and venison'. Surrounding a section of the Great North Road from London to York, Sherwood's 'vert' and its famous oak trees made it the perfect hiding place for bandits and robbers who made a good living out of ambushing wealthy travellers.



Sherwood's most famous tree is the hollow Major Oak which, according to legend was Robin Hood's prinicpal hiding place. With a girth of 33 feet, the Oak is said to be the largest living organism in Britain and, although you obviously can't count the rings of a hollow tree, it is said to be between 800 and 1,000 years old.

It's a magnificent specimen - propped up by a system of scaffolding and iron manacles which were first fastened around its great branches by the Victorians in 1900. Age has not withered its ability to reproduce - in a good year, the tree can apparently produce up to 150,000 acorns.

As for its fabled resident, no-one knows for sure whether or not the legend is based on a real historical character. The earliest written reference to Robin Hood dates back to a 15th century poem, but the boffins have yet to track down the one true Robin Hood, as Hood, Hode and Hod were all common surnames in medieval England. Robins and Roberts were equally popular so there are countless medieval law-breakers with variations of the same name.

Apparently Russell Crowe and Sienna Miller are set to star in a Hollywood twist on the legend entitled Nottingham, which will controversially take the side of Sheriff of Nottingham - casting Robin as the baddie. Not for the first time, Hollywood will stand accused of 'sexing up' a British legend - Braveheart springs to mind - but to us Brits he'll forever remain our do-gooding national hero.

Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve
Edwinstowe
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG21 9HN