Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

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This week

  • Starfish Decoy Control BunkerStarfish Decoy Command Bunker 5th December 2019 A rather gloomy morning and a fall back on a recycled subject. I last posted about this Starfish Decoy Command Bunker almost three years ago to the day. It looked…
  • A wide-angle, long-range photograph capturing the southern periphery of Great Ayton village. The subject is a large, light green arable field—the site of the proposed Easby Lane residential development—located just right of the image centre. The field is bounded to the northwest by the established gardens and rooftops of a late 20th-century housing estate and to the southwest by the stretch of Easby Lane. The surrounding environment features a broad agricultural landscape with open fields to the south and east, illustrating the village's historic relationship with its rural setting. In the mid-distance, the wooded banks of the River Leven and the historic core of the village are visible, framed by a vast landscape extending toward the horizon under an overcast sky.Easby Lane Housing Development: Uncovering the Anomalies 8th July 2026 I climbed up to Easby Moor before the heat settled in. From the top I could clearly make out the arable field on the edge of Great Ayton that has…
  • A wide-angle landscape view of Potters Nab in Farndale, showing a vast, sloping upland pasture under a clear blue sky. In the foreground, long, golden-brown grass transitions into greener slopes in the middle ground, where historic drystone walls snake across the hillside. The prominent, rounded nose of Potters Nab rises in the background, featuring darker moorland vegetation and rocky outcrops. A few scattered trees and distant telegraph lines are visible against the horizon.Potter’s Nab: Farndale’s New Woodland 9th July 2026 Farndale East is getting itself a new woodland, courtesy of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. In the intake fields below Potter’s Nab. The idea is simple enough. Trees hold soil together,…
  • Blacksmiths, CarltonG. Ward & Son, Blacksmiths of Carlton 7th April 2015 Took the road bike out today which gave me a chance for a more closer look at the villages of Cleveland than I can get from a car. Carlton has a pub…
  • A wide-angle, eye-level shot of a beach at low tide featuring the weathered, wooden remains of a shipwreck. The dark, barnacle-encrusted timber of the hull juts out from a shallow pool of water in the foreground, angled upward towards the left. The rest of the long, narrow frame stretches back into the sand and smaller tide pools. In the background, several people are walking along the expansive sandy shoreline under a grey, overcast sky. The distant waves are visible as thin white lines against the horizon.Redcar: Where Time Was Scoured Clean 9th February 2026 When Storm Chandra recently lashed the North East coast, it behaved like a blind cosmic spade, scraping away millions of tons of sand to uncover a bleak, barnacle-furred graveyard. This…
  • Thimbleby and the Vale of MowbrayFrom Barbados to Morrisons—The history of Thimbleby… 11th August 2023 The agricultural landscape of the Vale of Mowbray stretches across to the Dales , a view made visible through the recent felling of what was called ‘The Big Wood’ on…
  • Saltburn's White ElephantSaltburn’s White Elephant 20th May 2020 One for posterity. I may be wrong but I think this is “the large pillared shelter known locally as ‘The White Elephant’” according to one website, although many communities use…
  • 2019-02-19 SE1274 Jenny Rig and her daughter Tib.jpgJenny Twigg and her daughter Tib 20th February 2019 Ee, I love maps me. I happened to notice the name “Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib” marked on the map of Fountains Earth Moor overlooking Nidderdale, and so I…
  • A low-angle, sunlit view shows a well-maintained path winding through a verdant churchyard in the foreground, leading towards a historic stone church with a tall, pointed spire in the background. Lush green trees and grass frame the scene, with various gravestones scattered throughout the cemetery. A prominent, ornate black metal fence encloses a grave in the immediate foreground, while the sunlight casts shadows, highlighting the textures of the stone and foliage.The Enigma of Elizabeth Caroline Brown 25th July 2025 I had a few minutes to kill before a meeting at Ormesby Hall, so I wandered over to the nearby church. There I found the elaborate grave of one Elizabeth…
  • A sunny outdoor shot shows a large flock of sheep with black faces and legs, and thick white woolly bodies, many marked with red dye, standing in a green field. Some sheep are closer to the viewer and in focus, while others are further back. In the background, there's a low stone wall, and behind it, a few trees with green foliage and some dry, dead trees. The sky is blue with some white clouds.Yan Tan Tether Mether Pip … 16th July 2025 Old Molly Metcalfe counting sheep Yan tan tether mether pip she counted Up upon Swaledale steep and bleak Yan tan tether mether pip she said… So sang Jake Thackray about…

All Time

  • Thimbleby and the Vale of MowbrayFrom Barbados to Morrisons—The history of Thimbleby… 11th August 2023 The agricultural landscape of the Vale of Mowbray stretches across to the Dales , a view made visible through the recent felling of what was called ‘The Big Wood’ on…
  • The Giant's BootThe Giant’s Boot 8th April 2020 Northern Ireland’s most visited attraction is the iconic Giant’s Causeway, polygonal columns of basaltic rock formed sixty million years ago when molten lava spread across the land and created clouds…
  • Duncombe Park Army CampDuncombe Park Army Camp 5th April 2021 About 3km after crossing Rievaulx Bridge with its opportunity to gaze at the majestic abbey, the Cleveland Way crosses a concrete road at Griff Lodge. Here the National Trail bears…
  • RoseberryMiddlesbrough’s Dark Past: the 1961 Cannon… 21st August 2023 A reminder popped up on my phone today that back in 1961, things had hit a boiling point on Cannon Street in Middlesbrough. Three nights of rioting had built up…
  • SE0478 On Dead Man's HillOn Dead Man’s Hill 20th February 2019 Or the continuing story of Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib. We parked up at Scar House Reservoir at the top of Nidderdale last night and from across the reservoir,…
  • 2019-02-19 SE1274 Jenny Rig and her daughter Tib.jpgJenny Twigg and her daughter Tib 20th February 2019 Ee, I love maps me. I happened to notice the name “Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib” marked on the map of Fountains Earth Moor overlooking Nidderdale, and so I…
  • Hackness HallThe Hackness Shame 27th August 2020 I had a look around the Forge Valley near Scarborough, a place I’ve always wanted to see but never had the opportunity. I must admit, I wasn’t that overwhelmed. A…
  • Lochan of the Lost SwordLochan of the Lost Sword 25th September 2023 Beneath the reflections of the autumnal hues rests an abandoned sword, a long-sword, the claymore that belonged to Robert the Bruce. Near this wee loch lies Dal Righ, a place…
  • An elevated, wide-angle view of the rolling green countryside of North Yorkshire on a misty, overcast day. In the foreground, a slope of dark reddish-brown bracken and scrub leads the eye down into a valley of patchwork green fields separated by dark hedgerows and thin lines of trees. Dense, low-hanging grey clouds dominate the upper half of the frame, but a dramatic break in the mist allows bright, ethereal "God rays" to beam down onto the valley floor. The light catches the texture of the fields and a distant forested area, creating a stark contrast against the moody, shadowed hillsides in the background. The atmosphere is quiet, damp, and atmospheric.Solmōnaþ — Cake, Mud, and Lowered Hopes 1st February 2026 It is Solmōnaþ. Cake Month. A rare cause for cheer in the damp gloom of February. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Solmōnaþ sat where February is now. It marked a time…
  • Boxing Day HuntA Boxing Day Tradition — The Hunt 26th December 2023 I chanced upon the Great Ayton Boxing Day Hunt today. A traditional affair, you know. Had completely slipped my mind. Christmas, a season steeped in tradition, yet this one leaves…