Tag: National Trust
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A Morning on Newton Moor
Word had reached me that this nineteenth-century boundary stone, marking the old parish line between Hutton Lowcross and Newton, had fallen over. It has not been broken, nor properly buried — just balanced upright and packed around with a few small stones. Frankly, it is rather remarkable that it stood for over 200 years. Or…
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Valley Garden: Bluebells, Bog Plants and a Baffling Fern
In the early 1950s, Lord Feversham had a rather splendid idea. To keep his staff at Bransdale Lodge busy, he ordered a “wild garden” to be carved out of Gimmer Bank Wood, on the soggy banks of Blowith Slack, a tributary of Hodge Beck. In went azaleas, rhododendrons, flowering cherries and a good deal more…
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Standing on Nature for a Better Angle
The path in this photograph of the bluebells in the National Trust’s Newton Wood is a monument to the perfect social media post. We love nature so much that we are treading it into the ground. It is so disheartening. Bluebells are sensitive souls. Their leaves are soft and succulent. They are generally intolerant of…
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Ramsons—The Plant That Smells Like Trouble and Tastes Like Dinner
You will smell ‘em before you see ‘em. A whole wood reeking of garlic — this is wild garlic, or Ramsons, doing its thing for a couple of months each spring. The Old English word “brmsa” gave its name to places still on the map today: Ramsbottom, Ramsey, Ramsdell, Ramshorn. In AD 944, a royal…
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Wallington Bridge
A photo from last weekend’s jaunt up Northumberland, we called in at Wallington Hall on the way home. This National Trust property is a sign that one can build a very good place if one is willing to import enough rum and sugar. This truth is not exactly comfortable for those who prefer their history…
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The Humble Bluebell and the Heavyweight Rift
The bluebells in Newton Wood seem a bit thin on the ground. The coverage of these flowers is not as full as in previous years. It is still early days though. In a fortnight they may well be more vibrant. Some people like the flowers. Others might remember the Scottish group called The Bluebells. Their…
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The Duncombe Drive: Lost in Plain Sight
Repairs to fencing offered a rare glimpse into a part of Bransdale not open to the public. The photograph shows Hall Plantation, where a line of beech trees accentuates what is clearly an old trackway, its course still visible beneath a deep carpet of last year’s leaves. The track has been sitting quietly here since…
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Roseberry’s Hedge: Ten Years in the Making
Ten years ago, I helped the National Trust plant 4,000 saplings along the north west boundary of Roseberry Topping, where it meets the fields known as Rye Banks. The North York Moors National Park Traditional Boundary Scheme footed the bill. Hawthorn made up the bulk of the planting, with blackthorn, maple, hazel and dog rose…
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From Gold Chains To Pink Fur: Our Great Squirrel Blunder
Humans have an impressive ability to create a total dog’s breakfast of the natural world. We take a creature from the other side of the ocean and decide it would look nice in a park. Now we spend millions of pounds every year trying to fix the mess. Whilst keeping our native red squirrels as…
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The Art of Dry-Stone Walling
It is widely held that the valleys of Rosedale, Farndale, Bilsdale and here in Bransdale show not the faintest scratch of glacial meddling. While the ice sheets rampaged around Yorkshire like uninvited guests, the North York Moors sat apart, dry and stubborn, an island that refused to drown. Geologists cling to an old rule, which…