Out & About …

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

  • A Forgotten Quarry—With a view of Roseberry

    A Forgotten Quarry—With a view of Roseberry

    A broken down dry-stone wall enticed me to scramble over for a gander and I stumbled upon an old sandstone quarry I never knew existed with a view of Roseberry from an angle I’ve not seen before. Ah, the uncomplicated pleasures of discovery. It wasn’t a large quarry, and a quick count reveals it to…

  • Ingleby Manor and Lady Mary Ross’ Spectral Odyssey

    Ingleby Manor and Lady Mary Ross’ Spectral Odyssey

    I’ve wanted to post a photo of Ingleby Manor for quite some time now. However, the Grade II* Listed building is shielded from view by a formidable stand of lofty lime and oak trees. From this vantage point on Turkey Nab, one can just make out, albeit faintly on this murky morning, the rooftops nestled…

  • Raddle me this

    Raddle me this

    I awoke under the weather, got talked into taking a Covid test. Lo-and-behold, the little red line made its appearance, and my ailment took a turn for the worse. Fresh air, my trusty remedy, beckoned. Raindrops drumming on the windowpanes, I embarked on a brief, low-level stroll. “Raddle,” a peculiar term. Readers of Thomas Hardy…

  • A moment in time — frozen ponds, Cleveland Way, and an impending transformation

    A moment in time — frozen ponds, Cleveland Way, and an impending transformation

    I took this photograph with an eye toward history. It’s a scene on the brink of transformation. A couple of frozen ponds glisten at the low point between Round Hill and Badger Gill on Urra Moor. They drain southward into Hodge Beck—Bransdale. The Cleveland Way stands out as it crests the hill, slightly to the…

  • Gazing over Guisborough: A historical view from a new bench

    Gazing over Guisborough: A historical view from a new bench

    Walking home from Guisborough, I came upon this spanking new bench at the top of Belmangate, the ‘road‘ meandering southward from the town up the ‘beautiful mountain.‘ The bench is actually in the field, but is accessed from the forestry track. I imagine the original line of the fence followed the boundary, so I am…

  • “Gerroff Moy Land!” and don’t even look at it

    “Gerroff Moy Land!” and don’t even look at it

    On this rather dreich morning, I found myself compelled to focus my photographic endeavours closer to home. When I first moved into the village, the scene before me would have been an open field stretching toward a gate nestled in the distant hedge. However, as time has gone by, the path has become enclosed by…

  • Oak boughs in a wild dance

    Oak boughs in a wild dance

    The snow persists giving an almost monochrome image of Newton Wood, a predominately oak woodland. The sombre boughs stretch out endlessly, weaving intricate angles and twists, forming a chaotic yet captivating network that reaches both upward and downward. It is a common belief that oak woodland is the original vegetation of much of lowland Britain…

  • The Roseberry Hoard — Replicas and Repatriation

    The Roseberry Hoard — Replicas and Repatriation

    Recent news of the Prime Minister’s disregard for his Greek counterpart in the matter of the Elgin Marbles rekindles thoughts of some of our own antiquities, currently languishing in some remote museum — the Roseberry Hoard. In 1826, with George IV perched on the throne and the Stockton and Darlington Railway a mere twelve-months old,…

  • Inversion Intricacy — The Cleveland Hills from Easby Moor

    Inversion Intricacy — The Cleveland Hills from Easby Moor

    We left the village this morning, enveloped in a thick fog, anticipating its prompt dispersal under the forecasted sunshine. Soon, intermittent patches of blue sky overhead began to play a fickle game. Only as we finally ascended through the murky haze to Easby Moor at 324 metres asl., we found ourselves above the clouds, affording…

  • From Snow Flurries to a Water Syphon System and The Curious Case of Bousdale’s Meeting House

    From Snow Flurries to a Water Syphon System and The Curious Case of Bousdale’s Meeting House

    On a rather agreeable day upon Roseberry Common, I was engaged in the rather laborious task of thinning out the encroaching Rowan and Birch trees. The day could have been described as pleasant, but only when the snow wasn’t falling, and the sun decided to grace us with its presence. That ominous flurry you see…

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