We’d kept Jane, Clare & Rob waiting in the car park whilst we scoured Masham for some public Loo’s – sorry guys! It was lovely to see you and great you could join us with Izzy & Charlie to keep Roxy company

 

Amazing weather again, our route took us past St. Simon and St. Jude’s catholic church, an odd place that looks like it’s built into the back of a house, apparently we went here as kids .

 

Next up Danby Hall, currently owned by Harry Scrope, it has a holiday let if you fancy a stay. See history lesson below, suffice to say we have tenuous link to their ancestral family.

 

On to St Oswald’s church, built in 1146, the graveyard dates back to 680AD. We carried on through Bluebell woods and into Thornton Steward, at this point Jane needed to head back with Izzy who was flagging a little, and we carried on to the reservoir. Halfway into the walk Rob started to ask about a cup of tea, I explained it was a pub walk and he could get a pint at the end when he’d earned it but he appeared confused and kept searching for a tearoom. Yorkshire Tea Walks doesn’t have the same ring to it!!

 

After crossing the river Ure again we entered the well manicured grounds of Jervaux abbey, Roxy struggled in the heat and kept stopping for respite in the shade. The last couple of miles alongside the River Ure, then River Cover seemed to take for ever but eventually made it back to the Cover Bridge Inn. 

 

History lesson on Danby Hall: Originally this place was home to Henry Scrope the 1st Baron of Masham, back in the 14th century. Back in the day Henry Scrope was a successful soldier, living till 70, he loved a good battle and took a couple of his sons on Crusades, they didn’t make it back!! Geoff was killed in Lithuania at the age of 20 , William died at Nessebar in Bulgaria. Henry’s 4th son Richard became archbishop of York but was beheaded for an uprising against King Henry IV. Henry’s 3rd son Stephen went on to become 2nd Baron of Masham and his eldest son (also Henry) became 3rd Baron before being beheaded by King Henry V for plotting to kill him. It seems it runs in the family. A cousin of Henry the 1st Baron of Masham, Sir Richard Scrope built nearby Bolton Castle in 1379 and handed it down through his family now the Ord Powlett’s. In our younger days we lived on Bolton estate with the Ord Powlett’s where my father John Hill was Gardner to Lord Bolton. When Sir Richard Scrope built Bolton Abbey all those years back he planted a maze which was lost over time. My dad proudly told me he replanted it in 1996.