Discover North Yorkshire
I’m James and my wife is Patricia, a retired couple with a deep passion for history, geography, art and the timeless charm of North Yorkshire. Together with our spirited Jack Russell, Bertie, we’ve embarked on a journey to uncover the stories and secrets of the landscapes and landmarks that surround us.
This blog is our way of sharing that adventure with you.
About UsRecent posts
The Yorkshire Books We Keep Finding in Spain
You’d think that once you spend the winter in northern Spain, Yorkshire would give you a bit of peace. Apparently not. We discovered this yesterday in a small bookshop in Santiago de Compostela, which we’d wandered into after coming down from the cathedral square. We’d driven in from the house earlier that morning. It’s only … Read more
North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Pickering (Winter Steam Train Day with Bertie)
We took the steam train from Pickering on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway just after Christmas, one of those cold Yorkshire days where everything feels slightly slower than it should. We’d come back properly this time, not just passing through on the way back to Spain, but settling into it again for a few weeks. … Read more
The Ryedale Windypits in North Yorkshire (Winter Walk and the Wind That Comes Out of the Ground)
We walked out to the Ryedale Windypits in North Yorkshire just before Christmas, on a cold, bright morning where the wind felt like it was coming from somewhere deeper than it should. We were back properly this time, long enough to see people, sit at tables that ran on a bit, and let Bertie remember … Read more
Bertie and the Tide at Esteiro
It started as one of those half-decided Sundays. The sky cleared around ten, the sort of light that makes you think you should get outside before it changes its mind. So we packed a flask and set off toward Esteiro. It’s only fifteen minutes from home, but it feels like another world once you reach … Read more
Ermita de San Antonio de Corveiro (Clifftop Chapel Near Cedeira, Galicia)
We stopped at the Ermita de San Antonio de Corveiro, a small clifftop chapel near Cedeira in Galicia, on a slow drive along the coast one grey morning.We’d left town later than planned, the road bending west with the sea on the left and that low cloud that never quite lifts. A small sign for … Read more
Pulpo at Home: What Luis Forgot to Tell Us
Late morning. Pot on. Timer set. Luis’s rule is simple: timing and the lid. Here’s what he didn’t say, learned today in our kitchen with a dog under the table and Wordle waiting. What we cooked1.2 kg frozen, cleaned octopus. Tall 8-litre pot. Coarse salt. Good olive oil. Pimentón dulce with a pinch of picante. … Read more
Finding the Cheese Lady, Again
We’re ten minutes outside Santiago in a small house with a sticky kitchen door. Market day. Tote, coins, notebook. Bertie at the threshold doing his union stare. At the Mercado de Abastos we split jobs. Patricia checks prices and boards. I ask to taste. “¿Puedo probar?” Small pieces, no fuss. The Cheese Lady is on … Read more
Pulpo, Peppers, and the Man Who Forgets to Charge His Hearing Aid
The octopus arrived before the invitation. Luis turned up unannounced, holding it by the head like he’d just won a weird seafood lottery. It dangled there, limp and purple, while he bellowed something about lunch, padrón peppers, and how no one in the village can cook anymore. He wasn’t asking. He was summoning. “¡Coméis conmigo!”No … Read more
The Mysterious Case of the Missing Cheese Lady
Saturday. The market day.You could feel Patricia twitching with anticipation by 8:42am. She didn’t say it outright, but she hovered near the door like someone expecting a parcel—or a sign from the gods. She had her little woven basket. The one with the fraying handle she insists adds “character.” Bertie had already been walked and … Read more
Back in Galicia: Dust, Dead Wi-Fi, and One Very Happy Dog
We got home and the first thing Bertie did was vanish into the undergrowth like a feral stoat. Gone. Not even a backward glance. Tail in the air, sniffing everything, probably looking for that smug little lizard he never caught last time. The second thing we noticed? The smell. Not awful. Just… abandoned. Damp stone, … Read more
Taking the Long Way Home: Villages, Motorways, and One Very Spanish Nap
We could have driven straight down to the house in a day — it’s not that far from Santander — but something about the sea air and the slightly surreal feeling of waking up in a different country made us pause. Maybe we’re getting old. Maybe it was the smell of fresh churros at the … Read more
The Long Drive South: Plymouth to Santander (and One Very Cross Terrier)
We left Pickering just after dawn, the sort of start that feels adventurous until you realise you’ve left your tea on the windowsill and neither of you can remember locking the back door. James reassured me (four times) that he did, and I chose to believe him somewhere around Driffield. The drive to Plymouth is … Read more
Bertie’s Farewell Tour: Favourite Walks Before Spain
We’ve done all his favourites this week. Bertie knows something’s up — he always does. The suitcases are out, James has started making long, contemplative noises in the shed, and I’ve washed the car mats, which apparently signals a full geopolitical shift in Bertie’s universe. So we walked. First was the easy one — down … Read more
Late Spring in Pickering: Last of the Light
The cow parsley’s already tall enough to tickle Bertie’s ears, which is my usual cue that we’re slipping into the tail end of spring. I swear it’s earlier every year — or maybe I’m just getting slower to notice the change. James insists it’s because I always get distracted talking to strangers in the bakery … Read more
Grandkids Visit: Chaos in the Caravan
They arrived like an ambush. No warning, no warm-up act—just the sound of car doors slamming and then a small voice shouting, “GRANDAD, WHERE’S THE TOAD?” before I’d even put the kettle on. Four of them. Four small, unstoppable humans, all under ten, with muddy shoes, suspiciously sticky hands, and the boundless energy of creatures … Read more
Rain, Rain, Go Away: Wet Weekend in Malton
It started as one of Patricia’s bright ideas. “Let’s go to Malton for the weekend,” she said, folding the map like a woman planning a small invasion. “We’ll eat somewhere nice and poke around the food market. Might be good to get out.”I should’ve known we were doomed when she packed the good umbrella. We … Read more
James’s Workshop Reopens: Yorkshire DIY vs. Spanish Siesta (ft. Solar Madness and Kev)
The shed door groaned like it remembered me—and wasn’t pleased. Fair enough. I hadn’t opened it in months. A winter of wine and sunshine in Spain, and now here I was, back in Pickering, wrestling with a rusted padlock and a grudge. I finally kicked the thing open and was met with that particular Yorkshire … Read more
Spring on the Moors: First Signs of Life in North Yorkshire
Spring sneaks in when you’re not looking. One minute it’s all hard ground, bare trees, damp mornings. Then you look again, and something’s changed. Just a little. Something green pushing through. The smell of the air different somehow, softer. Like the land’s stretching itself awake after months of hibernation. We needed a walk. Proper walk. … Read more
A Proper Yorkshire Catch-Up: Pubs, Friends, and Familiar Faces
First proper Yorkshire pint. That’s the moment you know you’re truly back. Not the drive. Not the Moors. Not even walking through the door of the house. It’s that first sip in a dimly lit pub, where the air smells like old wood, slow-pulled ale, and conversations that have been going on for decades. We … Read more
Helmsley Castle: A Fortress Through the Ages
Some places wear their history lightly. Helmsley Castle does not. It looms. Perched on a limestone ridge above the Rye Valley, it stands half-ruined, half-stubborn, as if still waiting for its next battle. It’s been everything—a Norman fortress, a grand Tudor home, a Civil War stronghold. And today? A perfect excuse for a walk, a … Read more