Iron, Grouse and Cream Tea at Rosedale Abbey

The North York Moors National Park is full of villages that look much too quaint to be true. Up there I found the Yorkshire I first encountered on TV as a kid when my parents and I were watching All Creatures Great and Small (in German: Der Doktor und das liebe Vieh). Although the series was set in the Yorkshire Dales it is close enough for me. The North York Moors are surprisingly easy to get to from Hull with the Moorsbus running every Sunday from March until the end of October. You can get virtually anywhere in North Yorkshire with a day ticket for £9. So last weekend we hopped onto the M14 bus to Rosedale Abbey. A bit of a cold trip as the windows were open and a rather opinionated argument ensued whenever someone tried to close them. But after a smooth bus change in Pickering and a second rather speedy bus journey, we were at our desired destination.

And so began our lovely eight mile circular walkabout around Rosedale. The sky was clear, the sun was shining and a refreshing September breeze unmistakably announced the end of summer. You start off in a green valley and head north along the rather red stream Northdale Beck. It gets its colour from the high concentration of iron in the area. Another thing that there seems to be an abundance of is grouse. At least I think they are grouse. They are just terrible at hiding and much too tame for their own good. There were a few dismembered wings scattered along the trail. I did manage to get one to pose for me though so I will forgive them for randomly jumping out of the bushes nearly giving me mini heart attacks.

Calcining Kilns

I was a little safer from the grouse when we left the high grass and entered a dark pine forest. I was deep in thought about lunch when John darted off and headed straight towards a bed of wood sorrell and started plucking. Wood sorrel is an awesome little snack to find along the way. It tastes a bit like a sour apple. When we got out of the forest it was time for elevenses: salami and a fancy sweet chilli cheese. I can be funny about cheese because I just can't tell if it is dead or alive. Plus it smells weird. It had gotten a bit soft in the sun too so that didn't help. Once wrapped in a slice of salami it was alright, though.

We waded through a densely populated field of sheep before crossing a poultry ridden farm: ducks, chicken and geese en masse. When I went through my photos later that night it seemed like 90% of them were of livestock. Grazing sheep were scattered all across the hills near the ruins of the Rosedale iron mines by Hollins farm. There isn’t much left of the railway tracks and the mining community that started flourishing in the area in the 1850s. The mines were given up in 1929 but a few kilns and mine shaft entries still stand strong as a reminder of the past.

We had now walked approximately four miles and thus had hit the half-way point. This clearly meant that pie had to happen so we went to the Farmhouse Fodder Tea Garden at Dale Head Farm. A small sign at the top of the hill directed us down to the valley where you can take your tea from “11-5 every day... but closed Monday except bank holidays and Tuesdays” and basically whenever nobody is around it is closed too. With our fingers crossed we made the descend in the hope of sugary goodness.

We were in luck and it was open and it was hands down one of the loveliest cream tea experiences I’ve had. We sat in the garden on a stone bench covered with wood in our own little nook surrounded by flowers. Bumble bees and butterflies were whizzing all around us. Our brains had been in scone-mode all morning and I ordered the cream tea while John changed his mind at the last second and had a Ginger Yorkshire Moggy and coffee. Both cakes were homemade and tasted divine. My scone was served with a slice of orange and strawberry and it was almost too perfect when a butterfly (possibly a Painted Lady) landed on the orange. As we were basking in the sun, eating tasty treats and drinking hot drinks a sports aeroplane flew through the valley. It was so close you could see every detail! At this point I was ready to move there and bake delicious cakes for a living.  

But alas it was time to head back towards Rosedale along more fields, a lot of cows and streams that looked like we could have been in the jungle. The tea gardens popularity showed itself once more when a group of hikers walked past us and asked if Farmhouse Fodder was open. The group had tried to phone the owner but the signal in the valley isn’t very good. I don’t think we could have made them any happier when we confirmed that it was indeed open. Their stride became a little bit bouncier and their smiles got a little bit bigger. There was less of a climb on the way back so the second half of the walk seemed to pass much quicker and we were back in Rosedale quite early. We didn’t have to wait long at all for a Moorsbus to take us back to Pickering. The bus ride back was a lot more relaxed as the driver took a longer route and he was in less of a rush than the one who brought us to Rosedale that morning. Once we were back in Pickering we waited in a cosy pub over a pint of Stowford Press until the Moorsbus took us back to Hull.

Unfortunately, due to funding cuts it looks like the Moorsbus service won’t be available in 2014 anymore, which would be a huge shame. Trips to North Yorkshire using public transport will become a lot more complicated and expensive.