TESTING 1234 for its vast but sometimes bleak moorland landscapes, there’s much more to the North York Moors than meets the eye. While heather covers much of the landscape, few know that the North York Moors hold one of the largest concentrations of ancient and veteran woodlands in northern England.
Woodland and forests cover about 23% of the national park and this means it is home to an array of wildlife; it is a European Special Protection Area for merlin and golden plover, meaning it is internationally renowned as a sanctuary for a range of ground nesting birds.
Covering 554 square miles, the land contained within the national park has a chequered past, and it is this that gives the area its unique appeal; the national park authority’s main priority is the conservation and preservation of not only environmental heritage but cultural heritage too.
Much of the expansive heather moorland is land that was razed by Iron and Bronze Age settlers, who cleared the woodlands to build earthworks. This was then farmed by Medieval monks who built many of the abbeys that punctuate the valleys of this landscape, and which stand as ruinous relics of the dissolution of the monasteries throughout the Tudor period.
Cutting through this array of English cultural heritage is the North York Moors (NYM) railway; an example of the scope of Victorian industrial expansion which opened in 1836 and created a line linking Pickering with Whitby. Today, the NYM heritage railway charity operates the steam trains that run daily up and down this line, having rescued it in 1973 following the Beeching closure of 1965.
The autumnal glow on the green lane heading to Egton Bridge
Still, it would be remiss not to mention it, chiefly since the park boundary hugs the outskirts of the town. Of the beautiful villages within the park authority, our favourite is Robin Hood’s Bay. We had both spent significant time there throughout our childhood, so it felt only natural that this would be our base for a long weekend of exploring the national park in late October. We chose a quaint fisherman’s studio apartment in the heart of the village, with stunning views across the bay and the crooked roofs of ancient cottages.
For the Yorkshire Land Rover community, Robin Hood’s Bay has long-held value; my husband Tom Benson talked of trialling events in the 80s and 90s taking place at Bayness Farm above the village.
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