Thursday 4 August 2016

Live Blogging: How Hill

The weather today was ideal for a nice long walk or hike - not as unstable as yesterday, when it was sunny one minute and belting it down the next.

We decided to follow a suggested route we found in our cottage among the many leaflets and brochures placed there for visitors by our landlord and -lady. The route lead us out of Ripon along Whitcliffe Lane past farms and across fields, around Fountains Abbey (or through the estate, if we wanted) and back to Ripon.

A place I had neither been to nor heard about before was How Hill. On top of the hill is an abandoned chapel that was originally dedicated to St. Michael. According to what I found on the internet, there was a chapel at this place already around the year 1200. About 500 years later, in the early 1700s, the chapel had long fallen in disuse and must have been in a rather sorry state. John Aislabie, the man who then owned a lot of land around Ripon (including the site where Fountains Abbey's ruins stood), decided to make it part of his garden scheme at Studley Royal, which you have seen a few times already on my blog (and will see again when I am back home and can transfer the pictures from my camera to the computer).

Today, at the bottom of How Hill is a cluster of holiday cottages run by the National Trust. There is also a farm, and the hill is full of sheep... and what comes out of a sheep's rear end.

We managed to find a spot where we could sit and have the cheese scones we had bought the same morning at Ripon market at the top of the hill, right next to the abandoned and boarded-up chapel. The view from there is wonderful - see for yourself! My sister took these pictures and the video with her mobile phone.




One can see not only Ripon Cathedral, but apparently even York Minster and all the way to the White Horse (where we were last year; if you type "White Horse" into the search box at the top left corner of my blog, you will find the pictures). I must admit I was unable to spot York Minster, but we did recognize the White Horse.



We like being silly :-) Can you also hear the "Benny Hill Show" theme in your head when watching this?

18 comments:

  1. That's a beautiful spot! It sounds like you're having a nice vacation. :)

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    1. The view truly took my breath away, Jennifer; the panoramic video can only give a basic impression.

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  2. Meike I disliked the Benny Hill Show so much that I've even expunged the theme tune from my head! However, like you, I do enjoy being silly when the circumstances permit.

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    1. My sister and I often say that we'll still be doing this or that when we'll be in our 70s! (In a couple of years, we'll be in our 50s...)

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    2. how hill sounds strange name to me ,peaceful place with lots of beauty ,heard the voice of blowing air in the video on left which reminded me the windy hills of my village
      second video ran pretty fast don't know it was you or your sister whoever it is ,is smart and charming
      have a wonderful blessed visit

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    3. I find How Hill a strange name, too!
      The video of me eating a cheese scone is deliberately done fast - it is supposed to be funny... and it's me, not my sister. She won't have me show her picture on my blog.

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  3. Wait, beautiful scenery AND cheese scones...it must be HEAVEN!!! xx

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    1. It was close to perfect, Kay! Had the chapel been open to explore...

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  4. Looks a treat! Benny Hill - there's a name from the past! I don't think his humour has worn well - many would consider it very un-PC these days (not that I advocate being particularly PC). Looks like you're having a wonderful time anyway - and the weather forecast ain't too bad!

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    1. The Benny Hill Show was just plain daft and often not at all funny, but the theme music will stick forever in my mind.
      Today, the weather forecast was spot on - 0 % probability of rain, and we got exactly 0 % rain :-) It was gorgeous!

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  5. I wouldn’t want to spoil the view!

    Lovely Yorkshire, I am surprised there are still places you don’t know inside out.

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    1. There are plenty, Friko; my radius is rather limited here because I usually do not have the use of a car, except for those days when my sister-in-law has time off work or my aunt and uncle come up from Sheffield to take us to places that are hard to get to by public transport or on foot.
      Also, most of the time, I've been here only for a week at a time; this year, with two full weeks, we have many more possibilities.

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  6. I love the photo of you perched on the rock. (And I am now completely distracted by the thought of cheese scones and I really want to eat one, warm and buttered.)

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    1. Thanks, Gillian!
      The one I had there on the rock was not warm anymore, but it was buttered!

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  7. A great area! And I love the photo of you!!!

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    1. Thanks, Nan! It's really a beautiful part of the world, isn't it.

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