This is Y 2017

OV E R 5 0 DE STI NAT IO N S I NS I D E Including: Herriot Country Yorkshire Dales North York Moors Yorkshire Wolds Peak District

Capital of curry Find out why Bradford is the undisputed champion of spice License to thrill Take a look at the most nail-biting jobs in Yorkshire

WITH INING ING A R T T O WE G ORLD-BEA HERS T W O E R B TH NLEE BROW

BEHIND THE SCENES

KING OF CARNIVALS

SWEET DREAMS

We visit the incredible locations that brought TV smash hit Victoria to life.

The longest running West Indian carnival gears up to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Discover why Yorkshire has had a long standing love affair with all things sweet.

On the cover The Brownlees were the first brothers to ever finish first and second in an individual event at the Olympic Games. Alistair was also runner-up in the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Read: Swim Bike Run on page 60.

Front cover image: Fell running with the Brownlee brothers on Otley Chevin.

Photograph: © James Dodd www.jamesdodd.net

Mee t the Wr iters

Sarah Freeman

Dominic Bliss

Joe Shute

The Hunt for Holmes (page 122)

License to Thrill (page 36)

Jack of All Trades (page 28)

Sarah was born and brought up in Leeds.

She pursued a long-held ambition to be a journalist and is currently Features Editor of The Yorkshire Post and editor of YP magazine.

Dominic is a journalist and editor writing on travel, sport and men’s interest.

He has searched out polar bears in the Arctic, climbed peaks in the Dolomites and boxed with Amir Khan.

An award winning features writer for the Daily Telegraph and author of their expert travel guide to Yorkshire. Joe has a close affinity to the county, and moors.

James Ellis

Peter Cossins

Nick Ahad

Fire Your Imagination (page 54)

Hardest Place to Race (page 94)

Capital of Curry (page 76)

A journalist who specialises in the travel industry.

Former Travel Editor and Deputy Features Editor of Metro and writes for most national newspapers.

A cycling journalist and writer since 1993. Peter has covered the Tour de France as well as most of the other major cycling events and is the contributing editor to Procycling magazine.

Nick was The Yorkshire Post Arts Editor for ten years.

He continues to write for The YP as the paper's Theatre Correspondent.

He also presents for BBC Radio Leeds.

Claude Duval

Tina Walsh

Mark Bailey

The Inside Track (page 104)

King of Carnivals (page 18)

Swim Bike Run (page 60)

Racing correspondent for The Sun for 47 years. A former Racing Journalist of the Year, he maintains a fierce enthusiasm for the sport but freely admits that his second passion is cricket.

Tina is a freelance journalist and copywriter who writes for national and international publications and clients such as the Guardian, TIME, Korean Air and easyJet.

Mark is a sport, health and fitness journalist who has interviewed the Brownlees multiple times for The Daily Telegraph, Men’s Health, The FT Weekend Magazine and Men’s Fitness.

Nick Hallissey

Elaine Lemm

David Parkin

Wainwright's Yorkshire Masterpiece (page 44)

Sweet Dreams (page 112)

That's the Spirit (page 68)

Nick first fell in love with Yorkshire when visiting his grandma. Today he’s the deputy editor of Country Walking, Britain’s best-selling walking magazine, and he’ll write about Yorkshire as often as he’s allowed to.

Voted one of the Top 50 Food and Drink Journalists in the UK by the Press Gazette, Elaine Lemm is a Leeds-born food and travel writer. She writes for many leading food titles.

Former Business Editor of The Yorkshire Post and Founder of TheBusinessDesk.com, he was the first British journalist to interview Arnold Schwarzenegger after he became Governor of California.

Portrait image page 60: Alistair and Jonny Brownlee are the ambassadors for Cartoon Network’s anti-bullying campaign CN Buddy Network, for more information please visit: cartoonnetwork.co.uk/beabuddy Image: © Liam Arthur.

Published by: Welcome to Yorkshire Dry Sand Foundry Foundry Square Holbeck Leeds LS11 5DL © Welcome to Yorkshire 2017 Designed and produced by: Will Hodgson at Welcome to Yorkshire Printed by: Garnett Dickinson Print Ltd, South Yorkshire www.gdprint.co.uk Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, Welcome to Yorkshire can accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions.

Information throughout this magazine is compiled from details supplied by organisations or establishments concerned. No recommendation by Welcome to Yorkshire is implied by the inclusion of any information and Welcome to Yorkshire accepts no responsibility in the matter. Prices, dates, hours of opening etc. were correct at the time of going to press. Readers are reminded that these details are subject to change and they are advised to check when finalising any arrangements. Please note, the destination guides have been placed by our partners and the content approved by them. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to all destinations and does not necessarily represent the views of Welcome to Yorkshire.

The paper in this magazine originates from timber that is sourced from sustainable forests, managed to strict environmental, social and economic standards.

The manufacturing mill has both FSC & PEFC certification and also ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation.

Once you have finished with this magazine, please pass it on to someone else who may be interested to read it or recycle it.

Keeping Yorkshire special: From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and amazing coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer. By doing just a few simple things we can all help keep Yorkshire special, so that it’s ready for your next visit. Here are a few hints on how you can play a part and have a brilliant break at the same time!

Here in Yorkshire we have some of the best food and drink around, and fantastic local arts and craft producers. You'll be sure of a tasty Yorkshire experience. And don't forget to take something home to treat your friends and family.

Follow the Countryside Code. Help us look after the landscape and wildlife by avoiding damage and disturbance; use footpaths and cycle ways responsibly and take your litter away. Try and recycle any waste you have.

And most importantly have a great time when you're here!

Need to get in touch?

Editor Jo Francisco jfrancisco@yorkshire.com Production Kerry Forbes kforbes@yorkshire.com Become a member of Welcome to Yorkshire Liz Tattersley ltattersley@yorkshire.com Advertise with us kforbes@yorkshire.com

@welcome2yorks welcometoyorkshire welcometoyorkshire

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CONTENTS

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86 WELCOME TO REDCAR AND CLEVELAND

16 WELCOME TO SOUTH YORKSHIRE

88 BEHIND THE SCENES We go behind the scenes of the TV smash hit Victoria.

18 KING OF CARNIVALS Amazing colour, spectacular costumes and fantastic fun at Leeds West Indian Carnival.

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25 THE NATIONAL TRUST Many historic houses and gardens, mills and monuments for great days out and visits.

26 WELCOME TO SHEFFIELD 28 JACK OF ALL TRADES Legendary musician, huntsman, adventurer, smuggler, and road builder. Meet Blind Jack of Knaresborough.

34 WELCOME TO HULL AND EAST YORKSHIRE 36 LICENSE TO THRILL Meet the Yorkshire folk with the most nail-biting jobs of all.

44 A YORKSHIRE MASTERPIECE Grab your boots and discover the emotional story behind Wainwright’s Pennine Journey.

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52 WELCOME TO YORK 54 FIRE YOUR IMAGINATION Discover the world’s biggest joint 999 museum.

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9 YORKSHIRE HIGHLIGHTS The latest Yorkshire news.

60 SWIM BIKE RUN Join the Brownlee brothers in their beloved Yorkshire.

66 WELCOME TO SELBY 68 THAT’S THE SPIRIT Take to the gin trail to meet its makers and find the best places to drink it.

76 CAPITAL OF CURRY Go on the hunt for the perfect curry and how to make it.

83 WELCOME TO THE YORKSHIRE COAST

92 WELCOME TO WEST YORKSHIRE 94 HARDEST PLACE TO RACE Peter Cossins looks back at the Tour de Yorkshire.

98 WELCOME TO HARROGATE 100 ON TOP OF THE WORLD The UCI Road World Championships are coming to Yorkshire in 2019.

103 WELCOME TO THE NORTH YORK MOORS

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104 THE INSIDE TRACK York Racecourse is a firm favourite with racing experts.

108 WELCOME TO THE YORKSHIRE DALES 111 YORKSHIRE BANK BIKE LIBRARIES 112 SWEET DREAMS Yorkshire's long standing love affair with all things sweet.

118 STARS OF THE SHOW Yorkshire’s very best tourism businesses at the White Rose Awards.

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120 WELCOME TO LEEDS 122 THE HUNT FOR HOLMES Could Sherlock Holmes have been born in Yorkshire?

128 FEAST OF FESTIVALS Exciting, unique, innovative and spectacular, here’s a taster of what you can expect.

132 Getting Here All the information you need to plan your next trip to Yorkshire.

134 Yorkshire Business News

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Norland Moor, North Yorkshire.

An example of heather moorland rising to 284 metres. The Ladstone, a large outcrop near the trig point, has been linked with Druids as a possible place of ritual sacrifice. In 2002 Norland Moor was designated a Local Nature Reserve. Š Simon Higginbottom www.northerngallery.co.uk

England’s biggest and most glorious county

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We are very proud to have the Brownlee brothers fronting the 2017 edition of This is Y magazine.

It was such an iconic moment to watch, as Alistair helped Jonny over the finish line of the Triathlon World Series in Mexico, putting his brother in second place and himself third.

We take a look at what it’s like to go training with the two best triathletes in the world and where in Yorkshire they can be found.

We know exactly where the perfect curry can be found as Bradford celebrates winning Curry Capital of Britain for six consecutive years.

York is the place for all things sweet and the county is experiencing an explosion in the consumption of gin!

This is Y goes on the hunt for Sherlock Holmes in Ingleton and discovers the emotional story behind Wainwright’s Pennine Journey.

We look at the extraordinary life of Blind Jack of Knaresborough, as 2017 marks 300 years since his birth.

The longest running West Indian carnival parade, Leeds West Indian Carnival celebrates its 50th anniversary and we look back to its secret to success.

A huge TV success has been the ITV drama Victoria and we go behind the scenes to see what it was like for the stately homes involved in the production.

We also look at some of the most nail biting jobs in Yorkshire as well as visting the world’s biggest joint 999 museum in Sheffield.

Once again This is Y brings you a flavour of every corner of Yorkshire, we hope we can tempt you to explore like never before. Happy reading!

Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive Welcome to Yorkshire

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Yorkshire Sculpture Park is celebrating a milestone 40th anniversary this year, with new work and a series of special events – including a 40-hour-long party!

Highlights in 2017 include the largest UK exhibition to date by leading British artist Sir Tony Cragg and a 12-month residency by poet, playwright and

novelist Simon Armitage.

Peter Murray CBE says: “We started from humble beginnings in 1977 with £1,000 to fund a small exhibition of 31 sculptures.

We offer exceptional opportunities to established and emerging artists from all over the world and we have changed the cultural landscape of Yorkshire.”

I would row 3,000 miles The inspirational story of four working mums from Yorkshire who rowed across the Atlantic has been brought to life in a new book.

Focus on York...

Cultural landscaping

Visit the Vikings

Terrific Tower

JORVIK Viking Centre will reopen this spring after the museum was hit by floods. York Archaeological Trust have ‘re-imagined’ JORVIK with innovative displays, new technologies and new characters to discover.

Parts of Clifford’s Tower, which have been unseen for decades, will be revealed once more as planners approve an ambitious English Heritage project.

The large stone tower was built in the 1250s during the reign of King Henry III.

Museum Mirage

Grander Grand

A huge Mirage nuclear bomber has been gifted to Allied Air Forces Memorial & Yorkshire Air Museum based at Elvington, near York. This is the first time a strategic nuclear bomber has been gifted directly to an independent museum of a different nation. Negotiations began in 2007 to make the unique and historic project happen.

The Grand Hotel and Spa will double its guestrooms and add a new 140-seat restaurant by the end of 2017. The £15million development project will see the Grade II listed building connected to the adjacent Roman House, creating additional bedrooms along with new spaces for meetings and corporate hospitality.

The Yorkshire Rows team, made up of Helen Butters, Janette Benaddi, Frances Davies and Niki Doeg, rowed their way into the record books after spending 68 days rowing 3,000 miles from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua last year. Four Mums in a Boat is on sale from the end of March.

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A Hockney celebration Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford will celebrate the 80th birthday of international artist David Hockney in July with a brand new gallery in honour of the city’s most famous son.

Essential Yorkshire

Relax at Rudding Park A new spa development will open at the multi-award winning Harrogate hotel. New additions will include heat treatment cabins and a roof top spa garden.

Hull Hotel Revamp The Mercure Hull Grange Park Hotel has launched its revamped International Suite, one of Yorkshire’s largest event facilities, and a full re-design of the hotel’s bedrooms is underway.

The David Hockney Gallery will house a permanent display of the unrivalled collection of early work owned by the city.

It will include iPad drawings, prints and photographs as well as sketches from his days studying in the city, many of which have been rarely seen in public and never all together.

David Hockney, considered one of the world’s greatest living artists, was born in Bradford in July 1937. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and Bradford School of Art before going to the Royal College of Art, London from 1959-62 where he made his name.

It was at the wish of his friend Jonathan Silver, the founder of Salts Mill, Saltaire, that Hockney first painted the Yorkshire Wolds in 1997.

RIVERSIDE GALLERY GARDEN World-renowned garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith is set to design a new public garden at The Hepworth Wakefield.

Measuring approximately 6,000 square metres (two and a half football pitches), The Hepworth Riverside Gallery Garden will be one of the UK’s largest free public gardens.

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South Yorkshire Spa A Himalayan sauna, mud room and aroma steam room are some of the rejuvenating experiences available at the new Smallshaw Spa in South Yorkshire.

Turner Prize in Hull Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery will reopen at the start of 2017 after a refurbishment in preparation for hosting the Turner Prize and other major exhibitions as part of UK City of Culture 2017.

Modern Meadowhall A refurbishment at Sheffield's Meadowhall will create distinct districts, each with an offer and character of its own featuring new restaurants, a state-of-theart cinema and a new café court.

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World-class culture Hull UK City of Culture 2017 is an event of national significance, bringing a 365 day programme of transformative cultural events and creativity inspired by the city and told to the world. explore Hull’s unique place in a constantly changing world. Freedom is season three which runs from July to September and is packed full of festivals and events that celebrate Hull’s rebellious streak. Finally season four Tell the World will run from October to December which will celebrate the qualities that made Hull stand apart in an unforgettable year. The story starts here. Who knows where it will end? If you think you know Hull, it's a programme that will make you think again.

© Neil Holmes Photography

Throughout the year, national and international artists will join local artists for a world-class programme that encompasses visual arts, theatre, film, music, dance and much more, with a huge variety of cultural activity taking place across the city. The programme will be split into four seasons with January to March entitled Made In Hull when the spirit, the stories and the talent of the city will be told to the world. Season two, April to June, is Roots and Routes which will

Inspired by Yorkshire Yorkshire Artist Lucy Pittaway has been named ‘Up and Coming Artist of the Year’, and ‘Best in Show’, at the 2016 Fine Art Trade Guild Awards. Lucy painted the official picture of the Tour de Yorkshire 2016.

2017 will see Lucy release three new collections, once again inspired by Yorkshire with its landmarks and inhabitants depicted in a warm and humorous style.

Don't miss STAR INN THE HARBOUR The man behind Michelinstarred The Star Inn at Harome and York’s award winning Star Inn The City, is set to open a new seafood restaurant in Whitby. Andrew Pern plans to open a new brasserie-style seafood restaurant, overlooking the town’s harbour, with views up to the magnificent Whitby Abbey. It will be housed in the tourist information centre building on Langborne Road.

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NEW CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA IN NORTH CAVE William’s Den is believed to be the UK’s largestever indoor timber play experience. It includes a play barn and extensive outdoor activities - including a 50 metre zip wire, den making area and ‘mountains and molehills’ space. Inside, there’s a bespoke play adventure including a stream, rainmaker water cascade and unique climbing structures.

WEST END GIRLS Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s musical The Girls makes its West End premiere at the Phoenix Theatre from January to April. The brand new musical version of the hit 2003 movie and play runs from 28 January to 22 April.

The production follows the real life story of the Rylstone Women’s Institute group who decide to fundraise for a local hospital by posing nude for a calendar.

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Heritage hot spots Discover locomotive celebrations and traditional trades.

Great Scot!

Popular locomotive Royal Scot is set to kick-start the celebrations as the NYMR marks 50 years since the formation of the charitable Trust. Royal Scot, which was built in 1927, was the first in a new breed of steam locomotives for the fastest passenger services from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

Royal Scot will be at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Saturday 25 March to Sunday 2 April 2017 (excluding 27 & 31 March).

THAT'S RURAL LIFE 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life in Pickering.

Over the last 50 years the museum has developed and expanded, and now displays thousands of objects relating to the social history of Pickering and its traditional trades, crafts and industries.

EXCITING NEWS FOR 2017

This year will see some exciting new developments for Yorkshire with a series of new investments and awards bringing a wealth of opportunities to the county.

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Barnsley

Pontefract Castle

Rockliffe Hall

An ambitious scheme will deliver high quality open spaces and a new library, all in the heart of Barnsley town centre. At the centre will be a state-of-the-art refurbished home for the famous Barnsley Markets.

The castle is undergoing an exciting £3.5 million conservation. Works include increasing accessibility to parts of the castle.

The project includes the development of a state-ofthe-art visitor centre.

Named the Best Spa for Luxury in the UK by the Readers’ Choice National Awards for two years running. Described as ‘pure bliss, outstanding facilities, indulgent treatments and impeccable service’.

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Postcard perfect coast Natural England has opened up its latest stretch of England Coast Path which sees 68 miles of signposted National Trail to give walkers new and improved access to the Yorkshire Coast.

The continuous route starts at Filey Brigg and passes north through Scarborough, Whitby, Saltburn and Redcar, providing stunning views of the North York Moors National Park and coastline. It follows much of the well-known coastal section of the Cleveland Way National Trail with improvements to the route.

Natural England’s James Cross, said: “It’s an honour to open this section of coast path near my home town in Teesside. This route showcases the diversity

of our coastline, from the views over the expansive North York Moors and the winding streets of postcard-perfect villages to our industrial heritage and diverse wildlife all year round. We want people to enjoy exploring all of this coast, using a high-quality, well-signposted route.”

A small section of new access has been created near Staithes, where the trail has been brought closer to the headland and opened new and spectacular views down into the harbour.

North of Saltburn, where the Cleveland Way turns inland, the route continues through Marske to Redcar along open coast, before turning west to follow The Teesdale Way.

Be part of the drama The ‘behind the scenes’ guided tour of one of ITV’s best loved soaps, includes full scale set reconstructions and interactive experiences.

The Emmerdale Studio Experience is the latest visitor attraction to open in Leeds, looking set to welcome 150,000 visitors in its first year. Be part of the drama and step into the exciting world of telly. The Emmerdale Studio Experience is a brand new visitor attraction now open at the former ITV studios at Burley Road, Leeds. You will be taken on a journey behind the scenes, showing you how we bring the characters you love and stories you remember to life.

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With full scale set reconstructions, preserved props and costumes to the secrets behind stunts and special effects. On your fullyguided tour, you’ll be able to get up close to all things Emmerdale and discover the magic behind some of the finest stunts seen on TV. You’ll also have the opportunity to take your memories home with a souvenir photograph from behind the bar at The Woolpack and buy exclusive Emmerdale merchandise.

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Right up your street

Making a splash in 2017

Some of the best high streets in Britain can be found in Yorkshire after the county took home a number of accolades at the Great British High Street Awards. Hebden Bridge, in Calderdale, was crowned Best Small Market Town in recognition of its resilience and community spirit following the devastating Boxing Day floods in 2015. Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale was named Best Village following the community’s efforts to fill vacant units on the high street and work to develop new businesses and jobs. Pateley Bridge also took home the Social Media Bronze Award. The annual competition celebrates the great work that is being done to revive, adapt and diversify the nation’s high streets and this year saw 900 entries, with a record-breaking number of votes cast.

Scarborough Leisure Village Due to open in summer 2017, Scarborough Leisure Village will encompass a range of brand new leisure facilities, including an eight lane 25-metre swimming pool and learner pool, a four court sports hall and a multi-use games area.

Alpamare Wellness Spa

Pateley Bridge

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Hebden Bridge

Alpamare Scarborough is developing a European-style Wellness Spa in 2017, on the second floor of the state-of-theart waterpark. The spa will feature luxury treatments dedicated to health and wellbeing.

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Clockwise from top left: Wentworth Castle Gardens. A playful primate at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Brodsworth Hall and Gardens. RSPB Old Moor. Autumn at Cannon Hall Museum, Park and Gardens.

Conisbrough Castle.

Racing at Doncaster Racecourse.

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WELCOME TO SOUTH YORKSHIRE

A GREAT ESCAPE South Yorkshire is full of pleasant surprises. This once industrial heartland has been transformed into a 21st century playground.

Doncaster has a positive treasure trove of attractions and distractions to keep the whole family entertained. You’re in for some fantastic family fun at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park! Visit Pixel, Victor, Nissan and Nobby at Project Polar and don’t miss the two critically endangered black rhinos who have just arrived at the park.

Make a splash in the Amazonia Adventure at The Dome, a magical seven-pool water world or cut the ice in the Ice Caps, the UK’s only split level ice rink with interconnecting ramps.

The going’s always good on a day out at Doncaster Racecourse, home to the St. Leger Festival. The historic Town Moor course has been drawing appreciative crowds for centuries, so it would be positively rude not to have a punt. Tradition is embraced in Doncaster and that is evident with the success of Doncaster Market; undeniably one of the finest traditional markets in all of England, with 400 stalls and a 19th century Corn Exchange at the heart of the market. It’s not just traditional shopping that the town offers though, Doncaster is home to Frenchgate Shopping Centre and Lakeside Village which offer shoppers high street and boutique choices. Not forgetting the affluent market town of Bawtry, which offers stylish bars, restaurants and independent clothing stores.

After a full day of pounding the sidewalk carrying shopping bags, an amazing way to unwind is with one of Yorkshire’s most exclusive afternoon teas at the Mansion House, residence of the Mayor of Doncaster from 1750 to 1922. Doncaster boasts a whole host of historic properties, such as Tickhill Castle and Conisbrough Castle. In the Georgian and Victorian period in Doncaster many fine country houses were built, Cusworth Hall overlooks the town and is a fine example of a Georgian country house, while Brodsworth Hall and Gardens is a fine example of an Italianate country house.

Famed for its wetland birds including bitterns, Potteric Carr Nature Reserve has a network of paths enabling visitors to explore this wildlife utopia. Visitors are encouraged to enjoy the stunning vistas, with large reedbeds seemingly stretching for miles. The brand new visitor centre further enhances the experience of all those that come to the site. Take time to browse the brand new shop and enjoy the lakeside views from the new tearoom.

Barnsley offers picturesque countryside, stately homes, historic parks and gardens, heritage yorkshire.com

sites, nature reserves, museums and galleries, great art, cultural attractions and unique shopping opportunities; visitors won’t be short of things to do.

Experience Barnsley and Discovery Centre is an award winning museum. Here visitors will uncover a proud Yorkshire story told by the people of the borough. Located in the cultural quarter of the town, people can also take a short walk to The Cooper Gallery, which has recently undergone a major transformation, doubling its size. You’ll be amazed at the collections of fine art here, as well as exciting high profile exhibitions including Picasso Linocuts, a stunning display featuring seventeen large linocut prints

by Pablo Picasso. Just minutes away is The Civic theatre and art gallery, a unique multi-purpose arts centre, showcasing high quality performances and exhibitions.

As well as this there are plenty of family activities taking place in Barnsley. Whether it’s making waves at Calypso Cove indoor waterpark at Barnsley Metrodome, or visiting the wonderful village of Cawthorne where you will find the stunning Georgian country house Cannon Hall and Cannon Hall Farm, both with a full programme of family events, there are some excellent days out.

Set within the attractive conservation village of Elsecar, Elsecar Heritage Centre is a unique family attraction and a working hub of industry. With a nearby park, canal-side walks and access to the Trans Pennine Trail, it’s a fascinating day out for all the family. Visitors will find an interesting variety of individual craft workshops, artist studios, antique centres and exhibitions, alongside a historical steam railway.

The restored ironworks and colliery workshops are also home to Elsecar Visitor Centre which houses a small exhibition about Elsecar’s past.

Where better a place to get up close and personal with nature than at RSPB Old Moor?

This superb nature reserve offers an idyllic escape from the stresses of everyday life.

Worsbrough Mill is a 17th century working water mill set in a tranquil country park and nature reserve at Worsbrough Mill and Country Park. Visitors will discover centuries of milling and bread making, learning more about the process and following it from beginning to end.

If it’s landscapes that make you feel at peace, then strolling around the only Grade I listed landscape in South Yorkshire at Wentworth Castle Gardens is a must.

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EVENTS

Move over Notting Hill, Leeds is home to the longest running West Indian carnival parade which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. Tina Walsh finds out the secret to its success.

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The amazing sights, sounds and smells of the Leeds West Indian Carnival are a must-see.

he sun is beaming out across Potternewton Park where the scent of jerk chicken and Jamaican patties fills the air, while rum punch and Red Stripe are being sunk to the sound of reggae and calypso music. Three-feethigh feathered headdresses float past gravity-defying “dragonflies” and a woman on stilts towers over groups of children holding cheerleader pom poms. The park is a sea of colour, costumes, sounds and smells, with a crowd of 160,000 bouncing, whistling, singing and dancing to the beats booming out of giant speakers. Welcome to Leeds West Indian Carnival – the longest running West Indian Carnival in Europe. With a quarter of a million visitors expected for this year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, its success continues to soar.

“The reason it’s lasted so long is that it’s part of our African heritage and history. It’s about our emancipation. Plus, we’re still family

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friendly and authentic. It’s not just a street party, carnival is an art form but also serious business that’s good for our city.”

Arthur France MBE is the founder of Leeds West Indian Carnival which is now worth some £10 million to the local economy. When the 80-year-old arrived in Leeds in 1957 he found himself longing for his beloved Saint Kitts and Nevis. To assuage his “crippling” homesickness he decided to get together with a group of other like-minded West Indians and, in 1964, in his cramped bedsit, they hatched a plan. Their dream became a reality when the first Leeds West Indian Carnival took to the streets in 1967.

“Most people thought I was mad to be thinking of starting a carnival in England. Some even said it was low-class and degrading,” says Mr France, who remains at the helm of the organising committee. “But I believed in the power of networking, taught myself how to design costumes (he made his first designs from

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DISCOVER It looks amazing, sounds great, tastes fabulous – it is a sensory delight. It is rapture, harmony and a feast for the senses all wrapped up in what is probably Yorkshire’s brightest day. It is definitely a party for all.

chicken feathers) and it just took off from there.”

Mr France has received numerous awards in recognition of his contribution to the local West Indian community, including an MBE in 1997. A long-standing lover and champion of steel pan music, he founded the Gay Carnival Steel Band in the 1960s (later known as the Boscoe Steel Band) and, in 1984, the New World Symphony Steel Orchestra, which encourages young people from Leeds and the North of England to take up the cause.

Fast forward to 2017 and it’s a special year for organisers with a programme to match. Proceedings start with the Carnival Prince and Princess Show, a family orientated extravaganza that sees junior partygoers show off their finery in the hope of being crowned.

At the West Yorkshire Playhouse in central Leeds, costume designers from across the UK, who will have been feverishly working away for the best part of the preceding year, will vie

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An authentic Caribbean experience Arthur France MBE tells us more about the origins of the carnival: “I am a Caribbean man of African heritage living in the UK. Without this blend, that I am extremely proud of, I would not have had the gumption to start Leeds West Indian Carnival all those years ago. When I left the tiny island of Nevis in 1957 heading for the UK like so many West Indians of my generation, I didn’t just leave my home and family behind. I left what makes the Caribbean tick, what gives the region such a pulsating heartbeat; I left my culture, my music, my art behind.

From the moment I arrived in Leeds, although I was optimistic about the future, I knew that the few

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pounds in my pocket and the faith in my heart would not be enough for me to thrive – to be me. Despite the best efforts of the Caribbean community to come together sharing stories and food, enjoying parties and music it was not enough.

Even though we endured overcrowded flats and houses together, sharing the common hardships and struggles of the day – I could not get over the crippling homesickness.

So as I lay awake in my bedroom in Chapeltown, Leeds, it came to me that we didn’t have to leave everything behind, that we could work together to bring a little piece of home to England. From there on, having a West Indian Carnival in Leeds was my one

motivation. I knew that I wasn’t the only one who felt the same.

Working with others with similarly ‘broken hearts’ – family, friends, Leeds University’s Caribbean students, even complete strangers – we fought to make the Carnival happen. The first Leeds West Indian Carnival was held in August 1967 – and my heart was fixed! It was the first formally organized authentic Caribbean carnival in Europe. For me it wasn’t about being the first, it was about bringing people of all races together and sharing Caribbean culture.

Carnival is not just about putting on a street party – spectacular as it is! It is not just about sharing the sweetness of

steel pan and soca music nor the magnificence of costumes.

It’s a serious business that needs strategic partnerships, like the one we have enjoyed with Leeds City Council for decades. It is about creating a cultural and artistic legacy for the UK – with carnival arts as a platform. It is the best way I know to secure unity and harmony.

We pride ourselves on being the ‘everyone carnival’ – ours is an open invitation. We will always put an authentic, warm Caribbean experience at the heart of what we do.”

Clockwise from top left: Leeds West Indian Carnival Committee in 1974.

The carnival in the 80s. Carnival Queen Show in 1970. The carnival makes it’s way through the streets.

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with each other to win the title for the Leeds Carnival King and Queen 2017. The event is invariably packed with live entertainment, steel bands and Caribbean food and drink.

On Bank Holiday Monday, the main event will be kick-started by J’Ouvert Morning, a traditional early morning soca music jam.

Originating from the French for ‘opening day’, J’Ouvert is also known as ‘pyjama jamming’ so expect to see people in nighties and onesies, as well as fancy dress. The parade route is currently confined to the streets surrounding Potternewton Park – the communities of Harehills and Chapeltown – but talks are under way with Leeds City Council to take it all the way into Leeds city centre for 2017.

Local costume designers are already busy making colourful headdresses, which will trace the carnival’s journey from the West Indies to Leeds. Touring schools, community centres and local businesses will be accompanied by a professional photographer, who will document participants willing to pose in the flamboyant feathered headgear. The project aims to capture 500 portraits from across the city.

In October, Carnival Ballet, a world-class dance production, funded by Arts Council England Exceptional Awards, premiers at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, in partnership with Phoenix Dance Theatre. Written by renowned author and BBC radio producer Colin Grant, the ballet will feature carnival music and costumes.

“We anticipate huge participation and attendance figures,” says Carnival spokeswoman Susan Pitter. “We’re already receiving requests for details and hotel deals from all over the world and it appears that lots of former Leeds residents are planning to ‘come home’ for Carnival 2017.” Who could have predicted all those years ago that the fledgling celebration would be one of Yorkshire’s most anticipated annual events half a century down the line.

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The festival is still family friendly and authentic.

It’s not just a street party, carnival is an art form.

Historic carnival images © The Yorkshire Post.

Amazing colour Spectacular costumes Fantastic fun

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The National Trust is a registered charity no.205846. Photography: ©National Trust images, Chris Lacey / John Millar

advertorial

Discover amazing things to do this year in Yorkshire Yorkshire is known for its amazing landscapes but did you know that the National Trust cares for miles of its coastline and countryside? And, some of Yorkshire’s most iconic houses and gardens are also lovingly looked after by the National Trust for you to enjoy all year round.

A visit to Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Water Garden is a must, especially if you want to see a World Heritage Site on your travels. As well as the elegant water garden and the towering abbey ruins you’ll also find a hidden herb garden, traditional crafts at Swanley Grange, surprise views and a medieval deer park.

Nostell is a Palladian treasure house, filled with one of the finest collections of Chippendale furniture. Between the end of March and July, you can also discover Harrison’s Garden, a brand new exhibition by Luke Jerram, celebrating the 300th birthday of Nostell’s Harrison longcase clock.

Explore the house to see, and hear, 2000 ticking clocks on display.

Uncover the stories of Beningbrough Hall, Gallery & Gardens, from the wealthy teenager who built the mansion right through to its current partnership with National Portrait Gallery and the restored working walled garden which supplies the restaurant. Get back to basics at East Riddlesden Hall with traditional agricultural activities, such as butter making or fabric dyeing.

There are lots of opportunities to discover the sights on two wheels as well. Bring your bike to try out the brand new cycle track at Nostell or take the Way of the Roses cycling route which runs through the Yorkshire Dales. If you prefer to explore the countryside on two feet, you’re spoilt choice - from a stroll at Rievaulx Terrace to hiking at Malham Tarn or crossing the stepping stones at Hardcastle Crags.

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Top to bottom: Nostell Priory in West Yorkshire, the stepping stones at Hardcastle Crags in West Yorkshire and Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Water Garden, North Yorkshire.

Whatever you discover this year, when you visit, donate, volunteer or join the National Trust your support helps to look after special places for ever for everyone.

Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/yorkshire for inspiration and find a place to stay at www.www.nationaltrustholidays.org.uk/yorkshireandnortheast Like us www.facebook.com/NTYorkshire Follow us @NTYorkshire 25

CITY OF STEEL There is so much more to this South Yorkshire city than meets the eye. Head to Sheffield for outdoor adventure, cultural retreats and rural escapes.

As the only major city in England with a National Park within its boundary, Sheffield provides the best a city break has to offer, with a chance to escape into the Peak District National Park where quaint villages, traditional pubs and stunning wide open spaces wait to be explored.

From the great outdoors to the city’s urban landscape, Sheffield has recently attracted internationally renowned street artists such as Kid Acne, Milak and Phlegm who are transforming the city and inviting visitors into their playground of paint, to stop and look at their surroundings in a new light.

For galleries galore, Sheffield has a wealth of independent studios and galleries including S1 Artspace, Graves

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Gallery and the Millennium Gallery.

Treasure hunters should head to the Antiques Quarter, with scores of independent shops and six antiques centres, it is truly a bargain hunter’s paradise.

Choose any night of the week and you’ll find music filling the air somewhere across this eclectic city.

There is more to Sheffield than just banging tunes and DJ sets, with intimate gigs from local musicians, the UK’s festival of film and music Sensoria and epic events held in Sheffield Arena.

Theatre lovers can rejoice in the regally named Tudor Square, home to the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio. Not forgetting the magnificent art deco Sheffield City Hall which

regularly hosts contemporary dance, philharmonic concerts and some of the most famous names in entertainment.

From metal works to masonry, explore Sheffield Cathedral and discover the ancient heart of this city that has been a place of worship for over 1,000 years. Located in one of the city’s oldest industrial districts, Kelham Island Museum stands on a manmade island over 900 years old. Its interactive galleries tell the story from light trades and skilled workmanship to mass production and what it was like to live and work in Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution.

Escape the hustle and bustle of the city with a visit to the Winter Garden, home to over 2,000 plants from

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WELCOME TO SHEFFIELD

Clockwise from top left: Kelham Island Museum. The Winter Garden in Sheffield. Cocoa Wonderland on Ecclesall Road.

Millennium Gallery. Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens. Sheffield Cathedral. Luxury bedrooms at Brocco on the Park. Spa 1877.

across the globe. One of the largest temperate glasshouses to be built in the UK in the last 100 years. In the summer open air theatre and the annual Music in the Gardens take over Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens.

With 19 acres of gardens and 15 different areas to explore, discover a range of interesting plants from all over the world.

Set in the vibrant Devonshire Quarter, Spa 1877 is housed in the original Glossop Road Baths. Elegantly combining Victorian architecture with modern technology, it’s a beautiful setting to experience the latest treatments.

For a room with a view Brocco on the Park stands on the edge of Endcliffe Park. With leafy natural views from its

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bedrooms, guests can sleep soundly and dine in style. The hotel is filled with feel-good essentials like Osme organic skincare, luxury linens and comfy robes.

When it’s time to take things slowly, even for a short while, head to one of the city's cafés, whether it’s cosying up with a good book at Cocoa Wonderland, a must for any chocolate lover or out amongst the antiques quarter at Bragazzis. Discover a whole host of diverse pubs and beer focussed bars. Fans of individual craft beers and bottled ales should try The Forum in the Devonshire Quarter.

You can’t go wrong with dinner at Rafters Restaurant, Alistair Myers and Chef Tom Lawson share their passion for food and service, serving exciting

and creative dishes. For a culinary adventure travel to London Road, where you can eat your way around the world without leaving Sheffield including some of the best Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish and Japanese restaurants in the county.

Sheffield has long had a love affair with sport. Not only home to World Champions such as Jessica Ennis-Hill but also the oldest football club Sheffield Football Club - and the oldest football ground - Sheffield Hallam Football Club - in the world.

It’s no surprise then that the city was chosen to host the Special Olympics GB 10th National Summer Games from 7 – 12 August 2017 as the country’s largest multi-sports event for athletes with intellectual disability.

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HERITAGE

IN MUST SEE Visitors from far and wide have stopped to have their photo taken with the magnificent life-sized bronze statue of Knaresborough’s famed son, Blind Jack.

Seated on his bench and complete with his viameter, it’s located in the towns market place.

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a quiet northernmost corner of the graveyard of All Saints Church, Spofforth, lies the strapping 6ft 2ins frame of John Metcalf.

It is a tranquil final resting place for Blind Jack of Knaresborough. At first glance, the casual visitor would not even suppose a person of particular note was buried there. But stop to read the 16 lines of text carved into the mosscovered stone, and a picture of a different man begins to emerge.

His epitaph ends, “Reader! Like him, exert thy upmost talent given”. For more than most others born upon this earth, that is what Blind Jack did.

Metcalf was supposedly condemned into one life when he was rendered completely blind by smallpox at the tender age of six. For many children of low-birth in the early part of the 18th century that would have been a death sentence of sorts. But through immeasurable talent and sheer force of will he ended up changing his fate.

What did he become? The list is nothing short of incredible: musician, horse-dealer, military adventurer, smuggler, and the man who shaped the modern motorway system of the north. Three hundred years since his birth in 1717 the giant image of Blind Jack still dominates the North Yorkshire town of Knaresborough.

For the tricentenary celebrations in 2017, the town is putting on numerous community events to commemorate the life of Blind Jack.

There are also plans to name a special ale after him, a particularly fitting tribute to a man who was in his moments of weakness an incorrigible drinker and gambler.

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JACK OF ALL TRADES 2017 marks 300 years since the birth of Blind Jack from Knaresborough. Joe Shute tells the tale of the legendary musician, drinker, gambler, huntsman, adventurer, trader, smuggler, and road builder, who overcame disability in the most amazing way.

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Top to bottom: Blind Jack’s historic blue plaque. Jack still inspires local residents young and old. The resting place of a legend in All Saints Church, Spofforth. Knaresborough Town Crier.

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But in truth, one could visit Knaresborough at any time in any year and immerse themselves in the life of John Metcalf.

In the ancient market square, where there has been a weekly market held continually since 1310, a statue of Blind Jack sits beaming out, clutching the viameter (road surveyor’s measuring wheel) he used to build new turnpikes across Yorkshire.

A few steps away is the Blind Jack Tavern, whose exterior windows are decorated as painted murals to Metcalf with his famous fiddle in hand.

Prior to his career as a civil engineer he was a keen musician and regularly played the pubs and hotels of the burgeoning spa town of Harrogate. In particular, he frequented the Royal Oak – where he met his future wife Dorothy “Dolly” Benson whose father was landlord of the pub – and the Queen’s Head (now the Cedar Court Hotel) where he serenaded guests over their breakfasts.

“Today he remains a real inspiration to people,” says Roger Hewitt, the town crier of Knaresborough, standing at its market cross.

Hewitt, who is the latest in a long line of town criers dating back to the 17th century, says he always points himself towards the pub portrait of John Metcalf when making his weekly proclamations, to better bounce the sound around the square.

“Everybody in Knaresborough loves the link to his past,” he says. “It’s because he could turn his hand to so many things that lots of people can identify with Blind Jack. They think if he can do that then they should try something outside of their comfort zone as well.”

A few minutes away from the market, near to Knaresborough’s St John the Baptist Church, is a plaque marking the spot where Metcalf was born in 1717 - in a cottage whose garden adjoined the churchyard and is now sadly long gone.

By the time of his birth, Knaresborough was already on the tourist map. In 1717 the great writer and journalist Daniel Defoe was among those to travel here. As ever more visitors came to take the waters in Harrogate’s famous mineral springs, they would also cross the River Nidd to wander through Knaresborough’s medieval streets and visit the famous Dropping Well whose waters could turn items to stone.

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DISCOVER KNARESBOROUGH The exact origins of this market town of ancient walkways, cobbled alleys and secret passageways are shrouded in mystery.

But one thing’s for sure, Knaresborough has carved out a real character for itself with a Tudor prophetess, once royal castle, magnificent viaduct and breathtaking countryside views. With a history that goes back to the 5th century there are several ancient sites to visit or you can follow the colourful public art trail of trompe l’oeils which tell the story of Knaresborough’s past. Cobbled paths and stone staircases lead down to the riverside for boat hire, mini-golf, pretty walks and little cafés.

With great pubs, plenty of independent shops, a thriving Wednesday market and a vibrant calendar of events, this town has a lovely holiday atmosphere. Walk down to the riverside and enjoy the waterside views of this broad section of the river Nidd, or even take your ice cream out on the river and row under the Victorian viaduct and its 78ft high arches.

Today it is named after Mother Shipton, England’s most famous ever prophetess who was reputedly born in a nearby cave. During her lifetime Mother Shipton foretold the Great Fire of London and sinking of the Spanish Armada and seemingly held the fate of the country’s rulers in her hands.

As Blind Jack’s biographer Arnold Kellett points out, Metcalf was not born into “abject poverty” but neither was there much in the way of opportunities. Blind Jack’s parents are described plainly in his own memoirs as “working people”.

Rather, from a young age he was a serial networker. Through his music he regularly

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Experience Mother Shipton’s Cave is England’s oldest visitor attraction, having been open since 1630. It was home to the famous prophetess and the petrifying well still stands as a unique, unspoilt remnant of the Royal Forest of Knaresborough.

rubbed shoulders with wealthy and aristocratic families and was invited to play at numerous grand country estates across the country. He nurtured high-ranking friendships and was taken under the wing of a patron, William Thornton, who was later to become MP for York.

That friendship was to lead Blind Jack to war. During the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Thornton raised a company of men to send over the border to Scotland. He named them the Yorkshire Blues and enlisted Blind Jack as chief recruiter and musician.

Metcalfe survived brutal combat and capture by the Jacobites to rise to prominence within the ranks for his skill at rabble rousing.

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He knew the north better by smell and feel and touch than most sighted natives.

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NEARBY The Harrogate district offers visitors a chance to explore a Cathedral City, a Spa town, historic market towns, a World Heritage Site and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, all within a few short miles of each other.

“On foot and horseback he had explored more of Britain than the majority of his contemporaries,” says Knaresborough resident Bernard Higgins, who is helping lead the tricentenary celebrations of Blind Jack and before retiring used to teach at Henshaws College for the Blind and Partially Sighted in Harrogate.

“In particular he knew the northern part of the country better, by smell and feel and touch than most sighted natives.”

Blind Jack only retired in 1792, at the age of 75 and already a widower after Dolly had died in 1778 while he was roadbuilding in Cheshire.

It was not until 1810, at the age of 93, that Blind Jack was to finally join her, leaving behind four children and 20 grandchildren.

For Higgins and many other Knaresborough residents, Metcalf still does not receive the attention outside of the town that is warranted by his achievements. “He is not forgotten but neither has he been elevated to the position that a person with his courage and perseverance deserves,” he says.

Perhaps in this 300th year since his birth, Blind Jack will finally assume his rightful place as one of Yorkshire’s most inspirational sons.

It was only after the Battle of Culloden in 1746 that he returned home, to the news that Dolly had given birth to their fourth child.

But even if ensconced back in Knaresborough, he was still not ready to settle into family life.

His reputation and contacts book bolstered by his time in Scotland, Blind Jack turned his hand to smuggling.

He was already a sharp wheeler dealer and exponent of what was known as “the Yorkshire Bite”. From his hometown he set up a smuggling route right up to Scotland. All manner of contraband was whisked away from the prying eyes of the authorities under Blind Jack’s command. According to his biographer he even receives an “honorable” mention in the annals of Scottish trafficking.

The chance for a more wholesome career choice came about in 1752 with the announcement of a new turnpike to be built between Harrogate and Boroughbridge. Blind Jack bid for the contract and won. It was to prove the first of an estimated 180 miles of road that he built in Yorkshire and four other counties. His aptitude for completing the work within budget and over treacherous terrain was unparalled.

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WELCOME TO HULL AND EAST YORKSHIRE

FEEL FREE Discover a city break packed full of culture and excitement in the UK’s City of Culture 2017 or a walking or cycling break in the countryside or along the coast in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Clockwise from top left: Hull Marina. A feature of the Hull Fish Trail.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs.

Flamborough Head © martinwilsonimages.com.

Building sandcastles in Bridlington. The Yorkshire Wolds. Hull Old Town.

Beverley Minster.

The Deep in Hull.

There’s a buzz in the air as 2017 marks the start of 365 days of arts, creativity and celebration as the City of Culture comes to Hull. Celebrate the unique character of the city, its people, history and geography.

There will be plenty of time to sleep when 2018 arrives.

With fantastic eateries, places to grab a drink and tourist attractions, not to mention an abundance of culture, Hull has everything you’re looking for. Take a stroll along the Marina to the retro Fruit Market, home to an abundance of new creative and cultural venues, and art galleries including Studio Eleven Gallery which showcases emerging, high quality and innovative artists. Plus, restaurants such as 1884 Wine & Tapas Bar bring a touch of the Mediterranean to the Humber Riviera.

The Deep is just a five-minute stroll from Hull Marina offering a fun-filled family day out. Journey through the story of the world’s oceans from Green Sawfish in warm tropical waters, to the cold Antarctic seas, home to the Gentoo Penguins.

Head into Hull’s historic Old Town where you can find things to do from dawn ‘til dusk.

During the day explore the innovative Fish Trail, soak up the city’s maritime heritage and start your journey of discovery at the Museums Quarter - consisting of Wilberforce House, the Hull and East Riding Museum, Streetlife and the Arctic Corsair trawler. But don’t forget the Ferens Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum in the city centre, not to mention Hands On History in Trinity Square as well. By night the city comes alive with the sound of laughter and excitement as diners and theatregoers head toward Hull Truck Theatre, dedicated to producing high quality theatre of intimate and epic scales.

The Yorkshire Wolds is the perfect place for peace, tranquillity and active adventures.

Walk along The Wolds Way and discover the dramatic landscapes and big skies that have inspired David Hockney. Travel from Hessle in the South through to the coast at Filey, and pass through picturesque villages and lively market towns. The Wolds is perfect for active pursuits, so hop on your bike and enjoy this hidden area of England at your own pace. Take to the sky in a glider for a bird’s eye view of the stunning landscape, saddle up for a horse trek across a patchwork of fields, or take to the water for some exhilarating water sports.

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For a more relaxed day out try fishing, or an early morning round of golf at Hunmanby Hall Golf Course. Food is at the heart of any visitor experience and the rich landscape of the Wolds provides chefs with the freshest ingredients. Set amongst the stunning scenery you will find modern contemporary restaurants, cosy cafés, tea rooms and traditional country inns serving locally brewed beer including the delights from award winning Wold Top Brewery. On the edge of the small village of Bishop Wilton, Wolds Edge Holiday Lodges & Snug Huts is a peaceful haven waiting for you, whether that be for a romantic break for two, a family getaway or friends on a cycling adventure, you’ll find something for everyone.

The picturesque market town of Beverley strikes a perfect harmony of past and present with an upmarket shopping and appetizing dining experience. A day at Beverley Races is a popular choice for many, or for a relaxed day of sightseeing, why not visit Beverley Minster? Situated within walking distance of the heart of the medieval market town lies Flemingate, great for coffee stops, grabbing a bite to eat before heading to the cinema or indulging in some retail therapy.

The Yorkshire Coast is one of real contrasts, from glorious golden sandy beaches, to haunting landscapes and dramatic, rugged cliffs. A bird lover’s paradise, RSPB Bempton Cliffs offers fantastic walks, sights and a great visitor centre to explore. It’s also home to the largest kittiwake colony in mainland Britain and is visited by over 250,000 birds throughout the year.

For more traditional seaside fun head to Bridlington where families can enjoy the arcades and funfairs, donkey rides on the beach, chalets, fish and chips and delicious ice cream. Hop aboard a pleasure cruiser, pirate ship or speedboat from Bridlington Harbour for a ride across the bay.

Fans of the big screen can follow in the footsteps of Bill Nighy and Catherine Zeta Jones and head to Bridlington Old Town to discover the locations made famous in the 2016 film Dad’s Army. Hidden amongst the fascinating architecture and cultural history of the Old Town are an array of tempting eateries such as The Lamp Restaurant located in a Grade II listed Victorian building, offering locally sourced food based on classic British fayre with a contemporary twist.

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Skydive GB is based just north of the coastal destination of Bridlington in East Yorkshire. With their proximity to the beautiful Yorkshire Coast they offer unrivalled views and adrenalin-packed thrills as you drop from 10,000 feet. Š Sara Orton / Skydive GB

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EXPERIENCE

Dominic Bliss meets the Yorkshire folk with the most nail-biting jobs of all.

Nine-to-five this most certainly isn’t.

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WE DROP HUGE CHUNKS OF BEEF IMMEDIATELY THEY START DEVOURING THEM The first thing that strikes you is the noise: a chorus of deafening growls reverberating through your entire torso.

Nine huge majestic lions are on the prowl and they’re waiting to be fed. They want meat.

This is feeding time at the lion enclosure at Flamingo Land, near Malton in North Yorkshire. In charge of proceedings, and very confident in his role, is zookeeper Martin Lees. He has a wheelbarrow full of raw beef from local farms, and he’s about to distribute it to the salivating big cats. Making the loudest noise are the alpha male Kumali and the dominant female Mishka. But the protestations from the other seven cats are by no means gentle.

The five young ones are called Monday to Friday in Swahili. It’s Monday and Tuesday (Jumatatu and Jumanne) who we are going to see close-up. “They are both castrated so are less dominating than the others,” he explains.

Using long tongs, he holds up a piece of meat for Tuesday, high enough so that the lion leans up against the steel grille on his hind legs. This chap may be a youngster but he’s massive. On two legs, his head must be at least

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eight feet off the ground. His chest is a mass of thick fur, his paws the size of dinner plates. “This is how we examine them close-up to check if there are any medical issues,” Martin says.

Now it’s time for the main course. Down long steel chutes we drop huge chunks of beef that Monday and Tuesday snatch before they hit the floor. Immediately they start devouring them.

Martin explains the set-up of the lion enclosure. Outside they have a stretch of prime North Yorkshire savannah to roam which has four-metre-high walls surrounding it.

Once inside the feeding area, there are double-bolted, double-padlocked doors that open inwards for the keeper’s maximum protection.

Martin obviously loves his working environment and stresses how his nine cats are “a very settled pride”. When he tells strangers he keeps lions for a living, initially they react with disbelief. But as soon as he describes what his working day involves, they become enthralled. “Zoo keeping is really all about conservation. I see the animals

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I SWING THE LAMBO AROUND I CAN FEEL THE VEHICLE’S IMMENSE POWER as ambassadors for their wild relatives and our part is to keep these ambassadors as fit, healthy and mentally stimulated as possible.”

It’s the same ethos for rhino keepers, Hedd Angharad and Dace Vitola, where feeding time is a little different for their ambassadors.

Instead of slabs of meat, there’s pellets and alfalfa, fruit and veg and browse and leaves. And rather than steel chutes, there are giant troughs for the rhinos to munch from.

This is the brand new Selous Black Rhino Reserve, home to mum Samira and daughter Olmoti who between them have a combined weight of 1.7 tonnes. To put it into perspective, it’s around the same weight as a Land Rover Discovery Sport. In fact, the motor car analogy is appropriate since Samira can charge with the full force of a speeding car.

The rhino keepers are well aware of this. “They’re quite protective and very territorial,” they say. “There’s always a risk they could charge.” A bit like the entire front row of a rugby team… but with a huge horn.

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It’s full throttle of a very different kind over the other side of the county where there’s equally nail biting work to be done.

Croft Circuit, near Darlington, is a 2.1-mile motor racing circuit where anyone from Miss Daisy to Lewis Hamilton can put themselves behind the wheels of some frighteningly muscly cars. There are Audi, Aston Martins, McLarens, Porsches and Lamborghinis available.

It's the latter two marques that I'll be driving. First I'm given a quick orientation of the track in a Mazda, during which one of the older instructors shows me how to negotiate the corners, where the chicane looms, and how to avoid the kerbs. “Don't drive across them!” he warns.

From then on, it’s me at the controls (with my instructor in the passenger seat), first in a Porsche Cayman, then a Lamborghini Huracan, and finally a Ginetta G20 racing car.

My wing man for the Lamborghini is Paul Moss, a freelance instructor who used to race karts and clubmans as a youngster. I’ll admit I’m not the most aggressive driver, and the hand-paddle gear shifts take a bit of getting

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IT’S NOT THE SPEED THAT WORRIES ME IT’S THE BRAKING used to. But Paul is encouraging and positive throughout, egging me on to put my foot down on the straights. On the longest straight we reach 80mph, although, being so low to the ground, it feels much faster. I ask Paul if he ever has to rein in his more excitable pupils.

“Sometimes I get a hothead in the driving seat, baseball hat turned backwards; that sort of driver,” he says. “I’m never offensive or aggressive. But if they don't do what I’m asking, I’ll pull them in. I don't want to get hurt.

I don't want the driver to get hurt. And I don't want the car to get hurt. At the end of the day, safety is paramount.”

Even with the most experienced drivers, around 105mph is the fastest Paul permits on this track. “It’s not so much the speed that worries me,” he adds, “but the braking. The corners do come very quickly, and there’s no run-off.”

That’s not an understatement. As I swing the Lambo around Hawthorn Turn, Tower Bend

and Sunny, I can feel the vehicle’s immense power. There’s a mid-mounted 5.2 litre V10 engine which puts out 602 brake horse power, accelerates from 0mph to 60mph in 3.2 seconds, and has a top speed of 202mph. To a sports car virgin like me, the dashboard looks like something out of Star Trek. This is the sort of car that gets Top Gear types salivating. A new one sells for more than £180,000.

“This is my office for the day,” says Paul, gesturing at the car’s luxurious, high-tech interior after we’ve completed four laps and parked up in the pit lane. “What a great place to work.”

When he’s not instructing drivers, his job is sign-writing. His other car, he tells me with more than a tinge of regret, is a Ford Transit van. Unfortunately he’s not allowed to take the Lamborghinis home with him since the car’s owner leases out his precious machines to Croft Circuit just for the day. As Paul says, “He likes me but he doesn't like me that much.”

Experience Drive your dream car at Croft race circuit. With over 20 years’ experience and the latest supercars and single seat racing cars, a driving experience at Croft is a unique and memorable day out.

GETTING THERE Dominic Bliss travelled to North Yorkshire from London on Virgin Trains www.virgintrains.co.uk He stayed at the five-star Rockcliffe Hall in North Yorkshire. To book call 01325 729999 or visit www.rockliffehall.com For more information go to www.flamingoland.co.uk or www.croftcircuit.co.uk

Clockwise from top: The need for speed at Croft race circuit. Flamingo Land's African Lions. Dominic gets a few pointers from those in the know.

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DOING IT FOR THE THRILL IN YORKSHIRE

Sky diver

Mining Guide

SkydiveGB, East Yorkshire Just north of Bridlington is SkydiveGB where the instructors regularly take beginners on tandem jumps from an altitude of 10,000ft.

That’s a long drop. skydivegb.com

National Coal Mining Museum for England, Overton Fully kitted out with your very own hard hat and battery lamp you are in safe hands here. The mining guides bring the thrilling story of mining to life as you step into the cage and descend 140m underground. ncm.org.uk

Gorge-walking instructor How Stean Gorge, Lofthouse near Pateley Bridge There’s a lot more than walking involved in gorgewalking. These intrepid instructors lead groups through How Stean Gorge in Nidderdale, helping them scramble, wade and climb over rocks and through pools and rivers. howstean.co.uk

Shark diver The Deep in Hull At this fantastic aquarium in Hull, there are 15 aquarists, as they’re called, who dive with the sharks (nurse, zebra, reef, wobbegong, epaulette, bamboo and bullhuss varieties), hand-feeding them, caring for them and cleaning their tanks. thedeep.co.uk

Set rigger

JOUSTER

Sheffield Theatres There are three theatres at Sheffield Theatres – the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio. The set riggers regularly find themselves suspended high above the stage, working with ropes, booms, lifts and hoists. “Break a leg!” as they say in theatre. sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

Royal Armouries, Leeds Enjoy the thrills and spills of authentic medieval jousting in the heart of Leeds. This Easter the Royal Armouries’ arena will resound to the clamour and clash of a liveaction tournament as knights battle it out. Packed with pomp and pageantry, music and minstrels. royalarmouries.org

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OUTDOORS

Wainwright’s

YORKSHIRE MASTERPIECE Longer than the Coast to Coast, more varied than the Pennine Way – and circular. Nick Hallissey discovers the emotional story behind Wainwright’s Pennine Journey, then grab your boots and try it yourself.

Photos: Tom Bailey

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T

he name of Alfred Wainwright might be more synonymous with a landscape on the other side of the M6. But long before he became famous for his Lake District guides, he embarked on an epic circular walk through the Yorkshire Dales and the Pennines – a walk that uncovered some of the greatest landscapes in these Broad Acres. A walk that is only now being rediscovered and treasured.

The story begins in September 1938. The world was heading for war. Newspapers and radios blared with talk of Hitler; of rearmament, air-raid precautions and decontamination squads. As one man remarked: “You turned on the news and sat waiting, with an inside quaking and empty.”

That man was Alfred Wainwright, a 31-yearold clerk to the borough treasury of Blackburn.

Already a lover of the hills of Yorkshire, it was to these very hills that he looked for escape from the dreadful tidings on the radio.

After taking a train from Blackburn to Settle at the bottom edge of the Yorkshire Dales, he set off on foot with a plan to walk to Hadrian’s Wall, some 110 miles to the north. To get there, he would follow the eastern edge of the Pennines. To come back to Settle, he’d follow the western edge, thus creating a grand circular walk up and down the backbone of England. If that didn’t get Hitler out of his head, he had no idea what would.

Halfway along the route, Neville Chamberlain came back from Munich declaring “peace in our time”, and like everyone else’s, the heart of Alfred Wainwright suddenly lifted. But by the time he got back to Settle, that peace had been torn up, and Britain was at war.

Back home, Wainwright committed the whole thing to paper, writing a book titled A Pennine Journey. It was a meticulous account of a magnificent walk. It was the story of the people he met and the meals he ate. But it was also a superb documentary on the build-up to the Second World War and what it did to the hearts and minds of those living through it.

There was only one problem. He didn’t want anyone to read it.

Heading up out of Wharfedale on an early stretch of the Pennine Journey, with Buckden Pike rising behind.

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The lost manuscript The book was written “not for others to see but to transport my thoughts to that blissful interlude of freedom”, said he. He showed it to a select group of work colleagues, but the war came and went, and the book lay in a drawer until 1986.

By then, he had become A Wainwright, the guidepoet-artist of the Lake District. Also in the interim, the Pennine Way had been created, with Wainwright himself writing a guidebook to it.

The Way shared fragments of the route of his old Pennine Journey – but only fragments. And it was linear, from Edale to Kirk Yetholm, rather than circular. And crucially, it wasn’t his own creation.

So in 1986, when Wainwright and his publisher were discussing projects to help raise funds for his animal rescue charity, he remembered the Pennine Journey.

It emerged from the drawer and at his insistence, was published word for word and unedited. Thus it’s an in-the-moment eyewitness account of Britain’s national psyche and the landscapes of the Pennines, frozen in 1938 and thawed out 48 years later.

But at this point it’s still just a narrative. It was never intended to be a practical guide to walking the route.

For that we have to skip forward 12 more years to 1998, and meet compulsive long-distance walkers David and Heather Pitt. Having walked almost every other megamile trail that Britain has to offer, the indomitable Pitts were looking for something new. Wainwright fans both, they decided to see if they could translate the Pennine Journey into something they could follow.

It took a colossal effort of map-reading, crossreferencing and improvisation, but they not only managed it; they loved it. And in 2004 they convinced the newborn Wainwright Society to adopt the Pennine Journey as an official project, with a guidebook edited by David and Heather, and sections checked and updated by volunteers.

Since then, the Pennine Journey has attracted a cadre of devoted fans, and waymarkers have appeared at key points along the trail. But last year – 25 years after the death of Alfred Wainwright – something has happened that is likely to make his first big walk go stratospheric. It’s just gone on the OS map.

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Experience The Three Peaks can you rise to the 3 Peaks Challenge and complete the ascent and descent of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent within twelve hours?

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Main image: A gorgeous cascade above Wharfedale.

Left top to bottom: The path out of Buckden in Wharfedale.

Summer colour spreading over the stones. The Pennine Journey starts and finishes in Settle and stretches as far north as Hadrian's Wall.

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From one splendid dale to another high, wild moorland: that's what this journey is all about. So, brain off, eyes and ears open, enjoy.

The journey today “I would never, ever call it my baby,” says David Pitt.

“This is Wainwright’s journey; his story. That said, it has been part of our lives for 20 years or so, so I am very attached to it. Some people have called it an obsession, but I don’t think it is. I just love this route and I want others to see it too. Evangelism, maybe, but not obsession!”

And it has been a team effort. David says the project would be nothing without the efforts of the volunteer route-checkers, and is full of praise for illustrators Ron Scholes and Colin Bywater, who provided the beautiful Wainwright-style maps and drawings for the guidebook.

But the inclusion of the Pennine Journey on OS mapping is perhaps the biggest step forward in its history. It makes the route that much more obvious to anyone scouring a Pennine map for a good idea, and it gives the Journey equal weight against the far better known Pennine Way. David loves the Way, but he thinks the Journey has more to offer.

“It goes to many places that the Pennine Way goes nowhere near: Buckden, Semerwater, Ingleborough, Weardale and Mallerstang, to name just a few,” he enthuses.

“But it also includes a lot of the must-see highlights of the Way, so you don’t miss out – like Pen-y-ghent, High Force, Cross Fell and the very best bits of Hadrian’s Wall.

“I also like the circular nature of it: the fact that you do this journey and it brings you back again, which of course the Way doesn’t.”

The Journey is 247 miles long; 20 miles shorter than the Way. It breaks down into 18 sections, in line with Wainwright’s own walk, and most are between nine and 15 miles. The shortest (Day 1, Settle to Horton) is 7.5 miles, while the longest (Day 17, Sedbergh to Ingleton) is a whopping 17.5 miles. But there are options for downsizing some of the chunkier sections. For example, the 17.5-mile stretch from Buckden to Gunnerside can easily be broken at Bainbridge (in fact I urge you to try this, because Low Mill Guesthouse in Bainbridge is one of the loveliest places that I’ve ever stayed).

Wainwright himself didn’t measure in miles but in valleys. Essentially each stretch of the Journey hops from one valley to another, taking in the likes of Ribblesdale, Wharfedale and Wensleydale; Swaledale, Weardale and Teesdale; the Eden Valley, Chapel-le-Dale and the Mallerstang Valley.

And thanks to some slight tweaks by David and Heather, the route also climbs all of the Yorkshire Three Peaks. The Pennine Way only climbs one.

And up at the apex is Hadrian’s Wall – or at least, the sensational ten-mile stretch of the wall from Housesteads fort to the village of Greenhead, in which the wall lollops along the beetling crags of the Whin Sill.

The wall was Wainwright’s primary objective; he’d never seen it before. There’s almost an irony there: he opens the book by comparing Hitler with Alexander

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Clockwise from above: The Pennine Journey pre-dates the Pennine Way, but hills like Pen-y-ghent are now superstar attractions of both walks.

Nick familiarises himself with the route.

Pennine Way sign post. Ribblehead Viaduct sums up the landscapes of the Pennine Journey – and yet is only one small part of its epic meander.

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Yorkshire TRAILS AND LONG WALKS

Cleveland Way

Yorkshire Wolds Way

Pennine Way

Distance: 109 miles (98 miles in Yorkshire)

Distance: 79 miles

Distance: 270 miles (80 miles in Yorkshire)

Follow the fantastic scenery of the North York Moors National Park, crossing stunning lengths of heather moorland. It’s a visual feast along the dramatic North Yorkshire coastline to Filey, passing old fishing villages and lively coastal towns, including Staithes and Whitby.

Not too strenuous and offers a route where the peace and quiet of country life still dominate and the gentle charm of the Yorkshire Wolds leaves the walker refreshed.

If you’re looking for your first National Trail to walk, then the Yorkshire Wolds Way gives you a not too challenging introduction.

Taking you from the Peak District along the Pennine ridge, through the Yorkshire Dales National Park and beyond. There are plenty of historical and cultural interest sites along the way to be enjoyed including the cradle of the Industrial Revolution and across the limestone country of the Dales.

Pennine Bridleway

White Rose Way

Sheffield Country Walk

Distance: 350 miles (when complete)

Distance: 104.4 miles

Distance: 54.5 miles

One of the newest National Trails and the first purpose built trail of its kind designed specifically for horse-riders, off-road cyclists and walkers to enjoy. It follows a mix of old packhorse routes and drove roads, often sensitively refurbished and upgraded, linked with newly created stretches of bridleway.

The route leaves the modern city behind via Victorian and Edwardian parkland to enter the countryside which surrounds Leeds.

Pretty Yorkshire villages come and go enroute. A beach and headland stroll sees the walk end at the Tourist Information Centre in Scarborough's South Bay.

This challenging and varied route around the outskirts of Sheffield passes many sites and buildings of archaeological, historical and industrial interest. It follows woodland and riverside paths, crossing undulating farmland and the open gritstone moorlands to the west of the city.

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the Great – remorseless empire-builders who sought to invade every corner of the worlds they knew. And yet his destination on this walk to forget all that was the very symbol of empire-building; a relic of another set of conquerors who wanted to possess and control everything they saw.

But he was doing this before English Heritage was there to protect the wall and tell its story. Before there was a Hadrian’s Wall National Trail. Before there were national parks, visitor centres or even walking guidebooks as we would know them today. In 1938, vast tracts of the countryside were still in private ownership and fenced off from public access.

This all makes Wainwright’s endeavour even more remarkable: a man following his own path, using his wits, surviving on cartographical skill and occasional acts of charity; threading together corpse roads, green lanes and the trackways of forgotten industry.

And yet despite all this mental agility, the Journey did its job. With every mile, come rain or shine, Alfred Wainwright’s mind found peace.

Our own Pennine Journey I walked several stretches of the Pennine Journey with photographer Tom Bailey, using David’s newly-reprinted guidebook and relishing the lack of all the hardships mentioned above.

We met up with David and longtime PJ helper Jill King and walked from Buckden in Wharfedale to Bainbridge in Wensleydale.

It’s one of the loveliest days of the trail, and

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exemplary of its nature as an exercise in valley-hopping. From one splendid dale to another across high, wild moorland: that’s what this journey is all about. Along the way is the unexpected treasure of Raydale, the secretive offshoot of Wensleydale that’s home to the fine sheen of Semerwater and England’s shortest river, the Bain. So, brain off, eyes and ears open, enjoy.

As an appetiser to the grand enterprise of the Pennine Journey, the day was delicious.

The urge to free up two and a half weeks to do the whole damn thing is nagging at me as I type. It would be contrived to liken today’s era of global anxiety to the circumstances in which Wainwright undertook his Pennine Journey.

But with every awful thing we hear about on our radios, it’s hard not to feel that going for a massive walk is a brilliant idea.

On the other hand, you don’t have to be unhappy to go on this walk. And you don’t have to be alone either: David and Heather will vouch for that. The truth is, whatever your mental landscape when you set out from Settle, I’m pretty certain that by the time you return, the world will look and feel a lot better.

It’s not about the destination, you see.

It’s about the Journey.

Nick Hallissey and Tom Bailey are the deputy editor and photographer for Country Walking Magazine. Love walking in Yorkshire? Then Country Walking magazine has it covered every month! Try 3 issues for £5 – just go online at www.greatmagazines. co.uk/ymagazine to claim your trial offer.

DISCOVER Coast to Coast Packhorse has been helping walkers and cyclists tackle Wainwright’s Coast to Coast for over 26 years and can create bespoke packages for the Pennine Journey.

For more details go to www.c2cpackhorse.co.uk

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Main image: This view, seen on the walk to Wensleydale, typifies the Dales scenery of the outbound leg.

Clockwise from left: Cragdale near Settle.

Semerwater in Raydale.

The Pennine Journey has a cute waymarker that makes clever use of the initials AW.

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Clockwise from top left: York Minster. The Shambles. CafĂŠ culture by the River Ouse.

JORVIK Viking Festival.

Delicious treats at Bettys. The Centre of Ceramic Arts at York Art Gallery. York Dungeon.

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WELCOME TO YORK

CITY OF CONTRASTS With charm and history round every corner, it’s easy to see why York has long been a favourite destination for tourists around the world.

As one of the most photogenic cities in the country, York’s appeal is not difficult to understand. From medieval cobbled streets with overhanging timber-framed buildings like The Shambles to majestic structures such as York Minster, you could effortlessly spend a week or two exploring what York has to offer.

Perhaps one of the first places to start when visiting is York Art Gallery, shortlisted for the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year 2016. The gallery has been open to the public since 1879 and in 2015 launched its ground breaking new Centre of Ceramic Arts (CoCA).

Another place that had a spectacular year was York Theatre Royal, which had closed its doors in March 2015 for a £6 million redevelopment. The results are splendid and the theatre can now continue to thrive and bring world class performances to the city.

From one form of performance to another, why not try out The York Dungeon.

It brings together an amazing cast of theatrical actors, special effects, stages and scenes in a truly unique and exciting walkthrough experience that you see, hear, touch, smell and feel. JORVIK Viking Centre reopens on 8 April 2017. This comes after a multi-million pound reimagining of the centre. Hop aboard the improved ride experience and you’ll be transported back to the year AD960.

There are plenty of other attractions in York which highlight the heritage of this walled city but nowhere gets to the heart, or perhaps more accurately, the stomach, than York’s Chocolate Story. York is intrinsically linked to its chocolately past. At this museum you can discover the stories behind the greatest names in chocolate, you can make your own chocolate lolly and, there are plenty of samples to feast on too.

In fact, it is almost impossible to leave York without being well fed as there are a host of delicious eateries to choose from. If you’re after fine dining, then the six course tasting menu served up at The Park Restaurant is difficult to beat, for an unusual G&T or a perfectly cooked steak head to The Whippet Inn or for a truly unique dining experience head to Mr P’s Curious Tavern

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– a new venture from Michelin starred chef, Andrew Pern. Combining rustic wooden benches with industrial-chic detailing, Cut & Chase is one of York’s trendiest new eateries and cocktail bars.

Without a doubt one of the must-visit foodie locations in York has to be the iconic Bettys Tea Rooms. Reflecting their unique heritage, they serve a host of Swiss-inspired, Yorkshire-created specialities or you can really push the boat out and treat yourself to the legendary Bettys Afternoon Tea. Right throughout the year there are certain events and festivals happening that can help to make your trip extra special. Each February is the JORVIK Viking Festival which brings back to life one of the most exciting periods in the city’s history, something the Eboracum Roman Festival in June also delivers. July 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the York Early Music Festival with guest artists I Fagiolini already confirmed. In August, the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival at York Racecourse, one of the oldest, richest, fastest and most famous meetings in the British racing calendar, returns. September sees York Food & Drink Festival take over the streets with chefs, producers and food experts all on hand to get your taste buds talking. Then finally, the St Nicholas Fair, which starts in November, brings over 100 snug chalets with twinkling fairy lights plus that all important magical Christmas feel to the city.

With so much to see and do, you’ll be looking for a place to rest your head afterwards. Luckily, there’s a wealth of high quality accommodation to fit all budgets. Middleton’s Hotel is a suave, stylish boutique hotel worth exploring whilst the Dean Court Hotel has arguably the finest location of any hotel in the city, overlooking York Minster. For one of York’s most unique places to stay, why not stay at Lendal Tower? Built in 1299 and located on the banks of the River Ouse, this 700-yearold Grade I Listed Ancient Scheduled Monument provides a luxurious and elegant stay. Finally, overlooking the city’s historic walls, the Grand Hotel & Spa, is York’s only five-star hotel and offers unrivalled service, elegance and style.

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FAMILY FUN

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Writer James Ellis takes his family on a trip to discover the world’s biggest joint 999 museum.

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DISCOVER The National Emergency Services Museum is the worlds largest joint 999 museum showing an insight into all of our Emergency Services through hands-on learning with history.

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one of our six-year-old twins screws her nose up, causing a small furrow of lines between her eyes. “What IS that smell?” she says giggling. Gracie, her sister, joins in: “It is AWFUL.” The potent pong, a mixture of stale urine, sweat and general grime is admittedly pretty rank – perhaps not the best way to try and get people into a tourist attraction, unless, that is, you’re being shown around the original cells at the National Emergency Services Museum, housed in what was once a real-life police and fire station just outside Sheffield city centre.

Pumped from an overhead unit, the manufactured stench adds a layer of extra authenticity to the pokey Victorian slammers that are as basic as you like: four tilecovered walls, a rock-hard bed, and a door that thunders shut after you walk through it. “They were made to do that on purpose,” our guide Nigel Kind tells us. “It emphasised the fact that people were being locked away for a long, long time.”

Nigel is a former fireman (as are most of the other staff who work here) and his knowledge, enthusiasm and respect for the emergency services are infectious as he takes us around the museum, showing off its best pieces.

If you think that might be a short tour, think again.

The three-storey redbrick building and yard out the back are packed to bursting point with hundreds of exhibits large and small, from tiny pin badges to full-on vintage fire engines.

The team, Nigel says, know they need to expand and funds are trying to be raised, but in the meantime, the somewhat higgledy-piggledy nature of the exhibits and displays certainly manages to keep our girls entertained.

Normally sitting on the pink side of princess, we’d half expected them to get bored pretty quickly while looking around engines, police cars and ambulances, but there are so many things to press, try and jump about on that they happily rush around giggling and drinking it all in, especially as they’re given a pencil and paper to try and track down six mini knitted dolls hidden throughout the museum.

Nigel’s an incredible guide too, which helps bring the place even more to life. He tells us stories from the Sheffield gang wars of the 1920s when Sam Garvin, a bare-knuckle boxing promoter, tried to take over the city after World War I, waging battles on the streets with rival George Mooney.

At first they seem like tall tales, until we find out that the wars led to the formation of one of the country’s first police Flying Squads and we’re shown books with actual mug shots from the day. A motley collection of ne’er-do-

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Clockwise from top left: Vintage exhibits. Hands on activities for Martha and Gracie. James tries a helmet on for size. The museum has an impressive collection of vehicles. Cabinets protect incredibly rare exhibits. An original police poster in the museum's cells.

wells, their gritty faces framed by flat caps and bonnets – who knew Sheffield was the British version of Chicago?

Martha and Gracie pour over them trying desperately to find an Ellis somewhere (our family comes from nearby Rotherham), but to no avail – thankfully, we obviously come from good stock!

Elsewhere in the museum, they get to jump on all manner of vehicles, trying out a defibrillator on a dummy in one ambulance and posing happily for pictures in the driving seat of a fire engine.

The museum has more than 50 vehicles in total, from an original Victorian horsedrawn fire engine, to a NYPD replica car that happens to be a bit of a film star thanks to its role alongside Brad Pitt in disaster flick World War Z.

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All around Nigel fills us in on the history of each exhibit, many of which are one-offs or incredibly rare – one cabinet even has a handheld water pump of the kind that was likely used to help put out the Great Fire of London.

Another room is a hive of activity thanks to a scout group who’ve taken the opportunity to ‘camp’ for the night in the museum – one of the special events, including ghost tours, that are offered out of normal opening hours.

As we move up the floors there are rooms dedicated to special events or types of emergency, the most poignant of which is a 9/11 memorial, dedicated to those who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center.

A screen replays the events of the day, two passenger planes crashing into, arguably, what were then the two most famous buildings in

Experience Take a ride in a real life fire engine and live the childhood dream of being a Firefighter for the day.

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Awesome Walls

Heeley City Farm

Take children as young as six for their first climbing lessons at this incredible climbing wall in Sheffield. The 90-minute classes start with a tour of the facilities, some basic safety instruction and a warm-up that includes basic bouldering – the practice of climbing without harnesses on smaller walls. Before long, the family will have learnt how to wear harnesses, tie knots and support each other on their first climbs. Martha and Gracie take to it like fish in water once they work out how the counter weight pulley system that connects them to mum and dad allows them to go as high as they want, before safely wall walking back down to terra firma.

Environment in action for all the family at this wind and sun powered city farm and education centre with friendly farm animals, relaxing herb, wildlife and organic gardens. Children can let off steam in the playground and adjoining park with Sheffield’s largest climbing boulder. Grab a bite to eat in the healthy eating café before your journey home. When you are at the farm, remember to go and visit the Small Animal House, located by the stable yard.

In there you will find all sorts of cute (and some scary) animals. They love visitors! www.heeleyfarm.org.uk

Immerse yourselves in the sights and sounds of Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution and follow the growth of the city through the Victorian Era and two world wars to see how steelmaking forged both the City of today and the world! Located in one of the city’s oldest industrial districts, the museum stands on a man-made island over 900 years old. Wander through the interactive galleries telling the story from light trades and skilled workmanship to mass production and find out what it was like to live and work in Sheffield during the Industrial Revolution.

Enjoy a great family day out full of nostalgia and innovation! www.simt.co.uk/kelham-island-museum

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Marvel at a myriad of multi-coloured butterflies, hug an alpaca in the petting zoo and see birds of prey swooping overhead on aerial displays that will leave the whole family gasping with delight at this bijoux wildlife centre. Packed with things to do, it’s the kind of place you can really make a day of, thanks to the variety on offer and a decent café. Special programmes allow you to become a zookeeper for the day, or you can conquer your arachnophobia with the help of the superb staff and the resident tarantulas. www.butterflyhouse.co.uk

www.awesomewalls.co.uk

Kelham Island Museum

Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife & Falconry Centre

Sheffield Cable Water Ski and Aqua Park A lake in the Rother Valley Country Park is the scenic venue for this action-packed day out. The park was once the domain of a unique cable water skiing centre, where you water ski or wakeboard being pulled by a ski lift-style cable system but the aquapark added at the end of 2016 gives a new dimension of family fun. A series of inflatable obstacles moored in the lake allow you to jump around like on the TV show Wipeout, scaling walls and shooting down huge slides.

There’s even a hire shop onsite where you can pick up warming wetsuits. www.sheffieldcablewaterski.com

Weston Park Up for an afternoon of discovery and adventure? Then make a beeline for Weston Park - it’s no ordinary museum. This is an interactive experience that brings history to life. From Egyptian mummies, to a traditional butchers shop, to living ants and bees, the five family trails lead you on a weird and wonderful journey that starts millions of years ago and ends in the present day. Alongside old favourites such as Snowy the Polar Bear and Spike the Woolly Rhino, Weston Park plays host to a series of temporary exhibitions.

Discover the real story of Sheffield, from its geological roots to the people, politics and music that shaped the modern city. www.museums-sheffield.org.uk

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Below and right: Martha and Gracie take in all the vintage exhibits from the world's emergency services. There are so many things to press, try and jump about on including amazing vintage fire engines.

DISCOVER One of Yorkshire’s six national museums, the National Emergency Services Museum offers visitors the chance to come face to face with some of the most amazing vehicles and exhibits around.

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the world. Images that are ingrained into the memory of anyone who saw them unfold live on TV – a new generation’s “Where were you when JFK was shot?” moment.

A pile of cards allows people to write down their thoughts and attach them to a tape, and Nigel periodically sends them or personally delivers them to his friends and colleagues at the Fire Department of New York.

The events here are somewhat lost on Martha and Gracie and other visiting children, but leave any visiting adults in a sombre mood.

That’s lightened somewhat when we reach the top of the museum where the resident police and firefighters would have slept when it was still in operation. There’s a shiny pole that leads to the bottom that we aren’t allowed to use thanks to health and safety regulations, but Nigel’s colleague Mike leaves his spot on the

front desk to give us a demo. We hurry down the steps giggling for Martha and Gracie to press a mock alarm button that sets off a siren blaring and sees him slide casually to the ground floor with the agility of a man half his age.

Sadly, it’s time to go and we pass by the cells again, the girls holding their noses in mock disgust as they’re handed a tiny rubber, shaped like a mobile phone, as a prize for finding each of the knitted dolls on their list.

“What number will you call in an emergency?” asks Nigel as we leave. “999,” the girls trill in unison, reading the message on the back of their mock mobiles. It’s just one of the many things they’ve learnt over the course of a few hours – one that could serve them well in future – a fitting tribute to the museum’s many exhibits and the men and women who risk their lives to keep the rest of us safe and sound.

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COVER STORY

The Brownlee brothers are at the top of their game. Mark Bailey joins them training in their beloved Yorkshire.

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f you go for a scenic run or a relaxing bike ride around the hills, limestone valleys and historic castles of the Yorkshire Dales, there is a chance you will be overtaken by two grimacing figures racing each other to the top of every hill. Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee are playful brothers, competitive training partners, fierce rivals and - after winning gold and silver medals respectively at the Rio Olympics last summer - the best two triathletes in the world. Raised in the Leeds suburb of Horsforth and now residents of the picturesque village of Bramhope, the local superstars still train in rural Yorkshire every day. Their winning blend of sibling rivalry and fraternal affection has proven to be a uniquely successful dynamic but perhaps the only way to really understand how it works is to pull on some Lycra and join them.

In the lead-up to the Rio Olympics I had the chance to join the Brownlees for a bike ride along the country lanes near the 18th century stately home of Harewood House and to huff and puff behind them on a short, sharp run up the Chevin - a lofty ridge which overlooks the Wharfe Valley in the Yorkshire Dales. Keeping up with the Brownlees isn’t easy. Even on what they would term a ‘recovery ride’ (boringly slow by their standards, frantically fast to the rest of us) they fly up hills which leave me wincing in pain.

And within two minutes of running up the flanks of the Chevin, I’m ready to quit.

However, the mix of brotherly banter and rivalry that has driven the Brownlees to the top of their sport is evident throughout, from the spontaneous sprints over the brow of a hill, to the way they team up to fix a puncture. But one thing the brothers always agree on is the pivotal role the Yorkshire landscape has played in sculpting their sporting success.

“I’m a proud Yorkshireman - Yorkshire people tend to be very proud of where they are from and this really is a beautiful place to train,” says older brother Alistair, 28. “We’re lucky that we have the Dales on our doorstep and the scenery really helps you to get out of bed.”

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In order to conquer Olympic standard triathlon races, which consist of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run, the brothers train for 35 hours a week. “Being outside makes it all feel more like fun than hard work,” adds Jonny, 26. “We cycle past dry-stone walls on old historical back roads and we enjoy muddy cross-country runs and fell-runs. It’s proper oldfashioned training: no music, no gadgets - just fun with friends and the right mix of hard work and cake stops.” They enjoy the ever-changing kaleidoscope of colours brought about by the seasons. “As the seasons change through spring, summer, autumn and winter, it’s like waking up in a new place,” says Jonny.

The brothers are supremely successful global athletes. Alistair was the Triathlon World Champion in 2009 and 2011, an Olympic gold medal-winner at London 2012 and the Commonwealth Games champion in 2014 before powering to his second Olympic gold in Rio last summer. Jonny was the Triathlon World Champion in 2012, an Olympic bronze medallist

Experience Brownlee Tri, described by past competitors as “one of the best and most scenic” courses, gives you the chance to run the routes that the Brownlees regularly train on.

Alistair and Jonny Brownlee’s September 2016 triathlon saw nearly 1,600 registered participants take on the swim, bike and run course near their home town of Bramhope.

Top to bottom: Training with Mark on The Chevin overlooking Otley in the Wharfe Valley. Open water swim training © HUUB wetsuits. The Brownlee brothers have a clear lead on the field in The Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon in Leeds.

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“It’s proper old-fashioned training: no music, no gadgets - just the right mix of hard work and cake stops.” at London 2012 and a silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games before earning silver at Rio 2016. But they remain endearingly humble. When we stop for a hearty breakfast before our run, Ali politely pours out mugs of tea while we chat, and Jonny gives me tips on why pizza is the perfect pre-race fuel (it is the same around the world, so you never get ill). The brothers are clearly happiest when running or cycling outdoors. “I have always been into the great outdoors,” says Jonny.

“We were taught by our parents (their mother Cath is a GP and their father Keith is a consultant paediatrician) to enjoy being happy and healthy outside and that has never left us.

As kids we would walk for miles in the Dales.

One of my favourite destinations is Bolton Abbey, which is a gorgeous spot in the Dales with a lovely river going through it, an old crumbling monastery and loads of footpaths to run on. I enjoy the Wharfe Valley which is a really scenic area that runs from Wetherby to

Don’t miss If you love sport, orienteering is a challenging outdoor adventure sport that exercises both the mind and body. It’s great for walkers, joggers and runners who wish to improve their navigation skills and for anyone who loves the Yorkshire outdoors.

YORKSHIRE’S rio MEDALLISTS

JACK LAUGHER Harrogate Diving 3m synchro

STEVE BATE Mytholmroyd Cycling 2 x Gold

JESSICA ENNIS-HILL Sheffield Athletics Heptathlon

CHRIS MEARS Leeds Diving 3m synchro

ADAM DUGGLEBY Hull Cycling 2 x Gold

JACK LAUGHER Harrogate Diving 3m spring

ED CLANCY Barnsley Cycling Team pursuit

LAURENCE WHITELEY Northallerton Rowing Mixed doubles

JONNY BROWNLEE Leeds Triathlon Men's race

ANDREW PAUL TRIGGS HODGE BENNETT Hebden Rowing Men's eight

GRACE CLOUGH Sheffield Rowing Mixed fours

ALI JAWAD Leeds Powerlifting 59kg class

Leeds Rowing Men's eight

JOANNA BUTTERFIELD Doncaster Athletics Club

CLAIRE CASHMORE Leeds Swimming 100m breast

TOM RANSLEY York Rowing Men's eight

KAREN DARKE Halifax Cycling Road TT

KADEENA COX Leeds Athletics 4 x 100m

ALISTAIR BROWNLEE Leeds Triathlon Men's race

CLAIRE CASHMORE Leeds Swimming 4 x 100m

DAVID STONE Leeds Cycling Road race

NICOLA ADAMS Leeds Boxing Flyweight

WILL BAyLEY Sheffield Table tennis Singles

NILE WILSON Leeds Gymnastics Hori. bar

HANNAH COCKROFT Halifax Athletics 3 x Gold

BRYONY PAGE Sheffield Gymnastics Trampolining

KATY MARCHANT Leeds Cycling Sprint

KADEENA COX Leeds Cycling & Athletics

2 x Gold

ZOE LEE Richmond Rowing Women's eight

MARCUS ELLIS Huddersfield Badminton Men's doubles

TOTAL VICKY HOLLAND Leeds Triathlon Women's race

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KADEENA COX Leeds Athletics 100m

DAVID STONE Leeds Cycling Men's TT

ROSS WILSON Sheffield Table tennis Singles

STEVE BATE Mytholmroyd Cycling Road race

ADAM DUGGLEBY Hull Cycling Road race

IAN SAGAR Barnsley Wheelchair basketball

PHILL PRATT Sheffield Wheelchair basketball

TERRY BYWATER Middlesbrough Wheelchair basketball

GOLD 18 SILVER 9 BRONZE 12

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TheY seem to run and cycle with almost balletic grace. Their running stride is so light they appear to float.

DISCOVER Fleet Moss, the highest road in Yorkshire, is a beast from either direction but the greater challenge lies in the route south from Hawes.

Through Gayle, the road is flat and hugs the river before rising sharply for a short 17% lung-opener.

You are eventually rewarded with a blissful flat stretch, but it’s not over yet; round a lefthand bend is yet more 20% gradient, a final zigzag and a few last kicks take you to what feels like the top of the world.

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the villages of Kettlewell and Grassington further north.”

The brothers also recommend cycling up Fleet Moss - the highest road in Yorkshire - and visiting Burnsall, an Anglo-Viking settlement surrounded by fells where they enjoy devouring the toasted teacakes served at the Wharfe View Tea Room.

As a child Alistair enjoyed cross-country running and swimming while Jonny preferred team sports like football, rugby and cricket. They were introduced to the relatively new sport of triathlon - which only became an Olympic discipline at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 - by their uncle Simon. Once Ali started representing Great Britain in junior competitions, Jonny was determined to follow in the footsteps of his big brother. “It’s hard to say what influence that has had on my career because it’s just always been the way but Jonny has pushed me on,” says Alistair. Jonny is more explicit about the influence of his older brother: “When he started winning races, I knew I could do it too.”

Up close the brothers seem to run and cycle with almost balletic grace. Their running stride is so light they appear to float, as I thud clumsily along behind them.

When they cycle, their upper bodies remain perfectly still while I awkwardly wriggle around. But despite their elite talent, the brothers still take part in fun local sporting events alongside amateur athletes. They enjoy local fell-running and trail-running races, including the Auld Lang Syne Race on New Year’s Eve and the Bunny Run at Easter, which are both held near the Pennine village of Haworth. “Some of the local events are proper old country races with marquees in the fields, cake contests and cow judging and that kind of thing,” says Alistair. “There is a local man called Dave Woodhead who organises a lot of the races with his wife Eileen and their races have a lovely friendly atmosphere.”

The brothers are clearly proud of their heritage, which is why they set up the Brownlee Foundation to encourage children to be active. To date the foundation has enabled 10,000 primary school children to have a go at a minitriathlon in the hope they will get as much pleasure from at least one of the sports as Alistair and Jonny have.

Every September they host the Brownlee Tri at Harewood House to encourage newcomers to sample the sport they love. “There has been a big shift in the perception of triathlons in Britain,” says Alistair. “People thought it was a sport that only mad people do, but now everybody realises it’s a popular sport that anyone can have a go at.”

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Clockwise from top left: Alistair Brownlee. The brothers celebrate finishing first and second in Rio. Alistair wins in Leeds.

Putting in the training miles with Mark. The conditions are perfect for training in Yorkshire. Jonny Brownlee.

Huge local crowds greeted the Brownlees when the ITU World Triathlon Series - the primary annual international series for elite triathletes – came to Leeds last June, with 80,000 spectators lining the streets.

Alistair finished first with Jonny coming in second and the older brother has admitted that the experience of winning a home town race was unique. “I think I have said that the Olympics (in London) was the best race I have ever raced in, but now I think that just beat it,” he said afterwards. Jonny agreed: “I wanted to slap as many hands as I could in the crowd, but I was just too tired. The race was simply incredible.” The event returns to Leeds on 10-11 June this year and the Brownlees will be keen to repeat their success.

But who will come out on top? The brothers have always enjoyed a playful rivalry. As kids they would argue over games of Monopoly or engage in spontaneous sword fights with wooden sticks. But at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Cozumel, Mexico, last September, they were involved in an iconic moment of sportsmanship. Jonny was leading the race and in pursuit of his second world title when the heat and humidity reduced his legs to jelly. As Alistair came along behind him, he grabbed his brother by the shoulder and ushered him over the line in a bold but ultimately futile attempt to help his brother win the title.

The gesture triggered a wave of positive responses around the world. US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres got in touch to invite them onto her show. Prime Minister Theresa May even mentioned it in her Conservative party conference speech. But despite the furore, the Brownlees insist such fraternal help is a rarity. “Our rule is that we help each other if we can and it isn’t going to affect our own chances,” says Alistair, with a smile. “But in a sprint finish it would be each man for himself.”

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WELCOME TO SELBY

Clockwise from top left: Summit Indoor Adventure.

Cycling in the Selby district. Selby Abbey. RSPB Fairburn Ings.

HIDDEN GEM Firmly on the map as one of Yorkshire’s most charming market towns, the never ending green fields and abbey that dominates the town centre both took centre stage as Selby hosted day two of the Tour de Yorkshire in 2015.

A misty autumn morning or a fresh spring evening will unveil the stunning scenery at Brayton Barff or why not spend a few hours exploring the 66 acres at one of Yorkshire Water’s many reservoirs open to the public? With vast meadows and shady glens, this is a great place to connect with nature, take the dogs, take the children or go for a peaceful stroll. If you prefer your green space more manicured, head over to Selby Park where you’ll find five acres of space to explore right in the heart of town, play a quick round of mini golf or while away an afternoon in the pavilion.

For family friendly fun head to RSPB Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve and watch the dragonflies skim the water and feed the ducks, or for an adrenalin fuelled day, try Summit Indoor Adventure where you can climb,

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skate, ski, trek, play and bowl your way to the best day of your life.

The ever-popular charity bike ride, Selby’s Three Swans Sportive is a great opportunity to enjoy the scenic Yorkshire countryside as flat and quiet roads take riders through picturesque villages en-route from Selby Abbey.

Music, comedy and theatre are all on offer at Selby Town Hall - if you haven’t been to one of the many events they hold every year, now is the time to visit. An intimate venue, you have to be quick to snap up tickets here! Before you head out for a night of fun you could unwind at the fabulous Mackinder Farm Holiday Lodges. Peaceful and relaxing, be sure to book a lodge with a hot tub.

To really make your visit to the area special why not visit the stunning Abbey House Restaurant, with its

exceptionally elegant interior and food alike, this is somewhere special in the midst of this wonderful market town.

Open since late 2015, it hasn’t taken long for Abbey House to secure its place on the map.

There is always something to do in Selby! Foodies will love Selby Food Festival held each August, with cookery demonstrations and street performances providing entertainment for the whole family. The beer festival in July always draws a crowd, often selling out before the night - this is one to get in your diary early. This year sees Selby’s inaugural arts festival held over one week in summer; an event that is sure to bring the town together to enjoy the music, dance and theatre on offer.

Located in picturesque Yorkshire countryside, Selby is an excellent base for a short break or holiday.

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DELICIOUS

That’s the spirit Yorkshire is enjoying the highest growth in premium gin sales anywhere outside of London.

David Parkin takes to the gin trail to meet its makers and find the best places to drink it. hey used to prescribe the waters of Harrogate on the National Health Service. In Victorian times, upmarket visitors were recommended to visit the spa town for at least six weeks to fully benefit from its restorative qualities.

The genteel North Yorkshire retreat is better known for Bettys rather than booze.

Just around the corner from the historic tearooms is a new phenomenon which combines the Harrogate waters with a historical alcoholic drink which is undergoing a modern renaissance - gin.

Here you will find a place that doesn’t so much pay tribute to this spirit made from juniper berries as toast it to the heavens. Step off the sloping street and into a beautiful former townhouse converted into an apothecary, where you can learn about the unique history of gin, and taste some of the 100 gins and 50 tonics in store.

The Slingsby Spirit of Harrogate Gin Experiences are fast becoming a must-do for locals and tourists alike.

Dublin has its Guinness Brewery tour and Edinburgh its Scotch whisky tastings, now Harrogate’s Gin Experiences are on the map too. Behind the venture are entrepreneurs Marcus Black and Mike Carthy, who run £30m drinks company ICB, but wanted to create a premium artisan brand. They spent a year developing their idea before launching Slingsby Gin in September 2015 - named after William Slingsby who discovered the first spa water well in Harrogate in 1571.

“We wanted to do something that represented the place where we live and work,” says Marcus. Slingsby Gin doesn’t just take its name from Harrogate, it is made with Harrogate Spa Water, Taylors Green & Jasmine Tea and 12 of its 24 botanicals including rhubarb and sweet cicely, are hand grown in the kitchen garden of the town’s Rudding Park Hotel.

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With the premium gin market enjoying yearly growth of 20 per cent in the UK, the creators of Slingsby Gin hoped they had tapped into a winning formula.

Within six months of launch, Slingsby had sold more than 6,000 of its distinctive blue bottles. It was selected as one of just three gins at double Michelin starred restaurant L’Enclume and was Harrods’ fastest selling gin over Christmas, before winning a clutch of international spirits awards.

Slingsby Rhubarb Gin followed and Navy Strength was launched at Cowes Week in 2016.

The Spirit of Harrogate apothecary-style store and tasting room developed from a simple idea to create a pop-up shop in Harrogate as a way to launch the gin to locals and tourists.

“It was a reasonably small idea that got bigger,” admits Marcus, “this gives us an opportunity to sell to people day in day out and see customers’ reactions.”

“It wasn’t expected to wash its face and now it is a profit centre part of our business,” adds Mike.

“You come in as a consumer and you are offered a gin and tonic.

“For every sample we offer we have had about £28 of revenue.” The pair point to their young team as being behind the idea of offering gin experiences to visitors.

“We would be lying if we said we set out to offer gin experiences to people. The young guys have developed the whole concept,” says Marcus.

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And their Slingsby Dry and Rhubarb gins sit on the shelves alongside more than 100 others, accompanied by 53 different types of tonic and other mixers.

Ascend the stairs from the ground floor shop and you enter what can only be described as a true gin palace appealing to aficionados and those new to the spirit alike.

In one room a series of historical artefacts and plaques charts the history of gin through the centuries from its origins in the Dutch Republic in the early 17th century to the hundreds of brands of modern gin you can drink today.

Next door, in a ‘mixology’ area, you can relax in beautifully upholstered seats, sipping your gin while gazing out over The Stray, 200 acres of open grassland that wraps around the historic spa town in a verdant hug.

From London dry gins to sloe gins, to navy strength gin (probably the reason that Britain ruled the waves for so long), you can take your own tour through a world of gin. The Spirit of Gin experience takes you through the history of gin, finding out the origins of famous phrases like ‘mother’s ruin’ and ‘Dutch courage’.

The Cocktail Master class sees the Slingsby mixologists sharing their top tips on creating the best cocktails. And the Just the Tonic experience focuses on the less celebrated partner in a classic G&T. As well as welcoming more visitors to its Spirit of Harrogate experience, the Slingsby team have

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A flavour of Yorkshire gin

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Sloemotion Sloe Gin

Masons Yorkshire Gin

Founded in 2002, Sloemotion is a small family business based at Green Farm in the village of Barton-le-Willows, near the market town of Malton in North Yorkshire.

Having set up the venture with farming neighbours, after seeing large amounts of sloe berries growing in the hedgerows surrounding his farmland, Jonathan Curtoys and his wife Claire took on Sloemotion in 2006. Over the last 10 years the business has expanded from its original Sloe Gin to launch a popular Sloe Whisky and a range of nine hedgerow fruit liqueurs.

Masons Yorkshire Gin was born when gin fan Karl Mason told his wife Cathy all the gins he was trying were too “similar”, so he decided to create one that was “different”.

From that 'throwaway comment' Masons Dry Yorkshire Gin emerged triumphant, using less juniper in order to bring out the taste of the nine secret botanicals it contains.

The Bedale-based business now does all its distilling in-house, has grown its own juniper bushes, is selling its gin everywhere from Harvey Nichols to farm shops and has plans to open a gin bar in Bedale in 2017.

Yorkshire Gin Bars

Whittaker's Gin

Plenty of gin bars have sprung up in Yorkshire in recent years. York has a clutch of popular venues including the Best Western Monkbar Hotel which has doubled its range of the trendy tipple to more than 50.

It might be known for steak and ale, but York’s The Whippet Inn on North Street also has a dedicated gin bar, while the city’s Sutlers Bar & Kitchen, in the former Army & Navy store on Fossgate, carries a wide range of gins, as does The Attic in King’s Square.

Pintura in Trinity Leeds, is not far behind with its range of tipples. Other Leeds bars with plenty of gin to sample include The Pour House in Granary Wharf and Manahatta on Merrion Street which serves a 5th Avenue Fizz, a mix of gin, lemon, lime, double cream, pomegranate and egg white.

Whittaker’s Gin was created by husband and wife Toby and Jane Whittaker and is distilled at their farm in the heart of Nidderdale in North Yorkshire. The couple trained in distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and distill their gin in drums imported from Kentucky in the USA but make their small-batch gin from a variety of local ingredients, including bog myrtle from the Yorkshire countryside, hawthorne berries, bilberries, thyme from their garden and water from a natural source on their property. Whittaker’s Gin is sold in a variety of independent shops, restaurants and bars around Yorkshire as well as in Majestic Wines and online as well as being named Fortnum and Mason spirit of the month.

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“We were at a bit of a loose end,” explains Russell when asked how he and Kirstie came up with the concept for Rusty Shears.

“We wanted to launch a tea room, we knew the place came with a licence to serve alcohol and we were wondering what would make it stand out.

“We wanted to make it ‘a most unusual tea room’,” he says. “When we looked at opening a café we realised that the gin explosion was happening and thought about the idea of combining the café with a gin bar.

“We started with 25 gins and now there are 120 gins on the bar and there are always new ones coming in. We make our own infusions, we make a fig gin using figs we pick from the tree in our courtyard.”

The couple refurbished the venue themselves and stocked it with a range of furniture, crockery and teapots all collected during their travels.

Dogs are welcome and Rusty Shears will serve them a ‘doggychino’ of frothy cold milk on top of a bowl of water. My dog loved it.

A mash-up of the quaint and the contemporary with a laid back atmosphere and over 100 gins. a busy year ahead with Mike developing new flavours including a Spanish-inspired strawberry gin and then perhaps a Harrogate whisky and vodka.

“The foundations are there, the Spirit of Harrogate does indeed lend itself to a whole range of products,” says Mike.

And then what? “I would love to look out over the Stray and see a distillery and visitor centre,” confides Marcus.

“Is it a dream? Yes, but so was this, three years ago.”

Gin by the sea To call Rusty Shears Vintage Tea Shop in Whitby quirky would be doing it a disservice. To call it a tea shop, café, bistro or bar would be too.

Tucked away in Silver Street on the seaside town’s West Cliff, Rusty Shears is a tea room that is a mash-up of the quaint and the contemporary and stocks over 100 different gins, including a fig-infused gin made from fruit picked from the tree growing in its courtyard.

Since it opened in June 2014, the brainchild of Russell Hirst and Kirstie Shears (hence the name) has become a hugely popular destination for discerning tourists and locals alike. Rusty Shears is inspired by the couple’s experiences travelling around Europe in a camper van after Russell sold his stake in his fourth generation family bakery firm in South London.

It is housed in a 17th century former coaching inn said to have once been home to Surgeon Anderson who sailed on two voyages with explorer Captain Cook.

Favourable reviews in the press, including the Yorkshire Post, have helped the profile of Rusty Shears, as has local support too, says Russell. “Many of the local B&Bs have semi-adopted us as their place to come for a bit of a chill out and so they recommend it to their guests.”

Music played ranges from 1940s jazz to house, all adding to the laid back atmosphere typified by Russell, who admits the idea to stock a huge range of gins wasn’t part of the initial plans.

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Their owners can enjoy the fruits of Russell and Kirstie’s culinary talents with a menu bursting with mouth-watering dishes such as cauliflower cake, mushroom and halloumi burger and sausage and black pudding plait.

“If people have had a bite to eat they may have a gin after their meal. And if one person orders a gin there is a knock-on effect!” says Russell. Sharing boards are also served for those wanting to soak up some of the gin.

Rusty Shears has a sale room with lamps and other gifts made by local crafts people.

Russell says the skull-shaped lamp always proves popular during the annual Whitby Goth Weekend.

Experience Fancy doing something a little different? Look no further than The Slingsby Experience, Harrogate, offering three private tasting packages for you to choose from: The Spirit of Gin, The Cocktail Master and Just the Tonic.

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DELICIOUS

CAPITAL billion pound industry, a workforce numbering 100,000, a vital part of the chain of business for the region - and it all begins with magic.

I say magic and you imagine a top hat, white rabbits and a deck of cards. I’m not talking about sleight of hand but about real, actual magic.

It’s the kind of magic that happens when creative people take a handful of spices, add it to meat and vegetables and turn it into something that satiates your appetite, that slakes your thirst, that transports you in space and time and in ways you had hitherto never imagined food was able.

Take a mouthful of this magic and you could be in the markets of Kashmir, or the bazaars of Bangladesh. An explosion in the mouth and bang, you’re in a different place.

Bradford, curries. Curries, Bradford. Just as wool was once synonymous with the proud Northern city and its great fortunes, now you can’t imagine the city without immediately the senses conjuring up the unique aroma of curry.

It’s fascinating to take a stroll around Bradford and see how the city has embraced its title of Curry Capital of Britain, unofficial for years, now a literal badge of honour.

Stand in the centre of the city, these days pinpointed so beautifully

by City Park, the water feature that the naysayers told us would never work, and you are faced with a fascinating dilemma.

North, South, East or West?

You go in any direction, literally, and you will very soon come upon award winning, mouth-watering, tastebud tingling curries.

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Bradford has been crowned Curry Capital of Britain for six consecutive years. With over 200 Asian restaurants to choose from, Nick Ahad goes on the hunt for the perfect curry and how to make it.

BRADFOR

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www.yorkshire.com/ delicious

Yorkshire’s celebrations of food 1

MALTON FOOD LOVERS FESTIVAL

Malton Weaving together food, farming and fun. Try the best locally sourced organic meats to awardwinning beers.

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RD CURRY

DALES FESTIVAL OF FOOD AND DRINK

Leyburn Celebrating the best delicious food and drink the Yorkshire Dales has to offer in Leyburn on 17 and 18 June.

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LIQUORICE FESTIVAL

Pontefract Love liquorice? Then you’ll love the annual festival held in the heart of Pontefract each July. Explore the town centre and browse the colourful stalls of the market.

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YUM! FESTIVAL OF FOOD & DRINK

Hull Hull city centre becomes a hub of activity in July, with food markets, street food and live cooking demonstrations.

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Clockwise from top left: Bradford has loads more going for it than just curry. The chefs hard at work in the Aagrah kitchens.

The World Curry Festival.

Experience City park is Bradford’s brilliant multi-award winning public space.

The Mirror Pool is the largest urban water feature in the UK. It can be a cool, tranquil and misty space, a huge reflective watery mirror, a bubbling, squirting, popping and splashing fountain display, a beautifully lit aqueous light display or a thunderous 100ft water cannon.

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South: you’ll go up past the Alhambra and be faced with the decision of left or right at the fork in the road. Go left you go to the sophisticated Omar Khan’s or the Kashmir with its formica tables and reputation for the best value curry in the city. Go right you go to the young pretenders Lahore or the old hands Mumtaz.

Back to City Park and head North you go to the ones that began it all, the internationally renowned Sweet Centre on Lumb Lane, onto a third generation of owners now and the oldest curry house in the city. Keep heading North and you hit the one that took the whole business of curry to a new and professional level, Aagrah.

Head East, in the direction of Bradford’s brother city, Leeds, and you go up Leeds Road.

Jinnah, Akbar’s, Aagrah’s Midpoint venue, all with reputations that precede them.

Head West and it is towards Thornton you go, passing...you get the picture.

The question of why Bradford became this Mecca of curry is often asked and surprisingly easily answered. When the wool industry was booming, the factories needed to be staffed.

Adverts were taken out in former British colonies, asking for (cheap) labour to head to London and turn North. Men came to work in those factories from present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and when they arrived, quickly discerned that the meat and two veg diet of 1960s Britain would simply not suffice.

Fast forward half a century and the warp and

weft of the city is indelibly woven with exotic spices and the curries made with them.

The Sweet Centre sits on Lumb Lane, one of the less salubrious parts of the city. It is here where I first tasted curry on my father’s knee, at the city’s oldest curry house. Many will remember the long lines of Asian men who sat at the counter eating chana puri, a breakfast of chickpea curry with fried sweet chapati. Downstairs, in the basement, was the main event. These days Ainsley Harriot and Len Goodman are among the celebrity friends of the restaurant - they filmed there for a BBC TV show about great food in 2016. The Sweet Centre has moved out of the basement.

While the Sweet Centre, in situ for over fifty years, is the progenitor, in 1977 when Aagrah opened was the moment that something shifted.

In the line of duty, I visited the man who now runs the empire, Mohammed Aslam. The business was begun by his father Mohammed Sabir MBE, and Mr Aslam readily admits that he was not the man to take over the business.

Not at first.

In the kitchen of the Shipley Aagrah, where it all began, he walks me through the cooking of a monkfish and a chicken curry.

“You can give this recipe to someone who isn’t a chef, they can do the exact same thing with the ingredients, and it won’t be the same,” he laughs. Mr Aslam appears to have been created in a kitchen himself, the perfect balance of ingredients to make him both chef and showman.

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Clockwise from top left: Fresh spices are key to the perfect curry.

Traditional bread making techniques.

Serving up delicious curry in Mumtaz. Making hot curries in more ways than one.

the city is indelibly woven with exotic spices

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COOKING UP PERFECT CURRY If the secret to Bradford’s curry success is that the city brings the people food that’s just like mama used to make, then I needed to find someone who could help me with that authentic taste.

Rahila Hussain, the Bradford former teacher who emerged triumphant from TV series Food Glorious Food, is currently working on a book featuring some of her recipes. She learnt to cook at home, winning the TV show meant her recipes went on the shelves of M&S, she was the perfect person to show me some home cooking.

I had a chef who could do some home cooking, now I just needed a home kitchen.

Step forward Zulfi Karim. He is the mastermind behind Bradford’s World Curry Festival, bringing the world’s best curry to the city which is home to the UK’s best curries. The annual event is a huge success for the city in bringing people in, in celebrating what is already here and in helping remind people that Bradford is a city with vibrance and spice.

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Zulfi was bound to find us a kitchen in which Rahila could show me some home cooked food. He did. His own.

A bright September afternoon and we’re in the kitchen of Zulfi’s Saltaire home. Okra (bindi, lady fingers, however you might know them) are being washed, wiped, sliced and fried and in half an hour’s time are being eaten. There is genuine confusion. How can something so quick, easy and surprisingly healthy taste so good.

“This is the message people need to hear and it’s why we brought the World Curry Festival to Bradford,” says Zulfi.

“There was a time when curry was the thing that you shovelled down after drinking several pints with your mates, but it just isn’t like that anymore. We have genuine world class food in this city and that’s why the World Curry Festival attracts such big names.”

It’s also something that the lucky among us have in our backyard. Maybe we should make a little more of that fact.

Experience Whether you are a novice or a kitchen pro, cookery schools across Yorkshire have something to offer everyone. Experienced chefs teach you the tricks of the trade, and of course along with the learning comes the tasting! Take a look at yorkshire.com for more inspiration.

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HOT SPOTS

Aagrah Restaurants

Providing stunning Kashmiri cuisine since 1977 in North and West Yorkshire.

All the restaurants offer a high standard of dining in elegant surroundings

The Sweet Centre Restaurant, Bradford

Opened in 1964 this is a Bradford institution, where a warm welcome and generous portions are always available.

Prashad, Bradford

Famous for superb vegetarian Indian food. The only Indian restaurant in Yorkshire to have a 2 Star AA Award for Culinary Excellence.

Mumtaz, Leeds

Visit Mumtaz in their stunning waterside venue at Clarence Dock. Old family recipes create great food that makes you feel like part of the family.

Top to bottom: The World Curry Festival in Bradford has been an enormous success. Cooking on hot coals.

“I was given a second chance to come into the business.

The first time I ruined it because I didn’t have the right attitude, the right spirit. But the second time I made it work.”

You can say that again.

A turnover that runs into millions from the family run empire of 14 restaurants is where Aagrah stands today.

As Mr Aslam guides me through the steps of making a perfect curry what’s striking is the simplicity. A pinch of salt, a tablespoon of turmeric, a good handful of coriander.

I’m allowed to stir the onions. The addition of the spices is, entirely correctly, the domain of Chef Aslam. He doesn’t appear to be measuring things. Heston Blumenthal would be horrified.

“You have to have fire in your belly. You measure things, but it’s not like we say 100 grams of this or an exact teaspoon of that. You have to feel it,” he says.

And that’s when I finally find the key, the secret.

Why there are so many curry houses in Bradford is an easy one to answer. Why they are so good is a little more complicated.

“Home cooking. We make it just like home food. That is the secret, we give people a taste of proper, true home cooking,” says Aslam.

I’ve heard that somewhere before. In fact, it’s the whole brilliant marketing notion that has exported the idea of Italian food as one of the world’s great cuisines around the world: it’s just like mama used to make.

Turns out that is the reason Bradford is the UK’s Curry Capital - officially now - of the past six years. Nobody does it better.

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Sukothai, Leeds

Sukhothai has become known as one of the premier Thai dining establishments in the region, offering authentic Thai food and five star service.

Rumi’s, Beverley

Winner of ‘Best Newcomer Award’ at the Curry Awards 2016 Rumi’s offer their own brand of beer to accompany your meal.

Tapasya, Hull

Tapasya offers customers fine dining in stunning surroundings, elevating Indian cuisine to another level with traditional dishes and exciting new creations.

Zaap Thai, Leeds

If you’re looking for a buzzing Bangkok market atmosphere and want to taste real street food then head down to the Grand Arcade in Leeds city centre.

All Siam Thai, Sheffield

The All Siam Thai menu offers freshly prepared authentic Thai food full of choice, flavour and attention to detail.

A true taste of Thailand.

Chaophraya, Leeds

With first class service and a bustling atmosphere, Chaophraya is a true icon in the city centre drawing visitors from far and wide.

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WELCOME TO THE YORKSHIRE COAST

Clockwise from left: Robin Hood’s Bay. Staithes.

The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

BIG SKIES, OPEN SEAS Discover Yorkshire’s stunning coastline - 3,000 plus years of history, award-winning beaches and quaint fishing villages.

The Yorkshire Coast, with traditional resorts to picturesque fishing communities, is perfect for a family holiday, foodies searching for the freshest produce or outdoor enthusiasts exploring bike tracks and water-sports.

Whitby is synonymous with a walk up the 199 steps. It is understandable why the haunting remains of Whitby Abbey, perched high on a cliff, were inspiration for Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and The Dracula Experience.

rocky peninsula of Filey Brigg offers a dramatic landscape or Filey’s Blue Flag Beach for relaxation. Filey Bird Garden/Animal Centre, Glenn Gardens and Filey Country Park are all perfect for wildlife enthusiasts.

Scarborough’s Alpamare Waterpark is a thrilling day out. Visit the refurbished Market Hall & Vaults for shopping with a difference in a labyrinth of treasure troves, or come up for air at Scarborough Castle with its panoramic views of both bays. Check out Stephen Joseph Theatre’s year round programme or Scarborough Open Air Theatre, the largest open air theatre in Europe and Scarborough Spa Orchestra, the last remaining professional seaside orchestra.

Encounter history everywhere.

Pannett Park is a beautiful, historic garden housing Whitby Museum.

Discover hidden gems at Whitby Jet Heritage Centre, or discover a world of exploration at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum and live music and festivals at Whitby Pavilion.

Robin Hood’s Bay, a charming coastal village with a smuggling history, clings to the cliff and tumbles steeply to the beach amidst intriguing alleyways.

Enjoy the breath-taking scenery by foot on the Coast to Coast Walk, by bike or by horse at the Farsyde Riding Centre. A different and exciting way to explore is with a 4x4 vehicle with North Yorkshire Off Road Centre.

Cycle along The Cinder Track, the old railway line from Scarborough to Whitby, or relive parts of the Tour de Yorkshire from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay, finishing at Oliver’s Mount.

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Fish and chips are a must when visiting the coast but for those looking for something different, try one of the many fantastic restaurants including The White Horse and Griffin in Whitby or Lanterna in Scarborough.

Filey has a fascinating history. It is a relaxed Edwardian resort perfect for families and wildlife lovers. The narrow

The fishing village of Staithes is the location for CBeebies Old Jack’s Boat and home to the Staithes group of artists. Visit Staithes Studios Gallery then taste fresh seafood at the Cod & Lobster, Endeavour Restaurant with Rooms and Cleveland Corner.

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WELCOME TO REDCar and cleveland

HIDDEN TREASURES

A stunning area, spectacular scenery and inspiring historical sites mixed with a dramatic coastline and unexplored countryside offers a destination full of contrasts and surprises. A day out is guaranteed to be full of fun, adventure and memories so take a deep breath, soak up the sea air and blow away those cobwebs in wide open spaces.

Clockwise from above: Saltburn Pier. Redcar races.

The water balanced Saltburn Cliff Lift. Saltburn Food Festival. The picturesque Gisborough Priory.

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Fascinating stories from days gone by are told beautifully through the many attractions and museums in the area.

Redcar boasts an array of museums, galleries and monuments showcasing the town’s rich history and heritage.

Marvel at the world’s oldest lifeboat ‘The Zetland’ housed in the Zetland Lifeboat and Redcar Heritage Centre.

Situated just outside of Redcar, Kirkleatham Museum is a treasure trove of artefacts and exhibitions housed within a magnificent 1710 Queen Anne building.

The delightful coastal town Saltburnby-the-Sea bestows plenty of Victorian charm and thrills. From the water balanced Saltburn Cliff Lift to the last remaining pleasure pier in Yorkshire!

Journey between town and beach with a ride on the cliff lift and gaze at some marvellous views, before disembarking alongside Saltburn’s magnificent 600ft long Victorian pier.

Positioned between Redcar and Saltburn, discover the history of Marske-by-the-Sea with a visit to Winkies Castle. Founded by Master Shoemaker Jack Anderson in 1975, Winkies Castle houses many unique hands-on artefacts. The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, Skinningrove, offers visitors an exciting and authentic underground experience where you can explore the customs, life and skills of the Cleveland Miners.

Enjoy a stroll along the broad cobbled streets of Guisborough. A historic market town that lies at the foot of the Cleveland Hills. Today the remains of the tall tower of Gisborough Priory sits admirably within the town, offering a taste of outstanding gothic architecture.

Immerse yourself in nature within Guisborough Forest, an ideal location to explore the surrounding countryside. Attractive views over

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Guisborough and Roseberry Topping make this a popular destination for walkers and cyclists. Why not venture up Roseberry Topping, a distinctive and iconic landmark, with a profile that has earned it the nickname of the Yorkshire Matterhorn.

The coastline is a haven for many water sports enthusiasts. For those in the know, the Yorkshire Coast is becoming something of a surfing mecca. Good beach breaks for beginners are found in Saltburn, either side of the pier and are best at high tide, and Saltburn Surf School offers the opportunity for the adventurous to experience the thrills of surfing for themselves. A popular area for windsurfing and kite surfing is Coatham Beach. Redcar offers a range of choices for fishing, from flat sandy beaches to heavy rocky gullies.

Saltburn is a very popular destination all year round from the pier, as the high tide makes fishing in deeper water more attractive.

The unique atmosphere created at Redcar Racecourse, coupled with excellent facilities, guarantees that you’ll have a truly memorable day out.

Whatever your handicap or level of experience you’ll find a golf course to suit you in Redcar and Cleveland.

Saltburn Golf Course was designed by the legendary course architect and five-time Open Championship winner James Braid in 1894.

The area is full of creative people, so it is no surprise that it’s home to some fantastic public art. The Left Luggage Sculpture on Redcar Esplanade celebrates the filming in 2007 of movie blockbuster ‘Atonement’, while at the end of Saltburn’s Marine Parade stands a unique metal-sculpted memorial to Henry Pease, the Quaker visionary who founded the town.

Performances take place in the picturesque surroundings of Kirkleatham Museum and Gisborough Priory. Shakespearean plays and children’s classics are incorporated into the outdoor theatre programme.

Saltburn Folk Festival is the area’s premier event of folk music, dance and song.

Enjoy a world of delicious dining and discover a wide variety of local, national and international food. The annual Saltburn Food Festival sees Milton Street transformed into a buzzing festival village and is a huge celebration of local food including a bustling street market. Tockett’s Restaurant at Gisborough Hall is regarded as one of the finest in the whole of the North East. For refined dining Brockley Hall Hotel in Saltburn offers a quirky decorated restaurant with influences from Moulin Rouge, Raffles and the Orient Express. Also in Saltburn, enjoy ‘wholesome hospitality from a bygone era’, at the Yorkshire Pie & Mash Shop, while appreciating the World War Two themed surroundings. There's also the award winning Seaview Restaurant, where you can enjoy the very best fish and chip dining experience.

The King’s Head Inn in the picturepostcard village of Newton under Roseberry is your gateway to the North York Moors National Park. This charming inn serves up traditional Yorkshire fayre to the highest standards. Based in a converted barn at Grinkle Park Farm, the Arches Cookery School offers over 70 courses ranging from entertaining for friends, farm to fork through to gorgeous baking and bread courses.

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ARTISTIC

Behind the Scenes It was billed as the next Downton Abbey but this time it was filmed in Yorkshire. ITV’s Victoria has been a resounding success with filming underway this year for series two. This is Y goes behind the scenes of the TV smash hit.

Clockwise from top left: Filming on the move.

Jenna Coleman stars as Queen Victoria. Harewood House near Leeds. Jenna with Rufus Sewell during the first season. Newby Hall in North Yorkshire. Amazing costumes and incredible locations helped make Victoria a hit.

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eel back the face of Harewood House last winter and something magical was taking place. As the gates were closed for another season, the majestic stately home began to be transformed into a palace fit for a Queen.

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace to be precise. Giant catering, costume and makeup trucks filled the car park, scaffolding with lighting rigs covered the house face and runners carried props in and out of the rooms as scenes were changed and shot.

Harewood House played a part in bringing to life the story of Queen Victoria a tiny (4’11”), neglected teenager who overnight became Queen and eventually the most powerful woman in the world.

The ITV drama starring Jenna Coleman, Rufus Sewell and Tom Hughes, drew in average audiences of 7.6 million per episode last autumn, before airing in America on the Sunday night time slot which Downton Abbey occupied for six years.

David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood, said: “It’s bigger than anything we have ever had here. We’ve done bits and pieces over the years and we have had Emmerdale on site since 1997 which has been great. We took the decision two or three years ago to go for it (hosting film crews). It’s a delicate thing in a house full of precious objects so we have to balance the priority of looking after the film crew properly and looking after our primary responsibility.”

But balance it they did and throughout six months of this year, the film crew are back again to shoot series two. The fine line between accommodating film crews and preserving precious antiques is no mean feat.

Take the Axminster carpet in the Yellow Drawing Room. Thought to date from around 1780, it’s one of only eight carpets across the country which remain within the original Robert Adam schemes.

“It’s a very significant piece of work,” said Alexis Guntrip, marketing manager at Harewood House. “So in order for them to film in here we had to move this carpet out of this room which is easier said than done. It’s heavy, it’s massive and required support from special conservation textilists. We had to have its condition checked. Imagine trying to roll a biscuit – that’s what we were trying to do!”

Over in the Cinnamon Drawing Room and in the largest room of the house – the Gallery – all bulbs had to be removed from light fittings and picture lights which shine on the 29 Renaissance paintings to transform the rooms into the pre-lightbulb Victorian period.

“The only problem for us,” says Alexis, “Is that once the crew go home, there are no lights left so it was ‘interesting’ trying to find our way to the door in the dark!”

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Top to bottom: Castle Howard.

Beverley Minster, also was used as Westminster Abbey and St James' Palace for the hugely impressive coronation and wedding scenes.

Carlton Towers.

EXPERIENCE A new film trail will take visitors on a self-guided tour of the house and gardens at Castle Howard, highlighting those areas which have had starring roles on screen from Brideshead Revisited and Lady L to Death Comes to Pemberley, Victoria and even Garfield 2!

DON'T MISS To celebrate the success of Victoria, the opulent rooms on Harewood House’s State Floor will come to life with costumes from the programme.

Outfits worn by Jenna Coleman who plays Queen Victoria will be displayed throughout the 2017 season.

24 March – 29 October 2017.

DISCOVER

Rooms were stripped of antiques by specialist staff at Harewood, while the film crew brought in furniture to create the right feel for camera.

The kitchen which normally exhibits a huge collection of copper pots was brought to life with roaring fires in the ovens, smoke machines and special effects to recreate a busy working kitchen in Buckingham Palace.

Light switches were covered over by the crew who boxed them off and painted them to match the wall colours and some of the house’s 14,000 book, which are marked with a white tag to highlight repairs, had to be delicately covered with a black tag to blend into the book shelves.

It was a similar story for Castle Howard – first made famous by TV hit Brideshead Revisited back in the 1980s.

As the Victoria crew moved in, the stately home’s team worked to protect their artefacts collected by generations of the Howard family. They also worked with the crew to change the face of the rooms. And for one week, Castle Howard doubled as Kensington Palace - all while the house remained open to the public.

Hannah Cooke from Castle Howard said: “Although it’s a balancing act between keeping the house and gardens open to the public while ensuring the production team

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Yorkshire has provided the perfect backdrop for many much loved and widely seen television and film productions.

In fact, such is Yorkshire’s close relationship with the film industry, that Bradford has been named the world’s first UNESCO City of Film.

are happy, visitors loved getting a glimpse of some of the famous faces in costumes as they moved between the set and the green room.”

At Newby Hall near Ripon, some of the rooms became Brooks, a Gentlemen’s Club situated in Mayfair.

The Statue Gallery and the Library were transformed into a smoky 19th century club where Lord Melbourne and the Duke of Wellington would discuss the important issues of the day.

Also used were some of the exteriors, and the cellars and attics which are not open to the public, but became kitchens at Kensington Palace and attics at Buckingham Palace.

Meanwhile Carlton Towers, the private family home of Lord and Lady Fitzalan Howard, which was transformed into Windsor Castle. general manager Helena Briden said: “The epic grandeur of our Venetian state room, the Card room and Armoury provided the most breathtaking backdrop. Watching how the sets came to life was fascinating.”

Victoria didn’t just see Yorkshire’s stately homes and landscapes transformed. A big pull for the production team Mammoth was Screen Yorkshire’s newly launched Church Fenton Studios, a former RAF base located half-way between Leeds and York. Victoria was the first production to film at the studios.

Executive producer Dan McCulloch said Yorkshire stood out as the perfect place to shoot the production thanks to the easy access between the studios, stately homes and Harrogate where the cast and crew stayed.

“The whole shoot was six months long with a break at Christmas. There’s the Church Fenton Airfield with this wonderful hangar we could convert into a studio to build Buckingham Palace. It had height - which is hard to find these days - which could host the ambitious set we wanted and we had all these wonderful stately homes around us: it became clear this was where we should be based.

“We also thought Harrogate was a lovely place to base our cast because of the quality of the hotels, there’s lots to do and the mixture of contemporary culture and history was perfect.”

Screen Yorkshire say the studios are a game changer for attracting large scale productions. Creative England provided crew and locations support and helped with securing filming permissions for the shoot. Series two is being filmed from February to July and is due to be screened later this year.

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WELCOME TO WEST YORKSHIRE

SIMPLY THE WEST Discover the endless hidden surprises of West Yorkshire, the inspiring landscape, diverse culture, electric cities, traditional market towns and picturesque villages.

With a long industrial heritage, West Yorkshire has a rich and fascinating history. Many parts of West Yorkshire sat at the heart of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom, and today, the region’s many museums, shopping centres, railways and Victorian architecture are testament to this. Over in Halifax, a town that blends the old with the new, is Dean Clough Mills, a nationally renowned centre for business and arts, located on a landmark site that was once the world’s largest carpet factory. The Piece Hall, also in Halifax, is set to be reopened this year. This Grade I listed hall completed in 1779 was built to support the trading of cloth.

The stunning hall will reveal an impressive collection of independent shops, galleries, cafés, bars and specialist businesses. Since the middle ages, coal has been mined in Yorkshire, but no great demand for coal existed until the Industrial Revolution. So don a hard hat and descend 140 metres underground to discover the hidden world of mining through the centuries at Wakefield’s National Coal Mining Museum for England.

Let Standedge Tunnel get you right to the heart of the Pennines on a cruise through the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in the country.

Bradford is proud to have once been the wool capital of the world with the likes of pioneers such as Sir Titus Salt, best known for creating what is now the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire. It’s now very much a cultural city and the local artist David Hockney presents a large collection of his works in Saltaire’s 1853 Gallery. Attractions such as the National Media Museum, the Alhambra and the Impressions Gallery champion young emerging talent. Over in Haworth, explore the quaint cobbled Main Street and step out onto the windswept moors which inspired the work of the Brontë sisters, before visiting the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Brontë furniture, clothes and personal possessions.

Discover the beautiful countryside and rugged scenery of the National Trust’s Marsden Moor.

With more than 5000 acres of moorland to explore, there’s always something new to see.

Calderdale’s magnificent scenery provides a range of outdoor activity to suit all. The area offers classic walking country from the uplands of the Pennine Moors, to 400 acres of wooded valley at Hardcastle Crags.

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Situated in the wonderful Wharfe Valley is the quaint town of Ilkley. This famous spa town rose to fame in the 19th century when visitors flocked there for the fresh invigorating air and first class accommodation. Famous for the Cow and Calf Rocks, surrounding moorland and beautiful countryside, Ilkley boasts a selection of excellent restaurants, including the Michelin starred Box Tree, The Black Hat and the famous Bettys Tea Rooms. Why not tie in some of the unmissable events with your visit to this wonderful part of the county such Hebden Bridge Arts Festival or Huddersfield Literature Festival?

West Yorkshire is not short of breweries.

From historic breweries with coppers gleaming under oak-timbered ceilings and mystic brews frothing in antique stone ‘squares’, Yorkshire brewers are always busy producing the fine ales of the county, from Hamelsworde Brewery over in Pontefract, or the quintessentially Yorkshire Timothy Taylors in Keighley, to the inspired range of award-winning beers at Little Valley Brewery near Hebden Bridge. If an ale doesn’t tickle your taste buds, there’s plenty more beverages on offer, in Holmfirth you have the choice of Pure North Cider or a visit to the picturesque Holmfirth Vineyard which is set in seven acres of vineyard with panoramic views of the Holme Valley.

For a more relaxing end to your day, you can tailor your needs at Alexandra House Spa. Tucked away on the outskirts of Huddersfield, the tranquil and rejuvenating style of the intimate spa really is the ideal setting to indulge. Situated south of Wakefield the luxurious spa at Waterton Park Hotel offers you the opportunity to loosen up and unwind.

With fabulous views overlooking Walton Hall there are five treatment rooms, a beauty area and relaxation area.

After all that, it’s time to wind down. No matter what corner of West Yorkshire you are in, you are guaranteed the option of a luxury stay. Shibden Mill Inn nestles in the fold of the Shibden Valley, near Halifax. The 17th century inn is steeped in history and has been sympathetically renovated to retain its original charm and character. Talking of character, the opulent Rogerthorpe Manor is a perfect place to lay your head, just a few miles from the historic town of Pontefract.

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Clockwise from top left: BrontĂŤ Parsonage Museum.

The Cow and Calf rocks on Ilkley Moor. Hardcastle Crags.

Bettys in Ilkley. Salt’s Mill, Saltaire. Stoodley Pike above Hebden Bridge. The Shibden Mill Inn. Standedge Tunnel.

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TOUR DE YORKSHIRE

Hardest place to race Over two million spectators cheered on the second edition of the Tour de Yorkshire as the county was heralded as fast becoming the heartland of cycling

by Tour de France boss Christian Prudhomme.

Peter Cossins looks back to this rapidly growing race.

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Left to right: Thomas Voeckler of Direct Energie celebrates winning the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire.

The peloton makes it way through the Yorkshire countryside during Stage 1. Lizzie Deignan (née Armitstead) leads the way into the final straight of Stage 2. The peloton passes historic Conisbrough Castle on Stage 2. Images © SWpix.

Recovering his breath outside Scarborough’s Corner Café just moments after the final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire had finished, Team Sky’s Luke Rowe offered his assessment of the event’s second edition. “If you race in France in the Alps, you’ve got the climbs. If you race in Holland, you’ve got the cross-winds. But here you’ve got everything. I think the UK is pretty much the hardest place in the world to race,” said the exuberant Rowe. As spectators streamed down from the embankments along the Marine Drive finishing straight and pressed in on all sides, the Welshman could also have added that the Tour de Yorkshire also has a fan base that is the envy of almost every other race on the international cycling calendar.

Building on the success of the inaugural edition, the second Tour de Yorkshire was bigger and better in almost every way. Although

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the weather could have been a little kinder, the line-up featured many more star names, including many of the sport’s top women, who were chasing the biggest prize in women’s cycling. The result was three days of racing that were among the most compelling of the season.

Enthusiasm for the event was evident right from the start in Beverley. Warmed up by the town’s choir, a huge crowd packed Market Place, where the arrival of the well-wrapped Sir Bradley Wiggins drew the biggest cheers. The peloton’s target that first day was another of the county’s beautiful market towns, Settle, with the Wolds and Dales providing plenty of spicy tests in between. Despite the chilly conditions, there was a similar throng in every town, village and categorized climb along the route. At the finish, they were five-deep, as Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen sprinted to victory.

TAKE PART The Maserati Tour de Yorkshire Ride offers a unique opportunity to experience the race atmosphere combined with Yorkshire hospitality and beauty resulting in a dream day.

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Clockwise from top left: Fans line the route.

Stage 2 Yorkshire countryside. The ladies peloton makes its way up Ludwell Hill between Barnburgh and High Melton. Young cycling fans. Lizzie at the start in her home town of Otley. Thomas Voeckler with the iconic Tour de Yorkshire trophy.

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Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Sir Gary Verity had promised a much higher profile for the Asda Tour de Yorkshire’s women’s race in 2016, and the buzz of excitement and crowds in Otley on Saturday morning highlighted that. Most were out to support their own World Road Race Champion, Lizzie Armitstead (now Deignan), who had tears in her eyes as she led the high-class field away from her home town towards Doncaster.

Very aggressive in the closing kilometres, Lizzie was denied by another in-form Dutch sprinter in the shape of Kirsten Wild.

After Groenewegen and Wild, Sky’s Danny van Poppel maintained Holland’s run of success when he led the second stage of the men’s race into Doncaster. That left the overall result hanging on the final stage between Middlesbrough and Scarborough, which was unquestionably the toughest of the race.

The unique beauty of the North York Moors National Park provided the setting for a day of high-octane racing as Rowe and his Sky teammates went all out to blow the race apart and set up leader Nicolas Roche for victory. It seemed their aggressive tactics would pay off when Roche slipped clear of the leading group coming into Scarborough. But 2015 runner-up Thomas Voeckler had still to play his card. The veteran Frenchmen first bridged across to Roche, then led a high-speed descent onto the Marine Drive, before delivering a finishing kick that the Irishman couldn’t match, roared on by the massed ranks gathered at the spectacular finish, which is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most impressive arenas in cycle sport. Voeckler, a hugely popular Frenchman who has taken Yorkshire to his heart, couldn’t have been more delighted and has pledged to return and defend his title.

When he does, his opposition is likely to be stronger than ever thanks to Yorkshire’s successful bid to host the 2019 UCI World Road Race Championships, which will boost the quality of the Tour de Yorkshire field in 2017, just as it cements the country’s status as one of the world’s centres for cycling.

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2017 Tour de Yorkshire

Saturday April 29th

122.5km

Friday April 28th 173km

Sunday April 30th 194.5km

Stage One The race gets going outside Bridlington Spa and passes along the promenade before heading through Driffield and into Pocklington where the first intermediate sprint will be contested. The classified climb up the Côte de Garrowby Hill will get the legs pumping before a brisk descent into Birdsall. The peloton will then sweep through Malton before they pass Flamingo Land and into Pickering. The Hole of Horcum provides a stunning backdrop before the Côte de Goathland and the fast and furious descent of Blue Bank into Sleights. The race hits the coastline again at Whitby and the riders will get a great view of the iconic Abbey as they take on the second sprint of the day. The route then makes a visit to Hawsker before the third KOM is decided at Robin Hood’s Bay. From there it’s full speed through Fylingdales, Cloughton and Burniston and back into Scarborough where the frontrunners will sweep along South Bay, around the castle walls, and onto the now legendary finish into North Bay.

Stage Two The action for the men’s and women’s race starts on the newly re-opened Tadcaster Bridge and takes a tour of the town before heading towards Boston Spa and Wetherby.

The route then skirts the River Nidd as it ventures into Knaresborough, and it is here where the first intermediate sprint points are up for grabs. With those in the bag the road winds its way to Ripley, where cyclists will get a glimpse of Ripley Castle before they pass into Nidderdale. Pateley Bridge is sure to provide a warm welcome before the riders pass Gouthwaite Reservoir and battle their way up the sole categorised climb of the day on the Côte de Lofthouse. After dropping into Healey the route continues on to Masham. The peloton continues through Binsoe and West Tanfield before passing

Lightwater Valley. Then it’s full steam into Ripon for the second intermediate sprint where the race will skirt Studley Park before passing within a stone’s throw of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal. Bishop Thornton, Birstwith and Hampsthwaite will cheer the peloton through on their approach to Harrogate, where the action will reach its conclusion along Parliament Street.

Stage Three The riders will roll out of City Park in the heart of Bradford and head towards the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire.

The action then passes through Menston and joins the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ route at Burley-in-Wharfedale before visiting Ilkley and Addingham. The route continues on to Bolton Abbey, heading deeper into the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Burnsall and Linton welcome the race before it passes through Rylestone, home of the original Calendar Girls. Skipton is the next town on the route, with the first of eight categorised climbs being contested on the Côte de Silsden. Once the race has passed through Keighley the next KOM looms on the cobbled rise up Haworth’s picturesque main street. Exiting Brontë Country, the next climb comes at Leeming and the riders will have little time to recover before they face the infamous Côte de Shibden Wall. This cobbled brute could see splits form before the route passes Brighouse and into Birstall, but a few hardened souls may regain contact as they skirt Huddersfield. Penistone, Wortley and Snowden Hill represent the calm before the storm, and once the final intermediate sprint has been contested in Stocksbridge the riders then embark on a torturous 22km finishing circuit that features no less than four categorised climbs leaving the surviving riders to battle it out for victory at Fox Valley, Sheffield.

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WELCOME TO HARROGATE

Clockwise from top left: Stump Cross Caverns. Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal. RHS Garden Harlow Carr.

EXQUISITE ESCAPE Set in the heart of Yorkshire, Harrogate is one of the most spectacular areas of England – expect exquisite gardens, beautiful parks, handsome tree-lined boulevards and a chance to lose yourself in the vibrant charm and elegance of this North Yorkshire destination.

Pay a visit to Harrogate’s historic Turkish Baths – dating back to the 19th century, this Victorian health spa is one of only seven in the country and offers a truly unique experience. Enjoy hot saunas, a spa pool and plunge pool in breathtaking Victorian surroundings before heading out into Harrogate for some retail therapy in the town’s array of exclusive designer shops and quirky independent boutiques.

Take some time to refuel at the famous Bettys Tea Room with a sumptuous afternoon tea, or go for something a little lighter at Filmore and Union.

This chic and relaxed café offers fresh, seasonal and innovative health food, as well as an array of gluten-free options.

The beautiful Valley Gardens are the perfect place to enjoy a summer’s picnic, while RHS Garden Harlow Carr is a showcase of horticultural excellence all year round. As the

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gateway to the Dales, it’s one of Yorkshire’s most relaxing and innovative gardens and plays host to a number of events throughout the year, from flower shows to beer festivals.

Stump Cross Caverns, or try your hand at gorge walking, abseiling, rock climbing and canoeing at the spectacular limestone ravine of How Stean Gorge.

Ripon is one of the oldest cities in England, boasting a market that stretches back centuries, an imposing cathedral, fascinating museums and ‘Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse’, hosting some of the most exciting, prestigious and enjoyable racing in the country for more than 300 years.

For something a little less strenuous, pack a picnic and let the kids enjoy the outdoors at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal near Ripon – veiled in a secluded valley, this National Trust property promises to surprise and captivate with its vast Cistercian Abbey ruins, Georgian water garden, a medieval deer park, Elizabethan hall and gothic church.

Bring your walking boots or get on your bike and explore the many trails around the surrounding Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Head to Pateley Bridge and see how the peace and tranquillity of this beautiful area has provided inspiration for writers and artists alike.

Head up the road and explore the fascinating underground caves of

Be sure to head to Knaresborough and pay a visit to England’s oldest tourist attraction, Mother Shipton’s Cave.

Having been open since 1630, the cave was home to the famous prophetess and the petrifying well still stands as a unique, unspoilt remnant of the Royal Forest of Knaresborough.

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SPORT

On top of the world

Yorkshire turned yellow for the Tour de France Grand Départ in 2014 and now it’s set to be swathed in the rainbow stripes of the UCI Road World Championships in 2019.

Nick Howes finds out what this means to the county.

Top to bottom: Mark Cavendish sprints to victory at the 2011 World Championships. Cavendish finished second in 2016.

Peter Sagan is the current two-time World Champion.

Yorkshire cycling legend Beryl Burton.

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Ask Mark Cavendish what the greatest moment of his illustrious cycling career is so far and it is sure to be his victory at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships.

That day has gone down in history as the consummate cycling performance – a day when Great Britain united as one and put every other cycling nation to the sword before delivering the Manxman to a stunning sprint triumph.

After punching the air in delight and being swamped by his team-mates, Cavendish wept with joy as he realised what he’d just achieved. Although perhaps not as widely known as the Tour de France, that is what the World Championships mean to the best cyclists in the business, and this blockbuster event is coming to Yorkshire in 2019.

Approximately 1,000 male and female athletes from 75 countries will jet in over the eight days of action to battle it out in a fantastic festival of cycling. Individual and team time trial events will be contested first before full road races take place for Under 18s, Under 23s and Elite riders.

Whereas yellow, polka dot and green jerseys can come and go in the space of 24 hours, the owner of the rainbow jersey is entitled to wear it for a full 12 months, and the list of previous winners reads like a who’s who of top cycling talent.

It’s been a long time since the World Championships were last on British shores. You have to go all the way back to 1982 for the most recent edition when Italian Giuseppe Saronni escaped to victory in the men’s road race and Mandy Jones romped to a legendary home triumph in the women’s event.

That day at the Goodwood race circuit is one Mandy will remember forever, and despite hailing from Lancashire, she’s delighted to see the Championships taking place on Yorkshire roads.

“It’s an absolutely fantastic event and I’m so proud it’s coming back to Britain,” said Mandy. “When I won, the home crowd really made a difference and hopefully it’ll be the same again for one of our athletes in 2019.”

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British Champion Adam Blythe competed in his first World Championships last year, and as a proud Yorkshireman himself, he insists the county will be more than up to the challenge.

He said: “It’s the perfect location to host the World Championships because the roads are really challenging. The routes will certainly be selective and make for exciting racing, and the crowds in Yorkshire are always massive.”

“Years ago I never imagined the world’s best riders would come here and race on the same roads I trained on, but now that’s the reality.”

For Denise Burton-Cole – a World Championships bronze medallist in 1975 and daughter of two-time world champion Beryl Burton OBE – this is a dream come true.

She said: “My mother would have been very proud, as I am proud, for Yorkshire to be hosting such an important event. Mum and I travelled the globe representing Great Britain at the UCI Road World Championships.

How marvellous it would have been for us to compete in Yorkshire, our home county.

It would have been so special. Now the best riders in the world are going to have that opportunity. Am I envious? You bet I am!”

So what can we expect from the 2019 route? Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity has revealed it will take in all four corners of the county and has a team working with cycling’s world governing body the UCI to deliver a range of spectacular routes.

He said: “The eyes of the world will be on Yorkshire once again and we certainly know how to put on a show. Four million fans lined the route when we hosted ‘the grandest of Grand Départs’ at the 2014 Tour de France, and we’re now planning the biggest and best World Championships in history.

“We’ve turned the county yellow once before and now we want to see it covered in those iconic rainbow bands.”

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Top to bottom: Lizzie Deignan (née Armitstead) tasted victory in 2015. Yorkshireman Adam Blythe. The World Championships are the one of the biggest prizes in the sport. The Championships are set for a warm Yorkshire welcome in 2019.

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WELCOME TO THE NORTH YORK MOORS

Clockwise from top left: Jurassic coastline. England’s Finest View at Sutton Bank. Castle Howard.

Cycling in Dalby Forest.

SPECIAL PLACE From rolling panoramas and big skies to enchanting forests and idyllic dales, there’s a sense of peace and tranquillity here that’s not to be missed.

The great outdoors – you just can’t beat it – and when it comes down to it, there are few areas in the UK that are quite as stunning as the North York Moors National Park. This is, of course, the place that has the largest continuous expanse of heather moorland in the country, something which looks particularly spectacular in late summer when the landscape bursts into life.

Outstanding views can be found all around the area. Highlights include the dramatic moorland at Levisham Moor and the Hole of Horcum or you can soak up “England’s Finest View” by heading to Sutton Bank National Park Centre. Here you can take advantage of Sutton Bank Bikes and head out on two wheels to explore the various different trails, suiting both road and off-road cyclists. Dalby Forest is the standard-bearer for North York Moors cycling and is one of the best places in Britain for off-road biking.

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If you want to experience the area without as much exertion, then pop to Pickering and hop on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway – one of the most popular heritage railway lines in the world. The unmistakable sights and sounds are worth a visit here alone, but when you factor in a journey that takes you right through the heart of the moors, through picturesque stations like Goathland (Hogsmeade in the first Harry Potter film) and Grosmont, then a trip here becomes essential.

The railway can take you all the way up to Whitby and from here you can easily explore the National Park’s 26mile Jurassic age coastline. There are the delights of Robin Hood’s Bay, a quaint fishing village with a smuggling past and another highlight is Staithes, a photographer’s dream and one of Yorkshire’s most iconic places.

On the topic of iconic places, the North York Moors area is also home to the majestic Castle Howard, which is nestled in the Howardian Hills – an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

There’s heritage aplenty with Pickering Castle, Helmsley Walled Garden and a place where history, heritage and art come together, Beck Isle Museum in Pickering.

The area’s towns are well worth an explore too. Pickering, Kirkbymoorside and Helmsley are all charming market towns packed full of independent shops, antiques and art. Then there is of course Yorkshire’s Food Capital, Malton. Malton’s Monthly Food Markets and the twice-yearly Food Festival bring together the best of the region’s food: fish fresh from the coast, game from the moors, meat from the local estates and fruit and vegetables from the area’s uniquely benevolent micro-climate.

A date for your diary is the Dark Skies Festival in February. This unique event sees the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales team up to highlight how the night’s skies are a stargazer’s paradise.

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SPORT

The Sun’s racing correspondent for 47 years, Claude Duval explains why York Racecourse is a firm favourite.

Apart from endlessly being pressed for racing tips, the question I am most asked is: Which is your favourite racecourse? I wish picking winners was as easy as York is my runaway leader in the favourite racecourse stakes – by a distance.

The Knavesmire’s lush green 200 acres on the edge of York is the venue for one of the best-loved tracks and little wonder that over 360,000 racegoers flocked there in 2016. Last season on one Saturday race day with live music entertainment afterwards, it drew a record 42,000 crowd.

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There have been countless unique moments at York since the first race meeting took place in 1730. It took its name from ‘knave’ meaning of low standing and ‘mire’, meaning a boggy swamp for cattle. How times have changed to make the course the jewel in the crown of Yorkshire’s courses galore.

The pony-sized grey Gimcrack won 21 of his 36 races but never won on his two York appearances. But the York racegoers took him to their hearts and each year the Gimcrack Stakes is one of the top two-year-old races at the track. The Gimcrack Club dinner celebrated

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its 246th anniversary in December at the track and York’s hunting grandees make a splendid sight in their scarlet dinner jackets.

The draw at the elite function is vital.

Shrewd local trainer Mick Easterby has been known to sell shares in horses to his unsuspecting next door dinner companions even before the soup course has finished.

Gimcrack never won at York – nor did Voltiguer, who was involved in the famous match with the Flying Dutchman in May, 1851.

But the Great Voltiguer remains one of York’s most famous races and a stepping stone to the St Leger at Doncaster. “York racegoers seem to love the underdogs” says track supremo William Derby.

There have been countless unique moments at York since the first race meeting took place in 1730. It took its name from ‘knave’ meaning of low standing and ‘mire’, meaning a boggy swamp for cattle.

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Left to right: Standside racegoers will be able to visit the Ebor Fashion Lawn to take part. Crowds cheer the runners and riders on the final furlong.

My abiding memory of York will always be Yorkshire trainer Peter Easterby’s Sea Pigeon, ridden by jump jockey Jonjo O’Neill, winning the 1979 Ebor. He was involved in a tight photo finish and it took ten minutes for the photo finish to be printed. When it was announced that Sea Pigeon had won by a short-head you could have heard the cheers in Tadcaster. Sadly, ITV were on strike and there is no video footage of one of York’s most epic moments.

Brigadier Gerard’s one and only career defeat in 18 races came in the inaugural running of York’s Benson and Hedges Cup in 1972. He started 3-1 on favourite, ridden by Yorkshireborn Joe Mercer, but was well beaten

by Irish-trained Roberto, ridden

by Panamanian Braulio Baeza. The Brigadier camp were stunned and the owner’s wife Jean Hislop shrieked: “Roberto must have been stung by a bee … or something!”

Fabulous Frankel’s romp in the 2012 Juddmonte International was so emotional and even battle-hardened punters were seen to wipe away the tears. It was one of the last public appearances of Sir Henry Cecil. It was plain for all to see that the great trainer – a true lover of Yorkshire – was so thin and gaunt by the ravages of his battle with cancer. He died not long afterwards.

The £25 million Ebor grandstand opened in 2003 has greatly added to York’s viewing facilities. The track has been lucky to have seen two visionary chairmen in recent years in Lord Halifax and Lord Grimthorpe – aristocrats quite happy to mingle with the Knavesmire throng.

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The Knavesmire’s lush green 200 acres on the edge of York is the venue for one of the best-loved tracks.

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Left to right: The parade ring at York Racecourse. Another well dressed punter celebrates backing the winner.

THE 9 YORKSHIRE RACECOURSES Yorkshire is proud to have some of the best racecourses in the UK. Find out more at www.yorkshire.com/racing

Beverley Racecourse On a trip to Lord Halifax’s Garrowby stately country estate from York’s Grange Hotel for a cherished dinner invitation, I asked a rather youthful taxi driver if he knew exactly where we were going. He said casually: “Of course, I was out there on Saturday night.

It’s a pub, isn’t it?” When I repeated this conversation to his Lordship, he chortled: “Not far wrong” and Yorkshire’s Group 1 host then proceeded to pour out a splendid glass of bubbly.

I have so many memories of sparkling moments at York. God, it’s all been so much fun. I’ve seen legendary Yorkshire cricketers Freddie Trueman and Geoff Boycott taking in the obvious enjoyment.

In contrast, the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin does not have such happy memories of the racecourse. He was hung on the Knavesmire in April, 1739 at the one mile, six furlong pole from where the Ebor now annually starts. Over the years so many racing ‘greats’ have galloped past the site of the track’s version of the Tyburn gallows in London.

Dashing outlaw Turpin does not know what he has missed. But on 18 race days in 2017 Knavesmire visitors will have the chance to enjoy unique racing treats. It doesn’t get any better.

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Set in stunning surroundings this racecourse hosts right-handed flat racing over one mile and three furlongs.

Catterick Racecourse

A venue steeped in tradition and a favourite among many of the region’s owners, trainers and racing public.

Doncaster Racecourse

See the bends, the straights and why this is one of the best Grade 1 courses in the country.

Pontefract Racecourse

Top notch horse racing for over two centuries. Flat race meetings make a great atmosphere in intimate surroundings.

Redcar Racecourse

Redcar’s modern racecourse is set in 72 panoramic acres and is Yorkshire’s only coastal town race course.

Ripon Racecourse

Known as Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse, Ripon has hosted the most prestigious racing for more than 300 years.

Thirsk Racecourse

A compact and scenic circuit nestled between the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales.

Wetherby Racecourse

Yorkshire’s only exclusively National Hunt Jumps Racecourse and one of the most enjoyable places to follow National Hunt racing in Britain.

York Racecourse

The Knavesmire has been home to racing in York for 280 years.

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WELCOME TO the YORKSHIRE DALES

BREATH OF FRESH AIR Home to sweeping hills and rich valleys, charming market towns and picturesque villages, the Yorkshire Dales and Herriot Country really do offer something for everyone.

Whether you’re exploring some of the areas many towns and villages, strolling along a riverside, meandering through a hay meadow, or taking on the famous Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, there are walks here to suit everyone.

Dust off your boots and walk a section of the Pennine Way, which runs through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and takes in the well-known beauty spot of Malham Cove or take a stroll up the historic Mastiles Lane, following in the footsteps of roman soldiers and monks, before indulging in a spot of tea and homemade cake at Kilnsey Park.

For something a little less strenuous, take a walk around the beautiful Thorp Perrow Arboretum, near Bedale, or discover the stunning gardens of Kiplin Hall, near Richmond – visit in February and enjoy the spectacular sight of thousands of snowdrops covering the ground.

The iconic hay meadows of Muker also offer a stunning setting for a long, summer walk, as do the grounds of Bolton Abbey and the nearby Skipton Castle Woods.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a mecca for cyclists, with many taking on the famous climbs which formed part of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ. Hire a bike from the Dales Bike Centre, in Reeth, Leyburn Bikes in Leyburn, or from Stage 1 Cycles, in Hawes and tackle Buttertubs Pass and Grinton Moor yourself. If you’re feeling adventurous, why not tackle the Yorkshire Dales Cycleway - a 130-mile circular route which visits most of the major dales in the National Park.

After working up an appetite, treat yourself to some famous Wensleydale Cheese at the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes, before heading to Brymor Ice Cream Parlour near Masham for dessert.

The spectacular landscape of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Herriot Country is a thrill seeker’s paradise. Experience the excitement of being winched 105m underground at Gaping Gill – the largest natural cavern in Britain – or explore Craven’s underground caves with the experienced and knowledgeable Yorkshire Dales Guides, who offer caving experiences for all abilities.

The high ropes course at Aerial Extreme, at the Camp Hill Estate near Bedale, offers a thrilling day out high up in the trees, while the 4x4 experience at the Coniston Hotel, Country Estate and Spa and Land Rover Experience at the Broughton Hall Estate, which are both near Skipton, will test your driving skills to the limit and have you grinning from ear to ear. Take the kids and explore the labyrinth of tunnels, chambers and follies at the award-winning Forbidden Corner, near Middleham.

For something a little more relaxing, take a ride on the Wensleydale Railway, which runs from Northallerton to Redmire and while there, spend time in one of 12 log cabins set in natural woodland at Redmire’s The Jonas Centre, uniquely positioned to provide all that is needed for individuals and groups, seeking a peaceful break.

There is now even more of the Dales to discover as the National Park has been dramatically extended. From the lovely market town of Kirkby Stephen explore the Westmorland Dales with its pretty villages, rolling countryside and stunning limestone scenery.

The area is brimming with beautiful market towns and quaint villages, each with their own unique charm and character. Head to Thirsk, home of the ‘Yorkshire Vet’ and enjoy lunch at Yorks of Thirsk – a favourite with cyclists

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and tourists alike – before paying a visit to the award winning attraction, the World of James Herriot. It houses the largest collection of Herriot memorabilia in the world and tells the fascinating story of vet turned writer, James Alfred Wight, whose work inspired the hugely popular television show, All Creatures Great and Small.

Boasting Richmond Castle, three museums, a river, a marketplace full of independent shops, and a stunning backdrop of the Dales, the small town of Richmond punches well above its weight. Visit the UK’s oldest working theatre in its original form, The Georgian Theatre and find out what life was like for actors in days gone by.

Hawes also offers a great shopping experience, with specially branded areas, including The Shepherd’s Quarter, The Cobbles, The Market Place and Town Head, while Northallerton, North Yorkshire’s County Town is home to the award-winning food shop, Lewis & Cooper, the famous Bettys Café Tea Rooms and the warm and welcoming exhibition space at the Joe Cornish Gallery.

Cycling image: © Rick Robson / cyclesportphotos.com

Award winning Skipton High Street has retained its old world charm. Today it’s bustling with activity as you thread your way amongst the market stalls and independent shops. The famous Market is on the High Street every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Clockwise from left: Family fun in the Dales.

The River Wharfe flowing through the Bolton Abbey Estate. Gaping Gill. Thorp Perrow Arboretum.

Wensleydale Cheese. Cycling near Kilnsey Crag.

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advertorial

DONATE BORROW RIDE

You only have to look at the crowds lining the route of the Tour de Yorkshire to see how popular cycling has become in our county. However, as well as bringing the top names in cycling to the county’s roads, these major sporting events also leave a lasting legacy on the communities they visit. One such legacy is the Yorkshire Bank Bike Library scheme, which has given thousands of children the chance to ride a bike. But what are they, and how can people get involved?

The aim of the Bike Libraries is simple – to give every child in Yorkshire access to a bike, regardless of their circumstances. In the first two years of the scheme, more than 26,000 chances to ride a bike have been offered to children and around 4,500 bikes have been donated.

So far, 34 Bike Libraries and 49 donation stations have also been set up around the county.

Thanks to continued support from Yorkshire Bank and the operational expertise from Welcome to Yorkshire, Bike Libraries can either be launched from scratch, or be part of an existing project. One example is a primary school which loans bikes out to children in reward for good behaviour and one helps to teach autistic children how to ride a bike for the first time Helen Page, propositions and marketing director at Yorkshire Bank, said: “We are delighted to support the development of the Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries across the county. Giving more children an opportunity to have access to a bike is something we feel passionately about.”

Former professional cyclist, Dean Downing, officially opened one of five Bike Libraries set up by Leeds City Council. He said: “Giving your unwanted bikes to one of the 40 plus donation stations across Yorkshire is a simple task, but who knows, we may find the next Chris Froome or Ben Swift. As well as possibly finding the next professional cyclist, children can access a bike for free and more kids on bikes is always a good thing.”

There are two ways This is Y readers can get involved with the Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries – if you know a child who doesn’t own their own bike, contact a Bike Library to arrange a loan. Or, if you have bikes gathering dust in the back of your shed or garage, drop them off at one of the county’s many Bike Libraries or Donation Stations. Who knows, this simple task could change a child’s life forever.

Top to bottom: Explore Yorkshire on your bike. Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries kids parade at the Tour de Yorkshire 2016. Giving all children access to a bike. Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries supporter Adam Yates. Cycling in the Yorkshire Wolds.

To find out more, visit www.bikelibraries.co.uk

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DELICIOUS

Sweet Dreams

Yorkshire is home to more confectionary companies than anywhere else in Britain. Elaine Lemm looks at why the county has had a long standing love affair with all things sweet.

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Without a doubt, we have a sweet tooth here in Yorkshire and it’s no coincidence that confectionary landed here. We are all, of course, grateful that it did.

Various factors gave rise to sweet-making with the major one being the excellent transport links both in and out of the county.

Yorkshire was central to the trading routes from the South of England through to Scotland and York was ideally placed en-route.

London of the mid-17th century had little relationship with the warm drinks we so enjoy today. Tea still had to make its appearance but coffee was widespread and coffee houses abundant. The arrival of chocolate, a mere five years after coffee, was not as well received chiefly because of the high price.

The thick, warm, sweet drink was met with suspicion and only after a concerted and somewhat mendacious campaign on its merits as a cure all and aphrodisiac, did the drink become more popular. Cheapened versions of the drink were served in the coffee houses but being significantly more expensive, was never popular.

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In fashionable areas of London, however, chocolate was considered the drink of the socially elite and soon the Chocolate House was born. These establishments were known for the gatherings of those wanting to socialise, to gossip and to hatch plots, so no wonder they are considered the forerunner of the pub. The City of York quickly embraced the Chocolate House making the city not only a sociable and fashionable stopping off place but also a great way to introduce the delicious chocolate to a new audience.

By far, though, the most significant reason for Yorkshire’s association with all things sweet was the easy access along the Ouse from the East Coast ports. Here, shipments of both cocoa beans, sugar and fruits arrived from the continent where sweet making, especially chocolate confectionary, had taken hold long before it did in Britain. The raw materials came in and once made, the ever popular rail links to major cities including London took the sweets and chocolates outwards and onwards and their popularity soared, as did the fast growing industry in the county.

Clockwise from top left: Joseph Rowntree (right) on the occasion of receiving the Freedom of the City of York, 1911.

Joseph Terry. Tasty treats.

The iconic Old Clock Tower at the former Terry’s Chocolate Factory.

Informative tours at York’s Chocolate Story. Joseph Terry’s shop in York Castle Museum. Getting hands-on at York’s Chocolate Story.

York Cocoa House.

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York has possibly played the largest part in the sweetie heritage of Yorkshire with much of the credit given to the abstemious Quaker movement that had a stronghold in the city.

The benign nature of cocoa was not lost on them and from humble beginnings, the three top players of the 18th century in chocolate and other confectionary were Rowntree, Terry and Craven - of the toffees and humbugs fame.

The former two went on to become global brands and at one time employed more than 14,000 people in the chocolate industry in the city. The philanthropic benevolence born of their Quaker origins saw workers given paid holidays, company pensions, doctors and

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dentists and many of the good works continue today in the charitable efforts at New Earswick Village and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

It is not merely the leading world brands like Rowntree’s, Terry’s and Mackintosh who are synonymous with confectionary in Yorkshire though. There are many other companies, though smaller, they have a big a place in the hearts and memories of sweet lovers far and wide. In the fascinating book, Confectionary in Yorkshire Through Time by Paul Crystal, he talks of companies which still exist today and others that are long gone or taken over by more major players. What is also apparent in the book is the industrial and social impact

Clockwise from top left: Cocoa and Sweet Shop Sign in York. The rejuvenated Terry's chocolate factory.

Learning about chocolate at York's Chocolate Story.

Decorating chocolates by hand in the Rowntree factory in 1956.

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Clockwise from top left: A Rowntree & Co openbacked delivery lorry, 1915. Women pasting York Chocolate in 1949. Chocolate demonstrations at York's Chocolate Story. A man in an apron panning chocolate, Rowntree Cocoa Works in 1900. Old Rowntree's chocolates advertisement at the National Railway Museum.

that confectionary brought to Yorkshire.

Names abound in the book such as Thornton’s, Needlers of Hull, Dobsons of Elland, and Lions of Cleckheaton. It would be remiss not to add to the list the likes of Dunhill Aniseed Balls and Wilkinsons Pontefract Cakes, Farrah’s Toffee, Nuttall’s Mintoes from Doncaster and Slade and Bullock in Dewsbury credited with making the first lettered rock, just what would the seaside be without it today?

Chocolate is possibly the number one sweet on everyone’s list but liquorice must come a close second. It has been synonymous with the West Yorkshire town of Pontefract for nearly 400 years when it was brought there

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from the Mediterranean by Dominican monks in the early 16th century. The area provides excellent growing conditions for the plant, with the local soil enriched by local muck.

However, in the 20th century, the cultivation of the plant all but ceased as it became cheaper to use imported liquorice. Happily, the plant is now homegrown once more with local farmer Robert Copley having planted half an acre; this will hardly supply the sweet industry but it’s a start and who knows, the rhubarb industry in nearby Wakefield is thriving once more.

Originally, the liquorice was used purely for medicinal purposes in the form of a small cake or Pomfret invented by George Saville.

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YORK’S CHOCOLATE TRAIL

Take a mouth-watering wander through time, packed full of chocolate pioneers and famous confectionery.

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Terry’s Shop and Tea room

Mansion House

Castle Museum

Stroll along to St Helen’s Square, where you can still see what was an elegant Terry’s Chocolate Shop and Tea Room. Terry’s original factory lay behind the shop. Bettys Café Tea Rooms on the corner, another celebrated name in confectionery, has been handcrafting the finest chocolates for nearly 100 years.

Make your way to The Mansion House. In 1914, the Lord Mayor sent a bar of Rowntree’s chocolate to every York soldier fighting in the Great War – one of the original tins with the chocolate bar still inside is on display. Go down Coney Street past British chocolatier and cocoa grower, Hotel Chocolat, with its rare and vintage Purist collection.

Arrive at York’s renowned Castle Museum which exhibits many of the brand names that made York world famous for confectionery. Step back in time at the Terry’s sweet shop and Cocoa Temperance Room. Crossing Skeldergate Bridge towards Terry Avenue takes you over the River Ouse. Imagine boats laden to the gunwales with cocoa and sugar.

Rowntree’s Park

Fairfax House

Fossgate

Situated on Terry Avenue is Rowntree’s Park, a gift to the City of York by Rowntree’s in 1921 as a memorial to the cocoa workers who fell during the First World War. Listed gates were added to the park in memory of those who died in the Second World War. Bronze plaques within the Lych Gate honour both events. Continue your walk out of the centre to Terry’s factory site.

Cross back over the river and return to the city and Fairfax House, home to the exceptional Noel Terry collection of English furniture and clocks from the family home on Tadcaster Road.

The collection was given to York Civic Trust in 1980 following his death – Noel was great grandson of Joseph, founder of the Terry's confectionery business.

Onto Fossgate, where the ‘Mother of York's Chocolate Industry’ Mary Tuke had her grocer's shop. This is where the Rowntree dynasty started off in chocolate when apprentice and Mary’s distant cousin Henry Isaac Rowntree acquired the cocoa business from her. Today Fossgate is choc full of confectioners, delis and restaurants – a heaven for chocolate lovers and fans of fudge.

Merchant Adventurers’ Hall

28 Pavement

York's Chocolate Story

Also on Fossgate is the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, home to The Company of Merchant Adventurers, which controlled a great deal of trade and industry in York. As a woman, Mary Tuke could only join the guild as the daughter or widow of a member. Mary was neither and therefore fined and threatened with prison.

Stop at 28 Pavement - now a pizza outlet. This was the Rowntree’s store established by Joseph Rowntree senior, a Quaker from Scarborough.

In 1858, the team of apprentices working in the Rowntree’s grocers included a Mr George Cadbury and a Mr Lewis Fry, learning their craft alongside J.S. Rowntree. Finally, take the route through the Shambles.

The trail ends in King’s Square at York's Chocolate Story. From its Central American roots to our present love affair with all things sweet explore from bean to bar how chocolate is made, hear the story of how York became the capital of chocolate and of course sample sweet treats by tasting your way through York’s tasty story!

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Clockwise from top left: Monk Bar Chocolatiers first opened at 1 Goodramgate, in the shadow of the Monk Bar, one of the historic gates into the beautiful city of York. Family fun at York's Chocolate Story.

York Chocolate Festival.

Bettys Café Tea Rooms.

DON'T MISS No visit to York is complete without a refreshment stop at one of its renowned cafés. Bettys Tea Room is just a stone’s throw away from York Minster and is famous for its mouthwatering cakes and never ending selection of teas.

In 1760 apothecary George Dunhill added sugar to the cake, and the liquorice sweet was born. The sweets continued to be made by hand in Pontefract until the 1960s with an experienced worker, commonly known as ‘thumpers’, used their hands to make the cakes and were able to stamp out 30,000 cakes a day.

One of the most popular uses of liquorice in sweets is the Allsort. Who does not know or recognise Bertie, the Allsort boy who is possibly one of the world’s most recognised confectionary brands? Cadburys now own Basset’s, but their roots are from Sheffield with the company formed by George Bassett in 1842.

He then went on to produce Liquorice Novelties, a combination of liquorice and cream paste. The myth goes that in 1899, Bassett’s disgruntled salesman, Charlie Thompson clumsily gathered his sample boxes of novelties together when a shop refused to buy any. He accidently knocked them over and spilling the colourful sweets in the jumble on the counter gave birth to the Allsort, a sweet which remains as popular today and also virtually unchanged.

As with many artisan and heritage foods, chocolate and confectionary are enjoying a renaissance with a wealth of small producers once more creating exciting, high quality, handmade products. Thanks to this demand for authentic, artisan sweets and chocolates, these are once more exciting times for chocolatiers and confectioners in York and throughout Yorkshire.

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Unmissable sweeteries Experience In 2017 we will be celebrating 250 years of Terry’s. As one of the city’s most famous confectioners and creators of the iconic Chocolate Orange, the influence of Terry’s can still be seen across the city. York’s Chocolate Story will feature a brand new exhibition launching in spring, to showcase the products, craftsmanship and social impact of the company. Goddards House and Garden, the home of the Terry family will also be holding special events throughout the year to mark the special anniversary.

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The Oldest Sweet Shop in the World, Pateley Bridge View row upon row of glass jars filled with handmade traditional sweets sold by the quarter of a pound into old fashioned scales.

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John Bull’s Candy Kingdom, Bridlington Family run shop sharing the secrets of sweet making. You can make your own chocolate lolly and roll your own personalised stick of rock.

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The Sugar Mouse, Easingwold With a reputation for quality confectionery including cakepops made in Angela’s home kitchen.

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Mrs Beightons, Haworth Offering over 500 varieties of sweets, beautifully nostalgic gifts and unique hampers, there truly is something for everyone!

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AWARDS

STARS OF THE SHOW

As the UK’s largest celebration of tourism, the White Rose Awards recognise some of Yorkshire’s very best tourism businesses. Hannah Bryan takes a look at some of the winners who are doing the county proud.

With its charming thatched cottages, picturesque duck pond and quaint cricket ground, the tiny village of Harome, on the edge of the North York Moors National Park near Helmsley, is the perfect example of a traditional Yorkshire village.

However, this sleepy, unassuming village – home to around 260 people and a smattering of peacocks and farm animals – punches well above its weight when it comes to fine dining and luxurious accommodation.

At either end of the meandering main street are The Star Inn and The Pheasant Hotel, winners of the Restaurant with Rooms Award and Small Hotel Award at this year’s White Rose Awards, respectively, which have transformed the village into a gastronomical haven. Bought in 1996 by Whitby-born chef, Andrew Pern, The Star Inn is celebrated by both foodies and locals alike for its modern take on traditional Yorkshire cooking. Having held a Michelin star consistently from 2002 to 2011, and then regaining it in 2015, the menu at The Star Inn has evolved over the years, but has always kept its roots firmly in North Yorkshire.

Clockwise from top left: The Yorkshire Sculpture Park © YSP/Jonty Wilde. Andrew Pern at The Star Inn at Harome.

The Flying Scotsman. Bettys Café Tea Room. Keelham Farm Shop. Yorkshire Young Sinfonia.

The Pheasant Hotel.

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Lift the lid on the beautiful thatched building and you’ll find Andrew and his team creating innovative yet classic dishes, like his signature Black Pudding and Foie Gras, using the very best local home-grown produce, including vegetables from the kitchen garden and meats from their own chickens and pigs.

A quick hop across the road from the restaurant reveals The Star Inn’s stunning hotel, which features nine unique bedrooms, each with their own individual décor – one houses its own snooker table while another has its own piano.

At the opposite end of the pretty main street lies The Pheasant Hotel – a picture perfect ivy-clad country house overlooking the village duck pond. Originally the village shop, blacksmiths and barns, this stunning property was taken over by co-owner Jacquie Pern and chef, Peter Neville, in 2009 and has since built a reputation as one of North Yorkshire’s best country house hotels.

With sophisticated country house décor and sumptuous furnishings, The Pheasant Hotel offers a little bit of luxury in

the heart of rural North Yorkshire and caters for all tastes, from dog friendly breaks in the country to a romantic weekend getaway. Guests can enjoy lunch in the secluded terrace before taking a dip in the small but perfectly formed heated indoor swimming pool.

Thanks to Peter’s talent for creating fantastic flavour combinations, The Pheasant Hotel has garnered a reputation for exquisite dining that showcases the area’s very best local produce. Having worked at The Star alongside Andrew Pern and at Claude Bosi’s Hibiscus in London, Peter’s cooking has evolved to reflect his interests in foraged, wild foods and has created a style that is all his own.

The Star Inn and The Pheasant Hotel are just two of the winners of the prestigious White Rose Awards, which celebrate the very best of Yorkshire’s tourism businesses.

Held in the new Hall One at the Yorkshire Event Centre, in Harrogate, last year’s awards saw businesses from across the county go head to head in 17 different categories, from Restaurant of the Year, to Outstanding Customer Service.

THE WINNERS 2016 Restaurant of the Year The Hare Restaurant, Scawton Outstanding Customer Service Bettys Café Tea Rooms, Harrogate Large Hotel The Devonshire Arms Hotel and Spa, Bolton Abbey Tourism Event of the Year Flying Scotsman Yorkshire Pub of the Year The Coach and Horses, Harrogate Business Tourism Award Pavilions of Harrogate Restaurant with Rooms The Star Inn at Harome Large Attraction Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield Taste of Yorkshire Keelham Farm Shop, Skipton and Bradford Arts and Culture Award Yorkshire Young Sinfonia Visitor Information Hebden Bridge Visitor Centre Self-catering Cottage in the Dales, Wensleydale Caravan and Holiday Park Wolds Edge Holiday Lodges, York Small Hotel The Pheasant Hotel, Harome Guest Accommodation Low Mill Guesthouse, Bainbridge Makers and Producers Sloemotion, near Malton Small Attraction National Centre for Birds of Prey, Helmsley

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WELCOME TO LEEDS

CITY & COUNTRY

Visit the vibrant city of Leeds and discover a wealth of world class live music, sport, culture, heritage, shopping and fabulous food and drink.

Leeds folk love a good party, which is lucky considering the number of fantastic festivals and celebrations held in and around the city throughout the year. Light Night is a huge fixture on the calendar, turning the entire city into an art installation, with light shows and events that offer a unique view of the city.

Leeds West Indian Carnival is always a firm favourite, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017. With an explosion of colour, addictive rhythms and an electric atmosphere, Europe’s oldest Caribbean carnival makes August Bank Holiday Yorkshire’s brightest day whatever the weather.

Leeds is home to four outstanding theatres and the award winning first direct arena, as well as being one of

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the only cities outside London to boast an opera house and ballet company; Opera North and Northern Ballet.

Whether it’s taking in a West End show at Leeds Grand Theatre, ballet at West Yorkshire Playhouse, comedy at the charming Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, or even a superstar at the arena, there’s a show for everyone!

For a more immersive activity, why not try the new Emmerdale Studio Experience? With full scale set reconstructions, preserved props and costumes, learn the secrets behind stunts and special effects.

Leeds Art Gallery is home to an extensive collection of 20th century British art, described by The Times as the best collection outside London, while the Henry Moore Institute brings

a wealth of international sculpture to the city through its free temporary exhibitions programme.

With shops housed in beautiful Victorian arcades and other listed buildings, next to fantastic retail centres within stunning, modern architecture like Trinity Leeds, the city is fast becoming a shopper’s paradise.

The recently opened Victoria Gate brought John Lewis and other major brands to the city at the end of 2016, further cementing Leeds as the North’s premier shopping destination.

From Michelin starred restaurants to street food stalls in Trinity Kitchen and Kirkgate Market serving up an ever changing variety of exciting cuisines, Leeds has something to satisfy even the most discerning

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foodie. Bringing the adventurous and unconventional to Leeds, The Alchemist in Trinity Leeds boasts an extensive menu including pork bon bons, sticky beef salad and the special fried chicken in a basket.

Having recently teamed up with Pieminister, head to the institutional Brudenell Social Club and enjoy some excellent live music along with a delicious pie and all the trimmings.

Or try Tapped Leeds, an AmericanStyle Brew Pub serving 27 draft beers and over 100 bottled beers from around the world, topped off with beer dough stone baked pizzas made from scratch on site.

When you need something to wash down all that delicious grub, there are a number of fine watering holes to choose from, including the ornate Edwardian interiors of Whitelocks (the city’s oldest pub), and trendy bars such as The Alchemist on Greek Street. At the end of the summer, pay a visit to Leeds International Beer Festival.

An annual four-day festival in the heart of Leeds, celebrating and promoting craft beer brewed in the UK and overseas.

Home to more listed buildings than any other city outside London, Leeds is steeped in heritage with a number of nearby historic houses, including Harewood House and Temple Newsam, as well as Kirkstall Abbey, one of the most complete Cistercian Abbeys in the whole of the UK. In addition, the Royal Armouries Museum, based at Leeds Dock, the city’s waterfront area, is one of the country’s best museums for budding historians and fans of adventure and is the UK’s national museum of arms and armour.

Clockwise from left: Victoria Gate. Northern Ballet. Leeds Town Hall on the Headrow.

The Royal Armouries.

Leeds offers impressive sports grounds and stadiums, including the 22,000 capacity Headingley Stadium, regularly playing host to some of the world’s biggest sporting names. When it comes to sport, Leeds has been involved in a number of unforgettable international sporting events including BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Yorkshire Grand Départ of the 2014 Tour de France and the Rugby World Cup in 2015. The excitement doesn’t stop as the Brownlee Triathlon took place in 2016 and the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon which came to the city in 2016 and is set to return in June 2017.

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ARTISTIC

THE HUNT FOR HOLMES

Could Sherlock Holmes have been born in Yorkshire?

Sarah Freeman meets the man who believes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s links to the county may just unlock a few clues.

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Left to right: The headstone of Bryan Charles Waller.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The cottage on the Waller family's Masongill Estate. Ingleton viaduct. St Mary the Virgin Church in Ingleton. Eagle lectern at St Mary's.

Masongill Cottage. Hawthorn tree near Ingleton.

M

artyn Sutton doesn’t have the deerstalker hat. At least not yet.

However, the detective skills he’s shown in proving Sherlock Holmes’ links to Yorkshire are worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation himself.

The trail began three years ago when he and his wife were looking for somewhere to relocate their Nottinghamshire gift shop. They settled on the bustling Dales village of Ingleton and it was during a meal at the nearby Marton Arms that Martyn’s interest was first piqued.

“The menu had various bits of historical information about the area and there was just one line which said ‘Arthur Conan Doyle was married at St Oswald’s Parish Church just opposite’,” says Martyn. “I began to ask around to find out why and it turned out that his mother had lived here for 35 years and as a result Edinburgh-born Arthur knew this area well.”

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The connection to one of literature’s most popular writers didn’t end there. As Martyn began to quiz the local residents of Ingleton about Conan Doyle’s links to the Yorkshire Dales he was told time and time again how the name Sherlock also owed a debt of gratitude to the Broad Acres.

St Mary the Virgin Church in Ingleton the same one the writer used to pass on the way from the station to his mother’s house in Thornton-in-Lonsdale - has an impressive piece of stained glass known to everyone as the Sherlock window.

“Randal Hopley Sherlock was a wealthy newspaper proprietor from Liverpool. He died after being struck by lightning on the platform of Ingleton station while he was visiting his son Thomas, who happened to be the vicar at St Mary’s and the window was dedicated to his memory.

IN THE AREA The Ingleton Waterfalls Trail boasts some of the most spectacular waterfall and woodland scenery in the North of England. With its fascinating history, breathtaking views and a rich variety of plants and wildlife, a visit to Ingleton Falls is a great family day out.

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“I couldn’t believe that everyone seemed to know the story and yet you could wander around the village and not see one mention of Sherlock Holmes or Arthur Conan Doyle. I guess it’s because Ingleton already has so much going for it, the place has never felt the need to give visitors another reason to come, but entire tourist attractions have been built on less than that.”

While Martyn is not proposing a Sherlock Holmes equivalent of an Alton Towers, he does want to raise awareness of the county’s influence on Conan Doyle and has already renamed his shop Uncle Jeremy’s Household after one of his short stories based in Ingleton.

“It was published in the Boy’s Own Paper” he says flicking through a first edition of the book. “And the central characters - Hugh Lawrence, a young doctor from Baker Street and his chemist friend John Thurston - really do seem to be the forerunners to Holmes and Watson.”

“The story as to how his mother ended up here is a little more complex, but lies with the fact her husband and Arthur’s father Charles was an alcoholic. He was also a frustrated artist who would sell his sketches for the price of a drink. It was a struggle for the family who were from Edinburgh and to help pay the bills his wife Mary took in a lodger.”

Bryan Charles Waller, who was a medical student in the city, moved in and the close relationship he formed with the Doyle family was what eventually brought Mary to Yorkshire.

“The more I find out about Bryan Waller, the more I realise what an incredible man he was. He ended up becoming a lecturer in pathology at Edinburgh University, but he had to leave the city to look after his family’s Masongill estate, just a mile or so from Ingleton. However, he never forgot the Doyles and when Charles ended up in an asylum, Mary moved into a cottage in the grounds and began working as Bryan’s housekeeper.

“She was effectively a single parent and back then there was always the risk that you could end up in the workhouse, so Bryan really did save the family.”

There have been suggestions that Bryan and Mary were in a relationship, but Martyn believes that these were just scurrilous rumours.

“Mary had seven children and with a husband who was unable to provide for them properly her first

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YORKSHIRE IN WORDS

Literary lovers should come to Yorkshire and follow in the footsteps of their favourite authors, poets and playwrights.

The Brontës

Philip Larkin

Anne, Charlotte and Emily are known worldwide for their passionate literary classics. Born in Thornton, Bradford, they later moved to Haworth where the majority of their work was written.

Wuthering Heights, the immortal tale that was Emily Brontë’s only novel, is set against a backdrop of the moors around Haworth.

During the thirty years he spent in Hull, Larkin produced a significant body of poetry.

In 2003, almost two decades after his death and despite controversy about his personal life and opinions, Larkin was chosen as “the nation’s best-loved poet” in a survey by the Poetry Book Society, and in 2008 The Times named Larkin as the greatest British post-war writer.

J. B. Priestley

Alf Wight

Priestley was born at 34 Mannheim Road, Manningham, which he described as an “extremely respectable” suburb of Bradford.

On leaving grammar school Priestley worked in the wool trade of his native city, but had ambitions to become a writer. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction. He drew on memories of Bradford in many of the works he wrote.

Alf moved to Thirsk in 1940 and worked as a vet for thirty years before writing his famous books, under his pen name, James Herriot.

His half-century of practice there provided the raw material for his It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet series. In his books, Wight calls the town where Herriot lives and works Darrowby, a composite of Thirsk, Richmond, Leyburn and Middleham.

Ted Hughes

Edith Nesbit

Hughes lived in Hebden Bridge until 1937.

He wrote a number of poems about his early life in the area. Consistently described as one of the 20th century’s greatest English poets, Hughes was also a prolific children’s author and translator. He was married to the poet Sylvia Plath and became Poet Laureate in 1984.

Nesbit wrote the famous children’s book The Railway Children, the story of Bobby, Peter and Phyllis, three children whose lives change dramatically when their father is mysteriously taken away. They move from London to a cottage in rural Yorkshire, where they befriend the local railway porter. The story has been adapted for the stage and screen many times.

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“I have spent the last three years trying to assemble what is one giant jigsaw puzzle. I think I have completed most of the edges, but there is still so much more to fill in.�

Clockwise from top left: Twistleton Scar Limestone Pavement, Ingleton.

Bridge over the River Twiss. Ingleton Falls. Farmhouse in green fields of the Yorkshire Dales near Ingleton.

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Clockwise from top left: Sutton Bank. Spurn Point near Kilnsea.

Whitby Abbey. Top Withens.

The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.

INSPIRING LANDSCAPES The stunning landscapes of Yorkshire provide the perfect setting to relax and unwind completely.

Here, the paths of nature, history and literature converge, and we suggest four routes that delve into four classics of English literature.

Reliving Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights is set against a backdrop of the moors around Haworth.

Early on, Mr Lockwood, the narrator, writes in his journal, “This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on

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a situation so completely removed from the stir of society.” And it is surely only in such a vast natural wilderness that such a story of love and alienation, cruelty and passion could have taken place. Here the Pennine Hills - the backbone of England - are always at hand, waiting to be explored, and prepared to offer the perfect location for your next getaway.

The Tolkien Triangle The Tolkien Triangle starts in Hull, where Tolkien was hospitalised twice. He was visited by a Sister of Mercy who

became a lifelong friend.

The triangle continues to Hornsea Musketry Camp, his first posting in East Yorkshire, and where his wife Edith took lodgings nearby.

It then bears south, via Roos, to a camp called Thirtle Bridge, where the author recuperated. Edith took lodgings in nearby Withernsea. Finally, the triangle takes us further south to Easington and Kilnsea, where Tolkien was part of the Royal Defence Corps. Much of his early mythology and invented languages were written during his stay in East Yorkshire in WW1.

The legacy of Count Dracula Whether or not you’ve read the novel itself, you will almost certainly be familiar with the legend of Dracula and have seen one or more of the countless adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Gothic novel. What you may not realise, though, is that the original masterpiece of terror was inspired by Yorkshire and much of the action takes place there. The ship bringing the vampire to England ran aground on the windswept North Sea coast at Whitby and the most famous vampire of

all time took refuge in the beautiful and romantic ruin of Whitby Abbey.

On the trail of Agatha Christie In 1926 Agatha Christie staged a disappearance that would have put Hercule Poirot himself in a quandary. The mistress of mystery managed to hide from the world under a false identity, leaving no clues to her whereabouts, other than a letter saying she was going to Yorkshire. At last, the police discovered her in Harrogate, a spa town famous for its waters.

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Clockwise from top left: White Scar Caves - the longest Show Cave in the UK. The Sherlock Window, Mary the Virgin Church.

Beezelys Ford stepping stones near Ingleton.

“Everyone seemed to know the story and yet you could wander around the village and not see one mention of Sherlock Holmes.” concern was always for them. Arthur’s godfather Michael Conan ended up paying for his education at Stonyhurst College and with her eldest son taken care of, Mary’s next concern would be for her eldest daughter.

“Annette was 19 years old when Bryan Waller came to lodge with the Doyles and shortly afterwards she disappeared off to Portugal to work as a governess. She later died there unmarried and childless and while we will never know, I think there is a clue in one of Arthur’s short stories The Surgeon of Gaster Fell as to why. It features a brother and sister called Eva and James Cameron whose father is also committed to an asylum. At one point Eva is asked whether she fears marriage and she says tellingly, ‘the risk would be with the man who married me’.

She was clearly worried that she might inherit her father’s madness, and so perhaps was Annette.”

What’s certain is that Arthur himself was keen to airbrush his father’s problems out of his own history and when he wrote his autobiography Memories and Adventures he didn’t mention Masongill at all.

“I think he was perhaps concerned that people would start asking too many questions as to why his family had to leave Edinburgh. It was perhaps the same reason why he never attended his father’s funeral. Charles died in 1893, which was at the same time as Arthur’s writing career was taking off. He was becoming a well-known figure and perhaps understandably he didn’t want his family’s private problems being aired in public.”

Martyn believes that the fingerprints of Bryan Waller who was one of the first fellows of the Institute of Chemistry and had an interest in foundations of what was to become forensic science - may also be on the character of Sherlock Holmes. He has his own theory as to how the detective got his name. As well as being an accomplished

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doctor, Bryan was also a literary man. He was a published poet at the age of 22 and at Masongill he had compiled a fantastic library which Arthur had access to. I have no doubt that Arthur picked Bryan’s brains when he was writing the various Holmes stories because he was such an expert in his field. “But this is how I think he came to be called Sherlock.”

We are back in St Mary the Virgin Church and Martyn heads not to its famous window, but a brass lectern.

“The original notebook for the very first Holmes story A Study in Scarlet has the names of Dr John Watson and a chemist called Sherrinford Holmes. However, in 1886, something caused Conan Doyle to cross out Sherrinford and replace it with Sherlock.

“After the death of Randal Sherlock his brother, the renowned architect Cornelius Sherlock, donated blueprints for the redesign of St Mary’s. As part of the project, Storrs House School also launched a fundraising effort to pay for a new lectern. It was where Arthur’s two younger sisters were pupils and I think that he became aware of the Sherlock name when he was asked to contribute some money.”

Towards the end of 2016 the Georgian property which Mary Doyle had called home went up for sale and it would, says Martyn, make the perfect visitor centre.

“Sadly I haven’t got the money to buy it outright, but I would love to think we could persuade an organisation like the National Trust to purchase it and then we could turn it into a proper visitor centre and really explore the Yorkshire chapter in the life of the Doyles.

“I have spent the last three years trying to assemble what is one giant jigsaw puzzle. I think I have completed most of the edges, but there is still so much more to fill in.

However, I will keep on going and I won’t stop until we have a really detailed picture of what this place meant not just to Conan Doyle, but to Sherlock Holmes.”

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EVENTS

Feast of festivals Home to international Goth gatherings, award-winning crime writing festivals and the finest agricultural events in the UK, Yorkshire has it all. Here’s a taster of what’s happening over the year. For a complete guide, go to www.yorkshire.com/events

Harrogate Spring Flower Show Great Yorkshire Showground 20 - 23 April 2017

Hull City of Culture 2017 Hull UK City of Culture 2017 is an event of national significance, bringing a 365 day programme of cultural events and creativity inspired by the city and told to the world.

Throughout the year, national and international artists will join local artists for a world-class programme that encompasses visual arts, theatre, film, music, dance and much more, with a huge variety of cultural activity taking place across the city.

The first big event in the gardening calendar, the show is a spectacular celebration of the very best in horticulture.

Rated Britain’s top gardening event by Which? This is the biggest exhibition by florists and arrangers in the country.

Sci-Fi Scarborough Scarborough Spa, 8 – 9 April 2017

© www.neilnicklinphotography.co.uk

Back for the fourth year in the beautiful Victorian Scarborough Spa with their magical mix of wellknown guests, authors, movie and TV props, console, retro and table top gaming, software developers, comic book artists, indie films, and the usual mayhem, Sci-Fi Scarborough is the must go to convention of the year.

Outdoor City Weekender Dark Skies Festival North York Moors National Park and the Yorkshire Dales National Park, 18 - 26 February 2017 The North York Moors National Park’s Dark Skies Festival will return for a second time in February half-term 2017 (held jointly with Yorkshire Dales National Park) for a week of events, workshops, star parties, dark skies runs and more.

The North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales are a stargazer’s paradise with some of the best night skies in the country.

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Sheffield, March 2017 A weekend festival celebrating the run, walk, climb, ride themes of The Outdoor City, will include the Magnificent Seven – a unique hill climb ride using seven of Sheffield’s toughest, steepest hills for road cycling.

Huddersfield Literature Festival 4 - 19 March 2017 Performance and poetry, storytelling and author talks, creative writing workshops and free family events - the 2017 Huddersfield Literature Festival is expected to be the biggest and best to date.

Whitby Goth Weekend 21 - 23 April 2017 and October 2017 Starting in 1994, the festival has grown into one of the world's most popular goth music events attracting over 1,500 visitors from across the UK and beyond. The main event is held in the town's largest venue Whitby Spa Pavilion (known as the Spa) where the Bizarre Bazaar 'Goth Market' is also held.

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Shepley Spring Festival Shepley, West Yorkshire 19 - 21 May 2017 West Yorkshire’s premiere weekend of traditional music, song and dance is a family friendly festival in the village of Shepley on the edge of the beautiful South Pennines. Taking place over three days, with over 50 concerts, workshops and street entertainment the event spills out into pubs and venues across the village.

Underneath the Stars Cannon Hall Farm, Barnsley 21 – 23 July 2017

Tidal Waves Beach Festival Bridlington, 9 - 10 June 2017 A music festival on the beach, this festival will be held on Bridlington’s South Cliff beach as part of the programme for Hull City of Culture 2017. Featuring headline acts, many different types of music, and with a strong emphasis on regional bands and performers.

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Harrogate, 20 - 23 July 2017 The world-class festival celebrates the very best in crime fiction at the magnificent Old Swan Hotel each July. The festival features over 90 authors and has achieved international acclaim for the programming, organisation and atmosphere.

A fresh summer festival of music, arts and food, brought to you by Cannon Hall Farm and Barnsley folk singer-songwriter Kate Rusby and her family production team. From the moment you arrive at the festival and pass the Hollywood-styled white letters that boldly spell out 'Underneath the Stars', you sense that something magical is about to happen. For those wishing to see their favourite singers, musicians and bands, Underneath the Stars provides a most excellent and varied programme of music over two main stages; the seated Planets Stage and the non-seated Little Lights Stage.

Great Yorkshire Show Harrogate, 11 – 13 July 2017 Organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS), this is England’s largest agricultural show, attracting 130,000 visitors over the three days.

Bradford Literature Festival Bradford, 30 June – 9 July 2017

Swaledale Festival 27 May – 10 June 2017 This award-winning festival is an annual celebration of music and arts in the beautiful landscape of the three northernmost Yorkshire Dales - Swaledale, Wensleydale and Arkengarthdale. The two-week event includes classical music concerts as well as folk, brass band, jazz and world music. In addition, there is poetry, film, dance, drama, comedy, workshops, masterclasses, exhibitions, children's events, talks and themed guided walks.

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Hailed as one of the most inspirational festivals in the UK, visitors can enjoy over 200 events packed into iconic venues across 10 days. Every year world-renowned authors, poets, musicians and artists are invited to visit this spectacular city and share their expertise and passions with you, the audience.

The Yorkshire Dales Food and Drink Festival Funkirk Farm near Skipton 22 - 23 July 2017 This festival aims to promote the ‘Field to Fork’ ethos showcasing the finest food, drink and chefs principally from the Yorkshire Dales.

A fun day out for all the family and celebrates all things foodie, the weekend includes a Vintage Funfair, over 250 food, drink, equipment and craft exhibitors, a Spirits and Cocktail Theatre, Kids Craft Area, a Beers and Bangers Tent, plus an Artisan Cookery School. The Festival s moving to Funkirk Farm near Skipton, and transforming it into a ‘Foodies Heaven’ with plenty of entertainment to enjoy.

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EVENTS Freedom Festival Hull, 1 - 3 September 2017

NiddFest Pateley Bridge 4 - 6 August 2017 Set in the glorious landscape of Upper Nidderdale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, NiddFest is a unique, family-friendly festival, offering a weekend of talks, music and outside events for nature lovers of all ages.

Be inspired by hearing some of the UK’s leading writers talk all things wild and wonderful. Join the rangers on guided walks in woodland and along the rivers and enjoy wild swimming, star gazing, den building, woodland art, a riverside party and much more.

Launched to celebrate the legacy of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce, the festival aims to welcome more than 100,000 visitors to Hull. Expect an incredible programme of theatre, music, dance and spoken word, alongside a whole host of other cultural activity which builds on the hype surrounding the city’s year as UK City of Culture 2017. Celebrating Hull’s independent spirit it literally lights up Hull with its annual explosion of spectacle.

Freedom Festival is set to shake up Hull from 2-4 September this year, celebrating the city’s independent spirit as well as its historic links to the idea of freedom.

York Food & Drink Festival 22 September - 1 October 2017

York Beer and Cider Festival

The biggest food festival in the UK and the ultimate celebration of delicious Yorkshire fare, showcasing Yorkshire’s finest producers, chefs and cooking. The festival will take over the city celebrating the tastes, sights and smells of York’s food.

York Racecourse 20 - 23 September 2017

© Richard Greaves / Argie Images

York Beer Festival is Yorkshire largest annual beer festival held in huge marquees on York Racecourse. In 2016 there were over 500 beers and 100 ciders on offer and it was a huge hit with visitors from all over the UK and 20 countries internationally.

Cornucopia Festival Tribfest Sledmere House near Driffield 17 - 20 August 2017 The world’s biggest tribute band music festival is returning to Yorkshire for its tenth year.

An amazing four days of music, comedy and entertainment in the beautiful surroundings on Sledmere House. In addition to the tribute bands there is fantastic entertainment including The Unsigned Marquee, Acoustic Marquee, Laughing Bull Comedy Marquee, Freedom Road Under 20s Marquee and the Kidzone. Bring the whole family for a fantastic fun weekend away.

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Burton Constable Hall, Skirlaugh, Hull 22 - 24 September 2017 Escape to Cornucopia Festival for the weekend in the beautiful surroundings of Burton Constable Hall, East Yorkshire's best kept secret! Sample live music, great comedy, wonderful dance, brilliant cabaret, delicious food and craft beers. Camp for the weekend in your own tent or why not try glamping!

Sensoria Festival Sheffield 30 September 7 October 2017 The UK’s festival of film and music, Sensoria’s natural home is Sheffield – a city renowned for its creative and technical innovation and one rich in musical heritage. This is the 10th festival, having risk-taking and innovation at its core – it is informal and informative; loves to provide access, raise aspiration and work to encourage new talent on an ongoing basis. You can look forward to a heady mix of screenings, performance, talks, events and exhibitions.

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REDCAR BARNARD CASTLE

A67

TO THE M6 FOR BIRMINGHAM AND CUMBRIA

KIRKBY STEPHEN

A685

A1

A172

SCARBOROUGH

SUTTON BANK

HAWES

MASHAM

DENT

A169

NORTH YORK MOORS

LEYBURN

A684

A683

ROBIN HOOD’S BAY

OSMOTHERLEY

NORTHALLERTON

REETH

YORKSHIRE DALES

WHITBY

A171

DANBY

RICHMOND

SEDBERGH

STAITHES

GUISBOROUGH

YARM

A66

BOWES

TEBAY

SALTBURN

MIDDLESBROUGH

A170

KIRKBY LONSDALE

PICKERING

HELMSLEY

THIRSK

SEAMER

FILEY

HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE

INGLETON

GRASSINGTON SETTLE

RIPON

A64

A59

SKIPTON

KNARESBOROUGH

A65

WETHERBY

A658

SALTAIRE

A64

LEEDS

BRADFORD

A614 HORNSEA

BEVERLEY

A19 SELBY

A164

A63

HEBDEN BRIDGE

HULL

A63

HUMBER BRIDGE

HALIFAX TODMORDEN

MIRFIELD HUDDERSFIELD HOLMFIRTH PENISTONE

GOOLE

PONTEFRACT

WAKEFIELD

A15

WITHERNSEA

A180

SCUNTHORPE

A1

BARNSLEY

FLAMBOROUGH HEAD

BRIDLINGTON

A166

A1079

OTLEY

KEIGHLEY HAWORTH

YORK

HARROGATE

ILKLEY

A629

MALTON DRIFFIELD

PATELEY BRIDGE

MALHAM

A165

A19

GRIMSBY CLEETHORPES

DONCASTER

BRIGG

A18

PEAK ROTHERHAM DISTRICT A57

SHEFFIELD

Wherever you’re coming from, getting to Yorkshire by rail, road, sea or air couldn’t be easier – and the journey takes you through some of our most stunning scenery on the way.

TO LONDON

BY RAIL

TO LONDON

BY RAIL

GETTING HERE

N

KEY Motorways A Roads Rail Routes Airports Heritage Coasts Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Parks Ferryport

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Yorkshire by Rail You can get to Yorkshire by high-speed train from London or Edinburgh in less than two hours. The Midlands is even nearer to Yorkshire’s cities, and TransPennine services offer direct links from the North West and North East.

For timetables and reservations contact: Virgin Trains East Coast (www.virgintrainseastcoast.com) Grand Central (www.grandcentralrail.com) National Rail Enquiries (tel 08457 484950 www.nationalrail.co.uk) East Midlands Trains (www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk) Hull Trains (www.hulltrains.co.uk) Northern Rail (www.northernrail.org) Supertram Sheffield (www.supertram.com) Transpennine Express (www.tpexpress.co.uk) And you can explore Yorkshire’s hills, moors and valleys on some of Britain’s best loved and most spectacular leisure trains, with lovingly preserved vintage rolling stock and historic steam locomotives. These include the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Middleton Railway, Wensleydale Railway, Fellsman (for the SettleCarlisle Railway) and Kirklees Light Railway.

Discover more about these super train trips at www.yorkshire.com/railways.

Yorkshire by Road Britain’s biggest and fastest highways cross Yorkshire from north to south and east to west, making getting here with your own car or by coach very simple indeed.

The A1 and M1 connect from the north and south, while the M6 and M62 link Yorkshire with the Midlands and the North West and the M18/M180 gives easy access to the coast and countryside of northern Lincolnshire.

For details of the quickest (or the most scenic) driving routes see the AA or RAC websites www.theaa.com and www.rac.co.uk.

Coach companies and operators with services to (and within) Yorkshire include: Arriva (www.arrivabus.co.uk/yorkshire) Dalesbus (www.dalesbus.org) East Yorkshire Motor Services (www.eyms.co.uk) First (www.firstgroup.com) Moorsbus (www.moorsbus.org) Transdev Blazefield (www.transdevplc.co.uk) Find further information on regional and local bus and train services from Traveline Yorkshire (www.yorkshiretravel.net).

You can also hire a vehicle from Arrow Self Drive at amazing rates. With branches in Harrogate, Huddersfield, Leeds, Barnsley, Wakefield and Hull, it has never been easier to find the perfect hire vehicle to explore Yorkshire (www.arrowselfdrive.com).

Yorkshire by bike and on foot There are walks, hikes and cycle trails all over Yorkshire. For walkers, enjoy easy strolls in towns and cities, nature walks in superb wildlife reserves, long rambles along cross-country canal towpaths, and energetic treks across the open moors and along the

magnificent coast. For cyclists, the choice is equally wide, from challenging trail rides to easy-going, traffic-free routes along canals, cliffs and riversides.

Find a wide choice of guide books and maps with lots of dedicated walking and cycling routes at Tourist Information Centres across the county, or more ideas from Welcome to Yorkshire at www.yorkshire.com/outdoors.

Yorkshire by Air and Sea The Yorkshire county is served by a number of airports, providing daily flights to and from many destinations. With excellent transport links, Yorkshire is also easily accessible from many other airports throughout the UK, through high speed train links and an extensive motorway network.

Leeds Bradford International Airport (tel 0871 2882288 www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk) Doncaster Sheffield Airport (tel 0871 2202210 www.flydsa.co.uk) Humberside Airport (tel 0844 8877747 www.humbersideairport.com) Manchester Airport (tel 08712 710711 www.manchesterairport.co.uk) Don’t forget P&O Ferries operate direct overnight links into Yorkshire from Rotterdam, Holland and Zeebrugge, Belgium. For more information visit www.poferries.com.

Information Centres Tourist Information Centres can offer plenty of great ideas so you can make the most of your visit. For all the Tourist Information Centres in Yorkshire; www.yorkshire.com/tic.

With thanks to our corporate partners:

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YORKSHIRE BUSINESS NEWS FLOWE R P OWE R L EEDS Brewin Dolphin is embarking on a new venture with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) after five successful years of sponsoring a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. The firm, which is one of Britain’s largest investment management and financial planning businesses, has teamed up with award-winning garden designer Jo Thompson to create a garden in the new FreeForm category for the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. Entrants are encouraged to create fantastic spectacles through sculptural design and features without limits. www.brewin.co.uk

IN V E STI N G IN PE O PL E BR ADFORD One of Bradford’s oldest manufacturing companies, Christeyns is committed to ensuring stability and opportunity for its workforce. The firm has invested heavily in the business by upgrading facilities on site, while introducing excellent employee welfare opportunities. 2016 saw the company win more awards, including the Investors in People Silver Award and Bradford Chamber Raising the Bar Environmental Award. Keen to nurture local talent, the firm has introduced an excellent apprenticeship scheme. Christeyns is actively engaged in a number of CSR initiatives and will continue to support schools and local charities in 2017. www.christeyns.com

FR E S H STA RT L EEDS Leeds-based speciality chemicals manufacturer The Stephenson Group has rolled out a number of successful initiatives in training and employment.

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The global manufacturing business joined the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programme and has embarked on a successful initiative offering exoffenders a fresh start which has seen six former offenders join its workforce in less than two years.

Established 160 years ago, it employs 100 people at its production plant in Horsforth. www.stephensongroup.co.uk

B R IGH T SPA RKS

S K ILLE D BU TCH E RS N E A R pontefract An 18-month apprenticeship scheme for butchers has been so successful, it’s being rolled out again in 2017.

Recognising a shortage of locally skilled butchers, Dovecote Park developed the scheme, with the guarantee of a job upon completion. In partnership with East Riding College, apprentices learn every aspect of butchery and achieve the NVQ level 2 award meat and poultry industry skills. This is delivered through a mix of practical and classroom training and has been so successful, a third intake is planned for July 2017. www.dovecotepark.com

YOR KSH I R E Northern Powergrid, the company which keeps the lights on across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has been named one of the North East’s top 10 companies. The electricity distributor, which invests around £1 million every day into improving the power network for over eight million people, was named as 10th in the Top 200 awards. www.northernpowergrid.com

GO O R G ANIC HU L L The Hull-based William Jackson Food Group has brought its organic box delivery service to Yorkshire with the opening of a brand new regional depot for its Abel & Cole brand. Abel & Cole provides tasty and organic fruit and veg boxes, complete recipe boxes which contain all the ingredients needed to cook up a tasty and nourishing meal as well as everyday items such as bread and dairy. The aim is to help the people of Yorkshire eat brilliantly with ethically sourced products and the option to personalise the wide range of boxes, from the Marvellous Meat box to the Superb Souping box. www.abelandcole.co.uk

NE W CAM P U S scarborough CU Scarborough’s new £14m campus has opened its doors for regional, national and now international students. The campus, part of the Coventry University Group, has been granted a license by the government allowing it to enrol international students. Coventry University already has more than 7,000 overseas students at its campuses in the UK, and its Scarborough campus will accept enrolments from January 2017. www.coventry.ac.uk/cus

RE STO RATIO N CLIM B hull Alan Wood & Partners managing director Nick Ward joined a team of eight Hull Businessmen climbing

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YORKSHIRE BUSINESS NEWS to the top of Africa in support of the city’s iconic Holy Trinity Church.

Nick summited Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro at 5,895m (19,341 feet) along with Andrew Allenby (Allenby Commercial) Nic Marshall (ResQ), Jonathan Leafe (Strawberry), Dave Garness (Garness Jones), Neil Riseham (Arco), Iain Morrison and Brian Gilliland (Holy Trinity Church). The ascent raised funds for the amazing transformation and restoration of Holy Trinity Church for the benefit of the whole community. www.alanwood.co.uk

said farewell to Benson House, the home of PwC Leeds for the last 20 years, as it relocated to the impressive new state-of-the-art building. The project, three years in the making, demonstrates an exciting shift in the way that PwC, one of the UK's leading professional services firms, designs and uses office space. www.pwc.co.uk

years. Addleshaw Goddard is ranked number one law firm in Yorkshire by total number of Leeds office Tier 1 rankings by the Legal 500 directory, the independent leading guide to law firms in the UK. www.addleshawgoddard.com

fruit market F U RTH E R D E VELO P M ENTS wetherby

GIVING B AC K HUDDERSFIELD As part of Arrow Self Drive’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, Giving Back to Yorkshire, the firm has recently formed a new partnership with Saint Michael’s Hospice in Harrogate, providing a Luton van. The van will help the charity to offer far-reaching support to people living with terminal illness across the district, helping families receive care in their place of choice.

The additional transport will also facilitate the running of Saint Michael’s eight community stores, raising more than £800,000 each year towards vital hospice care. www.arrowselfdrive.com

The leading Yorkshire property development brand is celebrating a string of project successes. Wetherbybased Caddick Developments, part of the Caddick Group, has let phase one of its £100 million prime distribution and logistics scheme near Wakefield, Crosspoint33, to TK Maxx.

It’s also completed a £7m residential redevelopment of ‘The Walk’ in York as well as securing outline planning permission for its multi-million pound 685,000sq ft Quarry Hill scheme in Leeds, a key development in the regeneration of Leeds City Centre’s Cultural Quarter. www.caddick.co.uk

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EXC I TI NG S HI F T leeds PwC in Yorkshire & North East has relocated to a brand new office at the iconic Central Square development on Wellington Street. Some 750 people

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Yorkshire’s number one law firm has relocated its Leeds office to a landmark new development.

Addleshaw Goddard has relocated to 3 Sovereign Square, the landmark new development in the heart of Leeds' business district. The firm, which has roots in Leeds going back to 1775, has signed a lease for 17.5

hull The £80 million transformation of Hull’s Fruit Market will see an exciting mix of businesses and homes within the city’s first urban village. Hull-based regeneration company Wykeland Group is driving forward the project, working with joint venture partner Beal Homes. Their vision is for the Fruit Market to be “a unique, vibrant and cultural quarter where people live, work and play”. It will include retail, leisure, arts and cultural enterprises together with more than 100 new, mews-style homes, in and among the waterside district’s warehouses and cobbled streets. www.fruitmarkethull.co.uk www.wykeland.co.uk

E NH ANCING E NE RGY harrogate Commercial gas specialist CNG Ltd has expanded its Harrogate headquarters by more than 6,000 square feet to facilitate further growth. The gas business has taken on its third floor at its Victoria Avenue location, allowing for further development of existing teams as the business launches its own electricity offering in 2017. CNG has recently expanded internally with a new legal and compliance team as well

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YORKSHIRE BUSINESS NEWS as enhancing its Energy Connections offering, ensuring it can handle every point of a contract in-house from infrastructure to supply. www.cngltd.co.uk

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CU LTUR A L VE NUE hull Yorkshire is the proud home of a new state-of-the-art cultural venue thanks to the re-opening of the University of Hull’s Middleton Hall. Transformed with a £9.5 million investment, the centrepiece is a world-class 400-seater concert hall. With cuttingedge and adaptable acoustics, the hall will now play host to a variety of concerts ranging from classical to pop.

The versatile space can be adapted to host theatre productions as well as surround sound cinema screenings – and is completed by a new Arts Café. www.hull.ac.uk www.culturenet.co.uk

Andrew Jackson Solicitors has opened brand new offices in Scarborough, boosting its presence in the north of the region. The firm, which employs over 125 staff including 30 partners across four regional offices, has ambitious plans for its future. It has already strengthened its offering over the last few months with several senior appointments in its corporate, business, private client and commercial property departments, with more key additions to the team planned. www.andrewjackson.co.uk

The Aspire-igen group is investing £1.5 million in a new regional headquarters in Bradford. The seven-storey building will be used as an Opportunity Centre, offering a careers service as well as careers advice, vocational training and employability skills.

In addition, plans include a business incubation area for new and budding entrepreneurs and an events space for SMEs. Aspire-igen will open further Opportunity Centres across Yorkshire and the Humber in 2017. www.aspire-igen.com

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Yorkshire Water aim to raise £1m for WaterAid by 2020 to help bring clean water and sanitation to 130,000 people in Ethiopia. As part of this, 200 of its staff will also help deliver fun educational programmes at Yorkshire schools and youth groups to highlight the importance of water efficiency and raise money for the campaign. In June 2015 the company sent three experts to Ethiopia to share their expertise with the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Irrigation and managers from twenty of the country's water utilities. www.yorkshirewater.com

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CH AM P IO NING YO RKS H IRE

R E CORD B R E AK ING NE W OP PO RTU N IT Y

EX P ERTS IN ETH IO P IA

Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) will deliver a record breaking year in 2017, with over 3.7m passengers flying through Yorkshire’s gateway airport. With direct flights to 75 destinations including 11 capital cities across 25 countries, 13 major airlines now fly from LBA. New routes for 2017 include Warsaw, Bratislava, Vilnius, Gerona, Newquay, Almeria, Salonika and Berlin. More than 150 worldwide connections via London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Dublin and Barcelona are also available. The airport’s ambitious Masterplan ‘Route to 2030’ focuses on growth and development at LBA in the coming years. www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk

This campaigning newspaper which has won plaudits and affected societal change with its drive to combat loneliness, has plans for further campaigns in 2017. Home to some of the best journalists in the country, it has continued its proud record of championing the region, holding power to account and working to ensure communities and businesses can flourish and thrive.

In the past 12 months, the YP’s parent company Johnston Press has acquired the i newspaper. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

LUXU RY LO D GES leeds Leeds and London based PPG have expanded into various sectors over the years, but none as exciting as its Luxury Lodge Group and Loxley Homes Ltd. Luxury Lodge Group offers a collection of idyllic second homes finished to a luxurious standard whilst retaining their contemporary

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YORKSHIRE BUSINESS NEWS country charm. The developments are designed to offer privacy within a community setting and a new leisure village is due in 2018. Leeds based Loxley Homes are now taking reservations at their Meadowside, Hunsingore (Wetherby) development with more sites within Yorkshire’s ‘golden triangle’ available in 2017. www.loxleyhomes.uk.com

FA MI LY B US I NE SS harrogate Yorkshire family business Bettys & Taylors has honoured the work of its top suppliers for commitment to quality, sustainability and going the extra mile. Their awards celebrate the best suppliers of tea and coffee, as well as an award for Bettys’ Overall Best Performing Supplier. The suppliers of the year were Caravela Coffee from Colombia; Imenti, part of the Kenya Tea Development Agency; and Delifresh, a Bettys fresh produce and speciality food supplier based in Bradford. www.bettysandtaylors.co.uk

ICO N I C CONSTR U C T IO N leeds Arnold Laver have recently helped to build the new and iconic landmark in Leeds city centre, supplying

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materials for the construction of the Victoria Gate development.

Striking and innovative, this new shopping destination uses a number of timber-based products, which were supplied by Lavers; from construction materials, through to internal fire-doors and oak cladding.

This year Arnold Laver are proud to have chosen Sheffield Children’s Hospital as their charity for 2017.

They will be undertaking a number of activities throughout the year to help raise funds for this fantastic organisation. Reader offer: visit laveronline.co.uk quoting WTY10OFF for 10% discount. www.laveronline.co.uk

E NH ANC ED E X P E RIENC E york Grand Central, the Yorkshire train operator, will be celebrating 10 years of connecting the communities of West Riding and the North East to London. The company are pleased to announce they will be investing £10m in 2017 in refurbishing their fleet, and will also see their fleet increase from 8 to 10 all of which will be Class 180 trains. The first of the refurbished trains is expected to be rolled out April/May 2017, with the full fleet expected to be completed and in service by late 2017. The refreshed trains are part of Grand Central’s ongoing commitment to enhancing customer experience offering free Wi-Fi, on board entertainment portal and lots of leg room. www.grandcentralrail.com

FLY LO CAL D O N C ASTE R & S H E F F I E LD 2016 saw Doncaster Sheffield Airport become the fastest growing airport in the UK. The airport flies to over 40 destinations, and is now directly accessible from the motorway network thanks to a newly constructed link road - Great Yorkshire Way at junction 3 of the M18 – reducing journey times by up to 15 minutes, and parking is directly outside the terminal with no shuttle bus transfer required. www.flydsa.co.uk

E FFIC IE NT WASTE D E WS B U RY Biffa is investing in a food waste transfer station at Dewsbury in a bid to help the environment. The firm has a long-term commitment to diverting food waste away from landfill, by recycling it instead – saving money and other resources.

Its investment into the food waste transfer station at Dewsbury will create great efficiencies before it is sent to its anaerobic digestion plants. Cost-effective, food waste collections are available. Find out more - call 0800 054 6090 www.biffa.co.uk/food

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