Bingley St Ives

Last weekend was fairly typically Novemberish, damp and misty, but by Sunday I really felt like I needed some fresh air so I took a trip up to the nearby St Ives estate, a country park on the hill above Bingley. I always like this view down the valley towards Harden, from one of the estate's entrance drives. You can tell, I think, that the surroundings have been landscaped in the past; there are some magnificent specimen trees. The estate was once owned by monks, but after the dissolution of the monasteries it was sold and a mansion, then called Harden Grange, was built in the 17th century. For most of its history it was owned by the Ferrand family but the estate was bought in the 1920s by the local council and has been developed as an area of recreation.

Photo best viewed large