Church Houses

Notwithstanding the Spring daffodil spectacular (see yesterday), the three mile circular route through Farndale between the hamlets of Low Mills and Church Houses (in my photo) would be a pleasant walk in any season.

The North York Moors National Park is a good two hour drive away from Saltaire on the way to the east coast, so it's not an area I have visited all that often and there is lots to explore. Maybe I'll have chance to get to know it a bit better now I have more free time. It is a high plateau of heather moorland, cut through by deep dales (valleys), carved by glacial meltwater and the various rivers that drain the moorland. The dales, all with different characters, contain woodlands, meadows and scattered small villages or hamlets.

Farndale, the valley of the River Dove, runs north to south in the southern limestone belt. Its nutrient-rich alkaline soils support ancient woodlands of sessile oak and fertile grasslands, harbouring a wide variety of wildflowers, insects, birds and other wildlife.