North Yorkshire (2): Rievaulx Terrace and Thirsk

Thu 2nd June 2022

Rievaulx Terrace

Rievaulx Terrace was constructed to overlook the abbey, by the local landowner, Thomas Duncombe II, who wanted to create a pleasant view for the family and visitors to his house. Apparently it was fashionable to have ruins in your garden at the time. The terrace is now in the care of the National Trust.

At either end of the terrace is a “temple”. We walked along a beautiful woodland path to the Ionic temple which has an interesting ceiling, but which unfortunately, has to be viewed through the windows.

We then walked along the terrace, taking in views across the landscape and Rievaulx Abbey to the Tuscan temple which has an amazing fresco ceiling in what was intended as a dining room, which when originally constructed, housed a kitchen beneath.

Thomas Duncombe would take his guests from the house in a carriage to the Ionic temple and they would then walk along the terrace, admiring the views, to the Tuscan temple for lunch.

Kilburn White Horse

En route to the temporary holiday site at Bedale, organised by the Camping & Caravan Club, we made a small detour to look at the Kilburn White Horse, on Sutton Bank, which has a gliding club aerodrome above on top of the hill.

We walked down to the top of the white horse. A beautiful view, but we could not make out its form. In the picture below, the grassy bit in the middle of the white area, is its eye:

A much better view is from further away:

Thirsk

After lunch, we explored Thirsk which is a pretty small town with a spacious town square with many small independent shops:

The town is the birthplace of Thomas Lord, the founder of Lord’s Cricket Ground. The house is now a museum.

We found that the town had really pushed the boat out in terms of Platinum Jubilee celebrations:

Bedale

We were made to feel very welcome when we arrived at Bedale Camping and Caravanning Park and were invited to a social that evening, when I was “lucky” enough to win a prize: