Last weekend my niece got married in Helmsley, North Yorkshire where my brother lives. It’s not a place we’ve visited before (my brother only relatively recently moved there), so as well as the event itself, there was an opportunity to visit somewhere new.
Helmsley lies on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors, about 10 miles east of Thirsk and a 50 minutes drive further east to Scarborough. For us it was an almost five hour drive from Cardiff.
As we drove up the day before the wedding, we took the opportunity to stop and explore Fountains Abbey near Ripon. As an aside, Ripon, a place I’ve never been to before looks a lovely place to visit when we have more time based on what we saw as we drive through. Fountains Abbey consists of ancient Abby ruins and an awe inspiring water garden according to its National Trust website page. Indeed the abbey ruins are magnificent and huge. The water garden was certainly impressive too, and a place I’d love to visit and spend more time at if we’re ever up this way again.
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| Fountains Abbey |
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| Part of the water garden |
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| Fountains Abbey Mill |
And so to Helmsley, a quaint small market town. Most of the town is centred around its main square, although houses are now starting to spread the population slightly further. There are a plethora of pubs/hotels, coffee shops, bakeries and butchers and a micro brewery. It’s clearly a hot spot for tourists with bikers, cyclists, walkers, car enthusiasts and more abounding.
We stayed at the excellent Feathers Hotel which as luck would have it, was also the hotel for the wedding reception. With the church literally a 2 minute walk away, it was a perfect setting.
The hotel was friendly and well furnished, and deceptively large, housing 23 rooms whilst looking no more than a two up two down pub from the front. The staff were to a person helpful and friendly, and I’d have no hesitation in staying there again.
The wedding was brilliant. It was so nice to see all our family together for the first time in a few years, the bride looked gorgeous and everyone had a great deal of fun. The sun even shone, against the forecast cloud.
All in all, we had a tremendous weekend, and will definitely be back to this delightful part of the world.
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| The Feathers Hotel, Helmsley |
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| Helmsley market square |
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