Adderstone Wood

A quiet dale just outside the eastern edge of Dalby Forest Park with a wooded beck of crystal clear waters with small trout on one of the National Trust's working farms. The name Stain Dale comes from the Norse and means a 'stony valley' probably because of the rock formations higher up the valley at the Bridestones.

Mountain bike course in Dalby Forest.

The ditch to the centre of the photo claimed two cars on the night stage of the Trackrod Rally a week earlier, although they did manage to continue.

Looking SE.

Looking north.

Looking east.

Four loaded timber trucks were seen in Dalby Forest today.

Looking north from Newclose Rigg towards Whinny Nab.

Looking west along Stoneclose Rigg, soon there was a light snow shower.

One of the High Bride Stones on Grime Moor.

Zoomed in view of the 'pepper pot'.

Where Dove Dale joins Staindale.

A day spent cutting self sown, mainly birch saplings from the Bridestones heather moorland under a glorious blue sky. A day also for twitchering in which murmuring fieldfare, perhaps getting impatient, itching to leave for the summer, and a skylark, first of the year. If left the birch would gradually begin to dominate. Bridestones Moor is unique in that since it was left to the National Trust in 1943 it has not been intensively managed. Other moors are either burnt frequently for grouse or too heavily grazed. It’s important therefore that the condition of the moor is maintained allowing a good diversity of dwarf shrubs to grow, including old heather with collapsing canopy and natural dwarf shrub regeneration in the gaps. If left birch would takeover the moor. The aim is for a tree cover of no more than 5%. Somewhere on this moor is buried a time capsule containing up to 100 items from shoe polish to theatre tickets, teabags and, a newspaper. It was buried by the National Trust in 1995 to mark their centenary. I guess the actual burial site would have been closer to the stones themselves. Also included in the capsule is a plaque made from a fallen oak tree on the moor which has been inscribed with a list of key events during that first 100 years of the Trust’s existence: the first powered flight, the two world wars, the Kennedy assassination, and England’s 1966 Word Cup victory. For sources and references see Link

A delightful former farm-house situated in Staindale in the parish of Lockton. The farmstead is shown on the Thomas Jefferies map of 1775 and it is believed the farmhouse certainly dates from that time with later alterations and extensions. The house itself is Grade II listed but two of the outbuildings are also of historical significance. One of these outbuildings is described as a ‘laithe barn’. Now I am not sure what this actually was. I had thought a ‘laithe’ was just a Yorkshire dialect for a barn. Another source suggests a granary. The house is part of the National Trust’s Bridestones property and is now let on long-term occupancy. The property of 165 acres was acquired in 1943 with a bequest from Mrs. R. F. A. Whitney, of Cambridge. In 1948, the Youth Hostels Association leased the farmhouse and opened it as a “self-cooker” hostel — that is, cooking facilities were provided, but hostellers would do their own cooking. To my mind this is the traditional type of youth hostel, unpopular now as it’s more lucrative to provide food and drink, but in the late 1940s, a survey among Y.H.A. members favoured this simpler type of accommodation. The hostel provided accommodation for 16 members. Before the war, before the mass forestry planting, and certainly before the tarmac road of the Dalby Forest Drive, Staindale was one of the remotest valleys in the North York Moors. In 1933, it was reported that there were children of up to 8 years old living at Low Staindale who had never attended school. In 1903, John Purson lived at Low Staindale. We know this because while he was working at a thrashing machine on the farm of William Thompson at Lockton Pastures, his right arm was caught by the revolving drum and torn off above the elbow and had to be subsequently amputated. An appalling accident and one which would have had dire consequences for the family. For sources and references see my blog Link

Grassy forest track on Yondhead Rigg.

Fungi growing on a tree stump on Yondhead Rigg.