I mentally gave out several awards as I mooched around East Witton. Most will have never spent any time there, yet it's so uplifting! Look at the photos to see if you agree with these (some are a little quirkier):
- Most Wholesome Village Award: for its story-book look, of picture-perfect cottages with blooming gardens clustered around the village green, and a selection of small details to make one smile.
- Lovely Location Award: sandwiched between the historic splendour of Jervaulx Abbey and Middleham Castle, close to Witton Fell, the Rivers Ure and Cover and surrounded by excellent walks
- Idyllic Place to Sit Award for the rope swing on the green where you can watch and greet villagers and walkers
- Pub Where People Plot Award: this is for the The Blue Lion Hotel Inn & Restaurant which I always think has a sense of intrigue, with years of history and stories that you can feel in the walls, and corner tables that lend themselves to thinking up schemes. The fact that Daniel Craig and Prince Charles (not together) are oft-cited as enjoying Blue Lion hospitality only feeds the story.
- Award for a Good Selection of Honesty Boxes and Enterprising Residents: eggs, books, jams, sometimes plants, and carved stone - take your pick...
- Award for Best Re-use of a huge old broken Grindstone: imaginative and very attractive floral display
- Easy-to-Imagine-Life-as-it-was Award: you can see why the village would have once been so important, so close to the abbey, at useful crossing points, with a market charter. Some of the cottages have been re-built, but always on the same footprint as the original, ancient layout. Look out for the huge chestnut trees with shade to rest, and the old village taps - mains water was only connected in the 1950s.
- Might-be-close-to-a-Sighting-of-a-Black-Panther Award:
take the narrow winding back road from the top side of the green, and you'll come to the spot where a few years ago I spotted what I was convinced was a black panther, motionless in a field by Braithwaite Hall. When I looked it up, I found several other similar reports, so maybe I was right?
