As part of our trip to Ireland, we also travelled to the northern part of England to explore some smaller communities and to visit the city of York. We have English heritage, so we were curious about the towns and villages our grandparents and great-grandparents had lived in before they emigrated to Canada.
Our post about our time in Scotland is here.
Our post about Ireland is here.
Craig’s side of the family came from places close to Scarborough, so we set out to see these places on our way from Edinburgh to York.
Firtree, Hamsterley, Flixton and Scarborough
We were able to locate the small villages and towns where Craig’s family once lived. Craig had done an extensive ancestry search and located his grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ birthplaces. We decided to drop by these places on our drive to York.
Firtree, the birthplace of Craig’s great-grandfather, took only a minute to drive through. It was a quaint little village. We decided to continue to our next destination.
Our next stop was Hamsterley. We drove along the main street and then stopped at the community centre to see if there was anyone to chat with. We found some helpful residents who pointed us to the churchyard, and we discovered a family name on one of the old stones.
Here’s a quick video of our drive through the town. It gives you an idea of driving on the left side and typical driving conditions in parts of Yorkshire.
We made a longer stop in Flixton, which is the birthplace of Craig’s great-grandfather. We stopped for lunch at the Foxhound Inn and ordered an authentic Yorkshire dinner. Craig had the lamb, and I had the turkey plate. The meals were generous and tasty. It was the best Yorkshire pudding I have had! Dinner is served as the midday meal in rural England, especially in farming communities. Their evening meal is called supper.
While enjoying our meal, we spoke to the diners beside us, and they informed us of the possible location of family gravestones. We checked out the nearby churchyard, but unfortunately, no relatives’ stones were found. We learned that some headstones were sold and “repurposed” as flooring in the 1970s, so perhaps the memorial of Craig’s family is now part of a kitchen floor in one of the village homes.
Our next stop was in the beautiful seaside town of Scarborough, where Craig’s great-grandmother was raised. The beach, arcades and sea wall would make this place a great summer getaway. This was the biggest town we visited on this day. The roads were easy to navigate, and the weather was cooperative. Scarborough has places to stay, and the many countryside walks would make it a great place to visit for a few days.
After a short walk around town, we jumped back into our car and made our way to our hotel in York.
York
We arrived in the city centre of York in the late afternoon. The Elmbank Hotel is a 10-minute walk from the old walls at Micklegate. We booked our stay with Expedia and enjoyed our beautiful room and its location.
We truly enjoyed our stay at the Elmbank and here’s why:
Train Museum
York is the home of the National Railway Museum. We spent some time checking out the various trains. Some of our favourite trains were the one used by the Royal family, the Flying Scotsman, and a beautifully designed Pullman called the Mallard.
We learned a lot about the history of the trains and admired their designs. The conservation volunteers who brought these cars back to their glory days have done an amazing job. It was a very family-friendly place with interactive exhibits. The large campus can accommodate many visitors at once, so it never felt crowded. Oh, did I mention that the admission is free??
York Wall
One of the other great free things to do in York is to explore the city from the city’s walls. The medieval walls have been maintained and restored and are safe to use. We enjoyed the views of the various parts of the city and used it as a pathway to get to other sights.
Dining Options in York
We had an excellent full breakfast at our hotel each morning. We ate at a variety of places. We discovered that some pubs open late in the day for food service. We happened upon the Punch Bowl Wetherspoon Pub near Micklegate. Not only did it have the cheapest beer in the city, but it was also filled with many locals enjoying their pints and lunches. It had the best atmosphere of all the pubs we visited in the UK.
Our favourite dinner place was the called the Everest Gurkha Nepalese Restaurant. We met friends for dinner there, and we had a delicious meal with excellent service. We stayed for a while and never felt that they wanted to rush us out. It is located in the middle of the historic area on Fossgate (Market Road), so we enjoyed our scenic walk there and back from our hotel. York is also a walkable city and is well known for its narrow alleyways.
We learned at checkout that York is famous for the creation of the Kit Kat chocolate bar, so on our next visit, we will learn more about its chocolate history!
After our relaxing two-day stay at the Elmbank Hotel, we packed up and began the drive east and north. This time, our planned stops were to see my see the village and town where my paternal grandmother lived.
Our first stop from York was the village of Dunkeswick where my grandmother was born. We then continued to the larger city of Harrogate, the place where she was raised before moving to Canada.
Harrogate
The city of Harrogate was an important stop for us to explore my heritage. It also had significance for us today because Harrogate, UK and Barrie, Ontario (where we reside) are officially twinned. The municipal governments of both Harrogate and Barrie formalized the twinning of their cities for economic and cultural opportunities back in 2013.
We stopped in the downtown area of the beautiful city. There are many parks, green spaces and many beautifully restored historic buildings.
We walked to the nearby church and struck up a conversation with a volunteer. He was a retired city groundskeeper and was busy in the church garden. He invited us into the church to view it after we shared that my grandmother had lived in Harrogate.
Once inside the church, we met another volunteer who teaches elementary students. She was aware of our Barrie-Harrogate twinning and was eager to connect to a class in Barrie. As a retired educator, I gave her my email and said I’d be happy to help connect her to a class in Barrie.
Although we did not find any gravestones of my family, we did feel welcomed by the residents of Harrogate. The downtown shops were busy with locals and it did not feel touristy like Dublin or Edinburgh. We continued our way to the Lake District.
The Lake District
As we made the drive north, the Yorkshire dales changed to more mountainous roads as we approached the Lake District area. This part of northern England is famous for countryside walks, Beatrix Potter, William Wordsworth, and the unique and hearty Lake District breed of sheep called the Herdwick.
Hawkshead
We had a very confusing drive into the small village of Hawkshead. We followed our GPS, which took us along small, single-lane roads instead of the safer, larger roads. Eventually, we found our B&B and settled in for the night. The accommodations were quite modest compared to our stay in York, but the host was very friendly and served an excellent full breakfast.
Ambleside
We arrived in the town of Ambleside amid a big charity walking event and took in a brief view of Lake Windermere. This is the largest lake in England. Many places in my home province of Ontario were named after this part of England by English settlers. It does look a lot like our Muskoka and Kawartha cottage country with its lakes and forests. Ambleside is very touristy and was crowded that day, so we returned to Hawkshead for dinner.
After a delicious breakfast at our B&B we continued our drive north through Keswick. We stopped here to view the stone circles. These stone circles were protected early on and are a World Heritage Site. I’m glad they did not become flooring for a nearby home!
Castlerigg Stone Circles
These Circles were situated perfectly in a valley with panoramic views of the neighbouring mountains. We also got to see the famous Lake District’s Herdwick sheep up close, as they grazed among the stones. I enjoyed seeing these stones more than my visit to Stonehenge many years ago!
We completed our UK drive when we arrived back in Glasgow. We successfully returned the rental without a scratch! We considered our driving adventures over for now and look forward to our next big trip to Europe. It will be by train!
