Yorkshire – a racing certainty for horse lovers

Secrets of "the Rubbing House" revealed, and a great era of racing history explored on The Wayfarers' Yorkshire Walk

If you love horses then you will be delighted by our visit to Middleham on the Wayfarers’ Yorkshire Walk. As you enter the town, horses appear from every direction out of racing stables tucked behind rows of ordinary houses. We pause here for lunch and the chance to sample the distinctive local ale, and we often see strings of magnificent racehorses walking up the road to the moors or returning from the high gallops after training.

The art of training thoroughbreds has flourished for more than 200 years at Middleham. Ancient documents reveal that Isaac Cape was one of the first professional trainers to set up in the town. He operated from Tupgill Stables in the era when the English thoroughbred racehorse was still being perfected as a breed.

In 1739 a racecourse was laid out on the High Moor at Limekiln Hill and races were held there until 1873. The modern gallops you can see today follow its antique contours. Nearby is a derelict stone barn, the only remaining evidence of one of the great eras in racing history. This is the Rubbing House, where in the 19th century horses were rubbed down between workouts or between raceday heats, part of a training practice known as ‘the Yorkshire Sweats’.

Horses would be well wrapped in blankets and galloped over long distances, before returning to the Rubbing House to have sweat removed and blankets replaced. In the 18th century horses ran several heats in one day and the Rubbing House was used between the heats, when sweat was scraped off and the horses kept warm until the next heat. The most famous of all the Middleham classic winners trained using the Rubbing House was The Flying Dutchman, who won both the Derby and St Leger in 1849 and the Ascot Gold Cup the following year.

The Yorkshire Sweats fell out of favour and today’s horses are trained using very different methods. But the high moors remain one of the best places to train racehorses and Middleham is still one of the leading training centers in the UK. With more than 400 winners each year for the past 38 years, the town’s 13 trainers produce an average of almost a winner every single day of the year.

Middleham is one of the most picturesque small towns in the North of England with panoramic views of the Dales, as this video shows http://www.middlehamtrainers.com 

Join us in June or September to explore Yorkshire – England’s Green and Pleasant Land.

5 Reasons Why Springtime Is One Of The Best Seasons To Visit Britain

The weather is warming up, the daffodils and bluebells are in bloom and with wallet-friendly deals and fewer crowds, springtime in Britain is one of the best times to visit.

So pack your bags and take advantage of the following 5 reasons to visit Britain this spring.

Walking in a bluebell wood in England.  Credit: Visit Britain

1. Spring savings: Springtime is sale time for airlines and hotels eager to attract travelers before the summer rush. Online tools like Bing Travel,SmarterTravel and Kayak can help you find the best deals. Or, take advantage of flight deals and special offers on hotels, sightseeing and car rental at British Airways and VisitBritain.
   
2. Off-season is local-season for culture and heritage: Galleries, museums and heritage sites are in their crowd-free glory in the off-season. Take a hint from the locals who know better than to visit in the high-season and follow in the footsteps of some of Britain’s greatest artists, attend British theatre, opera and dance, or visit one of the UK’s 25 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, before the summer tourists descend.

Daffodils in Edinburgh. Credit: Visit Britain

Lupin display at the Chelsea Flower Show. Credit: Visit Britain

Lavendar. Credit: Visit Britain

3. Britain in bloom: Come celebrate the famous Chelsea Flower Show’s 100th birthday this May. Can’t make it? Don’t worry. From snowdrops to cherry blossoms and famed bluebells, wild flowers, blossoming trees and flowering rhododendron woodlands colour the countryside and National Trust gardens and parks in springtime. Here’s the Telegraph’s 10 of the best spring gardens to visit, or for a sneak peek, check out this lovely photo essay, Britain Blossoms.

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4.A passion for seasonal food: The farm-to-table culinary scene is thriving in Britain, and no more so than in the season of renewal. With flavourful local, organic, and sustainable food served everywhere from trendy gastropubs, five-star restaurants, and local cafés, springtime in Britain is a favorite for foodies with a passion for seasonal cuisine. Listen to this video interview with Jamie Oliver and discover why one of Britain’s most passionate chefs can’t get enough of Britain’s food and learn a few tips for seeking out the best UK produce. 

Golden Cap Estate, Dorset, England. Credit: Visit Britain

5.Wide open spaces. Spring is an ideal time for walking in Britain; the hedgerows are blooming, lambs are gamboling, temperatures are perfect and the evenings are drawing out. Discover the best of the great British outdoors on foot with thousands of miles of walking and hiking routes all over Britain. Our free Walk Away Guide by leading travel writer Everett Potter offers expert advice on why a walking vacation is one of the best ways to explore, how to prepare, what to pack, and much more. 

The Party Is On In Ireland - Be Part Of It

Music in a pub in Cork  Credit: James Fennell

Festival season in Ireland is in full swing with St Patrick's Day celebrations in Dublin leading the way with five full days of music, street theatre, family carnivals, comedy, street performances, and dance. But St. Paddy’s is just one of many spectacular events on tap during The Gathering Ireland 2013- a uniquely Irish yearlong celebration. 

Kilkenny Castle Credit: James Fennell

Throughout 2013, Ireland is opening its arms, hearts, homes, galleries, and festivals to hundreds of thousands of new friends, old friends and family from all over the world with all sorts of quirky, hip, quaint and cosy gatherings in villages, towns and cities across the island.

From inviting the world for tea to a national leprechaun hunt, the party is on in Ireland. Here’s our shortlist of ways you can be part of it.

Win A Free Trip

Paint your face, your bike, your entire house green as part of Tourism Ireland’s Great Green-off contest and you could win a trip for you and 5 friends to Ireland. Hurry, this ends March 24th. 

Derry ~ Londonderry Credit: Northern Irish Tourist Board

Celebrate A City of Culture

Derry~Londonderry made history when it was awarded the inaugural UK City of Culture designation for 2013. Feel the excitement of walking its 400 year old city walls, don't miss its museums, and make sure you include one of the many festivals that will take take place in this great city.

Pack Your Appetite

Sampling Oysters Credit: James Fennell

Each autumn, foodies flock to Dingle to indulge in the wonderful flavours of local food and drink at the annual Dingle Food Festival. Highlights include an extensive Taste Trail, outdoor market, cookery demos and workshops. There is also fun for foodies-in-training, with a programme of events for children. View details 

Dance  Credit: Brian Morrison

Find Your Roots

Celebrate Ireland's Family History Year by attending a clan gathering. There's the O' Sullivan Gathering in Kerry, the O'Neill Gathering in Tyrone and many many more. Join the fun,click here.

Calling All Redheads

In aid of the Irish Cancer Society, the seaside village of Crosshaven in county Cork will transform into a sea of redheads in August 2013. A festival of ginger loving madness, discover your natural hair-itage at Ireland's original and only Redhead Convention.

Star In Your Own Video

Send out a personalized Gathering invitation with the help of Tourism Ireland’s fun video app. Or, give your friends a surprise and include their name in this zany video with comedian, Andrew Maxwell. Go on, try it and sample a taste of Gathering-related excitement. 

Killarney Lake Credit: Failte Ireland

Summer Fares on Sale

Aer Lingus, the national airline of Ireland, has summer fares on sale to Ireland through March 20, 2013. Click here for details. Additionally, American Airlines has added a new nonstop route from New York (JFK) to Dublin with flights beginning June 12, 2013. Better yet, to celebrate, they’re offering a 20,000 AAdvantage bonus mile promotion. Click here to learn more. 

Lace Up Your Hiking Boots

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland Credit: Chris Hill

The Wayfarers is hosting a gathering of our own, with walking tours in both Northern Ireland and the Ring of Kerry. Each walk is hand-tailored to immerse you in the Emerald Isle’s rich cultural heritage, striking scenery, and stunning coastline, with plenty of opportunities to celebrate with the locals. Come join us.

Do you have the luck of the Irish? Click here , and enter to win one of three sets of Irish Linen tea towels. 

For a complete Gathering events schedule and Ireland vacation planning information visit TheGatheringIreland.com and DiscoverIreland.com. 

Ice Age Art Bag - Competition

Enter to win this beautiful Ice Art - inspired bag from the new British Museum Exhibit.

This colourful bag is made from 100% cotton and features a lively design on both sides.

It is available as part of the Mark Making range, which has been especially designed for the Museum exhibition: Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind.

The patterns are inspired by portable artworks made during the last Ice Age 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. The imagination and skill used to create them show that people with brains like our own had arrived in Europe by this time. The patterns and symbols were a language full of meaning for their makers and a lot of time and effort was spent on creating them.


Click through for more information on the Ice Age Art exhibit at the British Museum in London and for details about The Wayfarers Historic Dordogne Walk in France.

Stepping Out In South West England

It was pouring rain and unseasonably chilly in Guadalajara, Mexico, when I boarded a flight for London en route to South West England and a week long walking vacation. I imagined the weather was a precursor to what I could expect in Britain. But I imagined it all wrong.

Devonshire, where I was headed, is in fact known for its warm summers and I was relieved to awaken the next morning to dazzling sunshine and a brilliant blue sky in Dartmouth, a picture-perfect seaside town on the south coast of England and gateway to The Wayfarers walk.

The view of the River Dart from the balcony of my harbor-side room was a colorful panorama of bobbing sailboats, rainbow-hued buildings and emerald-green hillsides tumbling down to the water’s edge.

“Sunshine!” was all I could think—”glorious sunshine!” 

The splendid seaside scene was a fitting start to what would follow: eight spectacular days of hiking over hill and dale across Devon’s unique landscapes of sun, cloud, moorland, meadow, cliff, and sea. 

I was keenly aware that the agreeable conditions were not the norm in the British Isles. Each day, the weather app on my iPhone confirmed that while my fellow Wayfarers and I (there were five of us) ambled beneath the sun’s radiant rays, it was raining almost everywhere else in England. 

It hadn’t occurred to me, when I’d researched the walk and been so easily seduced by descriptions of walking “meadow-paths and narrow lanes, crossing rivers and passing through thatched hamlets, stopping for hearty pub lunches and a traditional Devon Cream Tea,” that it wouldn’t rain. I’d assumed that wading through the wet stuff was part of the bargain in England. It wasn’t about the weather. 

After exploring with The Wayfarers on three previous walks, I already knew that their trips were my kind of vacation: scenic and active with first-class country lodges, local cuisine, and in-depth immersion into country and culture with time to stop and smell the roses (or wild elderflowers).

But I also knew the capricious ways of Mother Nature.

“It rained—sometimes sideways, sometimes straight down, and the day was a lexicon of sounds that your boots make when stepping in and out of mud: squish, splodge, splash and then a rarer expletive when the water crested the top and trickled down your sock,” journalist Everett Potter writes in his article, A Coast to Coast Walk in Devon, featuring the same Wayfarers tour. 

So it was rain that I’d come ready for. 

It wasn’t only Potter’s account that intimated a soggy fate. A glance at Wikipedia confirmed that the dramatic uplands of Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks, that the walk traversed, averaged an annual rainfall of more than six feet. 

But with the exception of one brief downpour, the sunny conditions of that auspicious first day in Dartmouth accompanied us for every step of the journey: Across a patchwork of terraced sheep pastures and steeply wooded valleys; down ancient ‘green lanes’ that have been used for millennia; alongside rushing streams and bracken-fringed paths; up to high open moorland and to our end point, the Bristol Channel, where we dipped our feet in the chilly water.   

Stepping out of the familiar is the real gift of travel and in the eight days since I’d sat nose-pressed to a rain-streaked airplane window in Mexico, I had walked deep valleys and wild uplands eons in the making, learned the lost art of earthen brick-making, feasted on organically reared lamb and sea trout from Devon Rivers, encountered Britain’s oldest breed of pony, and sang and danced with new friends in ancient pubs. Sunshine not required. 

Words & Pictures by Ellen Barone

Ellen Barone is a consumer travel journalist, and four-time Wayfarers alumni, who shares travel advice, vacation tips, reviews and inspiration on her websiteEllenBarone.com.

Read more about Ellen’s walk with The Wayfarers in her article, South West England, published online at NationalGeographic.com.

Click here, to view photo gallery.

Friends in High Places ~ The Low-down on Downton Abbey

Ever wished to be a fly on the wall at Downton Abbey? Be our guest, on our Downton Abbey, Castle Combe & Avebury Circle Walk, which includes an exclusive private tour of Highclere Castle and a talk by best-selling author Jennie Walters, an expert on English stately homes and their servants. Wonderful! 

 In the meantime, you could dip into the Countess of Carnarvon’s book ‘Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey’ which opens the doors at Highclere Castle at a glittering and turbulent period in its history. With illegitimacy, uncovering Egyptian tombs, a World War, below stairs drama and glittering parties, Highclere Castle provides inspiration galore for Downton Abbey screenwriter, Sir Julian Fellowes. 

 In her best-selling book, the current Countess of Carnarvon gives a fascinating insight into the life and times of the most famous Earl, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and his 19 year old, heiress wife Almina. 

Almina Victoria Marie Alexandra Wombwell - a very pretty, strong-minded young lady of 19 married the Earl in 1895. She had lots going for her except respectability. Certainly, her family circumstances must have raised eyebrows in the boudoirs and billiard rooms of Edwardian England. Almina’s father, Alfred de Rothschild had never married her mother, his long-term mistress, Marie Wombwell. Being illegitimate was scandalous and although Almina and her mother had money, they could never mix in the best society. As if that wasn’t enough, Marie’s estranged husband, Fred was a notorious drunk.  Marrying the Earl of Carnarvon changed everything. In poker terms, it was the Royal Flush of marriages. The Carnarvon’s status in society and close ties to the British Royal Family gave Almina (and to a lesser extent her beloved mother), instant respectability.

The marriage was secured by love - and hard cash. The Earl really liked Almina but he also needed an heiress’s fortune, to safeguard Highclere Castle’s future. Almina Wombwell was astonishingly wealthy. Alfred de Rothschild was a devoted father and lavished on her an annual dowry of £6.5 million in today’s money. More would come with children. 

The Countess of Carnarvon comments somewhat wryly that Almina always thought generously and spent on a big scale – be it funding a party or a hospital. It was unthinkable that the money might ever run out. In one exchange Alfred writes: “Darling, it was only last month I gave you £25,000, what on earth have you done with it?” 

 For eager Egyptologists, there’s plenty in the book about the Earl’s famous discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. It’s amusing to think how history would have turned out if the Earl had abandoned archaeology after his first disappointing dig. It lasted 6 weeks and unearthed just one item: a case for a mummified cat! 

The Great War of 1914-1918 hit the estate very hard – above and below stairs and the book brings it home how it affected all strata of society. The War spurred Lady Almina into action. As shown in Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle was converted into a hospital for 20 soldiers. Lady Almina earned a reputation as a gifted nurse and hospital administrator. 

Lady Almina and the Earl of Carnarvon had 2 children, a boy nicknamed Porchy and a girl, Evelyn. After the Earl’s early death in Egypt aged 57, Almina was a widow at just 47. In 1923, she remarried a Lieutenant Colonel Ian Dennistoun in 1923 and went to live in Scotland, leaving Porchy and his wife to run Highclere Castle. And so the story continues. 

After the Quakes: An Insider’s Guide to Rediscovering Christchurch, New Zealand.

Christchurch - Before and After

by Ellen Barone

After a devastating series of earthquakes and aftershocks destroyed much of Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2010 and 2011, extraordinary Kiwi resilience and visionary planning is fueling an exciting revival that is bringing back welcomed visitors and garnering global recognition.

Lonely Planet selected the city as one of their ‘Top 10 Cities for 2013’ and imaginative recovery efforts are helping to create an exciting new array of restaurants, cafés, public green spaces, galleries and shopping areas.

This is good news for Christchurch resident Pat Allard-Knox, Wayfarers’ Logistics Manager in New Zealand.

“We’ve been through an incredibly difficult two and a quarter years,” Pat reports. “But Christchurch people are in good heart. The amazing progress after the quakes is clearly visible around the city. New buildings are popping up everywhere and people know that they are safe,” she says.

Despite a cordoned off ‘red zone’ in the central business district which remains off-limits, there is plenty to do in and around Christchurch as it emerges from the rubble with ingenuity and creative recovery programs.

The Re:Start shopping area, a temporary pedestrian shopping mall made from brightly coloured shipping containers fitted out as high-end shops and cafes, is hugely popular, as are the Pop Up City bars, and Gap Filler projects that serve to beautify demolished building sites with community vegetable gardens, libraries, dance floors, and performance art venues until reconstruction begins.

For great music, public talks, twilight vintage markets and an eclectic events lineup, Pat recommends the Pallet Pavilion on Kilmore Street, “a Gap Filler program run by the Ministry of Awesome, a young, vibrant group of people dedicated to keeping Christchurch an exciting place.”

“Victoria Street is another hotspot for fashion boutiques and restaurants,” Pat says. “The rebuild there is happening quickly with designer stores like Jane Daniels and Lynn Woods and popular restaurants such as King of Snake and Saggio de Vinos leading the way.”

“Remaining must-sees are the fabulous Botanic Gardens and our beautiful Canterbury Museum—the only neo-Gothic heritage building in Christchurch that survived the earthquakes in good condition,” Pat says. “Or, for a lovely coastal beach walk, Sumner by the Sea is only 15 minutes from the central business district.”

For a community that’s been rattled to its core, the love of a good party remains unshaken, resulting in an annual calendar packed with cultural events, festivals and concerts.

Pat & John Knox

“Perennial favorites,” Pat says, “include the World Buskers Festival, the Festival of Flowers, the Ellerslie International Flower Show, Classical Sparks, a free evening concert with fabulous firework displays, Christmas in the Park, which brings free music, dance and singing to the stage at Hagley Park, and the Wine and Food Festival.”

Enormous challenges still lie ahead for the community as it transforms itself into an exciting, safe and sustainable place to live and visit.

“The rebuild is going to cost an estimated 50 billion dollars,” Pat says. “But we are committed to our city. Already the new buildings are creating a fabulous new look and the blue-print for the future is bold and innovative with lots of green areas.”

For Pat and her husband, Wayfarers Walk Leader John Knox (Allard and Knox were married in December 2012), the experience has brought a sense of immense gratitude.

“Out of all this,” she says, “we celebrate the fact that most of us survived.”

For complete Christchurch traveller information and vacation planning, visit www.christchurchnz.com.

Ellen Barone is a consumer travel journalist, and five-time Wayfarers alumni, who shares travel advice, vacation tips, gear reviews and inspiration on her website EllenBarone.com.