The old oak tree is bare! It’s this time of year when trees show all they have got. The split in the trunk and subsequent hollowing is very visible Updale Natural History Recorder

Oak tree

The trunk showing its age
Welcome to the Rosedale blog. This is where we share news and information about events in Rosedale and the wider community throughout the year. You’ll also find news about the village timetable, our micro enterprises, school events, clubs, and lively socials.
The old oak tree is bare! It’s this time of year when trees show all they have got. The split in the trunk and subsequent hollowing is very visible Updale Natural History Recorder
Oak tree
The trunk showing its age
We have dippers here on the River Seven in Rosedale. They are early breeders and pair bonding is already underway at their nest sites. Plenty of singing between them – females sing as well as males. Plenty of picking up and dropping leaves, bowing with wings quivering and tail cocked. Next month they will be well on with refurbishing their nests. Updale Natural History Recorder
Pair of dippers
As today, Sunday 2 December, was the last tea and chat meeting of the Society for 2018, the members presented Carol Cockerill and Margaret Truran with early Christmas presents in grateful thanks for the delicious tea and cakes they provide for the meetings throughout the year and which are such a well known feature of these events!
The next regular meeting of the Society will be on Sunday 6 January, from 2.00 to 4.00pm in the Updale Reading Room – all are most welcome and in the meantime a very Happy Christmas and a stimulating New Year to everyone.
A couple of roe deer does showing themselves well in Hartoft during our wintery weather. Roe deer are reddish brown in summer but adopt this dull brown coat in winter. There appears to be an obvious light patch on the necks. Updale Natural History Recorder
In the Yorkshire Post there is a lovely piece about the Walkers are Welcome Scheme .
We are proud to be part of this. Thank you to the numerous folks from our Rosedale community who freely give their time to make it happen every year.
“Gary Verity, chief executive of the region’s tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire, hailed another reason to be proud of the county.
“Yorkshire is famous for its warm welcome and generous hospitality, and for yet another Yorkshire town to receive Walkers Are Welcome status goes to show that the county’s famous hello remains very much part of its charm.
“And now with 25 towns and villages across the county recognised by the Walkers Are Welcome scheme, Yorkshire is reigning supreme as one of the nation’s top destinations for ramblers, amblers and hikers.”
Rosedale is fully Walkers are Welcome accredited.
The Rosedale Walking Festival is in 13th & 14th June. Two days of walks led by volunteers from our community and who love the place!
Walks to be announced soon, though there is a sign on the village green advertising this wonderful community led event, and the festival is over two days, you can walk anytime you like on the numerous beautiful paths that cover our dale, anytime of the year.
If you want local knowledge, a local guide, enjoy Rosedale from a new perspective come along to one of the guided walks this June.
See the full article here:-
Like our dedicated Festival Face Book page for details https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rosedale-Walking-Festival/
Kestrels are our commonest falcon and widespread throughout the UK in both urban and rural areas. They are easily identified by their ability to hover while hunting for prey, with fluttering wings and fanned tail, keeping the head perfectly still. Up on the moor these four nestlings are well grown and starting to acquire their true plumage. They are coming out in to the open in anticipation of food from the adult birds. Until now they have been well hidden in a crevice. Incubation takes about four weeks and at least another four weeks feeding at the nest until fledging which is not too far away for these. Interestingly, the males fledge up to two days earlier than the females, presumably as the females are the larger of the two and take longer to mature. Updale Natural History Recorder
Four kestrel nestlings
The Milburn Arms at Rosedale Abbey to Reopen as a Country House Hotel
The team behind award-winning wedding venue, Danby Castle, are thrilled to announce they will be reopening the once-thriving Milburn Arms Hotel at Rosedale Abbey, Pickering.
Danby Castle Ltd is overseeing the renovation of the building and will be reopening The Milburn Arms as a Country House Hotel, Bar and Restaurant by Easter 2014.
The Hotel closed in 2008 during the recession and fall in tourist trade. Since then a body of local people have actively strived to encourage new tenants into the property, wishing for this once-popular local haunt, to be reopened and restored back to its former glory.
There are many plans in place for the new venture, firstly getting the Gamers Bar, the Priory Restaurant and 11 double bedrooms and 1 family room reopened again in the first phase of the redevelopment
Carolyn Bavister, Director of Danby Castle Ltd, is excited about the new challenges ahead;
“The 2013 season at Danby Castle has been a huge success. We had been looking for another suitable venue, and as we don’t have any accommodation on site at the Castle, naturally the next progression would be to find another venue which meant we could offer this. We wanted to ensure that we would find somewhere located close to Danby and have the ability to offer a totally different style of wedding. The Milburn Arms Hotel allows us to offer a more traditional option in terms of the location and surroundings, whilst allowing us to offer accommodation and restaurant facilities for locals and tourists”
Danby Castle Ltd have a wealth of event management experience and plans are afoot to offer local live music evenings, a ‘Real Ale and Jazz Festival’ and a classic car rally to involve the whole community.
Carolyn is confident that with the help of their strong local team, the Milburn Arms can return to its former glory.
“We are aware that in the current economic climate, you read about businesses closing down and struggling, but we are confident that drawing on our experiences in running such a successful wedding business and applying the same model and strengths, that we have what it takes to breathe new life into The Milburn Arms. We want to offer the people of Rosedale and the surrounding area, a unique dining and pub experience and to get that community spirit back. “
Ends
For media enquiries, please contact Jemma Champion jemma@danbycastle.com or 01287 669219
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Find it shared on the OUR ROSEDALE face book pages.
Rosedale, North Yorkshire, England.
Yesterday, as I passed over the gated footbridge in North Dale, I noticed wisps of smoke rising into the blue sky ahead. I continued on up the hill towards the old dog kennels, stopping only when I got to the next gate, through a wall by a large Ash tree. Here I could see the fire below. Orange flames danced high, lighting up a hunched figure standing within the reaches of its heat. Whatever it was he had in his hand, he tossed it into the flames making them pirouette away a moment, before they returned with increased energy spiralling higher and brighter.
Now he stood stock still, staring straight into the depths of the fire. Part of me wanted to join him, to share the beauty of the fire, the heat and the comfort that only an outdoor, evening fire can give. I didn’t. It would have been an intrusion. He seemed to be burning more than rubbish, on this his last day as Tenant Farmer, steward of the land that is upper North Dale. Soon he would be gone, literally moving to pastures new.
Up at the house others busied themselves, loading his life and more, into lorries and onto trailers but the house stood as proud as ever, its face glowing in the low sun. Whatever is to become of it I hope it doesn’t stand empty and hollow for long.
Sitting high near Stone Bank I once watched George, on his quad bike and Hanna on her horse with a dog running hard and fast between them on the slopes above Bell End. They worked as one, gathering up sheep. With each twist and turn of their steeds they picked up more ewes and moved them on up the dale. Hanna, riding high on the slope with George below, soon had an arrow of white moving before them. The dog seemed to be controlling himself as I could not hear any whistles or shouts of direction. The rumble of the quad and yips and yells of Hanna shattered the usual peace of the dale but it was a welcome noise. The two were in harmony, a song of work. Suddenly Hanna turned and shot higher up the hill, her horse seemed to have no difficulty going straight up the steep slope. She had spotted a small group of sheep out on a limb and was getting above them to bring them into the ever growing flock. The dog instinctively took her place to keep the main flock whole and together with George kept them moving along.
George Watson loved the land, the stock and the wildlife that shared his dale and we would talk around these topics whenever we met on the hill. I will be forever grateful for the trust and support that George gave me, encouraging me to take small groups up Northdale to share wild places he knew, away from the usual paths. Here strangers would come together and cook a meal on small campfires, sit whittling and engage in other Bushcraft related activities. Really they were learning to love these wild places as George and I do.
While Rosedale and Northdale have lost something today, The Vale of Pickering has gained a passionate custodian of the land. Good luck and happy times to you George and to you Hanna and thank you, on behalf of all that have enjoyed wild upper North Dale in recent years.
Wild Country Walkabouts
Unlike the river pageant in London yesterday, Rosedale Abbey was blessed with wonderful sunny weather for our festivities at the Turret Field on Monday 4 June to mark HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. There was a scarecrow competition, bouncy castle along with tea, plants, tombola and cake stalls as well as face painting and biscuit decoration stands along with the usual raffle and all organised with excellent efficiency by Kath Wallace and Nicola Johnson and their team. The Rosedale History Society had an extensive exhibition in the church and the good weather also brought out the crowds of visitors from the the caravan and camp sites as well as day trippers using the Moorbus service.
John Ronald Myers, at two weeks old the youngest inhabitant of the dale, with his mother Steph. He was presented with his Jubilee Mug by Mary Boddy whose family have lived in the dale for at least seven generations
Not to be out done, the pets featured in third place in the scarecrow competition, made by the team from Abbey Stores
Linda Blackburne at the plant stall, doing good business now that proper gardening weather has arrived