Trip to Romantic Richmond Was a Great Success
Everybody enjoyed the Coach Trip to Richmond in Yorkshire.
I had to keep saying “Yorkshire” when I was promoting this trip, because it seems that most people have heard of Richmond in Surrey, but not the original town up in Yorkshire.
All my trips feature a stop on the way, where one can get tea, coffee, cakes etc. And it’s always somewhere more interesting than motorway services - I’ve used garden centres, craft centres, farms, museums, and even a sculpture park.
This time it was Strikes, the smashing garden centre stop at Conisbrough. I had used this before, when I ran a trip to Hexham. It is one of the most popular of the stops.
When I can, I like to add an unannounced treat. Just before we got to Richmond, we stopped at Easby Abbey, with its substantial ruins. Even more interesting, though, was the nearby St. Agatha’s Church, with its impressive mediaeval wall paintings and replica of its Anglo-Saxon cross dating from around 800AD. The original is in the safe keeping of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
On arrival at Richmond, I straightaway (as always) led the Guided Walk around the town. The route included the spectacular promenade around the castle, with its fantastic views of the lovely River Swale far below, the enormous cobbled Market Place, the Greyfriars Tower, the Georgian Theatre and the delightful riverside walk.
Arthur Mee, in the North Yorkshire book in his celebrated series “The King’s England”, named Richmond as the most romantic town in England. I think it would be hard to disagree.
After the walk, Anne and I went to a fish and chip restaurant in the Market Place. Its name is Barker’s, and it’s probably the best I have ever experienced, even excelling the smashing one in the Market Place at Hexham.
There are plenty of art galleries in Richmond. We were particularly impressed by the work of local artists Mackenzie Thorpe and Barbara Lamb. When she saw the group stopping, Barbara came out for a chat.
On the way back, I gave the group another treat, with a drive through some lovely Dales countryside. We saw Leyburn, Middleham (the childhood home of Richard III), Jervaulx Abbey and Masham.
Then on the way home, we made a stop at Woodall Services.
Everybody agreed that this was an outstanding trip – even better than usual.
If you didn’t come to Richmond, bet you wish you had!
Posted by colin on Sunday 16th April, 2006 at 7:38am