Escape to the Yorkshire Dales for a fun but secluded break

Posted: 20/03/2020

Does the idea of a tranquil, award-winning bolt-hole tucked away in its own spacious grounds in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales appeal at the moment?
 
We have availability from now until well into the summer, and can provide the perfect break for you and your family and friends to escape from the current turmoil and uncertainty. At The Old Vicarage you can find time to relax and enjoy an exciting holiday in the most stunning location with amazing facilities. And best of all - no flights, no cancellations, no hassle and the place to yourselves, well away from others.
 
As well as providing spacious, luxury 5-star Gold accommodation that comfortably sleeps up to 10 people, The Old Vicarage offers breathtaking views and surroundings. You also have exclusive use of extensive and outstanding private leisure facilities that include a heated indoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, tennis courts, and state-of-the-art gym with table tennis and table football. There's plenty of fun to be had!
 
The property is also encircled by miles and miles of flowering meadows, woodland and large expanses of remote moorland that is perfect for walking, cycling and exploring. We even have our own private stretch of river where you can enjoy family picnics, stone skimming, paddling, fossil hunting or just sitting reading a book listening to the birdsong.
 
Most importantly, there is space to breathe the fresh air and look out across vast, uninterrupted horizons. These are very troubled times but we can offer a bit of 'normal' by getting back to nature. Look out for wildlife, hear the calls of the wild birds and listen to the occasional conversation of grazing farm animals. It is quite simply the place to get away from it all but also somewhere that is very special and altogether different.
 
To find out more, check our current availability, or give us a call on 01748 884348 and we’d be happy to help you in person.

 

The strange tale of a bull calf and a bed warming pan!

Posted: 31/01/2020

One of the great charms of The Old Vicarage is that it is steeped in history and many of its original features have been retained in the house today.

Hanging in the hallway is a particularly quirky artefact that has an amusing backstory. We know about it thanks to a book written by one of the house’s previous owners, Mary Ellerton, whose family bought the property in the late 1930s and resided there until 1976.

The extract below reveals how an innocent bed warming pan came off worse in an altercation with a particularly adventurous bull calf!

“She (mother) was also the proud possessor of a grandfather clock , handsome in its day but now badly scarred. It did, however, keep very good time and Father always wound it up before going to bed, thus giving any visitors the signal that it was time to make tracks for home.

The clock almost came to grief one day when an inquisitive bullcalf wandered into the house through the ever-open back door. It was impossible to persuade it to turn round and leave the same way it had entered, so one of us dashed ahead and opened the front door while the others tried to drive the terrified animal as calmly as possible through the hall and out onto the front lawn. He gave the clock a hefty hipe in passing and, from that day on, it would chime at all odd hours. The calf did not do a lot of good either, to the brass warming pan hanging in the hall, which bears the dent to this day.”

Luckily our resident Highland Cattle are very well behaved (and well contained) and guests are unlikely to have a similar encounter today!

Mary Ellerton’s privately published book A Walk up the Parks is available to visitors who may want to read more about the picturesque accounts of the family’s time at The Old Vicarage.