East Witton is a small hamlet with picture-perfect, well-kept cottages clustered round the long village green. It's easy to imagine the idyllic beginnings of a children's story book, with kindly characters wandering in and out of each other's houses, playing games on the green.
Huge chestnut trees offer shade for a game of quoits, or to enjoy the rope swing. You can still see the village taps - mains water was only connected in the 1950s.
Many people come through East Witton on their way to visit Jervaulx Abbey or to enjoy a walk along the River Ure or River Cover, up towards Middleham. If you take the narrow winding back road from the top side of the green, past Braithwaite Hall and onwards through Coverdale, you'll reach the very special, secret spot of the Coverham Abbey ruins.
A few years ago I once spotted what I was convinced was a black panther, motionless in a field by Braithwaite Hall. When I looked it up, I found several other similar reports, so maybe I was right?
Perhaps the main reason for coming to East Witton is for its excellent pub, the Blue Lion. The name comes from the coat of arms of the family who owned the neighbouring estate. As you drive through the cobbled archway to the car park, you can also see the ghosts of the horses and travellers of yore, gratefully stopping off at this old coaching inn, which evolved from a former shooting lodge. Whether you eat in the restaurant or by the lovely atmospheric bar (I think it's perfect in Autumn and Winter), they serve excellent food. It's one of those pubs where it feels like there's always something going on, full of characters and the odd famous face. For a while I think custom was particularly good thanks to reports of Prince Charles and then Daniel Craig eating there.
The church just around the corner from the village has a pulpit created by Robert Thompson, the Mouseman.
Huge chestnut trees offer shade for a game of quoits, or to enjoy the rope swing. You can still see the village taps - mains water was only connected in the 1950s.
Many people come through East Witton on their way to visit Jervaulx Abbey or to enjoy a walk along the River Ure or River Cover, up towards Middleham. If you take the narrow winding back road from the top side of the green, past Braithwaite Hall and onwards through Coverdale, you'll reach the very special, secret spot of the Coverham Abbey ruins.
A few years ago I once spotted what I was convinced was a black panther, motionless in a field by Braithwaite Hall. When I looked it up, I found several other similar reports, so maybe I was right?
Perhaps the main reason for coming to East Witton is for its excellent pub, the Blue Lion. The name comes from the coat of arms of the family who owned the neighbouring estate. As you drive through the cobbled archway to the car park, you can also see the ghosts of the horses and travellers of yore, gratefully stopping off at this old coaching inn, which evolved from a former shooting lodge. Whether you eat in the restaurant or by the lovely atmospheric bar (I think it's perfect in Autumn and Winter), they serve excellent food. It's one of those pubs where it feels like there's always something going on, full of characters and the odd famous face. For a while I think custom was particularly good thanks to reports of Prince Charles and then Daniel Craig eating there.
The church just around the corner from the village has a pulpit created by Robert Thompson, the Mouseman.
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