A spring afternoon on Farndale Daffodil Walk

A spring afternoon on Farndale Daffodil Walk

Having grown up in Yorkshire, many of my childhood memories involve drives out in the countryside, afternoons spent following nature trails and endless hours of playing in parks. I’ve always felt very lucky to have grown up in a town which was so close to the beach, the moors and those lovely little picturesque villages you always see on TV (whose tearooms I’m pretty sure were responsible for my lifelong love of tea and homemade cakes).

Fast-forward 20 odd years and it turns out not much has changed about an afternoon in the country. You still end up eating your picnic in the car, thanks to the inevitable rain; I still get scared when walking through fields that the ‘sheep with the horns’ is going to chase us and mum and dad still insist on hiding behind dry stone walls and jumping out to scare me.

But there is something lovely about getting out into the countryside in spring. Little lambs running about everywhere; buds on the trees and pheasants making the most of their freedom before the shooting season begins. It’s enough to make you want to break out the Sound of Music soundtrack. (You’ll be pleased to hear that only happened in my head.)

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Last weekend we did the Farndale Daffodil Walk, a one-and-a-half mile walk alongside the River Dove in North Yorkshire.

Farndale is famous for its wild daffodils which usually bloom in March/April. It is believed they were first brought to the area by medieval monks from Rievaulx.

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The walk attracts around 40,000 visitors a year and it’s easy to see why. After months of cold, miserable weather there’s nothing quite like walking through fields of yellow daffodils to know that spring really has arrived.

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The Daffodil Walk runs between Low Mill, where the North York Moors National Park has an information caravan, and High Mill.