Welcome back to When Wine Calls, this time on our “The Winter Grape Tour” of the UK and Europe.
We had a considerable number of travel logistics to arrive in the UK flying from Melbourne through Hong Kong onto Frankfurt and then transiting for the flight to Manchester, pick up a hire car and drive 2 ½ hours up to the Yorkshire Dales. What we hadn’t banked on, notwithstanding the usual flight delays, was that we had to catch a bus at Manchester Airport to the car rental village on the other side of the airport so that by the time we turned off the M6 and started driving through the western part of the Dales it was getting quite dark even though it was only 3.30pm in the afternoon.
However, to our delight as we drove over the first hill after leaving the motorway we were suddenly in a totally unexpected white wonderland as far as the eye could see. The Dales had received a large amount of snow overnight but because we had been flying, we were not aware, so we were so excited to be suddenly driving through this white pristine landscape.
We eventually arrived at our accommodation after over 30 hours of travelling, a beautiful old manor house, Stone Hill Hotel overlooking the local town of Hawes in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales. To greet us was a roaring open fire in the bar so we collapsed in one of the chesterfield lounges and enjoyed a well-deserved prosecco for Pauline and, of course, an Islay scotch for myself. Arriving in such a cosy hotel with snow all around outside suddenly made the pain of long distance travel all worthwhile.
Over the next few days what we noted was that most of the guests were locals from the north of the UK and Scotland and most had stayed at the Stone Hill Hotel previously with ourselves being the ring ins from Australia. It said a lot about the hotel, its staff and management that it was receiving so much repeat business, and we understood why by the time we sadly had to depart.
We had not travelled through the Yorkshire Dales previously, so it was virgin territory for us and it an extremely attractive area with quaint little villages scattered across the landscape. We took a drive up to Bolton Castle which although closed at this time of year was spectacular perched on top of a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside with snow all around the grounds.
It was then onto a great village, Leyburn where we located a local Chocolate Factory operated by a couple of ladies that really enjoy what they are creating – we just had to buy some of their chocolate, but we could have easily had bought more. The local markets were in the town square, but the store holders were not selling as much Christmas stuff as we had hoped.
From there it was a short drive to Aysgarth Falls, a triple flight of waterfalls through woodland where we walked along the snow-covered track to visit each waterfall with the trees also brushed with snow providing a tremendous backdrop.
It was then onto the local town of Hawes and a walk through the narrow cobble streets and a stop for cheese tasting at the famous Wensleydale Cheese Factory.
The next day we woke to a bright sunny day which provided a fabulous backdrop with the snow all over the ground. We decided to venture out for a walk in the countryside so headed for Hardraw Force Waterfall, which is the highest single drop waterfall in Britain. Interestingly, it is on privately owned land, so you are charged a fee to visit but it was spectacular to see, particularly with all the snow surrounding and long icicles hanging down from the cliff faces.
From there it was off to the local pub at Hawes for a Guinness around the fire to warm up before heading out again and walking a section of the famous Pennine Way (a 431km walking route from Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders) where this fabulous old stone bridge traverses the River Ure
This part of the track goes through private grazing land with these unusual access gates that you are required to navigate designed to keep the animals in but not designed for other than the skinniest of people and certainly not those of us wearing thick jumpers and coats – it would have been easier to jump the fence than go through the various gates but provided a good laugh and the effort was certainly worth it with the view.
We had been told that the village was celebrating the beginning of Christmas in the afternoon, so we headed back to Hawes and called in on the local church which was staging a concert of Christmas carols by the local bellringers and church organist. It turned out to be a thoroughlyenjoyable performance with the minister providing a highlight by noting that we were not locals and suggesting when he escorted us to some seats on the side of the church that there was a side entrance we could use if we wanted to escape prior to the end. He was such a young enthusiastic minister we did not have the heart to leave early, even if we had wanted to.
Following the performance if was up to the main town square where the local band was playing carols as darkness fell and locals came from everywhere to participate in the singing led by you guessed it, the local minister. It was indeed a lot of fun to participate in with artificial snow raining down from one of the buildings and highlighted how tightly knit this local village is despite the winter weather.
The afternoon finished off with Santa arriving on a sleigh pulled by a tractor and fireworks from the hill overlooking the town before we headed back to the hotel for drinks by the fire and another magnificent dinner.
To our delight during dinner, it started snowing so we immediately jumped-up mid-course, put on our weather jackets and headed out to enjoy this spectacle. All the locals in the restaurant laughed at us getting so excited but we didn’t care and for us it was a wonderful, unexpected memory that we were not going to miss.
The next day it was time to leave this wonderful part of the UK and head for the Lakes District. The locals were suggesting we would have difficulty making it to Lake Windermere as it had been snowing heavily over there in the last few days and stated they expected us to be back with them for the night. In any event we blindly ventured off.
See what happens in our next episode of The Winter Grape – until then!
Bruce & Pauline
When Wine Calls 
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