Wetherby was our second port of call on our trip heading north to Scotland. We stayed the night at a lovely pub called The Royal Oak. We hadn’t booked accommodation so it was purely by chance that we stayed here.
There was rugby on television that night and the bar ended up being quite crowded with a very friendly atmosphere. The blackboard offered a good selection of ales and ciders.
The following day we asked if there would be a room available for that night too and were delighted that there was which meant we could take the day to discover the surrounding area and to visit Masham to see The Black Sheep Brewery which my husband had read about and was keen to visit.
We did the tour of the brewery, which was very enlightening, as we had a very knowledgeable guide,
and then we headed to Ripon for a quick look. The cathedral was impressive
but what was not so impressive was the lack of care taken with maintenance of the graveyard. The grass had been allowed to grow over the in-ground plaques and the plaques were not really all that old, some only about thirty years.
I asked a question about this when we were in the cathedral and was politely told that what money they had was used on the interior of the building. All a bit sad really.
We had a wander around Ripon and spied The Wakeman.
The tradition of the Wakeman, unbroken for over 900 years, is celebrated every night at 9 o’clock as the Hornblower sounds his horn to show he is on duty.
The Wakeman was the original keeper of Law and Order in Ripon. A Wakeman is also alleged to have resided in the Wakeman’s cottage in 1604. The Town Hall carries the inscription, ‘Except ye Lord Keep ye Cittie ye Wakeman waketh in vain’.
While in this area of England, Yorkshire, we thought we ought to taste their Yorkshire Pudding!
This delightful meal was served at The Black Swan which was a lovely little pub boasting an interesting collection of gazunders (chamber pots) hanging from the ceiling.
We saw this review promoting the upcoming Yorkshire Festival of Ales in one of the local magazines, unfortunately we would not be in the area when the Festival was on, maybe next time.
Gippsland Granny 
Lovely buildings, and a tasty looking Yorkshire pud! Ripon is a beautiful place but what a pity about the graveyard. You would think someone, or a group of parishioners, might take on the maintenance. I agree with you that it’s sad to see a graveyard so neglected when it’s next to an obviously well used church. Yorkshire is a great place for real ales, just the names on the blackboard are tempting.
We loved Yorkshire and there will be further posts at a later date as we revisited later in our holiday.