East Ayton

Main Street Tables and Pub Life

Walkers, at 17 Main Street, was founded in October 1993 and fries its fish in beef dripping. The batter can be had gluten-free, the front section takes dogs, and the kitchen goes beyond the standard haddock and chips: smoked haddock chowder, a haddock fish butty with rocket and tartare sauce, smoked haddock and mozzarella fishcakes, haddock-and-prawn Mornay. There is a separate Pudding Bar, which is exactly what it sounds like — pavlovas, Eton mess, trifles, cheesecakes and hot sponges.

Main Street is the spine of East Ayton. The Denison Arms is the village pub proper, with a beer garden that fills up in warm weather, parking, level access throughout, and Friday quiz night. Theakston Old Peculier is the regular cask ale, with a changing guest beside it. Live music and live sport are advertised; dogs are welcome. A little way off, Ayton Pharmacy sits at number 35.

From Lodge Gardens to Riverside History

For something more formal, East Ayton Lodge sits in three acres of gardens with a conservatory looking over south-facing grounds. The bar and restaurant, trading as the Mucky Boots Bistro, are open to non-residents, and the lounge is dog friendly. The kitchen sources locally, including meat from Glaves Butchers over at Brompton-by-Sawdon, and describes its own cooking as "Good Old Yorkshire Hospitality served with honest, hearty food." The building's earlier life had little to do with dinner. It became Lady Marjorie Nunburnholme's home in 1928; after her son, Pilot Officer David Wilson, was killed flying over France in 1941, she gave it to Scarborough Hospital, and for many years it was a children's hospital before being restored.

The village stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, opposite West Ayton, at the foot of the gentle southern slopes of the Tabular Hills. John Carr designed the bridge that joins the two Aytons; it was built in 1776. The historic core mixes limestone and sandstone walls under red clay pantiles or grey slate, with narrow ginnels, boundary walls and patches of cobble around Castlegate and Main Street. On Carr Lane there is a square animal pound of limestone rubble, one corner rounded, walls about a metre and a half high, its top course rebuilt around 1980. Old Weaver's Cottage at 4 Main Street is a reminder that this was once a wool-working place; in the 13th and 14th centuries the district's fleeces went to Hull, and the fulling mill's remains still stand by the river near Ayton Castle.

Norman Ravens and Sanctuary

The church of St John the Baptist rewards a slow look. Its Norman doorway carries beakhead carving, and the parish counts nine raven heads in it, reputedly all different. The tub font was cut from a single stone around 1130 and still holds the iron from a former locked lid, and there is a hole beside the main door for a timber bar, from the days when the church served as sanctuary. The single bell is dated 1795.

Boardwalk Through Forge Valley

Forge Valley was gouged out by glacial meltwater and is now a National Nature Reserve. From Old Man's Mouth car park, a mile and a half north, a level boardwalk runs two miles beside the Derwent, with seats and passing places along the way. Come in spring for wild garlic and wood anemones, in autumn for the colour. Keep the dog close; it helps prevent disturbance to river wildlife.

Arriving, Then Listening to the River

Seamer station is under three miles off, and the 128 bus runs through on its way between Scarborough and Helmsley. The boardwalk is easy walking, with seats along the way to sit and listen to the river for a while.