Ripley

 Wednesday 13th May 2026

The sun went missing today, and rainy magoo had taken it's place, so, between the showers, we went for a short walk around the nearby village of Ripley. 

This is a slightly odd place as the whole village is privately owned by the Ingilby family who live in the castle. They have worked hard to commercialise everything - it's a bit like a smaller version of Longleat or Beaulieu but without the animals or cars. 

The original village was torn down in the 19th century apart from the castle and church. What happened to the villagers does not seem to be recorded.

But the "new" village is a pretty place with numerous listed buildings and well worth a couple of hours to explore.

Despite Ripley Castle being occupied by the owners of the village, there are conducted castle tours which I wasn't temped by. 

There's also a nice walk down the valley to a feature waterfall.

With the rain becoming more persistent we headed to Fountains Abbey, a nearby National Trust site.

We waited and waited for the rain to clear and as soon as it did we set off for the Abbey, but the respite was short lived and soon the rain was horizontal in a very strong wind. 

We had the quickest walk around ever then back to Ed for more hot tea and a dry off.

No photos, it was too wet, grey and windy.

I'm booked on a campsite tonight, but it's a grass pitch and motorhomes don't mix with wet grass, they sink in the mud and need pulling out with a tractor.

The weather forecast is for the same tomorrow and Friday, so the decision was made to head home instead .

I cancelled the campsite and set the sat nav for home.

A bit disappointed but I've enjoyed these few days away, especially the walk at Malham, so I'm pleased I came and hopefully the weather will improve next week as it's been a very cold and wet May so far