Savouring the View (and the Chocolate) at Sutton Bank

As most parents will know, if you want to keep something secret, it’s best not to tell young children. The day before Mothers’ Day, James went out with Daddy, and when they came back, he told me proudly, “We got you some very nice chocolate, but you can’t have it till tomorrow.” Daddy looked sheepish. James added quickly and seriously, “But you need to be quiet about it ‘cause it’s a prize [surprise].”

The following day, he presented me (a little reluctantly) with a beautiful chocolate heart. He was obviously pretty keen on eating it himself. “What are we going to do today, Mummy?” I suggested a walk at Sutton Bank, and James said “Oh yes, then we can watch the airplanes! And we can take my chocolate and I can eat it in the orange tent!” Even though he’d given me the heart, it clearly still ‘belonged’ to him!

Sutton Bank is a limestone escarpment about 5 miles east of Thirsk. It towers 200 metres above the surrounding countryside and is reached along a steep road with ominous signs prohibiting caravans and telling you how many HGVs have been grounded. Once you’ve conquered the Alpine bends and made it to the top, you reach a good car park with toilets. We often go there because the views are superb and James likes watching the gliders which launch from the nearby flying club. You can walk either south or north along the plateau and both are worthwhile, but this time we went north, as it’s normally a bit quieter.

Today, James was especially excited, as my friend had also come along, and he was keen for her to inspect each and every stick he found along the way. If she missed any, he ran after her to show her! We walked a couple of miles, during which we admired countless sticks and talked a lot about chocolate. James ensured we were kept safe from any low-flying gliders with shouts of: “Oh! Here’s another one! It’s very low isn’t it, Mummy?”

The ‘orange tent’ is a 4-6 person group shelter which weighs about 500g. James loves it and it turns a walk into an adventure. It happily swallowed three adults, a boy, the dog, the pram and a baby, and kept us all toasty while we all had ‘refreshments’. James shared out ‘his’ chocolate which quickly disappeared! Thankfully, there was more available at the tearoom!