Hull 2020 - Part I

I know that we are all currently preoccupied with the coronavirus and the awful things that are going on in the world at the moment but I'm going to stick to my usual type of post and hope you can all enjoy the distraction.
I've been back to the UK again to visit my dad. It was at the beginning of February, so the weather was pretty cold in East Yorkshire, but those of you who read my blog regularly will know that the weather has to be really bad to stop me from going out to see new places!

We drove over the Humber Bridge, once the largest suspension bridge in the world, to visit the area around Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank. Our first stop was at The Humber Bridge Hotel, which is situated adjacent to one of the UK's largest nature reserves. We didn't go into the hotel but rather drove around the grounds, enjoying wonderful views of the bridge. 

The Old Tile Works, above, is situated nearby in 17 acres of stunning rural land on the banks of the River Humber. Barton-upon-Humber has a long relationship with bricks and tiles due to the natural clay deposits found in abundance in this part of North Lincolnshire. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries there were no less than 15 working yards located in the area. The Old Tile Works, which opened its doors to the public during the summer of 2013, is a fully restored operational tile works and one of the last tile factories of its kind in Europe. The William Blyth Far Ings and Hoe Hill Tile Works have made and exported their goods for many generations and continue to produce their range of traditional handmade clay roof tiles - about 1,500,000 of them every year! One of the only significant changes to production has been the use of motorised vehicles rather than horse-drawn ones!

Far Ings National Nature Reserve, also situated on the south bank of the River Humber, is a major east-west flyway for migrating birds. The pits and reed beds at Far Ings and along the Humber bank are a legacy of the tile and cement industry. The industrial sites were abandoned in the early 20th century once supplies of clay began to run out. The clay workings filled with water and became colonised by species of reeds. The reserve was acquired by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust in 1983, who opened it in the same year. It is now rich in wildlife and is one of the UK strongholds for Eurasian bitterns. There are more than 250 species of moths, 230 species of wildflower, and at least 19 species of butterflies identified from Far Ings.

Dad and I went to see Hull City play at the KCOM Stadium, but the less said about that the better! Hull played Brentford and lost 5-1. This photo was taken before the game started when we were still smiling!

Then it was on to Burton Constable Hall, a large Elizabethan country house set in a park designed by Capability Brown. Truth be told, I wanted to visited the house, the home of the Constable family for over 400 years, but it was closed for the winter. Dad and I made do with a lovely stroll around the 300 acres (1.2 km²) park. Lancelot "Capability" Brown, who was responsible for landscaping between 1772 and 1782, created the park's two lakes separated by a dam-cum-bridge, planting clumps of trees, installing sunk fences and a ha-ha.

The Palladian stable block adjacent to the house, which was open to visitors, was built in 1770, replacing an Elizabethan stable block that stood to the north-east corner of the main house. We explored the Huntsman's Office, where he kept a watchful eye over the stable workers, climbed the clock tower and saw where the grooms and stable boys would have slept. The Orangery, above, completed in 1782, is a fabulous example of an 18th century hothouse and was once used for growing exotic fruits for the Constable family's dining table.

An unusual feature in the park during the 19th century was the skeleton of a 59-foot-long (18 m) sperm whale erected on ironwork. The bull whale had been stranded in 1825 on the shore at nearby Tunstall and, after dissection, was brought to Burton Constable. This famous whale also came to the attention of Herman Melville, who published his masterpiece Moby-Dick in 1851. The whale skeleton can still be seen at Burton Constable Hall, in the Great Barn, above.

My dad was keen to take me to Aldbrough, a seaside village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the North Sea coast. He used to go there with his family when he was a little boy. The name Aldbrough is an Anglo-Scandinavian hybrid meaning 'old stronghold'. The cliffs there are rapidly eroding, so that Seaside Road now terminates at the cliff edge, below. Several buildings have been lost to the sea since 1885.

I can't go back to Hull without having fish and chips! We ate at Steels Corner House Restaurant, a traditional fish and chip restaurant dating back to 1946, in the seaside resort of Cleethorpes. Our fresh white haddock, fried to perfection in a crispy batter, was served in the typically English way with slices of bread and butter and washed down with a pot of tea.

Then there were snowdrops to see as well, though we first took a break for Storm Ciara to blow her way through the UK...

* This post has been shared at The Good. The Random. The Fun., Sharon's Souvenirs, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Travel Tuesday and My Corner of the World.