Day 15 sunny, patchy rain
West Chevin End Guest House has been our best choice of accommodation so far. Although without a sat nav it took a bit of finding. Our directions were perfect, it's just the English road signs that aren't. It's just about 2kms outside Otley  Happily it is about 100 steps from a pub, that serves great food and beer.

Chevin Inn our guest house at rear

Today after a quick trip to Otley to buy a sat nav, we  went in search of a couple of ILES villages found one but not the other.

The Fox, Thorner

Methodist Church, Thorner

The one we found was called Thorner near Harrogate where our Iles family lived in 1861 at 63 Main Street. John is working as an Ag labourer and there are now three children, Isabel Hardy age 10 (Ann's daughter), Francis age 5 and William age 2.The youngest son William was born here in 1858. It's another well preserved village and the Methodist church in Main St would have been well known to the family if they were church goers.

Fountains Abbey

Change of plans, and as it's close, we've headed for Fountains Abbey. It's an English Heritage site, and has to be seen to believed just how big, (both in height and amount of buildings) the site is now, and how important it must have been over the life of the Abbey community. It is now within the estate of Studeley Royal Park which in itself in quite amazing in size. with woods, fields and manicured gardens, statuary. We could have spent the whole day here and not seen it all.

Studeley Royal Water Garden

Day 16 mostly sunny a bit drizzly
Family Tree notes:Today's post is mainly ghost chasing for the family tree covering the Iles families from Richard and Lucy Long, to John and Ann Hardy then Francis and William.

Left West Chevin Guest House about 10am  and it is a huge 60kms to Ripon where we are staying for the next week.

This is Iles country all around us so we’ve decided to stop along the way today to check out all the places that I know were important to John Iles (husband of Ann Hardy Iles, father of Francis and William) our 5x ggfather.

First stop Fewston, where John’s father Richard Iles was born at Bland Hill. We couldn’t find Bland Hill today so it may have been a hamlet or even a farm that’s no longer here.

Fewston Resevoir Woods

Fewston is now  small collection of houses alongside a reservoir, but they did have a post box so that’s where I posted Jack and Noah’s birthday cards, then we went for a tramp in the woods alongside the reservoir.

Next stop a place called Haverah Park, Ripley where  Lucy Long, Richard Iles wife( and John Iles mother) lived at the time of her marriage to Richard. It is now a very large Holstein Cattle farm, so was perhaps always a farming property.

Not 5 minutes away is the village of Killinghall where John Iles was born on the property of  Spruisty Hall Farm in 1801

Spruisty Hall

I suspect the Iles’ were either tenant farmers or farm labourers on the property. It’s still a going concern and has been in the current family, the Umbleby family, for the past 100 years.

The wife, Tanya runs a farm shop and cooking school alongside farm stay cottages and Dave runs the farming side of the operation. We had a cuppa in the shop and chatted to Tanya and Dave who very generously showed us the actual house that is Spruisty Hall and Dave pointed out the buildings that would have been standing at the time the Iles’ were here. He also explained some of the local landmarks, and he obviously loves the place. Sadly though some of the family have sold their parts of the property to a developer...

Just along the Ripon road is Ripley village where at  All Saints Church Marriage Richard Iles and Lucy Long were married in 1783

Ripley is a ‘model village’ and has been preserved beautifully, we’ll probably go back there for lunch one day this week.

All Saints Church, Ripley

Last call before we get to Ripon is Markington where on the 1851 census I found our John Iles now a widower with son John and son John's wife Ann and their three children, living at a place called The Barrows. We asked at the Post office where that might be, and found that we’d just walked down the very road. The woman in the PO suggested we ask the ‘ Lady of the manor’ across the road to make sure..so we tentatively went to see her as she pulled up in the driveway. She is an Australian, married to the gggg-grandson of William Wilberforce, who campaigned to finish the slave trade. Markington Hall where the current Wilberforces live was once owned by William Wilberforce. So perhaps the Iles men at the Barrows which runs along the road from the Hall were the farm labourers. If you google The Barrows, Markington you’ll see what it looked like and it’s not so different now. Mrs or "Lady" Wilberforce was really very helpful and nice , but I did feel I should’ doff me cap’

The Barrows

The Barrows, Markington

Arrived late afternoon in Ripon to find the Tour of Yorkshire, will go right past the door of the Pub, The White Horse, (BnB) where we are staying. We’ve been behind so many training bikies this past few days going up so many hills. It's a really tough course.

Tour of Y goes past our front door Friday morning for the women and late afternoon for the men.

Part of the women's peleton

Day 17 very cold, cloudy. Max 9C
Staying in town (Ripon) today as the Tour of Yorkshire has many roads closed around town, it's a good day to get washing done,(by someone else for a minimal charge) and have a haircut and a rest from touring.
We have watched the women's race come past earlier today. The peleton is pretty big here would be as many women as men riding. The men come through town in about 5 hours later, so we were down at the clock tower again watching them turn into Palace Rd. there's quite a circus attached to the tour, but it's a pretty well organized one.