Earlier in the year, I by chance had the opportunity to watch several documentaries on the Beeb, with both being about, or at least some, the Wolds Way. For me, I had never heard of it before and subsequently, have read that it is the least traveled long-distance way in England.
The plan then was to do it, or at least part of it, in more than one trip. For the first part, we did a variant on it via a delightful walk based on the art of David Hockney. The walk started in the glowing village called Warter, and it then was possible to do either part A or B, depending on how you are feeling.
We chose the shorter route B, that happens to pass directly in front of Dalton Gate Cottage, which is the very place where Hockney stayed, when he painted numerously in 2007. One of these paintings, entitled “Bigger Trees near Warter”, is now located at the Tate Modern in London.
From Warter, we walked uphill, that gave us splendid views back towards Warter.
From there, it was to the outer most part at Blanch Farm, before we doubled back and started to return to the village.
Continuing, we passed over the B1246, and past the Hockney cottage, before we came here to where Bigger Trees was painted,
Before we headed back, via a deep ridge / valley, into Warter.
The only pity with Warter is that there is no café, and the St James church was closed due to the pandemic. If open, there is an opportunity to sample some of the local history. Warter hence, is really only a place to park (which we did by the local primary school).
The next day, we sampled more in this area, by doing a tour of the renowned church architect Sir Tatten Sykes’ churches, which will be in Part 2 of my review.
Curious Bystander 