Blacksmiths Arms Lastingham
It was my Birthday; we took the day off to go to the Blacksmiths Arms Lastingham. Early March and this year, it was snowing. Whereas last year’s Birthday was glorious sunshine and warm when we walked the very
long route from Sandsend to Robinhoods Bay and back (but that is another story…).
We had been driving past Lastingham and the Blacksmiths Arms for years and kept saying ‘we should call in there sometime’. So yesterday we finally did!
We booked a table for 1 pm on a Friday and are glad we did as it got very busy.
Our plan was to drive to Hutton-le-Hole from Pickering at 10:30, drop the car off at the pay and display, at the Crown Pub carpark then walk across the fields and North York Moors National Park to get to Lastingham
which was around 1.5 miles away. Grab some food, have a pint, and walk back!
There was snow the night before and we were lucky as the roads had been gritted and cleared an hour or two before we arrived, so managed to get into Hutton le Hole okay.
We took the path starting at the side of the Ryedale Museum which takes you through a gate and a path down the side of the back of the Museum with views of all the historic buildings with thatched roofs etc. along to some open fields, leading into some small woods over a footbridge and over a stream.
It was amazing, with a snow-lined path and trees – like we were the first explorers of the North York Moors! Embarrassingly we got lost (or more correctly, I did and my wife followed) and ended up free walking across some Moorlands and plothery undergrowth.
We eventually found our way back to the proper path, after realising we turned off too early in the first place. After a couple of stretches up and down hills in foot-deep snow we made it to the top of Lastingham Village.
As we walked down into the town, it was like walking back in time or some movie set where the sun was beaming, birds singing and snow was blowing off the leaves of the trees. All was quiet and charming as we entered the village.
There was the Lastingham Church, Standing Tall on a near hill which we visited (follow the link to the page for more on that) and once visiting the Church we headed to the Blacksmiths Arms Lastingham.
It was nice and warm and cosy as we walked in through the entrance (and that was after stopping to admire the view from the outside first).
We were offered a table in the bar area and we sat down to have a drink after our cold walk before heading to our table for 1 pm. As we sat down we noticed the lovely cast iron fireplace with coal burning and lots of tankard mugs hanging from the ceiling beams in this very old and charming pub.
We got chatting to a couple of the locals from the Village who were really nice and friendly, which were two ladies one being 95 years old and her friend much younger. They had some fascinating stories to tell and were a real joy to conversate with.
They were leading in the ‘lunch race’, so to speak and I could see one of the ladies was presented with a gorgeous looking Steak & Ale pie in shortcrust pastry. My eyes were popping out of my head as I knew at that moment, that was going to be my choice too!
It went down well with a smooth pint of blonde lager. After some more conversating with a new couple of locals from Appleton-le-moors I was offered a ‘birthday drink’, which unfortunately I had to politely decline as we had to get back and were on a little time schedule.
The offer, however, made my day due to the generosity of the people.
Following some more chatting and joking with the party on the left of us, we had finished our puddings and it was time finally leave this very warm (in all respects), cosy pub and head on our way.
Much to my surprise more or less the whole bar said goodbye and cheered us on our way. Just couldn’t believe how friendly and kind the locals were there. It was a great atmosphere sharing the birthday meal with my wife and friendly strangers.
We headed into the fresh air and started walking in the direction of Hutton-le-Hole. Moments later after some initial sunshine, the snow kicked in and there was a mini-blizzard for a few minutes before passing over and disappearing.
It was fun and bizarrely felt like we were leaving ‘Hobbiton’ in ‘the ‘Shire’, and its habitants (in terms of the faultless hospitality to welcome us into their local).
We got back to the car before long and said goodbye to what was a smashing birthday walk and lunch out.
Thank you to the Blacksmiths Arms and the friendly people we met there on that day.
