Just a couple of miles up the road from where I live, the city of Leeds melts into the countryside. Soon after the fields and woods appear, a vast tract of privately-owned land is encountered, enormous by British standards, which is the
Harewood Estate. Most of the land in England is criss-crossed by ancient field-paths and trackways, which are historic 'Rights of Way', but Harewood has very few public footpaths, possibly because it has been in the
ownership of the same family so long, though like many British country estates, it has 'charitable status' (tax relief). Since access is so limited, many local people perhaps fail to appreciate just how huge the estate is, but you can pay £15 to go and have a look at the big house. There is only really one public footpath of note, around the outskirts of the estate, with patrols, CCTV cameras, and signage to keep visitors on the 'straight and narrow'. I made sure to tug my forelock as I went through the big gates
It was a wet and dreary day here yesterday, raining for most of it, but I was pleased to get out and blow the cobwebs off nonetheless.
The whole of the original part of the estate, an enormous area itself, is surrounded by a wall, which must have been a huge task to build. There are also a number of
'ha-ha's, an ancient design, later popularised by the English landscape architect
Capability Brown, and latterly named for the braying sound an aristocrat makes when stumbling across one.
Here's Harewood House in the distance (already zoomed in quite a bit at this point).
Zooming in some more, with the help of some photo editing. You're not getting any closer without handing over your 15 quid!
The large
boulder (below) up on the hill to the right of the footpath has ancient
cup and ring markings, but this is as near to it as the public are allowed.
Here's the Harewood 'Fish Ponds', out of bounds again though.
Passing close to the ancient boundary wall, this is the entrance to the apiary.
Plenty of deer on the estate.
Some pubs here re-opened yesterday, for the first time since mid March. I was a little surprised to see the Harewood Arms was among them, though it didn't actually have any customers. I'm sure I'll go for a pint there when the weather is better
