After our visit to Escrick Church to see their Remembrance display, we had a look around the village and then to the south through the Escrick Park Estate (The grand house itself now being a girls school). To get to Escrick Park, we walked through Gashouse Plantation, a small but predominantly mature woodland, with a long history.
In medieval times this land was farmland and formed part of the medieval Millfield. Around 1870 a gasworks was built on the site, and screened from Escrick Park by trees. The gasworks was closed and demolished around 1920, and the area became woodland, with some nineteenth-century park features
including a fish pond and duck decoy pond (used to catch ducks which were part of the local diet at that time).
Despite it being private land, the landowner has granted permissive access (access that can be withdrawn at any time) to the woodland and along a pleasant route through the parkland beyond. The walk through the plantation made a pleasant autumn wander.
Take yourself to 3 Hagges Woodmeadow. Turn left off A19 at Hollicars and follow the signs. In 2012 it was a barley field now it’s home to multiple species of flora and 1300 of invertebrates. Carefully monitored by experts it’s a flagship scheme. The owner dreams of woodmeadows with connecting corridors in each parish. Of course you can also access Skipwith Common from the estate if you can walk for miles and hours! Easier from Hollicars though than through the main estate gates.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, thet are very much appreciated.
I do like a walk where it is possible to peel back a little history, as well as enjoy the views.
Ian
I've heard of Three Haggs Wood, but I haven't been there yet. I haven't done very well in 2021 visiting new places. I must try harder in 2022!
Ian
Thank you both. It was a lovely woodland to walk through.
Ian