Reasons to love North Yorkshire #7: City of Troy turf maze, near Skewsby in the Hambleton Hills. A little spiral secret happily keeping to itself on a ridge with a spreading view towards the coast.

Sad to note that visits a year apart (exactly, oddly) show how quickly it can go from a crisp labyrinth with beautifully coiled and cambered walking surfaces, to a muddled knot, slumped and slopey and difficult to trace.

… and the quieter moments. Chatting, jamming, watching, plotting, wondering if it really would be too hard to learn Appalachian clog…

York Festival of Traditional Dance, 9th and 10th September, 2012.

Reasons to love North Yorkshire #6: The York Festival of Traditional Dance. 

For which the sunshine was switched on this year, and we all danced for the joy of it (and for beer. We’ll always dance for beer).

Reasons to love North Yorkshire:

#5: stories told in the crook of the hills, under Sutton Bank. This is the kota at Watersmeet, where the Wass Storytelling Circle meet each month.

Reasons to love North Yorkshire:

#4: you can drop by a splendid little castle on your way home from work. Spofforth Castle on the long Jubilee weekend.

Reasons to love North Yorkshire:

#3: The Minster, in spring sunshine.

I started this little series on Facebook recently, and am sharing it with the wider world for no other reason than the fact I quite like it!

Reasons to love North Yorkshire:

#1: hill forts and horses. Looking towards Sutton Bank on a rainy evening.

Green Ginger Morris dance up the sun on May Morning, 2012.

At Beverly Westwood, with Rackaback Morris. Pic by Gierran.