Seave Green

Blue skies, an inquisitive bullock and the sandstone cottages of Seave Green, an hamlet in upper Bilsdale, make an idyllic scene. A scene which, if the Victorian speculators had had their way would have looked quite different. In 1874 a railway was proposed running down the valley through the fields on the far side of the beck. The railway was to run from Ingleby Greenhow to Helmsley through two tunnels under Clay Bank and Newgate Bank. Fortunately by this time investors had become more cautious following the railway mania bubble of the 1840s. Of course if the plan had gone ahead it is most likely the line would have been axed by Beeching in the 1960s.

Belties below the Wainstones

Belted Galloways, bred to survive on the moors and uplands of South West Scotland, are aptly suited to the rough pastures below the Wainstones on Hasty Bank. They take their name from the distinctive white belt. Their coarse hair easily sheds rain and snow and an underlayer of softer hair provides insulation during the winter months. Belties don’t have any horns, instead they have a bone knob at the top of the head called a poll. Although bracken is unpalatable to them Belted Galloways are often grazed on bracken infested pasture where their heavy hooves break up and weaken the rhizomes.