Yorkshire Wolds: Author Colin Speakman on why it's an exciting time for some of the most beautiful countryside in England

October 2 marks forty years since the opening of the Wolds Way, a nationally-recognised trail which winds its way through some of the most tranquil countryside in England.

To celebrate, people are being invited to join in a mass walking adventure along a leg of the route, which, in its whole, runs from the banks of the Humber estuary, taking in chalky landscapes, dry valleys, wooded slopes and rolling hills before reaching the dramatic headland of Filey Brigg.

The landscape is also in the spotlight as consideration is given to whether part of the Yorkshire Wolds should be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).Such status, says Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), could bring many benefits for the area, including greater environmental protection and investment to help manage the Wolds and safeguard its landscape for future generations - and could also act as a draw for tourists.

“I do think there’d be huge benefits for the Yorkshire Wolds,” says Colin Speakman, an author, poet, walker and countryside campaigner. “This won’t alter planning except planners will be much more careful I think in not allowing big and unsightly development but encourage and support people doing things like conservation schemes, tree planting, small scale visitor facilities that fit into the area, parking control and possibly encouraging improvements in public transport. As we know with other Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, everybody benefits, including local people.”

Colin, who lives in Burley in Wharfedale, is perhaps best known as author of The Dales Way and is behind several other walking books, including The Yorkshire Wolds: A Journey of Discovery, written with his wife Fleur.

The publication provides an insight into the rich history and culture of the Wolds, a story shaped by saints, soldier-adventurers, merchants, fisherman, engineers, architects, farmers, landowners, writers, and in most recent times, painter David Hockney, whose work has created a national awareness of the natural beauty of the landscape.

It is also a practical guide, with detailed information and advice on how to explore the area, whether by car, train, bus or by cycle, horseback or on foot, with suggestions on how to reach special places which the pair say will make a visit to the Wolds such a memorable experience.

Fleur and Colin have recently released a second edition, five years after the first. “The first was out of date,” Colin says. “The book came out in 2017 and it’s amazing the changes that have happened. One of the biggest from a user point of view is that the bus services had all changed…We had to go through all the book and check and possibly amend details every time a bus was mentioned.”

Then, of course, there is the AONB consideration, which is highlighted in the new edition. In June 2021, Natural England announced that part of the Yorkshire Wolds would be considered for designation as an AONB, which would acknowledge the special beauty of the local landscape, known for steep sided dry dales, high but gentle escarpments, dramatic coastal cliffs, and open, rolling agricultural plateaus.

Natural and cultural heritage in the area includes ancient woodland, species-rich grasslands, chalk streams, Iron Age settlements, abandoned Medieval villages and Georgian manors and parkland. It includes a prominent chalk escarpment and foothills rising from the Vale of York to the west and the Vale of Pickering to the north.

As of June this year, a Provisional Candidate Area was drawn up, identifying parts of the Wolds’ landscape with potential to be included in the AONB and Natural England invited comments and feedback on the proposal. A statutory consultation is expected to take place next year, before a decision can be made and finally confirmed by Defra.

Colin believes an AONB designation would be long overdue. “Equally exciting,” he says, “are the proposals to create an internationally recognised UNESCO Global Geopark in East Yorkshire, reflecting the scientific and educational value of the unique geology, archaeology, natural and cultural history, not just within the Wolds but much of the surrounding areas of East Riding and North Yorkshire.”

The Wolds is an area which has increasingly fascinated Colin over the years and is rather different to what he calls his “native” walking area, the Yorkshire Dales. The 81-year-old was a founding member of the Yorkshire Dales Society, a charity now known as Friends of the Dales, which works to protect and enhance the area and encourage people to value and enjoy it.

“I’ve over the years become increasingly fascinated by the Wolds, which is completely different from my native patch of the Dales and the Pennines really,” Colin says. “Somewhere totally different and yet still Yorkshire. My wife and I had a great time walking it, we did it all without a car, just by train and bus....I wouldn’t say it was a landscape that grabs you in a way the Dales or the Yorkshire Coast does. You’ve got to get to know and understand the area, spend a bit of time wandering around it.”

He describes how the Yorkshire Wolds form a landscape which is totally different in character from any other part of the region. “It’s almost a bit of the south of England in the north,” he says, alluding to its similarities with other chalk areas in south and east England.

He and wife Fleur write in their book: “The people, the traditions, culture and economy may be very different compared with the south, but the landscape is surprisingly similar. This is because so much of the character, the feel of any landscape we love, the colour of its soil, its characteristic vegetation, its distinctive buildings and walls are determined by its bedrock, the underlying geology.”

Colin adds: “There are lots of special parts of the Wolds which we should be celebrating as part of our Yorkshire culture and identity.”

Fleur and Colin’s book has been published through Gritstone Publishing, a Hebden Bridge-based, author-run cooperative, and the second edition supported by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Many years ago, working on a pocket guide on the Wolds, Colin found it was quite hard to get hold of basic information about the area all in one place. Fast-forward to 2017 and he and Fleur were keen to encourage people to discover and explore what they describe as a “wonderful but too little known part of Yorkshire”.

“We approached a lot of well-known publishers and they all said the same thing that nobody knows where the Yorkshire Wolds are and therefore the book wouldn’t sell,” Colin recalls. “Well that was exactly why we wanted to produce it, because we wanted to make people aware of what a wonderful, special part of Yorkshire this is and how it deserves our love and protection. We like to feel the book has helped influence Natural England to put the area near the top of their to do list, to protect the Yorkshire Wolds landscape.”

He adds: “The book is not about making money, it’s about doing things we believe in and hopefully getting people to appreciate the Wolds and support its development so more people get to know and discover it. Parts of the Dales and the Lake District are getting over-used and we don’t want the Wolds like that. But there’s plenty of places that need discovering.”

The Yorkshire Wolds: A Journey of Discovery, revised edition, is out now.

To order a copy, call 01274 735056 or visit www.ypbookoffer.co.uk