York Association of the National Trust
YANT Day Trips 2023
Day Trips Organiser: trips@yant.org.uk
Beningbrough Hall Art Tour: Visit with the Art Curator Laura Turner
Friday 24th November 2023 at 10.30am
£2 YANT admin fee
Inspired by Italy
The Reddihough Galleries, first floor Beningbrough Hall
The exhibition brings together the work of Kate Somervell, a Yorkshire based black and white photographer, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi, an eighteenth-century Italian artist. It highlights the romance and reality of Italy and the Italian influence on one of Yorkshire’s great houses. Both artists take inspiration from architecture despite working 300 years apart. Hidden views of Venice contrast with newly commissioned images of Beningbrough, alongside classical Rome.
LED lighting throughout the hall and the spacious rooms of the first floor provide a place where visitors can take their time viewing the art, and the landscape beyond. The Saloon is the centrepiece of the gallery spaces and an opulent space for displaying art, as it was in the eighteenth century.
To join us for a tour of Beningbrough Hall's Gallery, please complete the relevant section of the Booking Form and send it with a cheque and an SAE to Catherine Brophy, 25 Forest Court, York, YO32 5ZJ.
Cheques to be made out to YANT or pay online and email your details to social@yant.org.uk
There is plenty of car parking available. Please show your National Trust membership card, or pay the entrance fee, at the entrance window into the Garden from the car park. Then come along to the Hall to meet the Curator Laura Turner in the Great Hall for a 10.30am start.
The restaurant will be open when our tour concludes at 12.15pm approximately. An acknowledgement of your payment and any further details will be sent by email unless you enclose an SAE. Further information from Catherine on York 499179
Catherine Brophy
Review - YANT Visit to the Art Gallery at Beningbrough Hall, November 2023
Arriving in Beningbrough on a glorious, but cold, day, YANT members were met by Laura Turner, formerly senior curator at York Art Gallery. She explained that she was now one of two permanent curators for the National Trust and that she had the benefit of accessing images and artefacts from the whole of the NT’s vast collection. Standing in front of the magnificent Pineapple sculpture by Tony Ziegler in the entrance hall, Laura reflected on the relevance of pineapples to Giles and Margaret Earle, owners of Beningbrough in the 18th century when pineapples were a rarity and could only be grown in this country in the homes of the wealthy.
The Earles were serious collectors and during their traditional Grand Tour had brought back many artefacts, only two of which are remaining, one being the bust of Pope Clement VI looking down on the Pineapple from a nearby wall.
The photographic exhibition was located on the first floor in a beautifully light room which had benefited from the installation of exquisite lighting during the recent renovation and courtesy of the generous Reddihough bequest, after whom the gallery is named. The photographs are the work of Kate Somervell, inspired by Venetian architecture and all captured at times when no-one was about who could disrupt the purity of her focus on buildings and landscapes. Some were taken at dawn, some late into the evening and all with an intense focus on form. Laura drew comparisons with the soon to be revealed Mediterranean part of the gardens, sculpted by Andy Sturgeon, where emphasis has been laid on drought resistant planting.
From there Laura introduced the group to a series of Piranesi prints which, with their emphasis on detail and people, contrasted spectacularly with Kate’s photography, along with a large book of his collected works which could only be viewed a page at a time owing to their fragility.
Kate was also responsible for a series of images of Beningbrough bringing to life sometimes overlooked areas of the estate and showing them in a new light. A film explaining her work was also available.
Members were then able to wander at their leisure through the various rooms and gardens before enjoying refreshments in the café and retail therapy in the shop.
Kate Somervell’s website: https://www.solitudephotography.co.uk/
Dorothy Nott
Visit to Fountains Abbey
Friday 29th September 2023 at 9am
£20 per person
After our AGM on 25 March, Mr Mark Newman, Archaeological Consultant North Region (East) to the National Trust, gave us a fascinating talk on his recent sub-surface investigations of the area around the Abbey by ground penetrating radar and other techniques. The results of his investigation have shed new light on the extent and nature of religious and secular burials and have identified the foundations of previously unknown buildings.
Mark Newman has kindly agreed to explain these exciting developments at a site visit which can, should you wish, be combined with a short walk arranged by the Country Walks Group. A description of the walk can be seen on the Walks Page.
This day trip, by Ingleby’s coach, leaves at 9am from Memorial Gardens. The programme for the visit will start with Mr Newman’s tour to be followed by lunch, which may be obtained at one of the Abbey cafes or be taken as a packed lunch by members. Those not wishing to join the walk may then relax or explore the Abbey while walkers will leave the Visitors Centre at 14:00, returning there at around 16:30 to re-join the coach and return to York.
NT volunteers offer free tours of the Abbey ruins between 2pm and 3pm each day which may be of interest for those not joining in the walk.
This visit has been designed to appeal to a wide range of members as it offers a day visit, a talk, and a walk as well as plenty of time to socialise.
We hope that offering travel by coach will help those without a car or who prefer not to drive.
Day Trip around Wensleydale
Thursday 22nd June 2023
£35 per person
From Memorial Gardens in York at 9am, we will make our way to Leyburn in lower Wensleydale where we will have a morning refreshment break. Then travelling through Upper Wensleydale, we will arrive in Hawes where there will be time to explore the village and enjoy a lunch break at own cost; or bring a packed lunch and sit and admire the views across the dale.
We are booked in during the early afternoon to the Wensleydale Creamery where we will have an included demonstration of cheese making. There is lots to see here including having your photograph taken with either Wallace or Gromit and a shop to visit packed with tasty Wensleydale treats.
In the late afternoon we will make our way back to York with a visit to Middleham if time allows. The Castle is free for English Heritage Members and is open until 5pm. There are tea rooms available here as well or you may catch a glimpse on the gallops of the wonderful racehorses who live and train here. We will journey back to York via Jervaulx Abbey and Masham, arriving back in York around 6.15pm.
The cost is £35 to cover entry and demonstration at Wensleydale Creamery, coach hire and driver gratuity and morning refreshments. The coach company costs have increased and are not guaranteed at present due to the cost of fuel and staff.
Apart from the visit to the Wensleydale Creamery please note that this itinerary is subject to change depending on which hospitality businesses are open in June for morning or afternoon refreshments, but we will make sure there are two comfort stops.
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