Sunrise Cottage in the North York Moors

04/11/2024

We have walked past here plenty of times but this is a different view, interesting!

25/10/2024

It may be a bit of a foggy morning, but last night it was clear and I viewed some great stars, so a good start to the Skies Fringe Festival 24. If you are in the area, it's worth attending one of the many events, run by local businesses or even travelling here to see what's going on.

We have availability next week, after this weekend, in case you want to have a little break under the stars!

www.sunrise-cottage.co.uk

See the North York Moors blog https://simplero.com/d/_oCXu2QVKuawj33C/c/6111255/5

Parks UK

25/10/2024

Our fifth Dark Skies Fringe Festival begins today! ✨🔭🤩💫 Yorkshire Dales National Park

We are partnering with many incredible businesses across the National Park to offer you a myriad of marvellous stargazing adventures from 25 October - 3 November.

From stargazing sessions with Astro Dog and astro-photography workshops with RJB Photographic to night navigation trips with Large Outdoors and guided after dark walks with Walk Yorkshire, this programme is jam packed full of after dark adventures.

Explore our programme and book your space 👉 https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/north-york-moors-events

📸 : Brinton Darnell

23/10/2024

Called in at Sutton Bank National Park Centre on the way home yesterday, glad we did! Beautiful walk along the top, what a stunning day and views. 😁😊

Easy access walking for anyone who wants to get outdoors but perhaps miss the hills! Plenty of footpaths leading off the main track for more active walking. Also more cycle paths and plenty of bridleways and cycle hire too. 🚴

Even better day that Pip had one of her magic days with amazing focus, only lost it a bit at five off lead dogs zooming by, a little exciting but recovered well! 🐶 😁🥰

19/10/2024

Stunning picture! You could almost see the cottage over that hill! 😁

Looking for a new place to explore this weekend? 🌾🍂🌳

Head to Rosedale Bank Top to explore the magnificent giant kilns and sweeping views down into Rosedale Abbey, discover the land of iron in the North York Moors!

📍: Rosedale
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13/10/2024

…..and look at these adorable owlets! 🥰

13/10/2024

Amazingly I saw three barn owls on the drive out of Hartoft on Friday! 🦉😁😊 Yesterday we watched one flying low around our fields below the cottage. Owls have to be my favourite 🥰 and we have frequent sightings, particularly barn owls and you certainly hear them and the tawny owls! 🦉 😁🥰😊

Our guests love them too and often tell us how thrilled they are at watching them so close on the wall, gate post, barn roof or flying past.

I’ve shared these before, but they are such beautiful pictures taken by our neighbours Simon and Nicky Johnson they are worth another look!

11/10/2024

Something a little different! 😁 we could see it up here too! 😊

09/10/2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Love this picture from Victoria Hiles from Cambridgeshire (thank you for sharing), taken with a mobile phone and includes the corner of the cottage! 😁

09/10/2024

Amazing image over Rosedale! Yes you can see the stars and Milky Way here outside of the cottage!

Our fifth Dark Skies Fringe Festival is nearly here... 🔭🤩✨

Join us and to celebrate our International Dark Sky Reserves from 25 October - 3 November with a stargazing session, night walk, astro-photography workshop or much more.

Click the link below to learn how you can get involved in our Dark Skies Fringe Festival. https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/north-york-moors-events

Look up and marvel in the millions of stars that lay above the National Park!

📍: Rosedale Bank Top Kilns
📸 : Tom Mutton

08/10/2024

How lovely! 😊

Lots of lovely people have forwarded us this equally lovely story about a gentleman who has spent the last few years making a fantastic matchstick model of the Minster.

At nearly 2 metres long, it must really have been a labour of love.

We are trying to get in touch so if this is you, please do send us a message!

There's something poetic about this matchstick model coming to light (no pun intended) during the 40th anniversary of our last major fire in 1984!

04/10/2024

We are lucky here in the North York Moors National Park to be surrounded by an abundance of wildlife. Many of our guests love to soak up the peace and quiet and enjoy great viewings of birds including birds of prey. Our neighbours, Simon and Nicky Johnson, further up the Hartoft dale, are a great source of information of what's about, also taking some amazing pictures, which they often share with us. Here are some pictures taken of a Red Kite, very bold, which meant we had several viewings.

The National Centre for Birds of Prey is well worth a visit in nearby Helmsley.

04/10/2024

😋

19/09/2024

19/09/2024

Sunset in Staithes 🌅

The tiny old fishing village of Staithes is like a picture perfect postcard and is a must visit spot within the National Park!

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12/09/2024

🐬 😁🥰

10/09/2024

01/09/2024

Pizza Social is definitely going on our list of recommendations for guests if they are visiting Harrogate. We enjoyed a great evening here with Amy and Jonny 😁 Absolutely delicious pizza and all the other bits were equally tasty. Staff were brilliant, we had such an easy night and we are looking forward to another tasting.

01/09/2024

More rock climbing! This time at Dalby Forest and these rocks are part of the Bridestones, a National Trust managed area which includes some nice open heather moorland to walk through, a great contrast with the trees🌲 🪨 😁

28/08/2024

One of Pip’s favourite rocks in Cropton Forest 😊 Cropton is a managed forest, not as well known as Dalby but just as good for exploring and backs onto Hartoft, which is amazing! 😁 Obviously lots of trees, managed and native, with lots of patches of moorland Heather too and we are still seeing some brighter shows out and about, but it won’t be long until the colour has gone until next year.

28/08/2024

ASTRO DOGS CELESTIAL ADVENTURES EARLY THIS MORNING FEATURING THE AURORA BOREALIS AKA THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. 💚💜💙✨️

Very early on Tuesday morning we noticed an elevation in the space weather. Whilst we knew this wasn't perfectly timed for us because there was such a long time until dark, we kept our fingers crossed that it may last until nightfall and potentially even improve!

We continued to monitor the satellite data and post aurora updates throughout the day and night and soon realised that our wishes were coming true! The activity was really starting to ramp up later in the evening/early Wednesday morning. After alerting everybody again we packed our things and headed straight out to the cliffs.

On route, the very cloudy skies were showing signs of clearing, stars slowly began to emerge, a gorgeous waning quarter moon was visible, and so were the stunning planets Jupiter and Mars. Once we arrived we even saw a heron sat on the rocks too, with a backdrop of the moonlit ocean before flying across the sea towards the castle. So beautiful!

We quickly grabbed our gear and luna's frisbee and headed up the cliffs ready to set up. We were welcomed by the sounds of crickets, owls and there were even bats flying about at points too.

While the cloud situation was a nightmare earlier on engulfing much of the UK, thankfully they parted for a few moments to allow us to capture some photographs before they rolled in again. In fact the parting of the clouds was perfectly timed because the aurora truly burst to life at this moment!

The sky was painted with beautiful colours. There were stunning pinks, greens and white columns stretching high into the sky and dancing side to side. Not only that, but it was even visible to the naked eye at points as a brightening of the Northern horizon.

While the clouds did soon roll in, we decided to continue shooting a timelapse until around 04:30am and to our amazement the aurora was still dancing into the morning twilight.

The dawn skies eventually began to drown out the aurora, so we decided to pack our equipment up and headed home.

All in all we had a wonderful evening playing with luna, seeing and listening to local wildlife and of course capturing the Aurora.

We captured many more photographs of aurora throughout the night, but we thought we would share one with you from before the clouds rolled back in. We hope you like it. 🥰💖

26/08/2024

A mama and her calf at sunset on Levisham Moor, what a special shot 🐮🧡

Fun fact: The Highland Cow is the oldest registered breed of cattle in the world, who knew?!

📍: Levisham Moor
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