The best walks and hikes around Skeeby

Great tea barn just past the Abbey car park

The top of the tower is accessible and offers some great views across Richmond and the Castle Grounds

The wall paintings are wonderful - always a joy to see. The bike ride alongside the Swale is perfect. Watch out for herons, which can often be seen fishing on a rock. The ice cream at the parlour as you arrive at the station is delicious. The deli just inside is also fabulous…….

Willance House is a Grade 2 listed building set in Frenchgate, a cobbled street just 2 or 3 minutes walk from the Market Place. Reputedly the oldest house in Richmond, it was the home of Robert Willance the first Alderman of Richmond. Robert Willance left his mark on Richmond in two ways. He was the first Alderman (the equivalent of Mayor) of Richmond in 1608, but two years earlier he survived a hunting accident at a site on Whitcliffe Scar, just outside Richmond. The site is now known as Willance's Leap in commemoration of the amazing event in 1606. Robert Willance, whose family owned property at Clints near Marske as well as in Richmond, was out hunting one day, riding an inexperienced and nervous young horse, when a thick mist suddenly came down. The horse bolted and fell 212ft over the edge of Whitcliffe Scar and was killed. Willance survived the fall but with a broken leg. Realising he would not be rescued until the fog lifted, he used his hunting knife to slit open the horse’s belly and inserted into it his fractured leg. This probably saved his life, as the extra warmth would delay the onset of gangrene. Later, he was taken back to his house in Richmond, now No. 24 Frenchgate or Willance House, where his injured leg was amputated. He made such a good recovery that he was able to serve as the first Alderman of Richmond in 1608. Robert Willance also gave Richmond a silver ‘boulle’ or cup which is on display with other civic plates in the Green Howards Regimental Museum in the Market Place. He died in 1616 and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s parish church, close to the garden wall of Willance House. According to tradition, he was reunited with his leg which had been buried there ten years earlier. His grave is marked by a flat stone near a door in the garden wall, but the inscription is no longer legible.

Biggest ruins I've seen, no entry fee, lots of interesting places to see, my favourite part was the roof underneath the refectory

Muddy path when wet, wear sensible shoes

Legend has it that at the end of the eighteenth century, a tunnel was discovered at Richmond Castle that was believed to lead to Easby, where there is a ruined abbey. It is said that the entrance to this tunnel was uncovered by soldiers but the passageway beyond was so narrow and full of rubble that they couldn’t fit through it. So a little drummer boy was lowered in and the boy was told to walk along the tunnel, banging his drum, whilst above ground the soldiers would follow his drumming and learn where the tunnel led. All was well at first. The soldiers walked along, listening carefully, and were led out of the castle, across the marketplace and down towards the river. It is told that they managed to follow the drumbeats all the way to Easby woods but all of a sudden the drumming stopped, still some distance from Easby and the abbey. The drumming never resumed and the Drummer Boy was never seen again. A marker of the tunnel above ground is the Drummer Boy’s Stone, on the path to Easby, pinpointing the spot where it’s said that the drumbeats of this poor unfortunate lad were last heard.

Easy short delightful walk, with history included!!