Beverley; Sunday, 29 June, 2025

I had intended on having a long lie in and a relatively slow day, in the end I woke up at 7am which I was a bit annoyed at, only to then be relieved that I had woken up so early as I saw an email from Hull Trains telling me that my 19:12 train had been cancelled due to industrial action and that I needed to catch the 16:21 instead, so that meant I’d lost a couple of hours of the day and being up early suddenly was a bit of a bonus.

After breakfast and packing up I was out of the hotel and over to the bus station with time to spare before the 10am bus north towards Driffield and then Burton Agnes for my main stop of the day at the Manor House and Gardens there. I had originally intended on getting there around lunchtime, but I was now aiming to be there as the doors opened at 11am.

An uneventful bus ride up to Burton Agnes and a after a short walk from the bus stop I was at the house just as the bells for 11am chimed in the neighbouring church and the ticket office opened it’s window.

First stop of the morning was to visit the house because it was so quiet and I though this would be a good time to look around without too many other guests – in the end it turned out that I pretty much had the house to myself and I was able to look around and take a reasonable number of photos without having to avoid people.

From the Elizabethan era house which is the current hall I crossed the courtyard to have a look around the Old Manor House which dates from the Norman period and was in used up until the Elizabethan one was completed. Today just the undercroft and main hall above it survive, along with the neighbouring well and the treadmill that was used to power it.

Having done both the houses I spent quite a bit of time looking round the gardens, including the sunken walled garden which includes lots of hidden nooks and crannies as well as the house maze, which occupied a good 10 minutes getting to the centre, only to have to take another 10 minutes or so to get back out as there is no quick exit route. From the gardens I had a wander through the woodlands, but by now it was getting close to the time that I needed to be leaving so I headed back through the grounds and down to the bus stop.

As I’d been travelling relatively light, I’d had my backpack with me from leaving the hotel which meant I could take advantage of the bus heading back not just to Beverley but all the way onto Hull, so I hopped on board and bagged the top front seat for the long journey back down to Kingston-Upon-Hull.

The journey took about 90 minutes, but it meant that I was back in Hull with enough time to quickly grab a bite to eat and some water for the train before heading over to the station to catch my much earlier than planned train back down to London.