An Ordinary Yorkshire Field

I've driven in a Great Yorkshire Triangle today. Firstly, I went south-west from Leeds to a morning meeting in Holmfirth, then south-east from there to work with doctors in Doncaster in the afternoon, then back up the Great North Road to Leeds. I had never driven from Holmfirth to Doncaster before and it was a pleasant surprise. The route-finders suggested that the M18 would be the quickest way but I chose the scenic route and it was a strange mix of pretty villages and massive roundabouts.

I set off from Leeds at about quarter to eight in the pitch dark, howling wind and lashing rain, but there was dawn light by the time I'd turned off the M1 towards Denby Dale (famous for its huge, record-breaking pies which I'm sure are about to be Healthandsafetied out of existence, if they haven't been already) and then, later on, sunshine.

The road to Holmfirth, and then again from Holmfirth towards the A1 and Doncaster, is never particularly spectacular but always very pleasing to the eye - stone houses, little villages, distant hills, woodland and lots of stone walls dividing the fields. It's hard to park along the road, but I stopped in the only place I could find on the way to Holmfirth and took this photograph.

It's not a very good photograph because I took it from the only place I could: it's not a great view and the light isn't particularly interesting. It's just very typical of the scenery around there. I was thinking about how much I love that scenery, and how it changes with the seasons and always looks summat like - to quote an old Yorkshire expression - and I was feeling quite emotional about it.

Then I got back into the car and switched the radio on and the very first thing I heard was the beginning of that Belinda Carlisle song:

Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth - Ooh, Heaven is a place on earth.

How corny is that? It made me cry though.