Larch Cottage

Dogfriendly Magazine Review

Read our comprehensive review of this listing printed in our bi-monthly magazine.

Larch Cottage by Andy Craig

Larch Cottage is a bright and immaculately maintained cottage property, very tastefully converted from a 19th century barn. It is compact but very well equipped with satellite TV and music on tap as well as good broadband and USB ports for charging phones, etc. Larch cottage has its own enclosed sitting out area and there is easy access to the owner’s garden for stretching legs and paws.

The cottage can be found in Ruston, a very picturesque village set back off the main Pickering to Scarborough road. Because there is no through road it is an exceptionally quiet and peaceful village. There are footpaths from the village, which make for excellent short dog walks. The drive to Ruston took us over the top of the North York Moors National Park (northyorkmoors.org.uk) and it was a beautiful evening with expansive views across the heather moorland and down into bright green valleys where villages huddle in the shelter of the lower ground. Once we had been welcomed warmly into Larch Cottage, Daisy and I explored some of the footpaths around Ruston and found our way through the woods to the Downe Arms Hotel for a drink and an excellent meal to end the day.  Flamingo Land, beaches at Scarborough, forest walks at Dalby Forest, Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay, Goathland (where Heartbeat was filmed), Downe Arms Hotel (10 minutes walk away serving food daily), The Anvil at Sawdon two miles away. There is a Spar convenience store with a petrol station just three miles away – all this within easy reach of Ruston.

The next day the North York Moors Steam Railway, from Pickering to Whitby, was an attraction not to be missed. When I planned this trip I was delighted to find that the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (nymr.co.uk) had re-opened following a long shutdown due to the Covid pandemic.

Places were limited but I booked a compartment on a train pulled by a steam locomotive for Daisy and me to ride in.  NYMR runs trains all the way from Pickering to Whitby but the short journey from Grosmont to Goathland was just what I wanted. This journey is only 15 minutes or so but it’s great fun. Each compartment seats up to six and dogs are welcome on board. I spent the entire time watching the world go by out of the window.

There is nothing like a steam train for them sounds and smells of the smoke and steam filling the valleys and tunnels. You can either return on the train after exploring Goathland or you can do as we did and walk back the three or so miles along the well signposted ‘RailTrail’.  which was used for filming the TV series Heartbeat for many years. The railway station at Goathland was also in the first Harry Potter film as Hogwarts station. The rail trail follows the line of an old horse-drawn railway and it travels through beautiful countryside of rivers and woodland.

Here and there signs remind you of the industrial heritage of the area. What is now a peaceful pasture was at one time a noisy, smoky and smelly ironworks. It is hard to believe, but the informative boards and new artworks help you to imagine the scene as it was. Even when you arrive back in Grosmont you find you have parked in the site of an ironworks with a massive chimney and blast furnaces. Traces of these structures remain on the ground, in among trees that have grown since, till this day.  Next day was a misty day so there wasn’t much point seeking out the views we had seen the day before, nor did the mist entice us to explore the beaches of the nearby coast, but this part of the world always has options for you to try so we headed back up onto the edge of the moors for a walk through Dalby Forest. There are literally miles of paths and a forest drive to explore, as well as mountain biking trails for the more adventurous. Ambling through the trees was delightful with areas of conifer but also native British woodland to explore.

Would I return? Most certainly, I would.

THE LARCH COTTAGE REVIEW BY ANDY CRAIG APPEARS IN DOGFRIENDLY MAGAZINE ISSUE 62. FOR  MORE INFORMATION ON THE DOGFRIENDLY MAGAZINE VISIT WWW.DOGFRIENDLY.CO.UK/MAGAZINE.