We’re getting around & finding out about our new home. Ripon, the third smallest city in England, is a cathedral city. It is located at the joining of two rivers, the Laver and Skell. It’s known for its Cathedral, the Racecourse, its market, the Hornblower and the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site of Fountains Abbbey & Studley Royal Park.

The city itself is just over 1,300 years old and was originally known as Inhrypum. It was founded by St Wilfrid and it’s earliest settlers were the stonemasons, glaziers and plasterers Wilfrid brought over to help construct the monastery.

The Ripon Hornblower has been blowing away, each evening, for 1100 years. Every evening at 9:00pm the horn is blown at the four corners of the obelisk in Ripon Market ..... except during Covid days. If you wander up to the market place at 9pm tonight you’ll miss the Hornblower. Covid, isolation & the prevention of gatherings mean the Hornblower blows from home, so the tradition continues, differently. 

Extra of sunset over Studley Park.

It’s great up here, we love it!