Ripley village is as fascinating and visually attractive as the castle which overshadows it, a glorious combination of stone cottages and cobbled squares, past relics and modern reminders of a community which is seasonally under siege.
It stands just off the main A61 from Harrogate to Ripley, and being bypassed, has an air of quiet and peace.
It's also got a marvellous village store, with some of the best pies to be found anywhere in Yorkshire.
The castle is owned by the Ingilby family. Set in a 1,700-acre estate, which takes in the entire village, which was so decimated by the plague in the 1620s that it had to be virtually rebuilt by one of the Ingilby ancestors, Sir William Amcotts Ingilby, who styled the stone terraced cottages on the villages of Alsace-Lorraine which had so inspired him during his travels.
At the 15th century church of All Saints, are a series of marks on the east wall created by Cromwell's soldiers as they executed Royalist prisoners after the battle of Marston Moor.
The Boar's Head Hotel was named in remembrance of King Edward III's brush with death when he fell from his horse in the forest and was nearly gored by a wild boar. Thomas Ingilby of Ripley, hero of the hour, swiftly killed the animal which was promptly turned into the main course at the ensuing banquet, and earned himself a knighthood and family crest for his trouble.
(above) The Boar's Head Hotel. (below) The village tap is in the shape of a Boar, as you can see.
Even without the history, Ripley, with its wide, tree-lined main street, is a lovely place well-worth diverting off the main road to visit
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