The Yorkshire Wolds
The Yorkshire Wolds are the most northerly chalklands in the UK and are mostly ignored by walkers and photographers due to the nearness of the Yorkshire coast, North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales.
The western edge of the wolds is marked by a spectacular escarpment around Garrowby and it has the sea as it's eastern boundary. To the south is the Humber estuary and the northern boundary is formed by the Vale of Pickering.
Most of the area takes the form of an elevated, gently rolling plateau, with a network of flat glacial valleys, especially around the areas of Huggate and Thixendale. Because of the excellent drainage almost all the valleys are dry and quite hard to see from the roads so you have to get out with your OS map and walk in order to discover the delights on offer. Another interesting phenomenon is that the farming system is "upside-down" where livestock (mostly sheep and cows) graze the valleys, and the hills above are used for crops.
I have been exploring the Wolds for the past 5 months and there is so much to see. I love the maze of deep valleys north of Thixendale and south of the A166 but the medieval field system is also fascinating. Farms around Huggate and Fridaythorpe now have large fields devoted to barley and wheat but the landscape is fabulously undulating. There is also an abandoned medieval village at Wharram Percy.
My project consists mostly of black and white images which emphasise the textures and patterns that prevail in the wolds whether they be field system walls, valley bottoms, trees or tracks. Wherever I look I see a pattern that I want to work with and record. I have also worked mostly in a more challenging square format as this seems to enhance the intimacy of the area more than a more conventional panoramic or 3:2 format.
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