Christmas in West Burton

We do hope you’ve had a really brilliant Christmas and now looking forward to bringing in the New Year with style and then our thoughts of course will turn to 2024. For us, we were here in West Burton for Christmas Day, doesn’t always happen but this year was our ‘turn’. But it’s times like these I start to think more about the place where we live, the history, how the village came to be here and how it has changed over the years. The village is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Yorkshire and, being completely biased, would agree. But yes, there is a large open green with a back drop of a mix of cottages and houses, a very pretty waterfall and of course many walks radiate from here.

Visually West Burton hasn’t changed an awful lot since my husband and I arrived in 1971, but in the past some houses had a face lift, literally with the frontage being rebuilt but with the back of the house remaining the same. As with our cottage, no one can remember what it was before, whether it was a barn or the fire station being in close proximity to Peel House, which was the police station complete with jail! It was renovated for the retiring housekeeper from The Grange who was called Margaret hence it’s known now as Margarets Cottage. The road round the green used to go very close by the houses on the left hand side, there is still a reminder of this with the track going to Moorside. From there it would continue and come out in front of Cross View. Did you know that Cross View was once a village shop with a single petrol pump? Two village shops at one time! The village hall has been completely rebuilt after a fire in the 1990’s. There once was a butchers shop where Mill House is, a separate post office just down from the pub, a funeral directors, two pubs, the Fox and Hounds and the Black Bull which was opposite the Fox and Hounds. Burton Mill, now just called The Mill and converted into five apartments in the 1970’s, was originally built in the 1780s on the site of an earlier hammer forge – then part of the Wealden iron industry. It operated as a flour and feed mill until the early 1900s when it was converted to a power generator and then a sawmill. Flour milling briefly recommenced in the 1980s.

I could go on but enough for now. Do come and join us in West Burton we have lovely cottages and one apartment in The Mill for you to enjoy staying in and exploring the area. Call me Nadine or my daughter Joanne on 01969 663559 for friendly help and advice or do book online if you prefer.

Hear from you quite soon!