Wheldrake

Lower Derwent Valley nature reserve is a site of special scientific interest to the south east and the Wheldrake Ings are flood meadows near the village filled with wildlife. To the north there's the growing Wheldrake Wood, which is largely coniferous and complete with numerous walking trails. Golfers will enjoy Swallow Hall golf course.

The Wenlock Arms is the local village pub while nearby you have The Grey Horse in Elvington, The Jefferson Arms in Thorganby and SangThai restaurant in Escrick. For a livelier evening, you can head to York where there is international cuisine and a number of bars and clubs.

There is a hairdresser's and village shop with a post office on the main street. Large superstores like Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose can be found in Selby and York. The closest shopping centre is the Designer Outlet outside York.

Residents of the village use the Wheldrake with Thorganby Church of England Primary School for education up to 11. Highly regarded Fulford School is the nearest secondary school.

Wheldrake is only 20 minutes from York and there is a regular bus service to the city. It is well off the busy A19 but Selby is also close and Leeds is just 45 minutes. You can get to Leeds Bradford International Airport in under an hour.

The former station, now preserved

Between 1912 and 1926 Wheldrake was served by a passenger service on the Derwent Valley Light Railway. The line was open for freight traffic until 1968. The former station is now preserved at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming, at Murton near York.

Crop marks and remains show that Wheldrake was a busy Roman farm. By Saxon times it had a number of scattered family farming enclosures. Following the Norman Conquest it was known as Coldrid and was mainly woodland. The church was built in the 18th century and it continued to be agriculture based until the mid 20th century when workers enjoyed the rural environment. That has continued with housing developments mixed with the old village.

In the 1880's Wheldrake was the home to a young John Robert Francis Wild who later in life became an explorer with Ernest Shackleton going on many expeditions including the famous Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–1916) where he was second-in-command.