It’s a year and a day since we moved here and today we popped out for lunch at the Boar’s Inn, Ripley. In addition to excellent food and excellent service we also got some really handy tips on Christmas Services in Ripon. 

The Boar’s Head is described as a “refined, genteel hotel” ….. wonderful. 

Ripley is an unusual village, achingly pretty, home to the world famous Ripley’s ice cream, home to a gin school, 

The village name derives from Old English and is believed to mean wood of the Hrype or Ripon people. The village and nearby castle are privately owned. A castle dating from the 15th century, Ripley Castle, has been the home of the Ingilby family for 700 years. The present owner is Sir Thomas Ingilby. A 19th century Ingilby tore down the old village and modelled it after an Alsatian village with an "hôtel de ville" style town hall. The castle and the parish church were not affected by the reconstruction. In 2017, the village was named 17th out of the 20 Best Villages in Britain to live in (one of only two in the North of England).