Country diary: An evening walk is handsomely rewarded | Amy-Jane Beer

Burythorpe, North Yorkshire: Once the site of a Norman castle and a bronze age enclosure, I can be sure that I'm not the first to enjoy the spectacular May sunsets hereTrying to capture as much of May's glory as possible, I take an evening walk in a place that I used to visit with my son when he was a baby in a sling. When he learned to toddle, it was here that he discovered he could walk backwards, delighting in the novelty, giggling over his shoulder as he inched towards me.Today, I want to visit the Nab, an off-piste hillock topped with a motte and bailey during Norman efforts to subdue the north. It's always beckoned, but I've never been to the top. This evening, cloaked in hawthorn blossom and with clear blue sky above, it's irresistible. A woman I meet walking a pale, sweet?faced labrador tells me that the fortifications were burned down by a family from Scarborough, in revenge for the seduction of their daughter. "There's a very old path from here to there. You can still see signs of it in places." She's an artist; I sense a kindred spirit, and we chat about old times and thin places. Continue reading...