Until the other Saturday, Spofforth meant two things to me. It was a sharp bend in the road between Harrogate and Wetherby. And it was the name of a rather human robot in a futuristic eponymous novel I read some years ago.

Then we visited Spofforth on foot - which is the only way to do things if you want to discover the true nature of a place - and found it to be a village of delightful, desirable properties, with some dramatic castle ruins.

Our walk began at Sicklinghall, another (though slightly smaller) village on a quiet back road between Wetherby and Harewood. If you want to turn green with envy, take a stroll through Sicklinghall. The road is lined with the sort of houses that you look at in estate agents' windows and realise that the value of your own house would barely raise the deposit.

It's a linear village with one pub (Scott's Arms) and two ponds, one at either end and both covered with duck weed. It's also a popular spot with ramblers, being on the route of a couple of pleasant footpath loops.

The outing we'd chosen was of barely five miles on a typical 1998 July day, with the sky overcast, rain a distinct possibility and a cool breeze blowing. The sun did break through from time to time, though, transforming the landscape.

Our path for most of the way lay on bridleways, which was no problem given that the weather had been fine for a few days and the ground was dry.

After rain, though, I reckon this route could be quite a muddy one, as are most of the routes that ramblers have to share with horse riders. If there's one thing churns up a path more than boots, it's hooves.

But on this day it was a pleasant, dry stroll between hedges rich with midsummer wild flowers. There were even some wild raspberries to refresh us.

Like all walks on hedge-lined lanes, the distant views were interrupted from time to time by shrubbery. But often enough the landscape burst into sight: an agricultural landscape filled with crops and cattle and, as we progressed, countless Christmas trees.

Here was farm diversification in action in the shape of field after field of conifers of various sizes waiting to find a home in the households of Yorkshire next Christmas, or the Christmas after that, or at some Christmas early in the next millennium.

Eventually we emerged into Spofforth past The Castle pub and turned left to find the castle - a rather fine ruin built in the 7th century, rebuilt in the14th and used as both castle and hunting lodge until the middle of the 17th century. Now looked after by English Heritage, it's impressive and well worth a detour.

Soon we were on our way again, walking through the village only to be distracted by the sight across the road of a Samuel Smith's pub, The Railway.

You have here a person who cannot resist the prospect of a pint of Sam's best bitter, so we enjoyed a rather fine drink in the rear beer garden of this friendly pub before moving on to soon leave the road and follow a track through a couple of fields before joining another bridleway leading to a lane.

This led us, eventually, back into Sicklinghall to emerge into the road near the pond at the bottom of the village. There, a bench presented by Wetherby District Footpath Group in memory of George Clarke carried the dedication "No-one walked these paths 'til you came".

What a lovely way to be remembered, as someone who opened up the countryside for others to follow.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.