Following the river Rye from Nunnington, the first walk takes place at 2pm on Saturday 2 July. The focus of the walk is grasslands with guide Phil Lyth talking about their important role as habitats for a wide range of plants and animals, as well as the work undertaken to conserve them.

Then on Sunday 17 July at 2pm, Ted Hartley will lead a walk looking at the distinctive geology around Ampleforth including the impressive Coxwold-Gilling Gap – a mile and a half wide valley formed by two parallel faults. Find out about the violent upheavals that created this stunning landscape and why ammonites are often found around Gilling.

In the eighteenth century Joseph Foord used the area’s unique topography to bring water from the North York Moors to the dry villages of the limestone Tabular Hills. Starting from Hutton-le-Hole, a walk led by Peter Turton on Sunday 21 August at 2pm takes in a number of sites where parts of Foord’s water courses still remain.

To book a place and for information on where to meet, please call 01439 772738. The walks are free of charge and have been organised as part of the Lime & Ice Project – a Heritage Lottery Funded project created in 2008 to deliver new access, interpretation and conservation initiatives in the southwest corner of the North York Moors National Park and the northern part of the Howardian Hills AONB.

Image by Phil Catterall via geograph.org.uk

Windy pits are networks of limestone fissure caves found in the southwest corner of the North York Moors National Park and their name derives from the flurries of air emitted from within. Providing important bat roosts, the discovery of skeletons and other objects in the windy pits suggest they also had a more gruesome use in the Bronze and late Iron Ages. Graham Lee, Senior Archaeological Conservation Officer for the North York Moors National Park Authority will talk about the finds and the importance of the windy pits for nature conservation on Tuesday 1 June.

Geology-expert Brian Sweeney will then take the audience back millions of years on Thursday 3 June to a time of warm shallow seas when the limestone of Sutton Bank was formed and looks at how this iconic landscape was later shaped by ice and meltwater. On Sunday 6 June, the spotlight turns to the human imprint on the landscape with a look at the archaeology of Yearsley Moors which ranges from the Bronze Age through to the Second World War.

“The landscape around Sutton Bank is not only visually stunning; it also has many fascinating tales to tell,” says Jennifer Smith, Project Officer for the £500,000 Heritage Lottery funded Lime and Ice Project. “Attending one of the talks or the guided walk will make you look at an area – perhaps that you thought you knew very well – with a fresh pair of eyes.”

Wondrous Windy Pits and Limestone Stories take place at Sutton Bank National Park Centre from 7pm to 8.30pm. The walk to explore Yearsley Moor starts at 2pm and will take around 90 minutes. There is no charge for these events but booking is advisable to guarantee a place – call ✆ 01439 772738.

Above: The view towards Sutton Bank and Hood Hill. Left: A windy pit, yesterday