At 0630, on 6 June 80 years ago, the D-Day landings began.

At 0630 on 6 June 2024, the Green Howards Museum will begin its celebration of the momentous occasion. The museum team has prepared a unique package for anyone who wants to be part of the anniversary - a once-in-a-lifetime chance to knowmore about this famous day.

Starting with a breakfast briefing, the day will be spent marking the pivotal moments of the landings, exploring and handling items from the museum collection, hearing accounts of the day itself, and touring the archives. Lunch, presentations, and a documentary screening will lead to a very special top-secret end to the day at around 1600.

There are only 15 places available. The price is £100 per person, and a £30 non-refundable deposit is needed to get a booking. The Museum is currently taking expressions of interest and deposits to secure places at this event. Interested? Call 01748 826561.

More details are at greenhowards.org.uk.

Richmond's annual festival of traditional music, dance and tales kicks off on Friday 3 May and runs into the Bank Holiday Monday! Everywhere around the town and castle, on street corners and in pubs, you'll bump into jugglers, morris dancers, minstrels, cloggies, folk-singers and storytellers. Highlights include:

Retro Night! Dance the night away (until 10pm, anyway) to the sounds and rhythms of the 50s and 60s. Live band, and prizes for the best-dressed dancers! Cash bar available.

Knights in armour at the Castle, plus medieval music, dance, story-telling and traditional games.

Musical walk to Easby Abbey in the company of the Ran Tanners.

MayFest Ceilidh! Recretae the music and dance of the rural Yorkshire Dales, to live accompaniment from a caller and guitar, concertina,  flute and fiddle.

And there'll be much more: folk music everywhere: tarantella, clog-dancing, maypole-dancing, morris-dancing and samba; storytelling; food, drink, garden plants and crafts... Many of the events are totally free. Tickets and more information are at richmondmayfest.org/whatson2024, or you can pick up information at Richmond Information Centre in the Market Hall. We can even help you order online if you don't have web access.

Richmond Information Centre (RIC) has won another award.

Last night, Richmond's Business Excellence Awards took place at The Station. With about 100 representatives of the community present, Baroness Harris of Richmond presented awards to winners in a number of categories. One category, for the most effective marketing, was sponsored by RIC, so three of us were invited along to enjoy the fun. All the shortlisted candidates were excellent, and the Best Marketing Award went jointly to Kiplin Hall and Gardens and to The Station Cinema. As an information provider itself, RIC celebrates and encourages good communication and effective marketing. We were proud to sponsor this award, and we offer our hearty congratulations to the two winners.

And then (fanfare!) a surprise: RIC itself, said Lady Harris, had received a special Services to Richmond Award. We're too modest to repeat the nice things she said about us, but you can see in the photo how happy volunteer Donald Cline was this morning.

RIC has  around 40 volunteers, who have kept this Information Centre going, building it up through hard work and enthusiam, since the old District Council closed it down, and the credit goes to all of them. We're honoured indeed.

Today's Lucky Dip into What's On Richmond has pulled out a gorgeous sounding event at The Station.

Spring Vintage is a beautiful collection of stalls for lovers of the country living and period homes style. There'll be spring florals, rustic furnishings, reloved fabrics (that's a new one word for us), gorgeous gardenalia (there's another!), as well as unusual antique finds.

​The fair runs from 10 to 4, and is free. Do drop in and see what you can pick up. And when you're done with the browsing and shopping, head to the Station Cafe/Bar for a spot of lunch or a cuppa!

It's a great time of year for foraging in North Yorkshire! The hedgerows are packed with good things to eat. If your children need an incentive to go walking in the countryside, this is a great one. And if they won't actually eat your delicious hogweed fritters, warm dandelion salad with wild garlic flowers (bacon bits optional) and crisped nettle garnish, there'll be all the more for you.

There are dozens of websites which can tell you how to start - the Woodland Trust site, for example - and dozens of books (we normally have The Yorkshire Forager in the Information Centre).

​Happy hunting!

An RAF base during World War II, the site was later quarried for gravel by Tarmac. As quarrying started to wind down, in 2008, restoration began. Quarrying and restoration ended just over a year ago, and the diggers and earth-movers have gone. What's left is not just a glorious nature reserve, but a timeline of the process of transformation. The newest section still has a few bulldozer scars – but already the soil has a fine covering of dock, weld and other colonising pioneer plants. Move on a few hundred yards to a section that was restored five years earlier, and you'll find successor plants in profusion, and thousands of new trees in guards. A bit further, and the wild meadows are in flower, and the oak, birch and alder saplings are starting to shade out smaller plants. Meanwhile, the lakes, elegantly carved by Tarmac's huge machines, are developing beaches and bays of sediment, which have attracted bulrushes and wading birds. It's lovely now, and in fifteen or twenty years it will be a paradise.

Whether you're a birder, a dog-walker or a family out for a picnic, you'll find Scorton Lakes an undiscovered gem. Get out there and see it now. You can park in Scorton village (nice pubs) or use one of the reserve's two car parks between the Brompton-on-Swale traffic lights and Scorton.

More details are at scortonlakes.org. Top photo by Tim White.

North Yorkshire Council has announced a 20% increase in parking charges, from 19 April.

The Council comments that: "Car parking fees have not increased in some areas for more than a decade, with the majority unchanged for at least three years."

As a result of this change, the prices in our Car Parking in Richmond leaflet and in the Car Parking links on our Useful Links page may be unreliable for a short while after 19 April. We'll get this fixed as soon as we can.

​UPDATE: the new prices are below.