1. Finding my home from the air A series of maps getting closer and closer From Gareth in Hillam

2. Hillam is in the middle of the United Kingdom and in North Yorkshire. Yorkshire (with its four parts, North, East, West and South is the largest county in the UK. Do you think the spelling of the red letters is coincidence?

3. The blue lines are three lane motorways – three going one way and three going the opposite way. Hillam is very near the middle of this network

4. From this map you can see that Hillam is about half way from one coast in the west (Liverpool and Manchester) to the one in the east (Hull and Grimsby)

5. Hillam is about 100kms from the sea to the east. There, at Hull and Grimsby are two of the countries largest and busiest fishing ports

6. Hillam is right in the heart of the industrial north of England but it is a beautiful village and the countryside is also fantastic. Leeds says it has more trees for every single person living in the city boundary than any other city in the world. That is something!

7. From my house it is very easy to travel anywhere very fast because I live near the MI and A1 that go north/ south (London to Scotland) and the M62 that goes east/west (Hull to Manchester and Liverpool)

8. Hillam is surrounded by many other small villages – each with their own very special histories. It is also near to some famous towns, Leeds, York, Castleford, Wetherby and Harrogate. In fact Hillam is within the boundary of Leeds but we are also part of Selby.

9. The A1 is one of Britain’s most famous roads and it runs from London to Edinburgh. Recently parts of it have been upgraded to a motorway (A1M) to help relieve the congestion on the M1 – a road that runs almost parallel from London to Leeds.

10. Hillam village is about 1.5 kms off the main A63 which is a very busy road between the UK’s sixth biggest city – Leeds – and Hull, one of the UIK’s busiest sea ports. My house

11. Hillam was originally six large farms and today only one remains. It is very much smaller than it was one hundred years ago

12. My house is part of what was an old private school opened in 1875 and closed in 1961. The school was called “Rose Lea School” and I live in “The Old School House” Rose Lea, The Square, Hillam

13. Our village is small, very pretty and with one shop, one pub and one garden centre. Just above my house (in the red circle) is the village square – with a tree surrounded by seats – where all the village rs meet for a village event

14. Finally my house with my car and my wife’s car outside