After 65 years, a ferry is once more operating across the River Ouse from Nun Monkton to Beningbrough

THE wheelyboat 'Bryan Ferry' isn't perhaps the biggest boat ever to have sailed the waters of the River Ouse. And to be honest, she's probably not the prettiest, either.

But, powered by an electric motor, she is quiet. And she's light. Flat-bottomed and built of aluminium, she drifts across the water like a leaf. On a quiet day like today, with the water almost becalmed, that's a good thing. But when the currents are stronger she can be quite fun to handle, admits one of her volunteer skippers, Tony Robards.

The coolest thing of all about the Bryan Ferry, however, is the ramp in her bow. This is designed to thunk down onto the sands of Beningbrough beach so that passengers can disembark.

This is because the Bryan Ferry is, as you may have guessed, a ferry. Every weekend from April to October, between 11am and 4pm each Saturday and Sunday, she carries passengers across from Nun Monkton to the Beningbrough side of the river; and more passengers back in the opposite direction.

It is a journey that takes little more than a minute, at most: across just a few yards of water where the Ouse and the Nidd meet. But insignificant as it may seem, it has re-united two sets of communities that have been divided by the river for decades.

Volunteer skippers Dave Birch, left, and Tony Robards

There always used to be a ferry here, carrying villagers and farm labourers across the water, linking Beningbrough Hall with Priory Hall, and making it possible to walk reasonably quickly from Newton-on-Ouse on one bank, to Nun Monkton on the other.

There are photographs of the old wooden-built ferry in operation in the early years of the last century. One of the last ferrymen, George Wright, worked from a ferry hut close to the old Priory Estate water tower on the Nun Monkton side of the river, where there was a wood fire and a high-backed settle. Villagers wanting to cross would ring a loud bell to alert him.

But the last ferry ran in 1952. Since then, for the best part of 70 years, communities on the two sides of the river had been cut off from each-other. Close as they are as the crow flies, the only way from Nun Monkton to Newton on Ouse or Beningbrough was a long drive around, through York.

The old Nun Monkton ferry in about 1910

"There are people in the village who have lived here for a very long time, but who had never been over to the other side of the river," says Kate Harpin, of the Priory Estate in Nun Monkton.

That all changed last year. Kate and her husband Richard had had a boat on the river for some time. "And we just so enjoyed it. I had often thought how nice it would be to be able to walk out of the house and get across the river."

In June last year, the Harpins invited other villagers to a meeting in a barn behind the village pub, the Alice Hawthorn.

They pitched the idea of launching a new ferry. They themselves would pay for the boat and a new pontoon below the Priory Estate: but they would need volunteers to operate the ferry.

They had no idea what the response would be. "We thought 'will they think it's a crazy idea?'" says Kate. But the reaction was hugely positive. And when the call went out for volunteers to run the ferry, hands shot up.

Among the first was Tony Robards, a retired University of York professor of bioscience who is now chairman of the York Archaeological Trust.

Tony lives in a cottage overlooking the village green in Nun Monkton. He could see the potential of the ferry straight away. "It was just such a great idea," he says. "When something like this happens, you have to support it!"

Floating like a leaf: the nun Monkton ferry

Nobody had quite realised just how complicated it would be. Permission was needed from the National Trust (which owns Beningbrough Hall) to land at Beningbrough beach: and planning permission had to be obtained, and health and safety regulations complied with.

The team of volunteers who came forward to operate the boat then had to be given motorboat and first aid training.

But the Bryan Ferry was officially christened in August of last year. Ferry crossings began later that year. And since April this year, it has regularly been ferrying paying customers across the river each weekend.

It is great for locals wanting to cross to the other side of the river; for dog walkers keen to take advantage of footpaths on both sides of the Ouse; and for day trippers who'd like to take in a visit both to Beningbrough Hall and to Nun Monkton, with its pub, church and the lovely, once-cobbled but now grassy footpath running down beside the Priory Estate to the ferry pontoon.

There's no need to book ahead. Between 11am and 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays, just turn up, either at the pontoon on the Nun Monkton side or at Beningbrough beach on the other. If the ferry is on the other side of the river, all you need to do is holler or wave, and it will come to collect you.

It is a short but deeply satisfying crossing. The ferry swings out wide to ensure it has a good view of anything that may be coming up the river, before heading across to thunk into the sandy bank at Beningbrough beach.

The water isn't always as calm as it was when The Press visited.

The crossing takes place at the confluence of the Ouse and the Nidd - and there can be times when the currents from the two rivers are quite lively, and fight each-other for precedence. But the trained volunteer skippers are quite up to dealing with that. And it is astonishing how close Beningbrough Hall and the Alice Hawthorn are when all you have to do is walk down to the river and hop onto a boat to get across...

FERRY FACTS

A single crossing on the ferry is £2 adults, £1 under 18s. Dogs go free. There is no return fare: just pay for your return journey the way you paid for your outward journey.

The ferry operates on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays from 11am-4pm between April and October. If the weather is very bad, call 07979 319483 before setting out to check the ferry is operating.

To get to the ferry, park at the Alice Hawthorn on the Nun Monkton side then walk down to the river along the avenue beside the Priory Estate. On the Beningbrough side, walk down to the river from the hall.

The ferry is operated entirely by volunteers. There are more than 20 of these, who work in shifts.

To find out more about becoming a volunteer ferry skipper, visit nunmonktonferryboat.org/

As well as the ferry, there is also a a self-drive electric powered riverboat, the Betty Blue, which can be hired for whole days (11am-4pm) on weekends to explore the Ouse. The Betty Blue can carry up to seven passengers, and costs £75 to hire for the day.