If you’ve not heard of my hometown of Ilkley, West Yorkshire before – I’m sure if you’ve watched the news this weekend at all you’re now a little more familiar.

I talk about Ilkley quite often on my blog. It’s where I grew up, where I went to school, where I’ve lived most of my life and the place I always find myself going back to even after I’ve relocated abroad. It’s my favourite place in the world! It was even mentioned in a novel I’m currently reading by Ben Hatch.

If you turn on the news you’ll see that this super hot Bank Holiday weekend has unfortunately put Ilkley in the news after a fire has spread all across the Moors.

We don’t yet know the cause of it, they’re still investigating that.

Ilkley seems to have a fire on the Moors every year unfortunately during the summer, normally because of how dry it is. But this one is so big that it’s made national news and is all over Twitter.

West Yorkshire fire brigade and services from all over Bradford and neighbouring areas have worked together to tackle the blaze.

It’s sad to think about the devastation caused to the wildlife but thankfully the fire is out and hopefully we find out the cause of the incident.

Ilkley is one of the most beautiful places to visit in England and definitely somewhere I always recommend to people who haven’t been.

You can head to the Cow and Calf rocks at the top of the town to look out across Ilkley. This is all part of Ilkley Moor where the fire was started.

Besides Ilkley Moor you’ve even got the beautiful Riverside Park and pebble beach down by the swing Bridge. I used to walk my dog here everyday.

Ilkley has a bit of everything and is good for pubs, hiking, paddling and a great place for a good dog walk.

It’s great to see Ilkley in the news, normally for its traditional May day carnival or news about its top Grammar School again. But it’s always devastating when the news that’s putting the town on the map is a sad story. Hopefully the Moor will recover soon enough and we will all be enjoying the views and hikes once again.

My thanks go out to all the people that have helped tackle the blaze!