My Yorkshire: Playwright Charley Mills on her favourite people and places

Charley Miles is one of the region's up-and-coming writers. Born and raised in Kilburn, North Yorkshire, the 25-year-old's debut play, Blackthorn, will open at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds next week.
Playwright Charley Mills.Playwright Charley Mills.
Playwright Charley Mills.

What’s your first Yorkshire memory? It’s allied to a photograph, which shows me being handed down from a jetty in Bridlington to my father in a boat beneath. When we were kids we’d go across to the seaside, and while we played on the sands, my dad would go sailing. I still love a trip across to Brid.

What’s your favourite part of the county – and why? The North York Moors, because my village is right on the very edge of it all. The whole area sprawls out in front of you – it’s expansive and totally beautiful.

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What’s your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire? In summertime or early autumn, it would be a drive across the moors to somewhere like Robin Hood’s Bay, where we’d go rock-pooling. My partner Frankie and I would take our dog Hitchcock (he’s a cross between and shiatsu and a poodle!) and we’d go for a long walk somewhere.

Charley Mills would like to learn a few moves from Olympic champion Nicola Adams.Charley Mills would like to learn a few moves from Olympic champion Nicola Adams.
Charley Mills would like to learn a few moves from Olympic champion Nicola Adams.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view? It’s the White Horse Walk, which we used to do a lot when we were children with our lovely labrador, who I named Hamlet. That sounds a very pretentious name for a kid to call a dog, but I called him that because I thought his lovely wet pink tongue looked like a slice of succulent 
ham.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch? The Olympics have made me aware of how many great sportspeople there are in Yorkshire, and if I had to single one of them out it would be the lovely Nicola Adams. Since I am just over 5ft tall I could learn some useful moves from her.

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner? I am going to go for Dame Judi Dench, and for two reasons. The first is that she is such a versatile actress, and secondly because of the film Iris (all about the life and sad end of the authoress Iris Murdoch) in which she co-starred with Kate Winslet, another of my favourites. It’s a beautiful, honest movie.

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If you had to name your Yorkshire “hidden gem”, what would it be? The Scotch Corner Chapel, up near Oldstead, in the North York Moors national park, which was built from stone from an old farmstead by John Bunting, who was a master at Ampleforth College, in honour of the old boys of the school who were killed in the Second World War. It’s rarely open to look around, but it is beautiful – and very poignant.

Charley Mills has fond memories of Bridlington as a child.Charley Mills has fond memories of Bridlington as a child.
Charley Mills has fond memories of Bridlington as a child.

If you could choose somewhere, or some object, from or in Yorkshire to own for a day, what would it be? In my teens I worked at the Robert (Mouseman) Thompson cafe in the village, and one of my jobs used to be to dust all the objects in the museum. One of them was a beautiful single bed, made for a child, with Thompson’s trademark mouse on the headboard, and the inscription on it read: “Deep rivers move in silence, shallow brooks are noisy.” I loved that, and I love it still. It’s priceless, and it would be a joy to own.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity? There’s a strange “essence” that the people have here. Of calm, getting on with things, being chilled out. Truth be told, I have never felt entirely comfortable when I am away from Yorkshire.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub? The Forresters Arms in Kilburn is everything that a country local should be. Good basic food, a lovely warm welcome, wood interiors and totally un-mucked-about. The classic place for a pint.

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Do you have a favourite food shop? Johnson’s in Thirsk, every time. They do the most amazing pork pies. Unbeatable. In fact, when my sister Eve got married, the wedding cake was a three-tiered affair, all made of their delicious pies. Game on the first level, pork on the next, and so on. And there wasn’t a crumb left.

Charley Mills would like to learn a few moves from Olympic champion Nicola Adams.Charley Mills would like to learn a few moves from Olympic champion Nicola Adams.
Charley Mills would like to learn a few moves from Olympic champion Nicola Adams.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you’ve known it? There is a change in the village here. At one time, when I was a child, you always knew who lived where, whereas now, there are a lot more houses and cottages that are for holiday lets, or lived in at the weekends. They’ve been done up beautifully, but that sense of continuity has given over to a sense of transition, and I’m not sure that that is for the best.

If you had to change one thing in, or about Yorkshire, what would that be? Yorkshire is pretty perfect, but my one real bugbear is the appalling lack of decent phone and mobile communications once you get out into the country. I don’t even have a decent landline up here.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire? We were taught all about William Wilberforce in primary school, and even as a kid what he did, and what he achieved impressed me a lot. What a difference he made to the world.

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Has Yorkshire influenced your work? Ever so slightly. My writing is all about Yorkshire, but I do agree that close proximity is not always an advantage. I think that you have to leave sometimes, see other things, other places, and then return to find new perspectives.

Charley Mills has fond memories of Bridlington as a child.Charley Mills has fond memories of Bridlington as a child.
Charley Mills has fond memories of Bridlington as a child.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer? I have an admiration for Sally Wainwright that knows no bounds. And I cannot wait to see her new piece for TV, which will be on at Christmas and is all about the Brontë family. And that leads me to my all-time favourite book, Jane Eyre, which to me is the most perfect work of fiction there is.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be? They should go to Pickering and book a return ticket to Whitby on the North York Moors Railway. I’d advise them to get off at Grosmont for a wander around, and then to enjoy their destination with some fish and chips, and then a chug back through the most glorious scenery.

Blackthorn, West Yorkshire Playhouse, September 13 -17. 0113 213 7700, wyp.org.uk

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