12/07/2026
We say Sykes Lodge is a holiday experience itself, not only as a luxury base for your holiday, celebration venue or weekend with friends, but a place to immerse yourself in the rich history of the Yorkshire Wolds region.
The Wagoners Special Reserve is where our agricultural and social history converge with WW1 military history, still sharply remembered by our farming families who to this day will speak of the memories of their grandfathers and great grandfathers receiving their mobilisation papers in the harvest fields of 1914.
So what made these sons of the soil be amongst the first to leave their homes and families for the war in France when their labours in the fields producing food for a Nation, seemed an essential occupation?
The answer lies in the war experience of their Landlord Sir Mark Sykes of Sledmere who recognised the skills of his tenant farmers as they worked their horses and pole wagons with varying strings of horses. They rode postillion managing and manoeuvring their loads with great skill. In these men, Sir Mark saw an opportunity to create a trained and practiced Reserve of soldiers with all the skills of driving and horse mastery an army would need to take supplies and munitions to the front lines. Convinced of the need for such skills by the lack of them in the Boer War in which he had seen active service, Sir Mark set about writing to the War Office prior to the outbreak of WW1. From his home in Eddlethorpe, Sir Mark made the case for the need for these rural skills to be enhanced and available for paid duty before the immediate need arose. Their urgent need at the forefront of active participation required them to be ready for action.
As members of the the Army Service Corps, the men of the fields of the Yorkshire Wolds were called to action in France in August 1914. Their history and memory actively lives on in these parts and is memorialised in Sledmere by Sir Mark's own tribute to the service of the 1,127 men of the Wagoners' Special Reserve with the exquisite stone memorial he designed and erected in Sledmere. Here you will also find the Museum devoted to this unique band of farmers and horsemen of the Yorkshire Wolds who made their mark on history.
To immerse yourself in God's Own Country and the richness of its history, book a luxury stay at Sykes Lodge, Eddlethorpe, Malton for yourself and your guests.
www.sykeslodgeholidays.co.uk
