Here’s a nice way to begin a book of local history: “On either side of the main road, leaving Pickering one mile behind, lie the two traditional rural village communities of Middleton and Aislaby… mature shades of cream stone buildings with terracotta-coloured tiles and striking chimney pots hold the key to a wealth of history that can be traced back to and before the first-ever census – the Domesday Book of 1086.”

The book in question is Middleton & Aislaby: The Story of a Rural Community in North Yorkshire. And the man who wrote that introduction is Stuart Plant of the Middleton and Aislaby Local History Project.

The book has been produced to raise money for the Middleton and Aislaby Village Hall, but researching and writing it was a reward in itself for members of the local history group.

“There is something else in Middleton and Aislaby, and it is not just the bricks and mortar, the horsehair lime plaster and cruck beams, the farmyards and the hectares of rich soil,” Mr Plant writes. “It is in the joy and essence of the people.”

The people of the two villages come very much to life in the scores of wonderful old photographs with which the book is illustrated. In one, three members of the Wilson family – Cissy, Albert and Harold – enjoy a much-needed break during the hay-making season.

From the look of the photograph it appears as though Cissy has brought welcome drinks to the two sun-hatted menfolk. In another, a larger-than-life William Agar Simpson, one-time landlord of the Blacksmith’s Arms at Aislaby, leans with folded arms against the heavy front wheel of a steam roller – though why, we sadly don’t know.

There is a wonderful photograph of the Holliday family. The head of the family, Herbert, was chauffeur to the Coopers of Aislaby Hall. And a suitably spruce-looking man he was, dapper in a neat suit with waistcoat and tie.

The Hollidays lived in a cottage next to the hall and judging by the photograph they all took pride in the way they were turned out.

Wheelwright Mr Johnson and his large family are also pictured, in a photograph dating from 1902. You can sense, from looking at the picture, that times could be hard for them, but there is real dignity, too, in this portrait of a rural working family.

Two excerpts from the Yorkshire Gazette of 1909 which are included in the book give a vivid picture of life in the villages at the time. “A serious point to ponder on was the lack of water in Middleton and Aislaby in 1909, one noted.

“When I made my visit in February, the village pumps had given out, and there were only two possible ways of obtaining water, one by going to Keld Head, which is nearly two miles from the west end of Aislaby village, and the other by availing oneself of the kindness of neighbours, two or three of whom take a water cart round once a week.

No wonder that drops of rain are carefully hoarded up in these villages.”

The book tells the story not just of working people, however, but also of the upper echelons of society: the Hayes family, who lived at Aislaby Hall for centuries, the Cooper family, who bought the much-reduced estate in 1893 and the Watsons and Loys of Middleton Hall and Keld Head Hall.

It also looks at the links between the important families and the interconnections between these wealthy landed gentry and the working folk they depended upon.

Working on the local history project promoted a real sense of community in the two villages, Mr Plant says, and also uncovered a wealth of documents, photographs, oral history recordings, maps and memorabilia.

“Family histories, stories and recollections have enabled the established and newer residents to recall how people worked for and with each other,” he said.

“It has revealed how traditions were secured through inheritance, how marriage between important families brought stability and security and how meeting the challenges through change made everyone, individually and collectively, stronger and determined to succeed.”

• Middleton & Aislaby: The Story of a Rural Community in North Yorkshire is available, priced £10, from Morlands Newsagents and the tourist information centre in Pickering, Hutton-le-Hole's Ryedale Folk Museum, the tea rooms/post office in Middleton and Hoppers in Malton. All proceeds go to Middleton and Aislaby Village Hall.

For more information about the Middleton and Aislaby Local History Project visit middletonandaislaby.weebly.com

- Stephen Lewis and Karen Darley