Magzbox com dalesman august 2015

The best-selling Yorkshire magazine

Dalesman ÂŁ2.90 August 2015

Literature special

Alice’s Adventures in Yorkshire Also featuring

Alan Bennett Robin Hood Winnie-the-Pooh

2 august 2015

welcome to dalesman Adrian Braddy, Editor

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hat do Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads and the ballads of Robin Hood have in common? Aside from being fantastic stories that have enthralled millions of people around the world, the origins of each of these wonderful pieces of literature can be traced to Yorkshire.

The land of broad acres has inspired some of the greatest stories ever told and in this month’s Dalesman we explore some of the places behind the prose.

In the first of a new series about Yorkshire writers, Tony Rossiter looks at how Alan Bennett’s Yorkshire roots have always heavily influenced the playwright’s writing.

On the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Summer Strevens examines the many Yorkshire locations that are thought to have inspired author Lewis Carroll.

And in part one of another new regular feature, investigating fascinating follies, we visit the ancient well that now lies almost forgotten at the end of a motorway layby but was said to have once been frequented by Robin Hood.

As always, we look forward as well as back.

Andrew Gallon visits a hedgehog sanctuary to find out why experts fear for the future of this beloved species and Lucy Oates uncovers a floral renaissance in the East Riding.

It’s another jam-packed edition. Please do enjoy! n

August 2015 Volume 77 No 5 Cover image: Lockwood Hills, North York Moors, by Ian Snowdon

Michael Palin cycles into Ilkley in the Alan Bennett film A Private Function © HandMade Films

Contact us Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG

features

Tel 01756 701381 Fax 01756 701326 Email editorial@dalesman.co.uk Web www.dalesman.co.uk twitter.com/The_Dalesman facebook.com/yorkshire.dalesman Editorial Editor: Adrian Braddy Editorial production/design: John Lynott, Eleanor Morton, Lisa Firth Events/competitions: Linda McFadzean Advertisement production: Peter Evans Advertising Tel 01756 701381 Fax 01756 701326 Email ads@dalesman.co.uk

Harry Gration goes lobster fishing at Scarborough – page 37

“imposter” with an ear for what’s 23 real Alan Bennett was greatly influenced by his Yorkshire roots, finds Tony Rossiter

Subscriptions Tel 01756 701033 Rates UK – 12 issues £34.80, 24 issues £69.60, 36 issues £104.40; Overseas (Airmail) – 12 issues £47.40, 24 issues £95.60, 36 issues £143.40. For subscription offers and special deals see elsewhere in the magazine or on www.dalesman.co.uk

29prickly problem

Publisher Country Publications Limited

adventures in yorkshire 33alice’s

Managing Director: Robert Flanagan Chairman: Matthew Townsend © Dalesman Publishing 2015 ISSN 0011 5802

Did Lewis Carroll gain inspiration from Yorkshire? Summer Strevens investigates

37 Printed in Yorkshire on recycled paper

of room for growth 43plenty

Lucy Oates meets Gill Hodgson, who is leading a floral renaissance

Andrew Gallon meets Emma Farley who is dedicated to protecting hedgehogs

caught in a trap

Audited circulation 25,076 Jan-Dec 2014

a new series with a visit to a roadside relic near Doncaster

Harry Gration learns about the tough life of lobster fishermen in Scarborough

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fantastic follies Adrian Braddy kicks off

pigs might fly: sty’s not the 47 limit for ham actor

Neil Hanson takes in a new resident

63dalesman awards Celebrating the heroes and heroines of Yorkshire

regulars 6

Garnett’s Year Malham Cove

20 A Dalesman’s Diary 26 Mrs Simkins’ Country Kitchen Beetroot gingerbread

WIN tickets to UK’s top walkthrough wildlife adventure Page 76 49 Illustrated Yorkshire Askrigg Cross

27 Ian McMillan Sounds of the summer

50 Your Yorkshire Bridlington (below)

28 Ashley Jackson’s

58 Wild Yorkshire Mink among the Fleabane

60 Chronicles of Kelderdale Rush hour

Sketchbook North America Farm

36 Signs & Wonders 46 Subscription offers old amos

52 Diary of a Yorkshire Farmer’s Wife

66 Crossword

52 What on Earth?

67 Puzzles and quiz

54 Dalesfolk I remember

68 Readers’ Club

Tom Stephenson

75 Out & About

55 Walking with Ah reckon it’s best to find a way of doing summat than to find a way of not doing it

62 Yorkshire humour

Dalesman Wharram Percy with Rodger Matthews

76 Competition 78 Next month 98 My Best Day Out

garnett’s year

by Stephen Garnett

Summertime at Malham Cove

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Advertisement feature

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a dalesman’s diary August 2015

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mployment versus environment – it is a conundrum that faces our national parks every day. Never has the choice been more stark than in the proposal to build what could be the world’s biggest potash mine beneath the stunning North York Moors.

The vote on this divisive scheme couldn’t have been closer but, after hours of intense debate, the North York Moors National Park Authority approved the plans by eight votes to seven.

The £1.7 billion mine will be built near

Sneaton, about two-and-a-half miles south of Whitby. It will include a twenty-two-mile tunnel to Teesside and create at least 1,000 permanent jobs in an area where employment options are limited.

Andy Wilson, chief executive of the authority, said the development was a “once ina-lifetime opportunity”, insisting that “the economic impact of the mine outweighed the environmental harm”.

However, Katie Atkinson of the Campaign to Protect Rural England said the scheme was

This striking image of Scale Haw Force waterfall near Hebden in Wharfedale has been crowned the winner in a Yorkshire Dales photography competition. The photographer, Alan Owens from Bentham, fought off stiff competition from 150 other entries in the Yorkshire Cottages Facebook competition, run in partnership with local charity Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) 20 august 2015

“neither appropriate nor sustainable” in an area where “the landscape and sense of remoteness are unique”.

The Campaign for National Parks has called for a public inquiry and said it may challenge the decision. “We have long maintained that this project is completely incompatible with national park purposes and that the promised economic benefits could never justify the huge damage that it would do to the area’s landscape and wildlife, and to the local tourism economy,” it said in a statement.

Sirius, the company behind the plans, estimates the mine will boost the economy of North Yorkshire by ten per cent. Some 300 farmers and other landowners will receive lucrative royalty deals for the mineral rights under their land.

A young York Potash apprentice spoke passionately in favour of the scheme at the planning meeting. She said, “I speak on behalf of all the local young people who don’t just want to be part of this project, but need to be. We need careers to allow us to thrive in our home town and make us attractive to mortgage companies. We need somebody to believe in us, invest in us and challenge us.”

Harry Bowell, director of the North region of the National Trust, said the trust was “extremely disappointed” with the decision.

“The natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of national parks give them the highest level of protection. To have a development of this scale going ahead within a protected landscape sets a worrying precedent for the future of all our national parks,” he said.

The project was supported by ninety-three per cent of local people who wrote to the council, eighty-one per cent of whom live in the national park. But it was opposed by groups including Natural England, the North Yorkshire Moors Association, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

winnie heads for the dales

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ast month we mentioned the planting of a new Hundred Acre Wood in Yorkshire.

Now the famous residents of its fictional namesake have also been pictured in the Dales.

A new illustration by Mark Burgess, who coloured E H Shepherd’s original black-andwhite drawings, shows Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and friends, tending an

allotment in the Dales. A caption accompanying the picture reads: “Rabbit tastes one of his home grown carrots in the Yorkshire Dales, whilst explaining to Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin and friends how to create and care for their own vegetable patch.”

The illustration is one of several to feature in a new story, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Missing Bees, which has been created by the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA). The BBKA has found that Pooh’s beloved honey is under threat by the continuing decline of Britain’s bees. New figures show colonies declined by fourteen-and-a-half per cent last winter, fifty per cent more than the previous year. The free “bee-friendly” guide can be found at www.friendsofthehoneybee.com august 2015 21

Victoria Cave, July 1870. Picture: Tom Lord

when rhinos roamed

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here was a time when species such as elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus roamed the Yorkshire Dales; when it was a pristine wilderness, unimaginable to us today.

The cave systems of the Dales’ limestone uplands are one of the area’s most defining natural features, containing almost one half of all the known caves in Great Britain as well as an incredible record of staggeringly rich ecosystems, now-extinct animal species, and even the arrival of modern humans in the north of England after the last glaciation.

Social enterprise DigVentures has received £100,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its “Under the Uplands” project, which aims to build a greater awareness and better understanding of cave archaeology, ensuring that this fragile and irreplaceable heritage can be enjoyed and cherished for years to come.

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Based at Lower Winskill Farm, near Settle, the project began in June and will continue to December 2016, comprising digitisation of one of the UK’s most important historic cave archives – Victoria Cave, excavated in the 1870s and dating back 600,000 years – and community-led excavation of a previously unexcavated cave site – Haggs Brow Cave, Settle.

Tom Lord, who has spent many years researching the archive, says, “Victoria Cave tells of times the Dales were truly wild. The excavations found amazing evidence of top Ice Age predators and their eco-systems, and an incredible human story reaching back nearly fifteen thousand years. But cave environments and their archaeological sediments are extremely vulnerable.

“Most of the damage is unintentionally caused by recreational activities such as climbing and walking, and casual cave exploration. It is vitally important that we share this information with as many people as possible, and that a Cave Archaeology Toolkit is developed that will help visitors to enjoy these very special places without putting them in danger.” n

‘Imposter’ with an ear for what’s real Tony Rossiter shows how Alan Bennett was influenced by his Yorkshire upbringing

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postcard is propped up on the desk in front of me: a winter landscape and one solitary, windswept tree. On the other side of the card is a brief message (thanking me for a copy of an article I’d written about him) and the signature of Alan Bennett. He may live mainly in Camden Town, but the postcard shows the Yorkshire Dales (Limestone Pavement below Ingleborough).

Alan Bennett seems the most English of writers. What is it about him that strikes a chord with so many people? Perhaps it’s the way he often writes about England and its institutions with a combination of affection and scepticism. Don’t many of us feel much the same? Then there’s the way he likes to poke fun at the self-important and the pretentious, and to take them down a peg or two.

That’s something that must appeal to Yorkshire folk, who don’t generally have much time for people who are (as Bennett’s parents used to call it) “putting it on,” ie getting above themselves – putting on airs and graces.

Yorkshire has produced many fine writers, but there are few whose work is as rooted in their Yorkshire background as Alan Bennett’s.

Born in Armley, Leeds, he travelled to school by tram, sometimes jotting down snippets of conversations he overheard. But he does not view his early life through rose-tinted spectacles. “I found childhood boring. I was glad it was over,” he has said, and “the bits I most remember about my schooldays are those that took place outside the classroom, as we were taken on countless theatre visits and trips to places of interest.”

He has put a lot of his early life into his plays, sometimes giving characters lines he

heard spoken by his parents. “By, you’ve had some script out of me,” his mother once said to him. Bennett’s ear for authentic dialogue (and especially the speech rhythms of the North) has helped to create characters that seem absolutely real – characters the audience (or the reader) can identify with. As one critic put it, “He writes the way people talk. When you see his plays you think ‘Oh, I know her … She lives down the street.’”

Bennett’s two collections of autobiographical non-fiction, Writing Home (1994) and Untold Stories (2005), make extensive use of his Leeds background. Here, among much else, are vivid recollections of his early life in Armley and Headingley and acutely

Alan Bennett photographed in 1973 by Allan Warren (CC BY-SA 3.0) august 2015 23

The closing scene of A Day Out, left, filmed in Boothtown, Halifax. © BBC. Above, a scene from A Private Function, filmed in Ilkley. © HandMade Films.

Facing page, Bennett’s Talking Heads

observed, candid and affectionate portrayals of his parents (including a moving account of his mother’s mental illness). There are evocative descriptions of things and events that were important to him when he was growing up: the city’s trams, Armley Branch Library, Leeds City Art Gallery, visits to concerts and to the cinema, Leeds Reference Library and the city’s Victorian Arcades.

His first television play, A Day Out (1972), a period piece set before the First World War, is about a group of cyclists from Hebden Bridge who go on a day out to Fountains Abbey. As they cycle along and chat and then stop to eat their sandwiches, we gradually 24 august 2015

learn something about the character of each of them. Nothing much happens, but in a way that’s part of the film’s charm. His early farce Habeas Corpus (1973) is set in Brighton, but he manages to drag Leeds into the script: “Have you ever been called to serve the Lord in heathen parts?” the canon is asked. “Well,” he replies, “I was for a short time a curate in Leeds.” The dark comedy Enjoy! (1980) is set in a down-at-heel back-to-back house in Leeds (a rare flop when first produced, it was a big success when revived, with Alison Steadman and David Troughton in the lead roles, in 2009).

A Private Function (1984), a comedy about the illegal keeping of a pig during food rationing in the 1940s, was filmed in and around Ilkley, while his hugely popular The History Boys (2004) is set in a fictional boys’ grammar school in Sheffield. This is the play

in which Hector, the eccentric schoolmaster, memorably tells his sixth-formers: “The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead.

And it’s as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”

Most of his acclaimed Talking Heads monologues for BBC television shown in 1987 and 1998 hint at a Leeds setting, though Bennett has stressed that it’s not the “real” Leeds, but rather one that exists in his head.

For example, Matthias Robinsons, the department store (in Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet) in which Miss Fozzard works, closed in the 1970s. The monologues were performed by some of our best-known actors: Thora Hird, Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole, Julie Walters, Eileen Atkins, David Haig, Penelope Wilton and Alan Bennett himself.

The Talking Heads monologues are clever, funny, sad and – above all – poignant. They’re rooted in reality, with character traits and occurrences often based on people and events in Bennett’s own life. The monologues were a huge popular and critical success, and the scripts were later included in the A-level and GCSE English literature syllabus.

Alan Bennett has called himself “an imposter in the literary world” and has said that “life is generally something that happens elsewhere.” He’s always seen himself as something of an outsider. This feeling of being apart translates into characters in his plays who are living outside the mainstream of society, often overlooked or downtrodden – people who the English, with their instinctive sympathy for the underdog, can recognise and relate to. That’s a further explanation for Bennett’s popularity. Another is the selfdeprecating humour. Here’s a nice example (from his diary): “I’m sent a copy of Waterstone’s Literary Diary which records the birthdays of various contemporary figures... Here is Dennis Potter on 17 May, Michael Frayn on 8 September, Edna O’Brien on 15 December, and so naturally I turn to my own birthday.

9 May is blank except for the note: ‘The first British self-service launderette is opened on Queensway, London, 1949’.”

Alan Bennett is not only one of our bestloved writers, but also one of the most versatile. Best-known for his playwriting and his autobiographical non-fiction, he is also sketch-writer, screenwriter, diarist, short story writer, essayist, reviewer, lecturer and broadcaster. Then, of course, there’s Bennett the actor and performer. That began in 1960 with the satirical review Beyond the Fringe. He’s come a long way since then. Last year there were media discussions and opinion polls to identify the “greatest living Yorkshireman”.

Frequently dubbed a “national treasure” (an epithet he is said to dislike), isn’t Alan Bennett a pretty strong contender? n august 2015 25

mrs simkins’ country kitchen Beetroot gingerbread

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here’s gingerbread; and there’s beetroot gingerbread. Well known as an ingredient in ‘Red Velvet’ chocolate cake, super-nutritious beetroot also makes this old ginger favourite beautifully moist.

Eat plain or topped with lemon glacé icing.

Makes 16 squares 225g cooked beetroot, chopped 50g soft dark brown sugar 110g salted butter, diced 2 tablespoons black treacle

4 tablespoons golden syrup 2 teaspoons mixed spice 3 teaspoons ground ginger 225g very fresh self-raising flour 2 medium eggs

Preheat oven to 160°C (fan oven) or equivalent.

You will need a greased 20cm square brownie tin lined with greaseproof paper.

Use a food processor to whiz beetroot and sugar to a puree.

Melt butter, black treacle and golden syrup in a roomy pan. Mix spices together: add to mixture using a tea strainer for even distribution and to avoid clumping. Stir thoroughly.

Add beetroot puree and stir.

Sieve flour over mixture in batches, whisking in thoroughly as you go: reserve a little flour to add with eggs.

Add eggs and remaining flour. Whisk until smooth and glossy.

Pour into prepared tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out virtually clean.

Lemon Icing 225g sieved icing sugar 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1½ teaspoons glycerine Chopped crystallised ginger pieces to decorate

Cool in tin.

Tip icing sugar into the clean, dry, food processor bowl. Give a few turns to eliminate persistent clumps. Add juice and glycerine. Whiz until smooth.

Turn whole uncut gingerbread on to a board.

Pour icing into the middle and spread carefully to the sides with a flexible palette knife.

Avoid tearing the surface.

Sprinkle with ginger pieces while icing is tacky. Mark into squares.

Tip: When chopping larger pieces of crystallised ginger, scatter with caster sugar as you chop.

Next month with Mrs Simkins: upside down apple tart 26 august 2015

ian mcmillan Sounds of the summer

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h, the cricket season is in full flow; the summer game is at its zenith before the nights really start to draw in and autumn knocks at the door in a scarf and an outdoor coat. Village cricket grounds all over Yorkshire are resounding to the thwack of willow on leather as the ball flies high into the sky like a spare moon, hanging for a moment before it falls into the grateful fielder’s hands.

How is he? He’s out!

But of course the sound of willow on leather is only one of the noises we associate with cricket in Yorkshire. If we listen carefully we can hear many, many sounds vibrating across the county before the bat thwacks the ball. To start with, there’s the sound of alarm clock on ear, as the captain of the third team is dragged out of bed by its insistent ringing after a long night in the cricket club bar; it was an evening of tactical discussion and weepy reminiscing about Geoff Boycott’s hundredth hundred. Maybe too much beer was supped. Maybe the Chinese takeaway afterwards was an error. The cheesecake after the takeaway was most definitely an error.

Then there’s the sound of hand on alarm clock, then there’s the sound of ticking in the otherwise silent room.

Ah, the cricket season is in full flow. Here’s the sound of bacon landing in pan, of hot water glugging into teapot. Listen to the bacon sizzling in the kitchen air. Ah, the slurp of lips against cup, the subsequent drips and dribbles of tea against freshly-laundered cricket whites. The ringing of curses across the entire house as the drips of tea are mopped up with a tea-towel, a novelty teatowel of the sort that explains cricket to Americans.

The sound of bat falling into cricket bag.

The sound of shoe on street as the captain walks down to the club. The sound of the captain’s mobile phone on sweet morning air.

The sound of excuses landing on deaf ears from the bloke who can’t make it, then decides that he can make it because his wife

suddenly announces that she’s going to her sister’s in Beverley for the day. The sound of relief on team sheet.

The sound of club door handle turning on club door. The sound of fist bumps and high fives as the early arrivals greet each other and shake their heads at last night’s excesses, especially the cheesecake. The sound of brief summer rain on the club roof. The sound of weather apps being checked on phones. The sound of people saying to each other and to themselves, “It’s nowt. It’ll pass ovver.”

The sound of the cricket tea being prepared. The sound of knife on butter on bread.

The sound of ham slapped on buttered bread.

The sound of cheese sliced and then slapped on buttered bread. The sound of cake being august 2015 27

cut, a sweet geometry. The soft sifting sound of teabags tumbling into a vast club teapot the size of a Zeppelin.

The sound of tyres on car park. The sound of greetings and mumbled mutterings as more of the team arrive. The sound of tyres on car park. The sound of greetings and mumbled mutterings as the opposition arrive. The sound of forced jollity and jovial attempts at humorous blackmail and threats as the umpires arrive. The sound of brief summer rain on the club roof, soon passing over.

The sound of pad on leg; of shirt on back; of box on tender area; of glove on hand; of helmet on head. The sound of friends and supporters arriving, setting out chairs, opening flasks, ordering beer at the bar. The sound

of banter on deaf ear: “Does tha want any cheesecake?” The sound of team talk on ears.

The sound of slap on back. The sound of fist bumping on fist.

The sound of captains walking across the sacred turf. The sound of coin turning and turning in the air. The sound of quid on grass. The sound of hand on hand, shaking firmly.

The sound of batting side walking out, led by captain. The sound of bat nervously poking grass. The sound of umpire commencing the match.

And now, at last, the sound of the summer in Yorkshire, the sound of willow on leather, the ball as high in the air as a mission to Mars.

Enjoy the rest of the season. How is he? n

North America: There are various stories of why North America Farm came to be named. It is most likely, however, that it is due to the tradition of naming some outlying farms after what were at that time considered remote parts of the world. It is so easy to forget how big the world must have seemed before the advent of aeroplanes and how many New World settlers died on their way to America.

The large mullions and pillars lay like fallen headstones in tribute to those who were filled with determination, or as we say, ‘Yorkshire grit’, in trying to carve a living balancing the fine line between nature and nurture in such an unforgiving landscape.

Ashley Jackson’s Gallery, 13/15 Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth HD9 2JR. 01484 686460. www.ashley-jackson.co.uk

Prickly problem Andrew Gallon meets a woman who dedicates her spare time to protecting hedgehogs

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ife is increasingly hard for the embattled hedgehog. The figures are sobering: in the late 1950s, the British population was estimated at 36 million; by the late 1990s, it had plummeted to three million; today, there are under a million.

In ideal conditions, hedgehogs, endeared to the nation by Beatrix Potter’s Mrs TiggyWinkle, can live up to five years. Sadly, few survive beyond three. Human activity, in town and country, has led to catastrophic habitat loss, making it difficult for these primarily nocturnal creatures to locate sufficient food and mates. Danger, from carelessly discarded and potentially lethal litter, to gardeners who don’t look before leaping in with forks, rakes and strimmers, seems to lurk round every corner.

Even in Yorkshire, where numbers remain

comparatively high, the species needs all the help it can get. Emma Farley, who runs a voluntary hedgehog rescue centre in York, is certainly doing her bit. She has converted into a hedgehog hospital the garage of the Acomb semi she shares with husband Joe. Five hutches line one wall, shelves brimming with potions and lotions another. Twelve outdoor runs and assorted hidey-holes are dotted about the back garden.

Flat out, Emma devotes up to two and a half hours a day to her patients, which require feeding, medication and a scrupulously clean

Britain’s hedgehog population is in serious decline but North Yorkshire remains a hotspot for the species. Photo courtesy of British Hedgehog Preservation Society august 2015 29

environment if they are to recover and be returned successfully to the wild. If she isn’t syringe feeding, bathing or applying creams, she’s sterilising heat pads, cleaning blankets or scrubbing cages. Though cute, hedgehogs are terribly messy! Emma also makes natureinspired silver clay jewellery, which she sells to European and American customers, helping cover expenses climbing to a daily fiver for every hedgehog.

All this she somehow shoehorns around a full-time job as marketing and public relations manager at the National Railway Museum, York. Phew! Emma, often to be found tending poorly hedgehogs at half-past five in

Leaving food and water in your garden helps hedgehogs thrive. Courtesy of British Hedgehog Preservation Society

the morning, admits: “You need huge amounts of energy to do what I do.”

Devon-born Emma, a graduate of the University of Sheffield, first encountered hedgehogs during childhood camping trips but it was only after relocating to York in 2005 that she came into contact with them regularly.

Putting out food and water in the garden attracted up to ten a night. Then, one day, she stumbled across a distressed hedgehog, wrapped in netting from a bird feeder fat ball.

“That got me thinking,” she recalls. “Although I was aware of hedgehogs, I wasn’t 30 august 2015

aware of the dangers they face. I wanted to learn more about how I could help.” She eventually hooked up with Toni Bunnell, a York-based hedgehog rescuer and researcher with twenty-five years’ experience. “Toni mentored me. Over a year, she taught me the signs of a hedgehog in need of help and introduced me to some of the medicines used to treat them. I gradually built up from there.”

Emma’s hospital opened in summer 2013.

Starting with straightforward cases, she soon advanced her skills and knowledge, and is now capable of dealing with all but the most irreparable damage. Ailments range widely, with parasites and dog bites common. Many arrivals are orphans. “You could be doing this fifty years and never see every issue,” she says.

“Each patient is different in the treatment it needs and how it responds. But there is every expectation that a hedgehog coming through here will go back to the wild and have as long a life as it would previously.”

Thanks to the internet and social media, advice and assistance is easy to come by.

“There are other hospitals of varying size across the country and we work together,” Emma explains. “Hospitals up North tend to be smaller. We contact each other and, because every hospital has a limit to how many hedgehogs it can handle, share information as to who has space.”

Fourteen was the most hedgehogs Emma had at any one time last year. “Capacity for me is more about the time it takes to treat them,” she says. “Although I could fit more hutches in my garage, it’s the amount of time it takes, bearing in mind every hedgehog that comes in is poorly. It’s not like having a pet. I could have more but I wouldn’t be giving them the proper quality of care.”

Essentially, Emma accepts hedgehogs requiring help then treats them in her garage hospital before they are “soft released” in garden runs. When fit, the hedgehogs are

Emma returns a hedgehog to an outdoor hutch after a quick health check

returned to where they were found, or to a carefully researched release site, and allowed to leave the run in their own time. Some hedgehogs are in Emma’s custody for two weeks while others stay six months.

Busy periods, traditionally, are late summer, when the first of two (occasionally three) litters is born, and late autumn/early winter, when small hedgehogs desperate for food emerge in daylight as they look to increase weight for hibernation. Milder winters, however, are causing changes to hedgehog behaviour: some hibernate early; others might not hibernate at all.

“It’s becoming a year round commitment,” says Emma. “Over winter, I can be finding, taking in and looking after hedgehogs. Some people in my situation will not be able to take holidays. You can’t leave them.

Even those in hibernation could wake up at any time. Hedgehogs have to be checked every day.”

They say behind every hedgehog carer is somebody helping. In Emma’s case, it is husband Joe. He maintains the hutches, shares deep cleaning and is capable of stepping in when his wife is called away. “We always remove ticks together,” says Emma. “You need one to hold the hedgehog and another with a steady hand. Joe’s the expert tick remover.”

Emma describes her success rate as “pretty good”. In 2014, she returned thirty-seven to the wild and was unable to save only eight.

Poisoning, caused, say, by a hedgehog drinking from a puddle contaminated with antifreeze, is among the most intractable problems. “By the time a hedgehog is displaying symptoms,” explains Emma, “so much damage has been done to the internal organs that there is not a huge amount you can do, apart from making them comfortable.”

Gardens, so long as their owners are wary when forking compost heaps, raking lawns, lighting bonfires and wielding strimmers, are august 2015 31

Emma Farley with one of her patients. Courtesy of Joe Farley. Below, hedgehog motif pendant, part of Emma’s self-made range of fundraising jewellery

perfect habitat for hedgehogs. Unfortunately, more and more people want to fence in their homes. Gardens are becoming less accessible.

“A hedgehog that could roam between fifty gardens might now be able to get into only three,” says Emma. “They need fifteen to twenty. If they can’t get enough food, or access to mates, population declines.”

She suggests gardeners put a hedgehog hole – five inches (13cm) wide – at the foot of fences. Create a feeding station from a sealed plastic box with a similar hole and insert cat biscuits, dog food and sunflower seeds. Put out a dish of water. Ensure ponds have several escape routes (despite being capable swimmers, hedgehogs often drown through exhaustion) and remove garden netting. Check for hedgehogs by laying a footprint trap: an area of sand next to a food source.

Emma, a keen crafter, started producing jewellery a year ago to augment periodic donations. “If there is a profit, which is small but growing,” she says, “it goes back into buying 32 august 2015

food and medicines.” Naturally, hedgehogs figure in her designs.

When selling at craft fairs, she takes literature about hedgehog hospitals. “The point of what I’m doing is not just to help individual hedgehogs but spread awareness,” she explains. “I know, from comments, the number of hedgehogs I’ve helped is far more than the seventy I’ve had through my door because I’ve put so many people who have found them in touch with their nearest rescue.”

Despite the efforts of dedicated volunteers, the outlook for hedgehogs is bleak. “Numbers are at a critical point,” says Emma. “They won’t become extinct but they will become increasingly rare.” n For advice on what to do if you find a hedgehog, and for details of your nearest rescue, visit the website www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk.

Emma’s nature-inspired jewellery range can be viewed at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ littlesilverhedgehog

Alice’s adventures in Yorkshire Summer Strevens investigates the Yorkshire influences behind Alice in Wonderland

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he inception of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is generally taken as the day in early July, 1862, the “golden afternoon” of the 4th when the author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll – took a boat trip on the River Isis from Folly Bridge, Oxford, to Godstow for a picnic outing. On that day he was accompanied by his friend the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, who rowed the boat, and ten-year-old Alice Pleasance Liddell, along with her sisters Edith, aged eight, and Lorina who was thirteen.

As the oars rhythmically dipped in and out of the water, on the little less than four-mile journey up river, Alice implored Carroll to entertain herself and her sisters with a story.

Happily obliging, Carroll regaled them with the fantastical tale of a girl, named Alice, and her adventures after she fell down a rabbit hole. The story he spun was not unlike those he’d made up to entertain his own family from an early age, he being one of eleven brothers and sisters, and often drawing inspiration from the surroundings of their home while living at the rectory in Croft-on-Tees in North Yorkshire.

Carroll’s father came to the parish as rector of St Peter’s in 1843, Carroll eleven years old at the time. It is said that much of Alice in Wonderland was inspired by settings in and around the rectory and church, fuelling the young author’s fictional and fantastical imaginings, and that the character of the Cheshire

Left, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), who may have been inspired by the carved cat, in Croft-on-Tees Church, right, to create the Cheshire Cat, inset august 2015 33

Cat may well have been drawn from the carved stone face of a cat or lion adorning the sedilla (a seat for clergy built into the wall) near the altar in the church. When viewed while seated in a forward pew, the broad smile on the creature’s face is clear; however on standing the cheesy grin seems to disappear, much as the vanishing Cheshire Cat’s did.

The first verse of Carroll’s famous nonsense poem Jabberwocky was also written at Croft, attributed by some to tales of the Sockburn Worm. This ferocious dragon-like creature was said in days of yore to have laid waste to the nearby village of Sockburn, where according to legend around the time of the Norman Conquest a huge man-eating dragon with poisonous breath, sometimes The ‘White Rabbit’ described as a wyrm, at Beverley wyvern or flying serpent, was terrorising the village. Now comprising a ruined church, a farmhouse and a mansion called Sockburn Hall (built in 1834), all positioned within a loop in the River Tees known locally as the Sockburn Peninsula, the then lord of the manor Sir John Conyers took up the challenge to slay the beast. Successful in his quest, the Grey Stone standing in a field near the ruined church still marks the place of battle and burial spot of the fearsome Sockburn Worm.

Even though it is said that Carroll wrote the poem as a parody designed to show how not to write a poem, it is considered by many to be one of the greatest nonsense poems written in the English language.

34 august 2015

Clearly the young Charles Dodgson was susceptible to the ecclisiastic environments of his upbringing, as it has also been suggested that further characters in the “Alice” stories might have been drawn from some of the decorative features in Ripon Cathedral where Carroll’s father was a canon from 1852-1868.

His supposed muse for the foul-tempered Queen of Hearts can be found among the lofty gilded corbels in the cathedral’s south transept, and a carving decorating one of the misericord seats found in the chancel choir stalls showing a griffin in hot pursuit of a rabbit down a hole is possibly the inspiration for the eternally late White Rabbit.

There is however another, and it must be said, more obvious contender for Carroll’s White Rabbit, or perhaps even his March Hare, to be found adorning the stone archway surrounding the sacristy door in St Mary’s Church, Beverley. The carved figure of a rabbit or hare, standing up on its hind legs and carrying a messenger bag, dates to the 1330s and may have been familiar to Carroll as a child, as his family spent time in the Beverley area when visiting with his grandfather.

Another tantalising possible inspiration, this time for the subterranean nature of Alice’s adventures, has opened up, literally you might say, with the series of real life subsidence events occurring in Ripon, as recently as last year, as well as while Carroll was resident there.

Long troubled by the eroding consequences of “gypsum dissolution”, a geohazard characteristic of the underlying geology of the area, the latest casualty was the house in Magdalen Close, destroyed when a sinkhole opened up in early 2014.

Acquaintances of the author, the Maisters, lived in Littlethorpe near Ripon, where a major collapse had occurred in 1796, and subsidence was also evident in the gardens of Ure Lodge, the home of Canon Badcock, a contemporary of Carroll’s father while

A scene from the 2010 Tim Burton film version of the story showing Alice (Mia Wasikowska) peering into the rabbit hole – could it have been inspired by Ripon’s sinkholes?

Canon of Ripon. In the surrounding fields, to the north east of Ure Lodge, near the then railway station, the opening of a sixty-five foot shaft nearly forty feet in diameter which exposed the surrounding solid rock in 1834 was in all probability a curiosity Carroll would have visited.

Yet the collapse witnessed by the Reverend Dunwell of Ripon in 1860 while walking with some schoolchildren along the banks of the River Ure must have proved even more dramatic, as before their eyes the ground fell away leaving a crater spanning twenty feet across and about forty feet in depth; certainly an event that may well have prompted Alice’s later exclamation, “I wonder if I shall fall right through the Earth!”

Though the Wonderland story was not unlike many others that Carroll had enchanted the Liddell sisters with before, it was Alice’s insistence that Carroll write this particular one down that assured the story’s eventual publication; in the sphere of children’s literature it was unlike anything written before.

While Carroll kept his promise to Alice, it was some months before he got around to the task, though he eventually presented her with

a manuscript entitled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground as a Christmas present in 1864.

In the meantime, Carroll had decided to rewrite the story as a possible commercial venture. Probably with a view to canvassing his opinion, Carroll had sent the manuscript of Under Ground to a friend, the author George MacDonald, in the spring of 1863.

The MacDonald children read the story and loved it, and this response probably persuaded Carroll to seek a publisher. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published by Macmillan on 4 July 1865, and a second book about the character Alice, Through the Looking-Glass & What Alice Found There, followed in 1871. Carroll, however, remained circumspect about his literary identity, shunning all notion of fame or celebrity.

As for Alice Liddell being the author’s inspiration for Alice, while Carroll himself claimed in later years that his Alice was entirely imaginary and not based upon any real child at all, there are at least three direct links to Alice Liddell in the books. Firstly Carroll sets the stories on 4 May (Alice Liddell’s birthday) and 4 November (her “half-birthday”), and in Through the Looking-Glass the august 2015 35

A photograph of Alice Liddell, aged seven, taken

by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1860

fictional Alice declares that her age is “sevenand-a-half exactly”, the same age as Alice Liddell on that date. Secondly, Carroll dedicated both works “to Alice Pleasance Liddell”, and thirdly, the acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass, if read downward, taking the first letter of each line, spells out Alice Liddell’s full name. The poem has no title in Through the Looking-Glass, but is usually referred to by its first line, “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky”.

While the gulf between Victorian morality and contemporary values is yawning to say the least, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that Carroll’s relationship with Alice Liddell has been laid open to question, and the source of much controversy. His apparent fascination with childhood innocence seems dubious to modern eyes.

At the time of her birth, Alice Liddell’s father was the headmaster of Westminster School but was soon after appointed to the Deanery of Christ Church, Oxford, where Carroll was a maths don. The Liddell family had moved to Oxford in 1856, and it was soon after that Alice first met Carroll, an avid photographer, who encountered the family while he was photographing the cathedral on 25 April of that year.

The author became a close friend of the Liddell family, paying almost daily visits to the Deanery, and while doubtless it was Carroll’s special friendship with Alice Liddell that resulted in one of the greatest children’s books ever written, nevertheless the vivid childhood memories of Yorkshire that Carroll carried with him were a fundamental element in the creation of his outlandish world which has captivated children and adults alike for a century and a half. n

signs and wonders Claudia Jackson spotted this sign on a Kirklees milk delivery van. “Only in ’uddersfield,” she quipped.

Have you seen an unusual Yorkshire sign? Send a photo to Signs & Wonders, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG or email editorial@dalesman.co.uk We’ll pay £10 for each one we use.

36 august 2015

Caught in a trap Words by Harry Gration, pictures by Nicky Busby

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here is no place I love more than Scarborough. But even I might have that affection stretched if I had to leave the harbour, as beautiful as it is, at 5.30am every day and head into the North Sea! Well, that’s the lot of the lobster fishermen on the east coast. It’s a tough life. Usually

Harry at Scarborough harbour

they’ll manage 150 trips out a year, more if the weather is kind. There are times, though, when they can be harbour-bound for weeks at a time.

Let’s be frank here, the life itself doesn’t attract young people. Nor do the hours. Nineto-five it isn’t. But for Dave Wilkins it’s a job 38 august 2015

of work which is satisfying, if not exactly rewarding financially. It is also very competitive.

The truth is that any form of fishing is hardly a favour to the environment. Lobster fishing involves laying down pots with bait placed inside. The lobsters are lured in and that’s how they are caught. Across the harbour though are the scallop dredgers. They too want to make a living but their way of capturing scallops is more basic. Some might say totally against the environment. They drag a steel chain over the floor of the sea bed to pick up the scallops and anything else in their wake. Lobster pots included. In the ocean, everything eats anything, I suppose, but certainly the lobster boys feel the dredgers sometimes go too far. Let’s make it clear, there is nothing illegal in this. It’s the accepted way to catch scallops but some fishermen do hit the “no go” areas and that’s where the angst rises.

Dave told me about some of the things that make his job more difficult, and they have nothing to do with the scallop dredgers. Last year alone he paid Scarborough harbour over £5,000 as his part of the four per cent levy on his catches. Fair enough until you realise that visitors, as opposed to regulars, only pay two per cent. Half price! “All we ask for is a level sea for all to fish,” he says.

Dave returned home on the day I spent with him with just over fifty lobsters. The one in the picture (facing page) was sold at harbour for £11. In the restaurant you’d pay £30 for this delicacy.

“I’ve caught fifty-three lobsters today and probably four or five hundred crabs. That’s usually the ratio, ten to one in favour of crabs.” Even though the hours are tough, Dave and his crewman John make a good team. “We love catching a big one. The best I have seen was three times this one today. And like all good fishermen it grows in size every time I tell the story!”

Dave remembers his first trip on a boat

Harry, right, with Dave Wilkins and a freshly caught lobster on his boat, below

fishing for lobsters back in 1997. “I was sick all day. I hated it. I said I would never be back!”

Thousands of trips later he is still in the game. He owns his boat, Pathfinder 2, with one of his sons who is in the Merchant Navy.

It’s a boat which is cheap to run. It has to be.

The overheads would make the business impossible if he couldn’t keep costs down.

“I suppose we catch between five and six tons of lobster a year. Fifty-sixty tons of crabs.

That’s why I will be back tomorrow at 5am.”

Today’s trip took his boat about twelve miles out to sea. He lives in Filey himself where a number of other lobster fishermen also live.

“I can set lobster pots in two feet of water or twenty fathoms. Just depends. And before you ask, no I can’t tell you where. You’d have to be bait if I told you!”

How did he feel about earning his living on the North Sea, as wild as it is?

“Doesn’t worry me. I am lucky and let’s be honest you only need to be unlucky once!”

Fair point.

Anyway, next time you look at Scarborough harbour while enjoying a drink, spare a thought for Dave and John who will have been at sea for hours.

You could raise a glass to them the next time you eat lobster. I’ll leave the toast to the scallop dredgers up to you! n august 2015 39

fantastic follies

Robin Hood’s Well In the first of a new series, Adrian Braddy discovers the legend of a roadside relic

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ost of the thousands of motorists who thunder along the A1 each day will fail to notice an unassuming edifice standing at the end of a layby by the side of the road, north of Doncaster.

Yet, once upon a time, this little building was one of the most famous landmarks on what was known as the Great North Road or Watling Street.

As with modern-day service stations, travellers would interrupt their journeys and stop off here for rest and refreshment.

Until the mid-twentieth century, the building was positioned above a well from which could be drawn “fair waters” known for their restorative powers. Sadly, this treat is no longer available because, as local historian Dave Fordham explained, “The well[house] was re-sited during the 1960s when the A1 was upgraded to a dual carriageway.”

As part of the Great North Road Improvement Scheme the well-house was moved a short distance from its original location “adjacent to a small bridge over the River Skell which marked the boundary between the parishes of Skelbrooke and Burghwallis,” said Dave. In its new home, sitting on a bed of concrete, detached from its supply of water, the well-house has become a true folly, no longer serving any useful purpose. The well itself was lost beneath the A1.

So why was this apparently redundant building spared when so many were bulldozed to make way for the motorways? It was saved because it is “Robin Hood’s Well”, where the legendary outlaw is supposed to have sought refreshment.

40 august 2015

Robin Hood’s Well, where it now stands at the end of a layby on the A1 Picture by Chaheel Riens (CC BY 3.0)

In the earliest medieval ballads of Robin Hood, it was Barnsdale Forest, not Sherwood, where Robin was said to have made his home.

This well stood in what would have once been Barnsdale Forest. The Handbook for Travellers in Yorkshire (1867) explains, “The old North road, following the line of the Roman way runs, about two miles west of Campsall, through the district of Barnsdale, one of the favourite haunts of Robin Hood.

“The whole of this tract (now for the most part enclosed, and offering little that is picturesque) was anciently covered with forest, and afforded an excellent retreat to bands of outlaws and broken men, who ‘took their prey’ from the passengers along Watling Street. “The only existing relic of the outlaw in this district is Robin Hood’s Well. It is close to the highway; and may have been one of the

springs at which, as Bede tells us, Edwin of Northumbria hung brazen cups for the use of travellers. It was formerly the fashion for passengers by the coaches to alight here and drink of the water.”

The well was so popular that a number of hostelries opened nearby, including one called the Robin Hood Inn. Although its true age cannot be verified, the well certainly has a long history, dating back, at the very least, to the early seventeenth century. Local antiquary Roger Dodsworth referred to the “Robbinhood-well” in 1622.

However, Brian Lewis, in Robin Hood – A Yorkshireman (1994), claims the well carried the name of Robin Hood as long ago as 1422, citing the existence then of a boundary stone in a very similar location also named after the outlaw.

The stone is referred to in a deed of Monk Bretton Priory, dated 1422, as the “Stone of Robert Hode” in close proximity to “the king’s highway”. This is significant, because it is said to be the earliest-known Robin Hood place-name reference.

King Henry VII travelled past the stone in 1485, according to a report of his movements: “When King Henry VII made his progress into the north parts in the first year of his reign, the Earl met him by the way in Barnsdale, a little beyond Robin Hood’s stone, with thirty-three knights of his feed-men, besides esquires and yeomen.” However, whether the well is as old as (or older than) the boundary stone remains a matter of some conjecture.

And Edwin Lankester, writing in 1842, admitted, “There is no authentic account of the well ever having been frequented by the famous individual from whom it takes its name. It is not, however, improbable that Robin Hood and his party of freebooters may have occasionally refreshed themselves at this spring, and thus have given to it the immortality of his name.”

There are actually a number of wells and

springs named after Robin Hood, including water sources at Fountains Abbey, Pendle Hill and Nottingham.

However, Sheffield antiquarian Joseph Hunter stated his belief that the Barnsdale well was one of the few places to have a genuine Robin Hood connection.

In Hunter’s Tracts (1850) he said, “There is one place which I would fain continue to believe to carry in its name a memorial of the genuine outlaw, and to be indeed an evidence of his actual existence. I mean the Well near the entrance upon Barnsdale, known to travellers that way by the name of Robin Hood’s Well.”

He enthused, “Perhaps, there is no well in England which has more about it to excite the imagination than this.”

Hunter also explained that, “It was in later times an amusement of travellers on this road to halt at the Well, and go through some merry formalities with those who had the charge of it.” According to some reports, the travellers would don the cap of Robin Hood then swear an oath of allegiance to him.

Three military travellers, writing in 1634, described the ceremony thus: “We mounted

Robin Hood’s Well in its original location c1905 – note the boundary stone.

Picture courtesy Dave Fordham august 2015 41

and passed over the River that comes from Sheffeild sic, for to dine at Pomfret [Pontefract]. In the mid-way, being thirsty, we tasted a Cup at Robin Hood’s Well, and there according to the usuall and ancient Custome of Travellers were, in his rocky chaire of ceremony, dignify’d with the Order of Knighthood, and sworne to observe his Lawest.”

Robin Hood’s Well – although in this instance transported to Sherwood Forest – features prominently in Ben Johnson’s unfinished 1637 play, The Sad Shepherd: or a Tale of Robin-Hood, where Robin tells his men “Cheer up, brave fellows! Nor let this dismay; You may have better luck another day: Bathe all your bruises in my healing well, So shall your wounds not fester, or limbs swell.”

Barnabee’s Journal by Richard Braithwaite (c1638) also includes a mention of the well, this time placing it near Doncaster: Thirst knows neither mean nor measure, Robin Hood’s Well was my treasure; John Evelyn also journeyed this way in 1654, recording the visit in his influential book, Sylva: “We all alighted at the highway to drink at a crystal spring which they call Robin Hood’s Well; more it is a stone chaire, and an iron ladle to drink out of, chained to the seat.”

The chair and ladle (above) were replaced about fifty years later, circa 1710, with the current structure which was built by Sir John Vanbrugh, who also designed Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace.

Thomas Gent’s Ancient and Modern History of the famous City of York (1730) declared it “a very handsome stone arch where passengers from the coach frequently drink of the fair water, and give their charity to two people who attend there”. However, Charles G 42 august 2015

Harper, writing in The Great North Road (1901), was less complimentary: “The very ugly building that now covers the spring was erected by Vanbrugh for the Earl of Carlisle,” he sniffily remarked. “It cannot be said to add much to the romantic associations of the place, but the efforts of the wayfarers, who in two centuries have carved every available inch of its surface with their names, render it a curious sight.” The Handbook for Yorkshire Travellers says, “It is cut all over with names and dates, the earliest being 1711”, adding, “A leather bottle, holding about three pints, was long shown at the adjoining inn as having belonged to Robin Hood.”

Sadly, the allure of Robin Hood’s Well faded, the cluster of inns closed and Robin’s leather bottle disappeared. These days, the hamlet is home instead to a distribution centre for a supplier of hygiene products.

Yet the legend of Robin Hood remains as popular as ever and each year millions of tourists flock not to Yorkshire but to Nottinghamshire in their quest to discover the origins of Robin and his Merry Men. Carolyn Dalton, from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, feels it is a missed opportunity: “It’s more than likely that Robin Hood was a Yorkshireman,” she said at the launch of an exhibition dedicated to the outlaw last year. “Robin Hood’s links to Yorkshire are far stronger historically; the oldest and most detailed stories give details of the north Doncaster and Pontefract area.

“I think over the years Yorkshire hasn’t made much of the connection. In terms of where Robin and his men lived, history points to Barnsdale.”

It’s just a shame a big part of that history now lies under several inches of Tarmac. n

Plenty of room for growth Lucy Oates discovers a floral renaissance in the East Riding

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green-fingered East Yorkshire farmer’s wife with a passion for traditional, British flowers has inadvertently become the figurehead of a national support network for small-scale growers that now boasts more than 250 members.

Gill Hodgson initially grew traditional cottage garden favourites purely for her own pleasure. During the summer months, the colourful borders surrounding her family’s farmhouse just outside the village of Everingham near Pocklington are bursting with clary sage, bells of Ireland, larkspur, zinnias, sweet

peas, godetias, nigella and countless other British blooms.

Gill’s transition from gardener to businesswoman came about quite by chance when a friend asked her to grow some flowers for her wedding.

She explained, “I ended up with far more flowers than I needed, so I put out a table at the end of the drive and was surprised how many bunches I sold to passers-by.

“Since then, I’ve not had to try too hard to market them; I think my timing was good.

Supermarkets had got people into the habit

Gill Hodgson, right, with daughter Peggy in the garden of her farmhouse in Everingham august 2015 43

A display by Gill at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate

of buying flowers regularly, but they were starting to appreciate something different and season-appropriate.”

The rise of the “shop local” movement has undoubtedly helped, together with the growing awareness among consumers of the environmental impact of importing cut flowers from abroad. Before Gill knew it, she was being approached by florists struggling to source British flowers and brides-to-be keen to recreate the fashionable vintage look for their wedding day.

She was soon selling her flowers at farmers’ markets at York and Driffield, as well as from the stall outside the farm. As her business developed, Gill was astonished to learn that there was no national body for British flower growers to join. Undeterred, she set about establishing her own and Flowers from the Farm was born in 2011.

She explained: “Twenty-five years ago fifty per cent of the flowers on sale in Britain were grown here, but that figure has fallen to just ten per cent. I launched the network because I felt that there was room in the market for a bigger profile for British flowers, not to mention plenty of room for more growers. The idea is that it’s a support network, but also a way of putting growers in touch with the florists who want to buy their products.”

Four years on, Flowers from the Farm is a 44 august 2015

remarkable success story. The network’s members include farmers, growers and smallholders scattered across the length and breadth of the country. They pay an annual membership fee, which is used to run www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk – the official website – and raise awareness of British flowers.

In the early days, Gill was approached by Covent Garden Market in London, which was keen to source more British-grown flowers.

The market organised the first annual British Flowers Week in 2013 to help raise awareness.

Since then, Gill has forged links with the British Florists’ Association, and representatives of Flowers from the Farm have been asked to exhibit and speak at a variety of high profile events, including the Royal Horticultural Society’s flower shows at Hampton Court and Tatton Park.

A major highlight of Gill’s sudden rise to prominence was when she was asked to

“

I felt there was room in the market for a bigger profile for British flowers

”

produce a buttonhole for the Prince of Wales and a corsage for the Duchess of Cornwall when they attended the Great Yorkshire Show. She admits: “It was terrifying, but I used nigella, lavender, astrantia and wheat, and it did look beautiful.”

In another major coup for Gill and her fellow growers, some of the network’s Yorkshire members provided the bouquets of flowers presented to cyclists competing in the Tour de Yorkshire in May. Gill explained: “I looked at the map on our website showing where our growers are located and contacted those based along the

Gill was astonished to learn that there was no national body for British flower growers to join

route for each stage of the race.

The flowers presented to the winners were all grown within ten miles of the route.”

During British Flowers Week 2015, in June, Flowers from the Farm linked up with Bettys tea rooms across Yorkshire to provide British flowers for their tables. Gill also intends to use the annual event to try to challenge people’s perceptions about British flowers.

She said: “British flowers fit really well with the vintage-style, cottage garden look that has been so fashionable in recent years, but I fear there’s a danger that we’ll get lumped with that image and fashion will move on.

“British flowers are beautiful in a cottage garden look, but they can do so much more.”

What started out as a hobby quickly became a full-time occupation for Gill, although she clearly relishes her new-found role. Thankfully, as the network has grown, nine regional co-ordinators have been appointed. It’s a move that has helped ease the pressure on Gill and one that she believes will make Flowers from the Farm more viable in the long-term.

She said: “Previously, I was worried that the network might fall down. Now we have so many members on board and people coordinating activity in different regions of the country, I have time to breathe. I’m the

North-East co-ordinator and, between us all, we cover the entire country, even Wales and Scotland, where there is no previous history of flower growing, unlike in the south of England. It was surprising how quickly people realised that they could grow local, seasonal flowers. I feel like Flowers from the Farm now has a future.”

Gill is keen to reach out to farmers, growers and allotment holders interested in growing British flowers, as well as potential customers trying to source them.

She grows her own flowers from both hardy annual and perennial plants on less than an acre of land, but insists that growers can set up in their back garden or on an allotment-sized plot, adding: “The set up costs are low, so long as you don’t mind growing from seed and bulbs.” n See: www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk

tyke talk SWIPE. To drink off hastily. “Swipe that off lad wal t’ owd cock’s noaze is turned!”

The Dialect of Leeds and Its Neighbourhood, 1862 august 2015 45

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pigs might fly

Sty’s not the limit for ham actor Neil Hanson

O

ne sunny spring morning a new pet arrived, porcus ex machina, in our lives.

The theatrical metaphor is entirely appropriate, for the small but perfectly-formed piglet who emerged blinking into the bright sunlight from the back seat of a friend’s car, was a seasoned thespian. He was fresh from trotting the boards in a mock-Jacobean production, chillingly and, given the presence of a porcine star, rather insensitively entitled Blood Pudding.

The piglet, christened Martin, was cast by the director after a successful audition and a financial transaction with the pig-breeder, the sordid details of which need not detain us here. As a result, Martin left his childhood home for the bright lights of the theatre and a trot-on part in Blood Pudding.

Much to the delight of the audience, who didn’t have much else to entertain them during the grim, blood-spattered production, Martin was released in the wings at stage left and the sight of a handful of food waved at him from the opposite side was enough to induce him to scamper across the stage before exiting stage right. That was his only moment of glory during the play itself, though he reappeared at the end to take a curtain call.

Unfortunately the production had more affinities with a turkey than a pig and although

Martin was an instant hit, according to the critics he was a solitary silk purse in a company of sows’ ears.

Despite the presence of a pig, Hamlet it clearly was not and, unsurprisingly, the show did not transfer to the West End. Martin had been sharing the director’s London flat – apparently not an unusual arrangement, because I had recently read a newspaper article about a man who had been keeping his pig in a flat on the fourteenth floor of a tower block in Birmingham, until complaints from the neighbours led the council to intervene.

However, when the play closed, the future theatrical plans of his owner/director included no room for such an easily typecast star and Martin was facing a one-way ticket to oblivion of a far more than theatrical kind until, moved by the pleas of a friend, we offered to rescue him.

While Martin had been happily flat-sharing up to now, we felt that our mutual happiness, not to mention the fragrance of our own quarters, might be best served by letting him occupy a separate bachelor apartment of his own.

On the day before his arrival, we therefore cleaned and scrubbed out one of the pig sties at the side of the old water mill across the yard, repaired its august 2015 47

venerable wooden gate (for what proved to be the first of many, many times), and installed a wooden sleeping platform to keep him out of the draught, for pigs are as susceptible to chills as humans. We found him bowls for his food and water, scattered fresh straw to serve as his bedding and as a light, roughage-laden, between-meals snack and, as a finishing touch, we hung a gold star on the door to make our retired actor feel at home.

The next morning Martin began a new life with us under a new name. His previous one did not seem, to us, to do full justice to the gravitas and character of this seasoned thespian, and after much thought we settled on “Marlon” instead; not so different that he would have problems with recognising it as his name and, as an overweight actor with a lot of ham in him, it practically chose itself!

Although a rural pig-sty was obviously a long way from the chic sophistication of his previous apartment, he hid his disappointment like a trooper and inspected his new quarters with a tolerable show of enthusiasm. He obviously expected to be speedily rescued from his bucolic obscurity with the offer of a really meaty part in some new production, and for the first week he just sat idly turning the pages of his copy of Variety with his snout and waiting for his agent to phone. When the call never came, however, he put the stage behind him and settled with increasing contentment into the life of a country squire.

Marlon’s split-level living and sleeping quarters opened on to a stone-flagged yard where he could take the air or, when the need arose, utilise the discreet corner complete with stone drain. His wooden front gate led on to the farmyard, including a “midden” – a steaming heap of gently rotting cow poo, dug out of the cow sheds during the winter and now maturing nicely before being spread on the fields in the autumn. I could never pass it without thinking of the old joke about 48 august 2015

the inhabitants of a mental hospital calling out to a farmer driving past with a cart load of manure: “Where are you going with that manure, farmer?”

“I’m going to put it on my strawberries.”

“And they call us mad...”

The midden also yielded a good crop of courgettes, or at least it did until Marlon discovered them on one of his first unauthorised excursions outside his sty. Once in the farmyard, having helped himself to a few courgettes, only a five-barred gate stood between him and the field containing the old orchard, flanked by an oak and beech wood, providing further delicious windfalls of acorns and beech-mast for a foraging pig. To the front of the house, he could cross the bridge over the old mill race and make for the banks of the river, a favourite place for us to walk the dog, soon to be equally popular with Marlon.

He grew rapidly, as pigs are wont to do, and his pleasure in human company, not to mention the delights of the riverbank and the orchard, led him to make frequent unscheduled excursions from his sty.

He was given at least two daily constitutionals, together with a large amount of unsupervised recreation time in the orchard, but when returned to his quarters, the wooden gate on his yard chafed his free spirit. A little surreptitious work with his nose, followed by a full-blooded shoulder charge was usually enough to burst open his gate and send him charging out, chortling his delight at his freedom.

I regularly patched up his gate, but he just as frequently broke it down again. I could simply have bought a new gate, of course, but I was a firm believer that there is no problem in life so intractable that it cannot be solved by a bit of scrap wood, a hammer and a few nails, so I continued to patch or, if you will, botch up the gate, and Marlon continued to break it down.

A pig’s nose is a truly remarkable organ,

soft and delicate enough to locate the scent of truffles hidden beneath the soil, or a toffee in someone’s pocket, yet strong enough to plough a furrow through grassland and uproot some major obstacles including, as we discovered, five-barred gates. Once in the farmyard, a flick of Marlon’s nose would send the gate cartwheeling off its hinges, and while the farm heifers emerged to sample the delights of the yard, Marlon was free to resume his perusal of the day’s windfalls from the fruit trees. After a fresh fruit entreé, he then moved on to the acorns and beech-mast in the wood for his main course and had been known to travel even farther afield in search of dessert, at which point his occasional attempts to ingratiate himself with the neighbours proved to be a major stumbling block to our own.

We were just sitting down to supper one evening when the phone rang. “Excuse me,” a frightfully refined voice said when I picked

up the phone. “Have you by any chance lorst a pig, because we rather seem to have found one? It’s in our vegetable patch, so I’d be grateful if you could come and get it sooner rather than later.”

Given the carnage that Marlon could wreak in a couple of minutes, I thought the owner of the voice was showing commendable restraint. We sprinted up the lane to retrieve our errant pet and left a case of wine for the owners of the vegetable patch, as a peace offering and some compensation for the devastation he had left behind. n Neil Hanson’s Pigs Might Fly is published by Dale Publishing, price £9.99. Dalesman readers can order a signed copy for the special price of £8, post free, by calling 07940 917795 and quoting PIG/DM (UK mainland only; phone for overseas rates)

illustrated yorkshire

Askrigg Cross by Jim Watson One of more than 180 line and watercolour illustrations to be found in Yorkshire Sketchbook

by Jim Watson, published by Survival Books at £10.95. See www.survivalbooks.co.uk

your yorkshire

We are printing the best of your photographs on this page throughout the year as part of our Yorkshire amateur photography competition. To enter, email your picture to editorial@dalesman.co.uk or post to the usual address, marking the envelope “Dalesman Photography Competition�. Rules can be found at www.dalesman.co.uk/your-yorkshire

Bridlington, by Anne Coutts

This year’s competition is sponsored by Mr Yorkshire Keith Madeley, www.mryorkshire.com. The winner will receive a four-night bird-watching and wildlife safari holiday at Cober Hill, Cloughton, Scarborough, www.coberhill.co.uk

diary of a yorkshire farmer’s wife Roberta Mothersdale

Tuesday: It’s a tale with no real winners; of foxes and chickens; the perennial battle for anyone who keeps free range poultry in the country. You win some, you usually lose more. There have been a lot of sightings of cubs in the area and quite a few traffic victims as they start to explore the area independently of Mum. Recently I have noticed when out picking blackberries, purple fox droppings around my favourite bushes.

Clearly we share the same tastes and I pick the fruits high on the bushes while they must feed on the lower blackberries. I could happily live with the foxes if they stuck to blackberries and share any harvest with them. But I am afraid my attitude changes when they kill my poultry.

Saturday: Rain. Sunshine. Breezy.

Torrential. Calm. Windy. Chilly. Scorchio.

We have certainly run the full gamut and range of weather options this last week.

None of which have been able to offer any sort of planned approach to either harvest or baling the straw from last week’s combining. The standing wheat was starting to shed and the cut straw was looking distinctly sorry for itself. No longer glistening and golden; rather dull and bronze. Then this afternoon scorchio took over. John decided to “have a go” and... happy days are here again etc etc. What a change in mood and appearance in him as well as the weather. From grim to grin.

what on earth?

David Reynolds asks, “Would one of your readers recognise this leather cylindrical item, right, approx two feet tall by 12-18 ins diameter. The disc inside on the end of the shaft is rotated by the knob on the top. Two brass handles one each side and stamped on the base are the words ‘Made in England’.”

Last month’s object, left, was identified by dozens of readers. Thanks to all who got in touch. One of those was Kevin Howes, who explained, “The item pictured in this month’s magazine is a ‘caponising pellet injector’.

I used one numerous times back in the 1960s. The plunger was pulled back to allow a small pellet, a little larger than a large grain of rice, to be inserted into the breach. The needle end was then pushed through the neck skin of a cockerel, behind its comb, and the plunger depressed to insert the pellet, being a chemical compound which then dissolved over some four months and caponised [castrated] the bird during fattening for the Christmas market.”

If you know anything about this month’s item please write to: What on Earth?, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG, or email us at editorial@dalesman.co.uk. We also welcome pictures of your own mystery objects for this feature.

Thursday: Yesterday lunchtime we moved the combine into the last field of wheat. The usual cavalcade with the Land Rover in front, lights flashing to warn other road users to move off the road into the laybys rather than risk wing mirrors being whipped off. Fortunately everyone around us is used to behemoths on the road at this time of year and obligingly dives for the hedge. But nothing much has happened since then; in fact John has spent today putting the last few loads of wheat through the dryer before tipping up in the big grain store. The wheat was just slightly above fifteen per cent moisture, only just, but the dryer takes it down to the correct moisture content for storage.

Monday: For the last day or two John has decided to fit the hedge cutter on one of the tractors. There are one or two nasty corners on the lane going past our fields, and so it makes things a whole lot safer for a vehicle’s visibility if the hedges are trimmed right back. I have had the job of warning oncoming traffic that they might run full tilt into a big obstruction if they rocketed round the corners without realising there was a tractor on their side of the road, plus hedge cutter.

Nobody minded. All took it in good part when I flashed them to slow down and take care as they drove round the bend. Better that than a head-on collision.

Saturday: John stirred up a hornets’ nest today while still hedge cutting. Not metaphorically either. The genuine article.

Never mind the bestseller titled The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. This was The Farmer Who Accidentally Knocked Into One With His Tractor. The nest was in the hollow

trunk of a tree that formed part of a field boundary inland. As harvest on the last wheat field has been stop/start over the last week because of the sun/rain, John has continued trimming back hedges round the farm. “Suddenly I realised that the tractor was surrounded by hornets. Very angry hornets. My flail mower must have disturbed their nest. I banged the window shut as fast as I could and came home very quickly. Luckily none got in the cab.”

Although the hornets are not directly next to the farmstead, coincidently we have had one or two of the whoppers in the house.

Believe me a big hornet crawling around on the floor, or buzzing at the window trying to get out, can give you quite a fright. They dwarf your average wasp.

Friday: Mr Fox has been again to call. His victim was an adventurous bantie who had picked a perch on the edge of the silage clamp. Unwisely. This latest fox visit has apparently persuaded the young guinea fowl flock that perching in the barn is not such a good idea. They have moved to the orchard.

Last year the guinea fowl we reared were a very obliging crew. Meekly going into a pen at night until their demise. Well most of the time. And most of them. So therefore very easy to catch. But now all of them are perched among the apple and plum trees.

“We’ll have to shoot the blighters (not his actual word but you understand) unless you can persuade them to go back into a pen again,” was John’s latest comment. n Illustration by Jacqueline Sinclair august 2015 53

dalesfolk i remember W R Mitchell – Tom Stephenson

M

y photograph of Tom was taken on the afternoon of the day when the Pennine Way was officially opened. His bright and cheerful face stood out in a vast crowd that had gathered near Malham Tarn. Many of those present were keen to chat to a man who had initially mentioned the possibility of a walk along the backbone of northern England into Scotland. I managed to have a few words with him – and to take a photograph of the jovial expression on his face, which was coloured through being strummed by the wind.

Tom was keen to spend as much time as possible in the great outdoors. As a long-time member of the Ramblers’ Association, for which he was secretary for many years, he had the distinction of recommending the name of the new and celebrated footway which he had speculated about via an article in a daily newspaper in 1935.

I had a brief chat with Tom on the launch of the Pennine Way. He permitted me to photograph him, head and shoulders. He seemed through his manner and outdoor clothes to suit the moorland setting near the tarn where a vast number of people had gathered. Tom Stephenson’s bright and bespectacled face came to mind when, with friends, I undertook a section of this celebrated long-distance path. His name was mentioned during a chat I had with Alfred Wainwright who had followed the Way at the start of his notable walking career. Wainwright saw details of it in a waiting room at Settle railway station.

Tom Stephenson, born in 1893, was at first a journalist of

54 august 2015

distinction. Then, keen on the outdoors, he became a champion of the rights of those who explored the countryside on foot. In 1948 he was appointed secretary of the Ramblers’ Association. The inspiration for a way to be followed by footsloggers along the Pennines, backbone of England, came from a newspaper article he wrote and also, as secretary of the Ramblers’ Association, the subsequent lobbying work with MPs. Tom died in 1987. The memory of a remarkable outdoor man lingers on. n

walking with dalesman The deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy with Rodger Matthews

6

START/ FINISH

Start/Parking: A signed car park is provided – no charge. OS (SE 867645)

7 1

Distance: 4.5 miles (7.2km)

2

Time: 2.5 hours Terrain: The walk is moderately hard with some short sharp inclines.

3 4

Getting there: Take the A64 York to Scarborough then take the B1248 through Malton and Norton towards Wetwang/Driffield. Staying on the B1248 go through North Grimston to Wharram-le-Street.

Take the first right after Wharram-le-Street and follow the road until you come to the signed car park on the right just past the farm.

5

Facilities: There are no toilets or refreshments available in the immediate vicinity.

Maps: OS Explorer 300 – Howardian Hills and Malton or both Landranger 100 Malton & Pickering & 101 Scarborough. © Crown Copyright 2015 Ordnance Survey Media 075/15

T

he rolling hills and dales of the Yorkshire Wolds are, to many, one of the county’s best kept secrets offering wide ranging views, a unique landscape and places of interest.

This walk combines the beauty and tranquility of this area with a visit to what is regarded by English Heritage as the most famous and extensively studied deserted medieval village in England.

What remains of the village can be found hidden in the bottom of the valley. It cannot be seen from the road, and its very situation

adds to the uniqueness of its existence. The scenery both immediately surrounding the village and in nearby Deep Dale is wonderful.

The site has been extensively researched and has shown that the village evolved sometime between the tenth and twelfth centuries.

It flourished in the twelfth and fourteenth centuries but was hit by the Black Death of 1348-9.

The village’s decline was hastened towards the end of the fifteenth century when the landowner decided to convert Wharram august 2015 55

St Martin’s medieval church

Percy into sheep pastures, reflecting the enormous amounts of money to be made from wool at the time.

In the valley bottom flows a stream which ran close by the village. It is hard to imagine now, when the silence is broken only by birdsong, that at its height the stream provided power for sixteen watermills situated on it.

The mills were known to be used for grinding corn.

As you approach the village remains, having crossed the stream, allow your imagination to contrast the peacefulness of the present scene with the noise and smells that would have greeted you as you climbed the pathway into the village.

Along the track you will see a former farmhouse on your left. In later years this was converted to cottages, which were still occupied as late as the 1950s.

56 august 2015

Excavations within the church in 1948 revealed that a place of worship had existed on site since before the Norman Conquest and a wooden one from as early as the tenth century.

In addition to buildings, human remains have been excavated from within the church and at a nearby graveyard. In total nearly 700 medieval skeletons have been found on this site.

The location is an ideal picnic spot, particularly in the vicinity of the former mill pond.

Allow time to read the notice boards that explain the site detail and which feed your imagination of times past in total contrast with the present.

1

Leave the car park by descending the path down the valley side, noting that at one time this was the access road into the village.

2

Pass through the gates and over the stream to make a gentle ascent into the village site.

3

Pass through the village and take the pathway around the village pond to enter Deep Dale.

4

Continue along the dale to the edge of North Plantation. Pass through the gate on the left and continue until the metalled track is reached.

5

Turn left and walk past the car park entrance, past Bella Farm to the outskirts of Wharram le Street.

6

Turn left and continue to the disused railway line. Turn left and continue along Centenary Way to the edge of Wharram Percy Wold.

7

Turn left and retrace your steps, now climbing the pathway entrance to the village to reach the car park. n

A window of St Martin’s medieval church, above. Below, typical Wolds scenery on the approach to the site

Walking can be strenuous, and it is up to you to approach it with caution and if you are inexperienced to do so under appropriate supervision. You should also carry appropriate clothing, equipment and maps, and wear suitable footwear. The details given here were believed to be correct at the time of going to press but neither the authors nor Country Publications Ltd can accept responsibility for inaccuracies.

august 2015 57

wild yorkshire

Mink among the fleabane Words and illustrations by Richard Bell

T

here’s a movement among the tall grasses just beyond the fleabane that I’m drawing in the meadow at the Old Moor RSPB reserve. Quite a substantial animal – a rat? A stoat?

No, it’s a darker, glossy mahogany brown: a mink, which isn’t good news for groundnesting birds.

It’s so close that I can see the glint in its eye as it pauses and stares at me for a few seconds then turns back to its trail through the grasses.

As usual, I time my coffee break in the café for when the scones come out of the oven; however, they should come with a health warning: I break a filling and have to head off home to see my dentist!

My mishap reminds me of the old country tale that a stoat crossing your path will bring bad luck. My mum had a remedy: at the place where you saw the stoat, leave a coin at the side of the path and whoever picks it up will inherit your dose of bad luck.

Some folk remedies are more convincing; North Americans burned fleabane to ward off insects, which probably works because fleabane is a relative of the African daisy that gives us pyrethrum.

58 august 2015

wilderness and wet

“H

ere come five pandas!” quips one birdwatcher, and he’s right, the belted Galloway cattle that form part of the small herd at Old Moor have the same pattern and the panda’s barrel-like rotundness.

As we watch from the wader-scrape hide, they wade from island to island like a scene from a wildlife documentary. I’m surprised how deep the channel is between the two nearest islands; the cattle launch themselves splashily from the edge and swim across. By grazing the grassy margins of the lagoons they keep them open for the waders.

I come here to get back to nature but I’m aware that this wilderness and wetland is the result of skilful management.

We’re surrounded by relief roads and industrial estates but wildfowl and waders still find their way here in droves. A skein of forty Canada geese approach us, honking as they go, from the north-west. The lead bird, followed by the rest of the chevron, has to make a considerable effort to gain enough height to clear the pylon lines.

“What went ye out into the wilderness to see?” asks Jesus in the Gospel of St Matthew, “A reed shaken with the wind?” Well, yes; I can’t come to Old Moor and not draw common reed, phragmites, as it forms one of the key habitats. It bends with the wind thanks to the flexibility of its hollow stems while its leaf blades, growing from

sheathes that clasp the stem, swivel as they’re blown around.

miss siddal in sheffield

Y

ou can make a reed pen from a piece of phragmite stem but when it comes to drawing a white water-lily, I decide that even my fine-nibbed fountain pen would be too strident so I start drawing in pencil. Dragonflies zoom around but the only insects visiting the lily are a few flies.

As I’m so keen on botanic detail, I feel closer to the Pre-Raphaelites than Monet when I’m drawing water plants.

On leaving art college forty years ago this summer, I started work on my first major commission, an eight-by-four foot acrylic on board mural of wildlife in and around a local pond. It took months to complete because I was determined to paint everything life size, from the water beetles in the pond to the moorhen skulking amongst the marginal plants. Water voles were fairly common then, so I included one nibbling grasses.

To inspire me, I pinned a large print of

Millais’ Ophelia on the wall. My painting missed the colour contrast provided by the redheaded Pre-Raphaelite model Lizzie Siddal who, as the drowning Ophelia, floats face-up in a pond clutching a posy of wild flowers. Lizzie was the daughter of a Sheffield cutler who angrily insisted that Millais pay the doctor’s bill when, during the winter of 1852, she became ill after posing for hours in a tin bath. To be fair to Millais, she didn’t tell him that the lamps he’d put beneath the bath to keep the water warm had gone out.

In the summer of 1857, Lizzie (pictured above), then aged twenty-six, attended Sheffield Art College, working mainly in the figure room and often staying after hours.

“Her dress was uncommon, and pleased me,” wrote fellow student Annie Sowersby, then aged seventeen, “but the girl students generally considered it unbecoming and absurd, and made it and Miss Siddal the subject of joke and caricature. One of the latter fell into the hands of Mr Young Mitchell, our headmaster, and well do I remember how his black eyes glared around the class, and the sarcastic words he threw at us.”

Not surprisingly, none of my painter friends volunteered to float across my pond. n

who said that?

The problem is that I’m addicted to Yorkshire Tea and for me, nothing else can really hit the spot. I like it very strong – my grandmother used to say that with a good cup of tea you could stand the spoon up in it. I used to use two teabags in a cup, although I’ve weaned myself down to one now, which I’m quite proud of. But there’s no taking the teabag out of the cup or anything – it stays there till the tea is somewhere between dark brown and orange. I take Yorkshire Tea with me wherever I go.

Bill Nighy in an interview with the Daily Mail august 2015 59

chronicles of kelderdale

Rush hour Story by Nicholas Rhea. Illustrations by Christine Jopling

“I

f other places enjoy rush-bearing ceremonies, why can’t we?” asked Sidney Tatsfield, a newcomer to Kelderdale. “You hear about them across the Pennines in the Lake District and Lancashire. And furthermore, lots of villages on this side of the Pennines manage to celebrate Rush-Bearing Day.” “You need rushes for a start,” advised Awd Benjamin Burnshaw as he stood at the bar of the Black Swan with a pint firmly grasped.

“There’s a clump growing beside our village pond on Kelderdale Ings. They should be mature about now. Mebbe we could use ’em?”

“You need more than a single clump,” suggested George the landlord. “More like a lorry load or two. But I’m all for it. Anything that’ll persuade folks to fill my pub is welcome.”

“Don’t forget you need a church with a patron saint,” stressed Father Gregory who had joined them. “RushBearing Day usually coincides with the Sunday nearest the feast day of the patron saint of the village church. Luckily ours is St Joseph whose feast day is 27 August – and lots of 60 august 2015

rush-bearing occurs in late summer when the rushes are mature.”

“So exactly what happens at a rush-bearing ceremony?” asked Tatsfield. “I’ve heard about them but am never sure what goes on.”

Awd Benjamin was pleased to oblige. “I’ve heard there’s plenty of ale, wine, cakes and church bells ringing! That sounds good enough for me! Everyone loves a party.”

“A great idea, and I could supply the food and drinks,” added George. “I could lay on a real good Black Lion celebration of Kelderdale rush-bearing!”

“But we wouldn’t bear rushes into your pub, would we?” frowned Tatsfield. “Bear means to carry, doesn’t it? We’ll be carrying rushes.”

“In this case, that’s true,” stressed Father Gregory. “The rushes are carried by the cart-load from the marsh into the church. It’s done by members of the congregation who enjoy any excuse for a party. It’s a church festival, you see, and it dates to long before the Middle Ages. Rushes made splendid coverings

for church floors which were then mainly bare earth. A good covering helped with the hygiene and insulation rather like a carpet does today, but in time, the rushes got dirty and worn out so had to be replaced. That was usually done on the Sunday nearest the patron saint’s feast day.

The congregation would go to the nearest marsh and harvest loads of new rushes, often with nicesmelling flowers mixed in. Then they would be spread upon the church floor and there’d be a partying afterwards in the grounds of the church.”

“Or the pub!” added George.

“Or both,” suggested the priest who added, “This old ceremony ended when new and better materials were found to create church floors. Once that happened, there was no need for rushes as a floor-covering but some have continued the custom because it’s still a good excuse for the congregation to celebrate together.”

“The rushes would be carried into the church before Mass,” Father Gregory explained. “And they would be blessed then ceremoniously laid on the floor at a suitable point during the service. Everyone helped, that was the idea, it was a real community effort that benefited everyone.”

“So can we do that sort of thing now?” asked Sidney Tatsfield.

“Of course – if you will organise it,” graciously smiled Father Gregory. “First we need to secure the date, and then we must find enough good-quality rushes to cover the floor, and harvest them so there are enough

to do the job once they’re dry, and then carry them to the church on time! We’ll need volunteers to spread them after cleaning the existing floor, taking out all the pews to make sure the floor does not need any more attention; I’m sure the regular cleaners can be recruited.”

“You could allus get a bale or two of hay if there’s not enough rushes to go round,” suggested Awd Benjamin.

“And we need to consider press coverage for the local Gazette,” Father Gregory reminded them.

“Would they be interested?” asked Benjamin.

“Of course! It will make an interesting feature for the paper, with photographs and a helpful article. And we might attract a large congregation who will put money into our collection plates! Everyone could be a winner!”

“Don’t forget to mention the Black Swan in any of your publicity schemes!” George reminded them.

Sidney set to work with a will but there was a distinct lack of rushes growing in Kelderdale Ings. No one was impressed with substituted strands of hay even if Father Gregory felt the symbolism was satisfactory.

“We’ll lay the hay at the door, and can still have a rush party after Mass.”

“Is that your rush hour?” asked Sidney in all innocence. n Chronicles of Kelderdale will return in the October issue august 2015 61

yorkshire humour Send your jokes and funny stories to editorial@dalesman.co.uk

good point

word play

“T

I

he thing with high-tech is that you always end up using scissors.”

David Hockney

lost and found

A

devoutly religious Dales farmer had for many years carried a precious, yet dogeared copy of the Book of Common Prayer with him each day, as he worked out on the fields. One day, while mending a section of drystone wall, he lost the book, only noticing when he returned to the farmhouse. Hastily retracing his steps, he could find no sign of it.

Several weeks later, having given up all hope of finding the sacred tome, a Swaledale sheep approached him, carrying an object in its mouth that looked decidedly familiar. It was the missing prayer book. The normally reserved chap’s jaw dropped open. “Tis a miracle!” he exclaimed. “Not really,” replied the sheep. “Your name’s written inside the cover.”

’eard ont’ news “twerking” ’as been put in t’ Oxford English Dictionary. Why? It’s nowt new. Me dad has been doing it for years. As he says, it’s ’ow he gets t’ money t’ pay t’ bills.

straight talking

“Y

ou can rely on Yorkshire people to talk straight. An old man in Barnsley said to me, ‘So you’re Jack Parkinson’s lad. What you been up to?’”

Michael Parkinson

teacher troubles

T

he schoolteacher frowned at little Alfie.

“It’s butter, not booter,” she said. The young lad puzzled for a moment before putting up his hand. “What is it?” the teacher asked. “Please, Miss,” said Alfie. “What do I say for jam?”

market day delight

A

reader writes, “I was walking down Skipton High Street on market day recently when I overheard an elderly lady exclaiming enthusiastically to her friend, ‘Ooh, there are some lovely bottoms here.’ I was so shocked it took me a few moments before I realised she was pointing towards a rack of trousers on a nearby stall!”

a very cheesy joke

W

hich football team do fans of Yorkshire cheese support? Sheffield Wensleydale.

abba mania

D

epending on where you’re from, “Mama Mia” is either a classic Abba song or a lad telling his mother he’s back home. n 62 august 2015

Dalesman Awards 2015 Honouring Yorkshire’s finest

A

Yorkshirewoman of the Year Amanda Owen with host Ian McMillan and Ian Cornelius from sponsor Skipton Building Society

Dales shepherdess turned television star and bestselling author has been named Yorkshirewoman of the Year 2015.

Amanda Owen received the honour, which was sponsored by Skipton Building Society, at this year’s Dalesman Awards.

Sir Gary Verity and the Welcome to Yorkshire team won a Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Yorkshire in recognition of the Tour de France and the Tour de Yorkshire. Meanwhile, legendary cyclist Brian Robinson picked up the Lifetime Achievement award.

Yorkshire Young Achiever of the Year, sponsored by Yorkshire Bank, was actor and director Bretten Lord.

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august 2015 63

P Proud roud s sponsors ponsors of of tthe he Dalesman nA Aw wards Dalesman Awards E ntrepreneur o he Year Y Yea ear Entrepreneur off tthe

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We can help you: • Put in place a package of bespoke protection documents • Review your key business documents to ensure you’re protected and your reliefs maximised • Schedule regular reviews to address legal or financial developments To find out more about how we can help you protect your wealth, give us a call.

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64 august 2015

The trophy for Yorkshire Food and Drink Producer of the Year, sponsored by Keelham Farm Shops, was presented to Lottie Shaw’s.

Entrepreneur of the Year, sponsored by Clarion, was soup-maker Yorkshire Provender.

The Rural Tourism award, sponsored by Yorkshire Cottages, was presented to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

The Dalesman Awards, now

in their ninth year, celebrate the best of Yorkshire, with a particular focus on the countryside.

This year’s ceremony was held at Utopia, Broughton Hall, near Skipton, and was hosted by broadcaster and writer Ian McMillan.

Musical entertainment came from the choir Rock Up & Sing (www.rockupandsing.com). n Sir Gary Verity receives the Special Award

For more pictures see www.dalesman.co.uk/awards

Sponsors of the Dalesman Awards 2015

Local High Street Offices in Grassington, Leyburn & Whitby

Thinking of holiday letting? ...look no further

D PROUORS S N O SP THE OF MAN S DALEARDS AW 15 20

HASSLE FREE property management services

Personal service with local

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Grassington - Tel 01756 752367 Email grassington@yorkshire-cottages.info Leyburn - Tel 01969 625320 Email leyburn@yorkshire-cottages.info Whitby - Tel 01947 820272 Email whitby@yorkshire-cottages.info august 2015 65

Across

crossword michael curl We give a £15 voucher to spend on Dalesman products for the first correct entry opened after the closing date; £10 and £5 vouchers are given for second and third.

Send this page, a photocopy, or a list of answers to Dalesman Crossword (August), Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG. Entries to reach us by 25 August.

Do not include any other correspondence with your entry.

You can also email a list of answers, or a scan of your completed entry, to linda@dalesman.co.uk Name Address

Postcode Email We will use the contact information you provide to keep you informed of Dalesman (and other Country Publications) special offers. Please tick here [ ] if you do not wish this to happen. We do occasionally share information with other carefully selected organisations who may send you information about their product and services by post. If you do not wish this to happen then please tick here [ ].

66 august 2015

1 Far from exciting (7) 5 Given medicine (5) 8 Devil’s —, monoliths near Boroughbridge (6) 9 Well-defined (8) 10 Lose gram (anag) — village south of Bradford (8) 11 Baps (5) 12 Thorpe —, village near Selby (10) 15 Loosen (4) 17 Cow and — Rocks, landmark near Ilkley (4) 18 Grasp (10) 19 Drained of colour (5) 20 Charisma (anag) — antiquated phraseology (8) 23 Altercation (8) 24 Prose compositions (6) 25 Gloss (5) 26 Broadest and longest valley of the North Yorkshire Moors (7)

Down 1 Mouth organ (9) 2 Henry —, renowned sculptor born in Castleford in 1898 (5) 3 Hazards (5) 4 Claim dad’s helmet (anag) — English Heritage property in Wensleydale (9,6) 5 Naval vessel (9) 6 Risk laugh (anag) — Holderness village (9) 7 Teal, wigeon, etc (5) 13 Nidderdale village near How Stean Gorge (9) 14 Indifference (9) 16 Earthwork at Flamborough Head (5,4) 19 Lots of land (5) 21 Impertinence (5) 22 Bewildered (2,3)

anagrams

june solution

Unravel the following anagrams to reveal the names of fifteen places around Harrogate BACKREST NO BARTER BATTY NURSE RHINO GENUS COPY HER NOTE LACK SHILLING LET'S GET INK SEE SAUCY SHOP

The three entries selected came from: Miss Denise Hatfield of Pickering; Mrs P Garmory of Sheffield; Mrs Mavis Wilkinson of Halifax.

Thank you to all who entered.

PASTE WITH HAM KING HEROD KIT NOBLER ROTUNDA GOOD LOG BRUSH GAS BURNER HOOK ROBIN TELLS TITS A RURAL LOVER ELEMENT

Answers to the July anagrams: Ainthorpe, East Witton, Copt Hewick, Osmotherley, Nether Silton, Hutton Sessay, Bainbridge, Camblesforth, Gate Helmsley, Kirby Misperton, Morton-on-Swale, Ainderby Steeple, Appleton Roebuck, Thorpe Willoughby, Allerton Mauleverer.

word search

quick quiz

Find these Yorkshire reservoirs in the grid below: Agden, Angram, Baitings, Blackmoorfoot, Broadstone, Broomhead, Chelker, Damflask, Eccup, Elsecar, Fewston, Grimwith, Langsett, Midhope, Pebley, Redbrook, Scammonden, Scargill

Test your knowledge of Yorkshire with this quick quiz. There’s no prize, it’s just for fun.

R E D B R O O K C E M P U F L

V D B Z N L F Q N V I U U U I

R B A E I E A O V O D C K K G

E E D E W B T N L A H C B G R

Q G K S H S C E G H O E L R A

A A T L D M Q D T S P T D I C

Q O C A E K O N D G E A D M S

N Y O U N H G O X W M T T W O

L R P O U G C M R F O A T I K

B D G F Z U R M L B Y T D T H

R A C E S L E A V T B Z A H Y

O F C B L N S C M G M H K A V

F Y J X A K Y S P E B L E Y Z

S G N I T I A B X X Y P G J K

answers 1 Ure, 2 Nidderdale,3 Holme Wood, Bradford, 4 Leeds Intelligencer, 5 1985, 6 Jenni Murray, 7 Asquith and Dairies

B L A C K M O O R F O O T B L

1 The Devil’s Arrows stand close to which river?

2 Which dale had its own light railway, which operated between 1907 and 1929?

3 Where was Downton Abbey and Cinderella star Sophie McShera born?

4 What was the Yorkshire Post called when it was founded in 1754?

5 In which year was the Bradford City stadium fire?

6 What is the name of the “Woman’s Hour” presenter who was born in Barnsley?

7 The name of Leeds-based ASDA is an abbreviation of what?

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readers’ club Write to: The Editor, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG. Email: editorial@dalesman.co.uk

a turbine for the worse?

Included in the list of “Yorkshire’s Best View” was Hebden Bridge from above – towards Heptonstall and Stoodley Pike and this was indeed a stunning view, often used to promote the Upper Calder Valley as a special place to visit. Unfortunately this view has now been desecrated by an array of wind turbines that fill the landscape, pictured below. The turbines are actually above

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Walsden but they are so big that they sit stark against the skyline on the ridge to the right of Stoodley Pike (the oldest peace monument in the world), and are predominant beyond the heritage village of Heptonstall. Sadly you need to remove this view from the list since it has been selfishly sacrificed on the altar of greed, purely for the monetary benefit of the few.

Steven W Beasley, Hebden Bridge

‘mystery mansion’ Can any reader identify the haunting ruins in the photo, above? It is from 1970 and could long have been demolished or converted into luxury apartments. I think it may well be in Yorkshire, possibly along the Lancashire/Westmorland boundary. Hopefully someone can help!

Kevin Flanagan, via email

ones away. As for the starlings, I have to leave my feeders empty from May to November because hundreds of starlings converge there and empty them in no time.

Enough of this foolishness. We have been through your lovely county twice, staying at the Crown in Harrogate on the way through both times. I finally got to Thirsk to see The World of James Herriot. I’m a great fan and have all his books. I’m a fairly long-time reader of Dalesman, and look forward to it each month. Keep up the excellent work. We are planning another trip next year, it’s something to really look forward to.

Thanks again.

James White, Glenburn, USA

on the road with jason

Following the article by Harry Gration in the July edition of Dalesman we felt we a hand from across the sea should add our memory of an excellent couI read in A Dalesman’s Diary that starple of hours earlier this year when we were lings are becoming endangered in Yorkshire. aboard the boom motor trike with Jason as I would like to know what is bothering them our chauffeur. there. I would be happy to send you some of We were a few minutes early at our renour red squirrels as a swap. When we were in dezvous and in that time were introduced to Yorkshire and then in Scotland it was said the trike by Jason. A handsome, powerful that they were endangered, and threatened beast... and so is the trike! by the grey squirrels. Here in Maine our red Jason puts you at ease very quickly, and squirrels think they are grizzly bears and after the safety instructions and gearing up drive the grey ones away. We have seven or in the bike-friendly clothing provided we eight grey ones that come to the feeders, and had an exhilarating and informative hour only two red ones, but they chase the grey plus, with fantastic views and a series of

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anecdotes keeping us entertained.

All too soon the time flashed by and we were waving goodbye to Jason and already sharing our own memories. Yorkshire Trike Tours deliver a special experience and one of their days out would be a very special gift.

Carol & David Sykes, Rotherham

was the chaos that nothing could be seen in the lake and they were reported as missing, believed dead.

Many years later, I remember a lot of reports of people seeing a ghostly figure of an RAF man walking on the edge of the lake.

He became known as “Lindholme Willy”. I had a friend who went fishing in the lake fantastic day out and saw the ghost and would never go again.

Many thanks for the fantastic day out Quite a few local people reported seeing with Yorkshire Trike Tours which I was very the ghost and were too scared to go to the lucky to win in a competition from Daleslake again. man. My husband and I had a great Dales Then, one year, in the 1970s I think, we tour yesterday and everything about it was had a long hot summer and the lake reduced great from the views, the excellent lunch at in length by about 100 yards. Lo and behold, Bolton Castle, Jason’s knowledge of the the wreckage of an aircraft appeared, stickDales and very good chauffeuring skills, and ing out of the mud. The remains of the aireven the weather turned out good after a crew were still in the wreckage. damp start. We were very impressed with the The RAF came and recovered the wreckprize and have now some great memories age and the remains, and took them down to and photos of this truly wonderful day.

Finningley aerodrome.

Many thanks to Dalesman.

The remains were duly buried with full Jean Harriott service honours. Guess what? The ghost of Lindholme Willy was never seen again. It ghost story makes you think, doesn’t it?

I used to live in the village of Hatfield, Pete Wainwright, Goathland east of Doncaster. During the war the RAF built three aerodromes near the village. The cocker’s view northern one was called Sandtoft and is still in use as a private airfield. The one nearest to us was Lindholme and then Finningley.

This was expanded during the Cold War to take Vulcan V bombers and is now Robin Hood Airport. I had a friend who had a share in a Piper Comanche monoplane and I often flew with him from Sandtoft Airfield.

He would let me take off in it but not land, because the runway was short. Lindholme was later converted into a prison!

This airfield did have a long thin lake parallel to it, about a mile to the east, and during the war a Canadian crew radioed that they were coming in to land and disappeared. It was thought that they might www.stephencockercards.co.uk have landed in the lake by mistake. Such 70 august 2015

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out & about in yorkshire A selection of events compiled by Linda McFadzean

JULY To 2 August. Ryedale. Festival. Two weeks of inspiring musical performances in the many beautiful and historic venues in and around Ryedale, including celebration of Brahms’s Hungarian-inspired works.

Details www.ryedalefestival.com To 2 August. York. Parliament Street. The Great Yorkshire Fringe. Fantastic range of comedy, cabaret, music and family entertainment including magic workshops, more than 100 shows, pop-up shop, plus food areas and bars. Performances by Al Murray, Tim Brooke-Taylor and many more. Details www.greatyorkshirefringe.com To 16 August. Whitby. Pannett Art Gallery. The Fylingdales Group of Artists 83rd Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Original Prints. 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 9.30am-4.30pm Sun. Details 01947 600933.

To November. Settle. The Museum of North Craven Life at The Folly. Exhibition – A Community Skill: The Story of the Burton in Lonsdale Potteries. Details 01729 822854. www.ncbpt.org.uk/folly/ 28 Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal. Family Bike Ride.

Rare chance to cycle around the Water Garden at Studley Royal and the abbey. Details 01765 643164. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey 31 to 3 August. Flamborough. St Oswald’s Church.

Flower Festival. Posy making sessions for children and quiz, plus raffle, tombola, second-hand books, jewellery, gifts, plants and much more. Refreshments available. 10.30am-4.30pm.

31 to 2 August. Leeds. Harewood House. CLA Game Fair. A celebration of the great British countryside.

Details www.gamefair.co.uk 31 to 5 September. York. National Railway Museum.

The Railway Children. Production by the Theatre Royal and the National Railway Museum. Details 01904 623568. www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk 31 to 2 August. Pickering. Traction Engine Rally. Steam engines, fairground organs, vintage cars and motorcycles, dog show and much more. Details www.pickeringsteam.com AUGUST To 28 September. Haworth. Brontë Parsonage. The Silent Wild: Diane Howse. This exhibition uses text,

performance, film and sound to explore the sonic landscapes within the Brontës texts. 10am-5.30pm daily. Details 01535 642323. www.bronte.org.uk 1-2 Skipton. Castle. Trayned Bandes. See the military unit setting up an encampment during the English Civil War. 10am-6pm Sat, 12pm-6pm Sun. Details www.skiptoncastle.co.uk 1-2 Hebden Bridge. Calder Holmes Park. Vintage Weekend. Up to 600 classic cars, motor cycles, kit and replica cars, commercial and military vehicles, plus stalls, catering, children’s entertainment and live music. Details 01422 842597. www.hebdenbridge-vintageweekend.org.uk 1-23 Harrogate. The 22nd International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. Details www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk 2 Elvington York. Yorkshire Air Museum. Thunder Day. On site jet and propeller driven aircraft runs plus Rolling Thunder Day on the 31. Details 01904 608246. www.yorkshireairmuseum.org 6-9 Huddersfield. Food and Drink Festival.

Demonstrations, sampling sessions, workshops and entertainment. Details www.foodanddrinkfestival.org.uk 7-9 Hawes. The Market House. Wensleydale Craft Fair.

10am-4.30pm. Continues 21-22. Details www.wensleyfairs.co.uk 8-9 Ripon. Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal. Busy Bees. Swanley Grange will be turned into a hive of activity with bee keeping demonstrations, candle rolling and candle making. Continues 15 & 16.

10.30am-4pm. Details 01765 643164. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey 8-16 Kettlewell. Scarecrow Festival. Solve the riddles on the themed village trail. Details www.kettlewellscarecrowfestival.co.uk 9 Leeds. Harewood. Rolls Royce North of England Car Rally. Details www.harewood.org 14-15 Ilkley. Art Show. An exhibition featuring original works and photography by more than forty artists, plus trade stands from leading art material suppliers, artists and galleries. Details www.ilkleyartshow.co.uk 14-17 Whitby. Regatta. Yacht racing, rowing, entertainment, firework display. Details www.whitbyregatta.co.uk

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15 Langcliffe Show. Exhibitions on display in the village institute and church. Doors open 1.30pm.

Admission £1, children free.

15-16 Kilnsey nr Skipton. Kilnsey Park. Summer Fun Weekend. Bug safaris, family fishing competition, live music, plenty of entertainment for all the family.

Details 01756 752150. www.kilnseypark.co.uk 15-16 Wakefield. Cathedral Precinct. Season in the City. Get your flip flops ready and sharpen up your sandcastle making skills for a weekend of family fun.

There is a big beach, Punch and Judy shows, donkey rides, Ferris wheel, workshops and food. Details www.wakefield.gov.uk 15-16 Harrogate. Pavilions. Rock, Gem and Bead Show. Retail event selling crystals, minerals, fossils, gemstones, beads and jewellery. Details pavilionsofharrogate.co.uk 15-16 Skipton. Auction Mart. Art in the Pen. Showcase of works by local artists. 10am-4pm. Details www.artinthepen.org.uk 16 Lotherton Hall Estate. Altofts & Normanton Brass Band. 2pm. For Leeds International Concert Season Summer Bands programme go to www.leedsconcertseason.com 16 Hawes. Community Field. Wensleydale Triathlon.

One of the toughest triathlons, taking competitors up Great Shunner Fell and across Semer Water. Booking required. Details www.mytrievents.co.uk/triathlon/ wensleydale-triathlon 16 Bradford. Bowling Park. Classic Car Show. Seventyfive car rally demonstration with live action stunt zones and family friendly entertainment and attractions. Details www.bradford.gov.uk 21-23 Ripley. Castle. Foodies Festival. The UK’s biggest celebration of food and drink. A feast of Michelin-star and celebrity chefs plus live entertainment. Details www.foodiesfestival.com 21 York. Castle Howard. Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra with special guest Marc Almond.

Details 0844 8718819. www.castlehowardconcerts.com 22 York. Castle Howard. Summer Sounds. A big Proms Spectacular with the UK Philharmonic Orchestra and star soloists. A wonderful programme of classical favourites, with commemorations for the seventy-fifth anniversary of The Battle of Britain. Details 0844 8718819. www.castlehowardconcerts.com 22 Burnsall. Feast Sports. Ten-mile road race, junior fell races, senior fell race, vintage cars, Punch and Judy,

WIN tickets to Yorkshire Wildlife Park

D

on’t miss Pixel the polar bear’s first summer at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Doncaster, or the three mischievous amur tiger cubs causing trouble in Land of the Tiger. As well as amazing animal experiences, children will love the indoor and outdoor play areas – there is family fun all day long!

As ever, there is the opportunity to get close to some of the most endangered and beautiful animals on the planet in the UK’s number-one walkthrough safari experience. Lions, tigers, polar bears, giraffe, zebra, baboons, meerkats, lemurs leopards and more – there is a world of animals to explore.

Look out too for special events including the late evening opening Safari Nights every Saturday from 25 July to 29 August, complete with music, entertainment and bangles fireworks finale. Or join Michaela Strachan on 8 and 9 August raising funds for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation to help animal welfare and conservation.

For more information telephone 01302 535057 or visit www.yorkshirewildlifepark.com We have five family tickets to Yorkshire Wildlife Park worth £58 each to give away. For your chance to win, simply answer this question: What is the name of the polar bear spending its first summer at Yorkshire Wildlife Park?

Write your answer on a postcard or the back of a sealed envelope and return it to Yorkshire Wildlife Park Competition, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 3AG. Alternatively you can email your entries to Linda@dalesman.co.uk. Closing date is 24 August 2015. The first five correct entries drawn will win. Usual Country Publication rules apply. If you do not wish to receive promotional Information, please indicate this on your entry.

coconut shies, entertainment for all the family. Details www.burnsallsports.co.uk

8 Sedgefield Show. Details 01740 621841. www.sedgefieldshow.co.uk

26 to 13 September. Leeds. The Leeds International Piano Competition. An outstanding opportunity for young international pianists to advance their careers and become artists of the future. Details www.leedspiano.com

9 Ripley Show. Details 01943 466654. www.ripleyshow.co.uk

27 to 22 September. Danby. North York Moors Visitor Centre. Meander Down the Esk. Exhibition of sixty watercolours and eighty drawings by watercolourist John Freeman. Details www.northyorkmoors.org.uk 29-30 Bedale. Thorp Perrow Arboretum. Circus Antics.

Join in circus games. Details 01677 425323. www.thorpperrow.com 29-31 Kelbrook. Village Hall. Art Exhibition. More than 300 pictures to view. Home made refreshments available, free admission – all proceeds to local charities. 10am-5pm Sat & Mon, 11am-5pm Sun. 29-31 Haworth. Old School Rooms. Craft Fair. 10am4pm. Details www.haworthcraftfairs.co.uk 29 to 20 September. Ripon. Cathedral. Great Art in the Cathedral. A prestigious selling exhibition featuring over 300 artworks by some of the UK’s finest contemporary artists. Work ranges from prints and paintings, to photography and sculpture. Free entry.

10am-4.30pm. Details www.greatnorthartshow.co.uk

12 Danby Agricultural Show. Details 01287 660416. www.danbyshow.co.uk 15 Rosedale & District Show. Details 01751 417740. www.rosedaleshow.co.uk 22 Gargrave Agricultural & Horticultural Show. Details 01729 830441. www.gargraveshow.co.uk 23 Mirfield Agricultural Show. Details 01924 499902. www.mirfieldshow.com 26 Egton Horse & Agricultural Show. Details 01947 604329. www.egtonshow.co.uk 29 Bilsdale Agricultural Show. Details 01439 798155. www.bilsdaleshow.co.uk 29 Malham Show. Details 01729 830589. www.malhamdale.com 29 Wensleydale Agricultural Show. Details 01969 623750. www.wensleydaleshow.org.uk 31 Burniston District Show. Details 01723 870040. www.burnistonshow.co.uk 31 Farndale Show. Details 01751 432788. www.farndale.com

RACING For all racing fixtures go to www.goracing.co.uk COUNTRY SHOWS IN JULY 28 Ryedale Show. Details 01439 772000. www.ryedaleshow.org.uk 29 Borrowby Show & Gymkhana. Details www.borrowbyshow.org.uk COUNTRY SHOWS IN AUGUST 1 Emley Show. Details 01924 848575. www.emleyshow.com 1 Osmotherley Show. Details 01609 882752. www.osmotherleyshow.co.uk 2 130th Sykehouse Show. Details 01405 785349. www.sykehouseshow.org.uk 2 70th Tockwith & District Show. Details www.tockwithshow.org.uk 5 Thornton Le Dale Show. Details 01751 476500. www.thorntonledale.com 7 Hinderwell Horse & Agricultural Society Show.

Details 01947 841126. www.hinderwellshow.org.uk 8 Halifax Agricultural Show. Details www.halifaxagriculturalshow.co.uk

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31 National Pony Society Show, Harrogate. Details 01904 738139. www.npsarea4.com 31 Reeth & District Agricultural Show. Details 01748 885571. email enquiries@reethshow.co.uk

8 Ilkley. Moderate 8.5 miles. Meet 10am Silver Well Cottage off Keighley Road, Ilkley, GR SE 103 466.

Details 07788 755860.

JULY WALKS

15 Keighley to Ilkley. Strenuous 15 miles. Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org

26 Burnley to Hebden Bridge. Strenuous 15 miles.

Details 0113 2931924. www.friendsofdalesrail.org

15 Penistone Circular. 10 miles. Details www.penline.co.uk

26 Around Settle. Moderate 10 miles. Meet 10am viaduct car park, Settle. Details 0113 2632172

15 Halifax to Sowerby Bridge. Moderate 10 miles.

Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org

AUGUST WALKS

22 Garsdale Circular. Moderate 11 miles. Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org

1 Leeds. Temple Newsam. Walk to remember loved ones with Marie Curie in West Yorkshire. Walk 10k starts 6.30pm. After the walk everyone can enjoy fireworks, live music and picnics. For registration and fundraising details go to www.mariecurie.org.uk/walktoremember

22 Long Preston to Gisburn. Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org 23 Grassington. Late Curlew Call. Moderate 8 miles.

Meet 10am Yorkshire Dales National Park, car park.

Details 01274 822370.

1 Silkstone Common to Wombwell. 11 miles. Details www.penline.co.uk

29 Giggleswick Circular. Strenuous 13 miles. Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org

1 Appleby Circular. Strenuous 15 miles. Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org

29 Wombwell Circular. 10 miles. Details www.penline.co.uk

1 Wennington to Bentham. Moderate 10 miles.

Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org 8 Hellifield to Settle. Moderate to strenuous 13 miles.

Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org 8 Ribblehead to Ingleton. Easy 8 miles. Details 0113 293 1924 www.friendsofdalesrail.org

The above information was believed to be correct at the time of going to print. We cannot accept responsibility for errors or changes. Contacts are given where known so details can be checked before embarking on any journey.

in next month’s dalesman

What is Yorkshire’s best view? l More than 1,000 votes have been cast and the results are in l We’ll be revealing your favourite views l There’ll be contributions from a host of household names, including Judi Dench, Michael Parkinson and Bill Bryson, plus a selection of beautiful pictures of scenic Yorkshire

Don’t miss this special edition of Dalesman.

It’s on sale at all good newsagents from 25 August – order your copy today!

There is nowhere better to spend a lazy summer day than the spectacular North York Moors and Yorkshire Coast.

Here you will find some of the country's most dramatic and charming countryside, picture-perfect towns and villages and awe-inspiring views.

Whether you are planning a break away, or simply a day by the sea, there is so much to see and do.

Of course, what trip to the seaside would be complete without sampling fish and chips and where better than at Hadley’s of Whitby?

Hadley’s first opened its doors in 1937. Its founder Alan Hadley believed in a quality product at a good price. His beliefs have continued through the years and its fish and chips were voted the best in Whitby 2014/15 by readers of the Whitby Gazette.

One of the more outlandish days out you can enjoy in this part of the world is whale watching. With the help of Whitby Whale Watching you can get up close and personal to some of the sea's most amazing creatures. As well as whales, you may spot seals, dolphins and porpoises.

The Yorkshire coast is also famous for its fossils and jet and Yorkshire Coast Fossils has been supplying customers with high quality fossil specimens and Whitby Jet jewellery for more than twenty-five years.

If you enjoy a traditional country show, the Bilsdale Agricultural Show takes place this year on Saturday 29 August with a host of exhibits and entertainment, plus all the usual agricultural attractions and events.

There is plenty of choice when it comes to booking a place to stay in the Moors and Coast. Sandsend Bay cottages near

Whitby boast an elevated position directly overlooking the Bay of Sandsend with panoramic views out to sea, towards Whitby and across miles of open countryside.

The Mallyan Spout Hotel in Whitby is a charming three star country house hotel offering high standards of service together with luxury accommodation.

The Downe Arms four star country inn situated on the edge of the North Yorks Moors, only ten minutes from Scarborough and fifteen minutes from Pickering. This seventeenth century former farmhouse offers you an intimate and historical setting for that special meal with friends or a relaxing stay.

Everyone knows the famous Peasholm Park in Scarborough.

Well, why not spend a few nights on its doorstep at the Peasholm Park Hotel and Guest House – your home from home?

If you prefer the great outdoors, there are lots of great campsites to choose from. Lebberston Touring Caravan Park, for instance, is a beautiful countryside haven hidden away between the edge of the picturesque Yorkshire Wolds and spectacular Heritage Coast.

As regular visitors will know, there is an abundance of good food available across this region.

The Lighthouse Tea Room and Coffee House at Filey offers traditional tea room fayre, including freshly ground coffee, Yorkshire tea, homemade cakes and scones and a varied menu designed to tempt those tastebuds at competitive prices. Meanwhile Betton Farm Tearoom, Bakery and Farm Shop, at East Ayton, serves up delicious grub in carefully converted old farm buildings.

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HOLIDAY PARKS & LODGES

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Dalesman directory

Country Publications Limited.

The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 3AG. Please see our on-line accommodation guide - www.dalesman.co.uk

Display Advertising Linage advertising

01756 701381 ads@dalesman.co.uk 01756 693477 jo@dalesman.co.uk

ACCOMMODATION Summer Breaks

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YORKSHIRE DALES Self Catering

A COMFORTABLE COTTAGE FOR TWO IN AYSGARTH, WENSLEYDALE,Family maintained. Dog welcome. Superb views. Tel:(01969) 663436 www.cottageguide.co.uk/oldcarthouse ABBEY HOLIDAY COTTAGES, Quality cottages near Pateley Bridge. Pets, parking, views. Ensuite, Tel (01423)712062 www.dales.ahcottages.com APPLETREEWICK,Three fully equipped 4/6 berth luxury caravans with verandas. Quiet farm site. Pets welcome.

Tel (01756) 720627 www.howgillfarm.co.uk ARKENGARTHDALE - Converted cow byre, sleeps 2, Panoramic views, peaceful location. Tel:[01748]884779 ARNCLIFFE, LITTONDALE - Large 5 bedroomed farmhouse.

Sleeps 13-16. Superb location, central heating, excellent facilities including drying and games rooms. Tel:[01943]464083. www.founditmyself.com BAINBRIDGE, WENSLEYDALE, Spacious stone cottage overlooking green. VB 4*Gold. Sleeps 5/6.Dogs welcome.

Short breaks, Tel:(01904)470496 or (07792)712472 www.greenviewcottage.co.uk BUCKDEN, UPPER WHARFEDALE, Dalegarth luxury accommodation. ETC 4 star Gold Award[disabled facilities]. National Park heartland. Brochure.

Tel:[01756]760877. Inspections welcomed. Short Breaks. www.dalegarth.co.uk COVERDALE,16thC farmhouse betwixt Wensleydale & Wharfedale. Peace and tranquillity guaranteed. Pets welcome.

Short breaks available. Tel (01969) 640271 COVERDALE/WENSLEYDALE Barn conversions & bungalows. Sleep 2-6. Large grounds with fantastic views.

Short breaks available all year from £107/couple. Ideal location for walking/touring Tel (01969)663976 rita@meadowholidays.com. www.meadowholidays.com DARLEY, NIDDERDALE - Quality Dales farm cottages.

Sleep 2-4. non-smoking. Tel: (01423)780661.

EAST WITTON, COVERDALE - Beautiful detached period cottage facing village green. Lounge, dining room, 3 beds, 2 bathrooms. Sleeps 5. South facing garden. Lovely walks from cottage. No smoking/pets. Tel:[01423]540786 GRASSINGTON - A charming cottage. Village Centre. Gas CH. Sleeps 2/3. Private enclosed garden/ parking. Owner maintained. Tel:[01423]509557- [07718]478104 Web:www.grassington-cottages.co.uk GRASSINGTON, beamed-cottage ‘Westgarth’. Sleeps-4. Gas CH, TV, parking. For walking/relaxing. Tel:[01923]823671[eve]. www.henrysholidayhomes.co.uk GREWELTHORPE Nr RIPON - Holiday cottage to let, sleeps 4, 1 bunk, 1 double. Well heated. Modernised. £150 - £170 per week. Tel:[01483]535204 HAWES/WENSLEYDALE, Modern cottage. Sleeps 4. Bed linen. Garage. No pets,Tel(01969) 667363 (not Sunday)

HAWES, WENSLEYDALE, Spacious quality apartment sleeping 2. Newly refurbished. Parking. Pet Welcome.

Brochure, Tel:[01969]667742 www.sturmansantiques.co.uk HAWES/WENSLEYDALE/SWALEDALE - 40 Country Cottages. Pets welcome. Short breaks available all year.

Personal callers welcome. Country Cottage Holidays, Market Place, Hawes, DL8 3RA. Tel:[01969]667654. www.countrycottageholidays.co.uk HAWES/WENSLEYDALE - Two pet friendly holiday cottages. Sleeps 6/4. WiFi. Beckside gardens haven for wildlife including red squirrels, walker’s paradise.

Tel:[01768]371588 Web: www.cotterdale-cottage-holidays.co.uk INGLETON, Quality holiday cottage. Centre of village.

Sleeps 2. Parking. 1 small dog accepted. No smoking.

Tel (01524) 241130 www.middlecottageingleton.co.uk KETTLEWELL, WHARFEDALE, Ex miner's cottage, available all year. Sleeps 2. Ideal walking in beautiful countryside. Close to amenities, (01327) 260638 MIDDLEHAM, Cosy & welcoming 5 star cottage in centre of historic Dales village. Sleeps 4. Short breaks available.

Tel:[07714]759856 www.middlehamcottage.com MASHAM/WENSLEYDALE Country apartments sleeping 2-6 in mansion with large grounds. Pets welcome. Pubs/shops 3 minute walk. Short breaks available all year from £89/couple.

Tel (01969)663976 rita@meadowholidays.com. www.meadowholidays.com OUR FRIENDLY LOCAL EXPERTS reach customers nationwide; add in our exclusive owner perks and you’ll always be one step ahead when holiday letting with us. To find out more call Yorkshire Cottages on 0345 2680527 or visit www.yorkshire-cottages.info/let-your-cottage REETH, SWALEDALE, Comfy holiday cottages sleeping 1 4. Competitive prices (all inclusive). Sorry, no pets/smoking.

Tel: (01748) 884237 www.walkercottages.co.uk REETH, SWALEDALE - Holiday cottages in two acres of land with spectacular views. Telephone:[01748]884662. www.kernotcottages-reeth.co.uk REETH, 3 exquisite cottages. Every comfort provided. All inclusive tariff. Sleeps 2-5, Tel:[01748] 884273 www.reethholidaycottages.co.uk SKIPTON 5 MILES - Spacious C/H farmhouse. Sleeps 5 + cot. Beautiful countryside, warm welcome awaits. Brochure.

Tel:[01535]633309. www.jfort.co.uk/holiday UPPER WHARFEDALE - LITTON. Cosy cottage for 2 in spectacular walking country. Dog welcome. Excellent dining pub nearby. Short breaks available. Tel:[01756]770284 www.yorkshirenet.co.uk/stayat/elbeckdairy

YORKSHIRE DALES Stay on a farm SKIPTON 5 MILES - Spacious C/H farmhouse, sleeps 5 + cot. Beautiful countryside, warm welcome awaits. Brochure.

Tel:[01535]633309 www.jfort.co.uk/holiday

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NORTH YORK MOORS, WOLDS & COAST Hotels, Guest Houses, B&Bs

FILEY - 4 STAR GUEST HOUSE, Excellent accommodation & hospitality. £34-£40pppn, Tel:[01723]513753 www.bintonguesthouse.co.uk FLAMBOROUGH - THE FLANEBURG HOTEL. Heritage Coast location. Comfortable family run B&B accommodation.

All ensuite. Evening meals. Licensed. P/Parking. Brochure Tel:[01262]850284 www.theflaneburghotel.co.uk PEASHOLM PARK HOTEL, SCARBOROUGH, Family run & licensed guest house. Ensuite rooms, WiFi, Families Welcome.

Tel (01723) 500954 www.peasholmpark.co.uk ROBIN HOOD’S BAY - SKERRY HALL FARM B&B. Three luxury ensuite rooms on small working farm. Stunning views.

Tel:[01947]881156 www.skerryhallfarm.co.uk SCARBOROUGH - THE KIMBERLEY, All rooms en-suite, free car park, panoramic sea views, B&B from £27.50pppn, Tel:(01723)372734 www.kimberleyseafronthotel.co.uk SCARBOROUGH - The Terrace. B&B from £22pppn. Private parking. Tel:[01723]374937, www.smoothhound.co.uk/hotels/theterrace

NORTH YORK MOORS, WOLDS & COAST Self Catering A MOORLAND VILLAGE COTTAGE, NR PICKERING. Sleeps 3. Large garden. Village pub. Owner nearby. £250/wk Tel:[01751]417588.

ATTRACTIVE SANDSTONE COTTAGE, on coast between Staithes & Runswick Bay. Garden, parking, dog welcome. short breaks available, Tel (01947) 840845 www.greylandsfarmcottage.co.uk BETWEEN PICKERING & SCARBOROUGH in pretty village with country pub serving meals. Luxury cottage, sleeps 4, ground floor. Studley House Farm, Ebberston. Brochure Tel:[01723]859285. www.studleyhousefarm.co.uk CHOOSE FROM 11 PROPERTIES, in the shadow of York Minster. Weekly/short breaks. Sleep 2/18. Secure Parking, Tel:[01904] 641997 www.yorkholidayhomes.co.uk

CLOUGHTON HERITAGE COAST - Peaceful stone centrally heated cottage for 2. Magnificent sea views, coastal walks.

Ideal base for touring. Tel:[01723]870944 www.sycarhamcottage.co.uk CROPTON, NR PICKERING, Luxury log cabins on the edge of Cropton Forest. Beautiful views. Excellent walks. Pub nearby. Sleeps 6. Pets welcome, Tel (01751) 417221, www.sycamorefarmlogcabins.co.uk 3 COSY COTTAGES, NORTH YORK MOORS, LOCKTON Close to pub. Sleeps 2/3. Tel:[01751]460201 www.foxandrabbit.info/ 3 miles, WHITBY - Comfortable Cottage for 2 or 3/4 persons.

Patio, garden, parking, linen. Short breaks available. Dog by arrangement. Tel:[01947]810161 FILEY - Deluxe 2 bedroomed bungalow. Decorated & equipped to the highest standard. 8 mins beach, large sun lounge overlooking garden. Full CH, dishwasher, washing machine, microwave, TV/DVD. Sleeps 4. £250 - £475pw.

No pets/smoking. Owner maintained. Tel:[01723]890296 Mobile: [07970]515621 www.fileybungalow.co.uk FILEY - LOVELY DETACHED BUNGALOW, Excellent location.

Sleeps 2-4. Adults only. NS/pets. Parking,Tel (01723) 512022 FILEY - QUALITY S/C COTTAGES, Sleeps up to 5+cot. One cottage suitable for wheelchairs. Muston Grange Farm, Filey, Tel (01723) 516620 www.thecottagesfiley.co.uk GOATHLAND - ACORNS, A stylish and comfortable 4 star bungalow. 1 double, 1 twin. Pets welcome. Tel(01947)896333 GOATHLAND, Comfortable bungalow. Sleeps 2/4. Moorland views. Pets welcome, Tel (01947) 896406 www.goathlandholidaycottage.com GOATHLAND - Delightful country bungalow. Sleeps 4 (1 double, 1 adult bunks). Dog friendly garden. Garage/parking.

Brochure. Tel:[01673]849806 HELMSLEY - 4 STARS, 1875 railway gatehouse, sleeping 2/4. Private parking & garden. WiFi. Tel:[01439]770890 www.pockleygatescottage.co.uk HELMSLEY - LASKILL GRANGE, Friendly service, 4 star Gold. Superb B&B + 7 luxurious s/c cottages sleeping 2-6. Hot tubs. EM offered, Tel:[01439]798268 www.laskillgrange.co.uk LASTINGHAM, Nr KIRKBYMOORSIDE - 3 bedroom cottage, ideal base for walking, riding, cycling and exploring the National Park. No smoking. Tel:[01751]417345 www.lastinghamgrange.com NORTH BAY - SCARBOROUGH - Large 3 bedroomed detached house, with magnificent sea views overlooking golf course. 2 minutes walk to beach & Cleveland Way. Private garden & off road parking, WiFi. Tel:[01723]870944 www.northbayview.co.uk NORTH YORK MOORS & COAST - Port Mulgrave. Sea views. 2 Bedroom stone cottage. Original features. Dogs welcome. No smoking. Tel:[01642]613888.

Web:www.yorkshirecoaststonecottage.co.uk OSMOTHERLEY - Charming 4 star village cottage.

Sleeps up to 5. Short breaks available and pets welcome. www.yorkshiresholidaycottage.co.uk. Tel:[01609]883205

To advertise in this section call: 01756 693477

88 august 2015

PICKERING - One bed ground studio apartment (1 Double + 1 Bunk). From £200/week. Short breaks available. Five minutes from town centre. Tel:[07758]621873 PICKERING - TOWN END FARM, Outskirts of Pickering.

Modernised, 18thC, 3 bedroomed cottage. CH. Large garden.

Pets welcome, Tel (01751) 472713 www.townendfarmholidays.co.uk

GLAISDALE, EGTON BANKS. Cosy, farmhouse B&B. Ensuite rooms. 8 miles Whitby, 4 miles steam railway.

Tel:[01947]897289. www.egtonbanksfarm.agriplus.net STAPE, NR PICKERING. Enjoy a warm Yorkshire welcome and award winning breakfast at our tranquil farmhouse B&B. ETC 4star Silver. Tel (01751) 473131 www.seavyslack.co.uk STATIC CARAVAN TO LET. Nr Margrove Park. 10 mins to Saltburn - 25 mins to Whitby. Sleeps 4. Tel:[01287]632962 www.margroveparkfarm.co.uk RAILWAY WAGONS - Luxuriously converted, sleeps 2, 4, & 6.

4 poster beds. Pets welcome, no Giraffes! Yorkshire Wolds.

Tel:[01377]217342 www.thewagons.co.uk ROBIN HOOD’S BAY. Over 25 charming fisherman’s cottages in lower RHBay, sleeping 2-8. Tel:[01947]821803 or Mob:[07721]630294. www.robinhoodsbaycottages.co.uk.

ROBIN HOOD’S BAY - STATION WAITING ROOMS LOFT - Original stone/wood, panoramic sea views from velux balcony windows, CH. Free parking, sleeps 4+2. Colour leaflet. Rob Rymer, [01947]880021. [Ansaphone 24hr] Mobile:[07802]984692 www.stationwaitingrooms.co.uk WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE VIRTUAL TOUR? SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA. Spacious 4 bedroomed house refurbished throughout. Sleeps 4 to 8. Beach and all amenities 5 mins walk. Tel:[07908]193144 Email:angnash@sky.com SANDSEND, NR WHITBY, Located in the picturesque Valley, six well appointed holiday cottages sleeping 2 to 8. Sleeping 2 - St Mary's Cottage, Hutton Mulgrave. Dogs welcome by arrangement. Short breaks available October to March. ,Tel:[01947]893239 www.mulgrave-cottages.co.uk SLEIGHTS, WHITBY (3 miles), Comfortable bungalows sleeping 2-9. Quiet location, lovely views. Gardens, parking, dog friendly. No smoking. Tel:[01947]810763 www.whiterosecottages.co.uk SUTTON BANK, NR THIRSK. Two cosy cottages on working smallholding. Sleep 2. Dogs welcome. Tel:[01845]597309 www.rose-cottage-farm.co.uk THORNTON-LE-DALE - Two bedroomed bungalow. Close Scarborough, York, N.Y.Moors. Sleeps 3/4. Sorry no pets.

Tel:[07773]809124. Email: kelvintld@yahoo.co.uk www.kelvin-thorntondale.co.uk WHITBY - 1 and 2 bedroom cottages, including B&B. Fully furnished. Parking. Pets welcome. Tel:[01947] 603790 Email:jillianm@swallowcottages.co.uk www.swallowcottages.co.uk WHITBY - CENTRAL. Quiet, warm, comfortable refurbished cottage. weeks + short breaks. Sleeps 2. Tel:[07881]523141 www.boltholecottage.co.uk WHITBY - Choice of 6 beautifully presented self-catering properties, sleeping 2-6 from £165 per week. Call LIZ on [01947]603010 WHITBY, Delightful bungalow. Sleeps 4. Easy reach of historic town, beaches, moors. CH. Parking & garden.

Brochure, Tel:[01689]851276, www.heatherhousewhitby.co.uk YORKSHIRE WOLDS - HUMBLE BEE FARM 4 star gold luxury holiday cottages on peaceful working farm close to coast. Each cottage sleeps up to 4 (1 double, 1 twin).

Family & dog friendly. Two cottages with HOT TUBS, all with log burner, CH or underfloor heating. Fully equipped, beautifully appointed. WiFi. Tel:[01723]890437 www.humblebeefarm.co.uk

NORTH YORK MOORS, WOLDS & COAST Stay on a farm CROPTON, PICKERING - Cosy cottages and farm house [sleeps 2/10] Log burning stove, lovely countryside, private gardens, pets welcome. Short breaks available.

Tel:[01751]417822 www.beckhousecottages.co.uk

BRONTE COUNTRY & SOUTH PENNINES Self Catering BRONTE COUNTRY - Spontaneous short breaks are our speciality !!!!! Beautifully furnished mill cottages nestling in tranquil valley. Tel: 01535 274259 www.hewendenmillcottages.co.uk Email:hewendenmill@btconnect.com HEBDEN BRIDGE, NT Hardcastle Crags. Refurbished woodland chalet with garden. Sleeps 1-2. Accessible walking/cycling area, many attractions. WiFi. No pets/NS in chalet. Cycle store. Tel (01422) 842861 HEBDEN BRIDGE - 3 miles. Cosy cottage for two. Quiet scenic location. Renovated to high standard. Brochure Tel:[01706]814316 / [07813]139526 www.lowerbirksfarm.co.uk OXENHOPE - Nr HAWORTH. Farm Cottage, sleeps 4.

Parking 2 cars. All inclusive. Dogs welcome.

Tel:[01535]644180. www.oldcotecottage.co.uk

HARROGATE Self Catering BISHOP MONKTON, NR RIPON, Well equipped 2 bedroom cottage in village. Near walking/cycling routes & tourist attractions. Tel (01765) 677588, www.nantodd.co.uk

YORK Hotels, Guest Houses, B&Bs ASCOT HOUSE, YORK, Characterful Victorian house. City centre 15 mins walk. Parking. Pets welcome. 4 Star Silver, Tel (01904) 426826, www.ascothouseyork.com LUXURY CITY CENTRE ACCOMMODATION, Champagne & fruit basket on arrival. Full English Breakfast. Parking. Short Breaks, Tel (01904)673990, www.thebluebicycle.com

CUMBRIA Hotels, Guest Houses, B&Bs AMBLESIDE AREA, Holmeshead Farm - nestling between Ambleside & Hawkshead in the hamlet of Skelwith Fold. All rooms ensuite. Visit Britain 4* Tel:[01539]433048. www.holmesheadfarm.co.uk COCKERMOUTH [6 miles] THE MANOR HOUSE GUEST HOUSE - Spacious ensuite rooms. Extensive grounds. Open views. Peaceful. Pets welcome. Non-smoking, From £33pppn.

Tel:[01697]322420. Website: www.themanorhouse.net

Call: 01756 701381 for details of advertising rates august 2015 89

CUMBRIA Self Catering AMBLESIDE, 23 self-catering cottages & apartments. All 4 star. Peaceful location, near village. Private Parking. Some pet friendly, Tel (01539) 432232, www.kirkstonefoot.co.uk 70 UNIQUE COTTAGES AND GROUP ACCOMMODATION of quality and character in stunning mountain scenery. Country, village and mountain cottages, both large and small, with walks from the door. Great weeks, weekends and short breaks for couples, families or groups. Pets welcome. The Coppermines and Lake Cottages, Coniston LA21 8HJ. Tel:[01539]441765 [24 hours]. www.coppermines.co.uk www.lakescottages.info AMBLESIDE AREA - Attractive timber lodges in woodland setting. No pets. Tel:[01539]4365836 BENTS CAMPING BARN, Kirkby STEPHEN, £9.50pppn.

Sleeps 12-14 Open all year. Lune Valley & Dales. Brochure.

Tel:[01768]371760 or [01768]774301 booking office or online www.bentscampingbarn.com CALDBECK, LAKE DISTRICT. Static caravans. Sleep 4.

CH/DG. Wonderful views. No Smoking. No pets.

Tel:[016974]78268 Web:www.brownrigghall.co.uk CARK IN CARTMEL - Two bedroomed cottage in pretty spot by stream. Lovely walks and places to visit. Trains nearby.

Details: kmelling@supanet.com Tel:[01282]696641 CONISTON - Situated in an elevated position overlooking Coniston Water. Fully self-contained holiday let adjoining our bungalow style property. Sleeps two. Cleanliness assured. No children/ pets. Non-smoking. Tel:[01539]441645 COWGILL, DENT - Cosy quality well equipped cottage Sleeps 4. Heating/Electricity included. Sorry no pets Tel:[01539]625234 Farm holiday cottage - ULLSWATER, NR POOLEY BRIDGE. Sleeps 6/8. Pets Welcome. Ideal for walking, cycling & horse riding [stabling available]. Short breaks.Tel:[01931]713230 www.scalesfarmcottage.co.uk

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GRANGE OVER SANDS - Lovely country cottage on family farm. Magnificent views. Sleeps 2 - 6. Excellent local walks. VE 4 star. Tel:[01539]532606. www.springbank-cottage.co.uk KESWICK - Beautifully appointed 3* apartment overlooking river/park. One bedroom. Residential parking.

No smoking/pets. Brochure Tel:[01204]493138/ mobile:[07875]093044 Email:johnlaura3@tiscali.co.uk KESWICK - Cottage 3 stars. Available all year. Sleeps 4.

Private car park. Tel:[01697]320062 LAKE DISTRICT - EDEN VALLEY: Excellent & varied selection of properties to suit all tastes & prices. Late deals.

Tel:[01768]892777 www.absolute-escapes.com LOWESWATER - Well-equipped 1/2 bedroomed apartments.

Peaceful setting. Extensive gardens with Lake view. Dogs welcome. Tel:[01946]861211 www.thegrange-loweswater.co.uk Nr KENDAL - 3 LOVELY STATIC CARAVANS including Luxury caravan with CH. Fully equipped. Stunning Views.

Lovely rural setting. Sleeps 4. No pets. Tel:[01539]560351. www.caravanslakedistrict.co.uk SOUTH LAKES - NATLAND. Luxury 4.5* two double bedroom holiday cottage near Kendal, 5 mins from M6.

Ideal for walking and visiting Dales/Lakes.

Tel:[07718]522244 www.courtyardcottagekendal.co.uk SOUTH LAKES - Quality rural 18c cottage sleeping 6.

Spacious and comfortable. Garden. Parking. Dogs welcome.

N/S. Tel:[015395]33443 www.ellerhowcottage.co.uk WHITEHAVEN (2mls) - 4* Cottages. Sleep 4. Lakes & Coast.

Owner managed. No Pets. Tel: 01946 64078 www.cottageguide.co.uk/moresby WINDERMERE - 17thC cottage. Sleeps 2. Views across lake to Coniston Old Man. Extensive gardens. From £270/week.

Tel:[01539]446238 For illustrated information contact windyhall1@gmail.com

call: 01756 701381 for details of advertising rates

DERBYSHIRE & PEAK DISTRICT Self Catering NEAR BAKEWELL (MONYASH). Luxury converted barn, warm and cosy, sleeps 4. No smoking, no pets.

Tel:(01629)812945 www.monyash.info/bosgin.php PEACEFUL & PICTURESQUE SURROUNDINGS, Holiday cottage sleeping 2. Buxton 7 miles. C/H, linen provided. Pets welcome. Short breaks available,Tel (01298) 83270

DEVON, CORNWALL, EXMOOR & SOMERSET Self Catering

LINCOLNSHIRE Hotels, Guest Houses, B&Bs & Self Catering THE ECO-LODGE - A simpler way to relax! Discounts for regulars. Freedom for children, magic moments. Great hospitality. Somewhere precious. Tel:(01205)870062 www.ecolodge.me.uk

NORFOLK & SUFFOLK Hotels, Guest Houses, B&Bs & Self Catering NORTH NORFOLK - Flint Cottage, sleeps 2, tastefully furnished, garden, parking. 2 1/2 miles Cromer.

Tel:[01263]715668 NORFOLK/SUFFOLK BORDER, Ground floor annexe sleeping 2. Relax in peace and comfort. No smoking/pets, Tel:[01379]890017, www.keswicklodge.com

NORTH DEVON, Explore Exmoor & our stunning coastlines. Two s/c cottages sleeping 2-7. Dog friendly.

Tel: [01769] 540748. www.grangeholidaycottages.com

SCOTLAND Self Catering

NORTHUMBERLAND & DURHAM Hotels, Guest Houses, B&Bs NORTHUMBERLAND - Farm Stay, rural location - Struthers Farm, Allendale. Superb scenic views, ensuite Double/Twin B&B, optional evening meals. Ideal walking or touring.

Hadrians Wall only 1/2 hour away. Good parking, call Ruby [01434]683580. www.struthersfarmbandb.com

NORTHUMBERLAND & DURHAM Self Catering HAVEN OF TRANQUILLITY - tiny village River Tweed/Scottish border. Sleeps 6. Tel Moira:[01289]382935 www.whitecroftcottage.co.uk NORTHUMBERLAND - DUNSTAN, Cottage sleeping 2.Available year round. Brochure. Tel (07788)585364, Email:cherry_zah@hotmail.com MIDDLETON IN TEESDALE - Cosy cottage adjoining owners farmhouse. Quiet, peaceful location. Sleeps 2/4. £195 £315pw. Tel:[01833]640343 NORTHUMBERLAND, BEADNELL - Pleasant modern well equipped bungalow. Sleeps 4. Close to beach. From £360 pw.

Tel:[01325]300768

HAMPSHIRE Self Catering CHARMING GRANNIE ANNEXE, Available all year, sleeps 2.

Ideal for visiting the heart of the New Forest.

Tel:[01725]518808, www.newforestborders.co.uk

DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY - Delightful cosy cottage with superb sea views. Sleeps 3. Walking, golf, fishing, dark skies, relaxing. Tel:[01776]853528 KILLIECRANKIE, PERTHSHIRE - Delightful, stone cottage, wood burner, dogs by arrangement. Sleeps 5.

Tel:[01796]470017 www.athollcottage.co.uk

WALES Self Catering ABERSOCH - QUALITY CHARACTER COTTAGES sleeping 1-24, some pet friendly. Romantic Short Breaks. Saunas/Spa baths. Lovely garden. Tel:[01758]730375 www.crugeran.com

HOLIDAY PARKS & SALES LUNE VALLEY, Pitches for holiday statics & seasonal tourers. Peaceful family run park on Lune Valley Farm, Tel:[01524]770723, www.newparksidefarm.co.uk

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DALESMAN

CD, DVD & VIDEO

Market Place

ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES

DVD COPIES FROM HOME MOVIE CINE FILM & Camcorder/VHS/Betamax tapes. Audio to CD. Est: 20 years. In Camera Productions, Tower House Business Centre, York, YO10 4UA Tel:[01904]673579 Web:www.icpphotoandvideo.co.uk Email:in.camera@btinternet.com

CRAFTSMEN COOPERS OF ILKLEY - FURNITURE HOSPITAL Complete restoration & repair service.

Established 100 years. Antiques & Modern.

Collection/Delivery. Tel:[01943]608020 www.coopersantiquesilkley.co.uk

A.A.

Clockcraft

Specialist Repairers and Retailers of

Antique Clocks & Barometers Fully qualified member of the British Horological Institute - Always a good selection of Antique clocks & Barometers

BOOKS CAN’T FIND THAT BOOK? We can! DVD’s /CD’s too. Free service. Roosterbooks, 7 Elysium Terrace, Northampton, NN2 6EN. Tel:[01604]720983.

92 august 2015

Workshop & Showroom 13 High Street, Bridlington

01262 602802 www.aaclockcraft.co.uk

FOOD & DRINK

CRAFTS, HOBBIES & COURSES GALLERIES & ARTISTS

If you are reading this, then so could over 200,000 Dalesman readers!

Advertising from as little as ÂŁ15.00 per month inc. VAT call now for a quote: 01756 701381

august 2015 93

HOMES & GARDENS

Your chimney relined in one day by the U.K’s largest chimney lining specialists.

25 Year Quality Assured Guarantee.

FREE HELPLINE 0800 0345 442 Email: info@thermocrete.com Web: www.thermocrete.com

94 august 2015

STAMPS, POSTCARDS & COINS STAMP COLLECTIONS, POSTAL HISTORY & PRE 1960’s POSTCARDS WANTED. Specialist pays top prices. Also valuations undertaken for Insurance/Probate. COINS, MEDALS AND PRE 1960 FOOTBALL PROGRAMMES also required.

Will travel to view. Tel:[01524]423180 or [07721]651751 Email:fillatellic@yahoo.co.uk

WANTED

PAINTER & DECORATOR - JIM LOFTUS - Time Served, Discounts for OAP’s. Free Estimates. Tel:[01535]637439 or [07946]227989. Email:jimloftus@btinternet.com THE YORKSHIRE SUNDIAL MAKER, Exquisitely crafted, accurate sundials. Armillary spheres, Horizontal and Wall dials Details on website,Tel:[01977]680118, www.theyorkshiresundialmaker.co.uk

PERSONAL GENT MID 70S - Interests classical music, art & architecture. GSH, honest & reliable. Own house and car.

WLTM smart, elegant lady of similar age & interests for days out, holidays etc. East or North Riding area if possible.

Tel:[07854]759418

SERVICES

1950/70’s PLASTIC SOLDIERS, KNIGHTS, COWBOYS, FARM. Plastic garden Timpo trains. Tel:[01455]286510 OLD MOTORBIKES - any condition considered. Can pay cash and colllect. Tel:[07831]549430. Email: john.g.clifford@virgin.net OLD POSTCARDS of HEALAUGH NR TADCASTER. Good price paid from private collector. Tel Victor (01937) 830317 evenings.

UNWANTED FAMILY/MILITARY PHOTOGRAPHS, Executors please don't destroy! Instead donate to photo library. Any quantity/era. Can uplift (see website) or post to Alex McGowan, Craigmar, Hebden, BD23 5EB. Postage refunded.

Tel: [07771 680084], New website: www.unwantedphotos.co.uk WANTED OLD FOUNTAIN PENS - Ink wells & writing accessories. Telephone Alan on [01539]723026 or after 6 on [01539]634045 www.abclloyd.co.uk

WEDDINGS WEDDINGS FOR MATURE COUPLES, Economically attractive solutions at intimate & stunning Dales venue, Contact Chloe: [07771]680084, www.craigmar.co.uk

COTTAGE OWNERS

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RETIREMENT CARE & INDEPENDENCE

96 august 2015

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august 2015 97

my best day out Samuel Fussey

A

fter a hearty breakfast, mum and I slipped on our packs for the final time and departed the castle-like Grinton Youth Hostel, heading straight into bleak, overcast moorland.

We were on day four of our walk round the Herriot Way and I was nearing the end of my three-month university exchange spent “back home” in Yorkshire. In a few days’ time I would be flying back to New Zealand and for the last ten days I had been joined by my mother to experience the Dales together, like she had with her mother years before. It was a rite of passage, but we still had thirteen miles to go. We grimly trudged on into the developing mist, guidebook in hand to keep us on track. While our previous three days’ walking had been graced with glorious sunshine, today the weather had turned. But it didn't turn our spirits for this was proper walking, none of that fair weather stuff.

Step after step, conversation continued as we tried to maintain sanity, despite wandering past places like Crackpot Hall. After utilising open barns and shooting cabins as shelter from driving rain, we stopped for a much needed hot chocolate at Castle Bolton, taking time to look around the building that we had come to know and love through ITV series The Dales. We were even fortunate enough to have time to view their bird of prey display.

Marching on, a rainbow graced our afternoon landscape, as did close encounters with two curlew and a grouse. Soon we were on our descent to Aysgarth Falls. Initially astounded

at their beauty, little was I to know that as we progressed from Lower, to Middle and finally Upper Falls, the cascades of water only got more and more impressive in their splendour.

The final leg to Aysgarth village seemed longer than the mile stated but the sight of our parked loan car and the warmth its heating could provide was enough to keep us going. A photo on the village green on the same spot as on our departure was taken for comparison – Day One showed us with enthusiasm and naivety, Day Four with worldworn-weariness yet complete and utter satisfaction.

With a little of the day’s light still to play with we drove much of the route we had walked in next to no time at all and frequented the parts not ventured to on foot, including the Buttertubs Pass.

It was then up and up to the Tan Hill Inn where we were booked in for the night. And what a night it was. Just as I had pictured it when reading The Inn At The Top, the highest pub in Britain provided exactly what we needed – a shower, log fire, a hearty warm meal, jovial and entertaining hosts, a wellstocked bar and ultimately a comfortable bed to rest the head. n Reader contributions to this monthly feature are very welcome. They should ideally be between 375 and 500 words. Email your submissions to editorial@dalesman.co.uk, or post them to My Best Day Out, Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire BD23 3AG.

the last laugh What do you call a Yorkshireman who refuses a drink on his birthday? Dead.

98 august 2015

august 2015 99

100 august 2015