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Keelham Farm Shop

Keelham Farm Shop Image copyright Guzelian

I love a good farm shop, and Keelham Farm Shop near Skipton is a very good farm shop.

It's attractively laid out, offers exactly the right combination of essentials and treats, an excellent choice but not so broad it's overwhelming.

Best of all, it's a farm shop that actually supplies food from farmers...

That might sound obvious but not all do, some filling space with too many
fripperies.

The Robertshaw family are proud to sell produce from 400 farmers and other suppliers.

After opening in 2015, Keelham Farm Shop quickly established itself as a destination in its own right, thanks to its fantastic displays and cafe. Combine it with a visit to Skipton Castle and Skipton Castle Woods and you're on to a winner of a day out.

I'm not fond of shopping but Keelham does make it feel much more enjoyable, thanks to small thoughtful ideas that show they think about what they sell. When a recipe calls for a combination of several herbs, it usually only needs a few sprigs of each so the plastic pouches sold at supermarkets can be wasteful. Keelham lets you buy just what you need. There are brown paper pouches of all the vegetables you need for a stew or soup, again less waste.

Shopping with children can be a trial, yet the red tractor makes Keelham feel more of an experience. Young ones are invited to take a piece of free fruit to keep hunger pangs at bay.

Seasonal events add to the atmosphere. There's a bakery, butchers, flower shop, juicery and alehouse, as well as a cafe and restaurant.

Keelham are also good at supporting the local community, promoting healthy eating and sourcing local and seasonal food.

They make 'doing the right thing' seems effortless and obvious, so you're left wondering why there aren't more shops like this one?

Stainforth & Leaping Salmon

Image by Andrew Locking

Around now every year Stainforth in Ribblesdale becomes an even more delightful spot to visit, thanks to an incredible sight: salmon leaping.

They spend most of their life in the sea and then return to fresh water to spawn. Their journey to lay their eggs is one of the most incredible in the natural world with countless obstacles and challenges along the way, so it's really special to be able to see the salmon as they make their way up Stainforth Force.

Force is an old word for 'waterfall' but in this case, Force is a good name as there really some power in the River Ribble.

It's best to go to see the salmon leaping at the spot just outside Stainforth between late September and November, after a spate of rain. The limestone can be quite slippery so do be careful.

You might also like to take a little wander around the village of Stainforth itself. Look out for the Craven Heifer pub, one of many named after a famous shorthorn cow bred at Bolton Abbey and known for its incredible size.

The photogenic packhorse bridge is just above Stainforth Force, and nearby is the curious and much-loved Hoffman Kiln. There's a nice story about another local spot, a hollow filled with rocks. This is said to be the site of a mill owned by a very greedy miller called Robin Hood who worked all hours, even Sundays. His mill was so busy it eventually ground its way into the earth and completely disappeared. But if you put your ear to the ground below the stones (!?), you can still hear the millstones grinding away below - or maybe the river...

All these images are by Andrew Locking who runs the website Andrews Walks. Take a look to see the one in Stainforth.

Six thousand years of sheep?

Sheep near Austwick by Paul Harris

Did you know that sheep have been farmed for around 6000 years? The Bible includes many references to sheep, and they feature in ancient legends such as the Golden Fleece. Records show that wool was bought and sold in Babylon as early as 4000 BC. Babylon actually means “land of wool”.

Wild sheep were used for food and clothing. The Britons were already farming sheep when the Romans invaded, bringing with them larger sheep with finer, whiter wool.

The Vikings brought their own breeds of black-faced sheep with horns. These were the ancestors of Swaledale, Blackface, and Herdwicks. Britain’s woollen industry and wool exports steadily grew. The largest flocks of sheep belonged to the monasteries and abbeys. By the 1100s wool was the driving force of the English economy. The Woolsack became the seat for the Lord speaker in the House of Lords. King Edward III introduced it as a reminder of England's key source of wealth and sign of great prosperity. It was largely thanks to King Edward III that the wool trade prospered. A great deal of British wool was exported to Flanders to be made into cloth, and then imported back into Britain.

The Flemish weavers were apparently discontent with their working conditions. In 1331 Edward III invited around 50 Flemish master weavers to settle in Britain with the proviso that they must each take on at least one English apprentice. They taught the arts of textile processing and added value to the woollen trade.

Over the next few years the textile industry flourished. The Cisterian monks in abbeys such as Fountains and Jervaulx were renowned for their sheep farming. Sheep were crucial to them: they used wool for clothing and bedding and sold it at market alongside lamb, cheese and butter. They even used sheep skins for parchment.

By 1300, Fountains Abbey was the leading producer and exporter of wool. Their extensive lands stretched over to Malham Moor. Fountains Abbey had an enormous wool warehouse, a fulling mill and dye-vats. The monks at Jervaulx Abbey were the first to produce Wensleydale cheese made from ewes milk.

Wool became an increasingly valuable commodity and was traded internationally, with a very strong market in Italy. The richness of the ecclesiastical architecture of the abbeys built during this time can still be seen.
After Henry VIII seized the lands of the monasteries, much of the land was sold off and let to local people. Lowland pastures and arable land were eventually enclosed, leaving the upland hills as pastures for grazing sheep. The common lands were used in “stints”, allowing farmers to graze a number of cattle each year, hence the expression, “have you done your stint?”

Knitting and producing woollen goods was an important way to supplement household income. In the 16th century, men, women and children used thick, greasy “bump” wool to make hard wearing knitted items such as jumpers, stockings and caps in the areas around Richmond, Hawes and Dentdale. In Dentdale they were known as the ‘terrible knitters of Dent’. There were a large number of hand knitters in Swaledale and Wensleydale. Gayle Mill supplied much of the wool yarn. Swaledale Woollens in Muker still employs many local hand knitters.

At Farfield Mill wool was carded and spun, and then sent out to be knitted. Completed goods were dyed and fulled back at the Mill. It later brought in looms and specialized in producing horse blankets. The industrial revolution began around 1750 with inventions that speeded up processes such as spinning and weaving. These tasks moved from cottage industries to factories, particularly in Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield. The 1761 Turnpike Act meant that some roads were improved. Railways were built on the fringes of the Dales, making it easier to transport wool and woollen goods to the ports and to other markets.

From about 1780, improvements in water wheel design meant that streams and rivers could be harnessed to power the new spinning and weaving machines. Textile mills were built throughout the Dales, working cotton, wool and flax. Many water mills were built or converted during the 18th century to set up cotton mills in the Yorkshire Dales but the competition from larger mills in Lancashire meant they didn’t survive.

Over the next few years the textile industry flourished. The Cisterian monks in abbeys such as Fountains and Jervaulx were renowned for their sheep farming. Sheep were crucial to them: they used wool for clothing and bedding and sold it at market alongside lamb, cheese and butter. They even used sheep skins for parchment.

By 1300, Fountains Abbey was the leading producer and exporter of wool. Their extensive lands stretched over to Malham Moor. Fountains Abbey had an enormous wool warehouse, a fulling mill and dye-vats. The monks at Jervaulx Abbey were the first to produce Wensleydale cheese made from ewes milk.

Tupping Time

Dalesbred tup

Around this time of year there's a lot of talk in the Yorkshire Dales about the quality of tups, tup sales and tupping.

Tups, or rams, are male sheep. This is the time of year when a good tup can really earn his keep.

You might have seen two curious sights in Dales fields - a sheep wearing what looks like a harness, and other sheep (ewes - females) with coloured marks on their backsides?

Tups have a raddle filled with dye strapped to their chest so that when they mate, they leave a coloured mark on the ewe's backside. Different colours may be used so the farmer knows which ewe will lamb when, and which tups are being most effective. An experienced tup may sere up 50 ewes. Mating is known as tupping.

Tups are prized for another reason during October & November. When the major tup sales take place in Autumn, the auction marts in places like Hawes and Kirkby Stephen become very busy with farmers seeking to buy and sell tups and improve breeding lines. There's a lot at stake, since this is the culmination of much work and it's when some farmers recoup their costs, hopefully with a decent profit. Every now and then there are record sales such as a few years ago when a Swaledale ram sold at Kirkby Stephen for £101,000 - the highest price ever paid for a sheep in Britain. This sort of remarkable figure is unusual as most will sell at much lower amounts, but competition is fierce to secure top bloodlines.

Filming James Herriot

Next year it will be 50 years since the original James Herriot books were published, bringing pleasure to millions of readers acrosss the world.

Visitors still come to the Yorkshire Dales in search of the locations used in the original TV series and film adaptation of the popular books. The BBC series ran from 1978 to 1990, showcasing the Yorkshire Dales to a huge audience.

It's hoped that a new audience will soon discover the delights of the James Herriot books, thanks to a new adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, commissioned by Channel 5. The series is currently being filmed by production company, Playground (who created Wolf Hall and Howards End), and will also be shown on PBS in the United States. The commission is for an initial series of six episodes as well as a Christmas special.

The original series was filmed mainly in locations in Swaledale and Wensleydale but it looks like there will be some different locations for the new series. Film crews have been spotted filming in and around Grassington, Malham and Kettlewell.

Yorkshire Three Peaks

Pen-y-Ghent by Paul Harris

Every year thousands of visitors come to the Yorkshire Dales with a sole purpose in mind: to complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, covering the 24 mile route to climb Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough in under 12 hours.

Along the route they take in some of the most dramatic and beautiful countryside in England, ascending over 5200 ft in total.

Most follow the same route, starting with Pen-y-Ghent, then Whernside and Ingleborough but you don't have to walk these peaks all in one go.

There are fantastic signed routes to the summit of each of them. Many start with Pen-y-Ghent, setting out from Horton-in-Ribblesdale and go by Hull Pot on the way down. The Whernside route starts at the incredible Ribblehead Viaduct. Being the highest point in Yorkshire, there are amaazing views as far as Morecambe Bay on a clear day from the summit. Clapham is the starting point for the route up Ingleborough, where you'll see remarkable limestone scenery.

While everyone appreciates that these routes are much loved, a small minority of visitors do cause problems for locals by irresponsible parking, and sometimes litter. The volume of visitors can cause issues with path erosion, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park's rangers and volunteers are kept busy repairing and maintaining the paths and rights of way. Everyone is encouraged to follow the Yorkshire Three Peaks Code of Conduct, and to consider how they can reduce their impact by using designated parking areas and planning well for their walk. Yorkshire Dales weather can change very quickly, and many people don't appreciate the huge potential difference in weather between the bottom of a peak and the summit.

Mountain Rescue Services (volunteers) are frequently called out for silly reasons - because people haven't planned properly, don't wear the right clothing or take sufficient provisions. I've heard of them getting called out to people who set out to climb a significant peak in flip flops (because it was sunny when they set out) and then struggled on scree, or because they'd run out of sandwiches! The volunteer rescuers have plenty of call outs for more serious medical reasons so it's worth being properly prepared to avoid adding to their burden.

The Three Peaks App gives information on the routes, accommodation, maps and points of interest along the way. It would be good if we could help spread the word about the Code of Conduct, to encourage walkers to make a donation to the Mountain Rescue Services, and to take a look at the Three Peaks online shop. Proceeds from items bought go to help fund the work of the rangers and maintain the routes.

Ingleborough by Paul Harris

Farm fresh milk

Many years ago, milk maids used to carry heavy churns of farm-fresh milk into villages and towns so everyone had the chance to bring along their jugs and buy milk. Eventually they were replaced by milk men and women with carts and then electric vehicles.

If you're anywhere near my age you'll remember the sound of bottles clinking every morning (no, not putting out the bottles from the party the night before!) and family arguments about whose turn it was to take the cream from the top of the milk.

Almost every household had a milk man or woman, who delivered daily supplies in glass bottles that were washed and used over and over again.

The milk man/woman could tell you exactly where the milk came from and they were an essential part of every community. If the previous day's milk still stood on the doorstep and a household's curtains were closed, they'd knock on the door and check the inhabitant was OK.

And then along came supermarkets and plastic cartons, and we gradually forgot the pleasure of drinking proper fresh milk, and we started to contribute to the mountain of plastic that now plagues the world.

Now the tide may be turning and we're starting to realise that sometimes 'old fashioned' is good. Ideas from the past may well be worth updating and re-using.

Step forward brothers Ben and Adam Spence, their parents David and Susan, and Ben's wife Sam, who together are The Home Farmer. Growing lush green grass and rearing healthy happy cows is part of their heritage but now they're going back to basics and selling milk and cheese direct from their farm. Rather than drive a Benny-Hill style milk cart, they've come up with a novel idea. They've converted a horse trailer into a mobile shop that is parked in different Wensleydale villages according to a timetable so anyone living in or visiting Aysgarth, West Burton, Hawes, and Askrigg can go to buy farm fresh milk and delicious cheese. Better still, the milk is only gently pasteurised so has a layer of cream on just like it used to do! And you can re-use their glass bottles.

The Spence family have 100 cows, all of which they know by name. If you follow them on facebook, you'll quickly learn some of their names and characters too, including the cheeky ones that delight in leaving their pasture to graze grass verges on the nearby lane. Supermarket milk is sent long distances for processing, is homogenised to remove the cream that would normally settle on top, to make it more stable and long lasting, and can be several days old by the time it gets to you. The Home Farmer's milk travels very few miles from the farm and is absolutely fresh. In the Summer time you can see the 'girls' grazing and enjoying their Wensleydale views and when the weather gets cold they're taken inside to a spacious cattle shed where they can enjoy a good massage with scratching brushes, which cows love.

For full details of when and where you can buy the Home Farmer's milk and cheese see their website

Dales Alphabet of Activities

Hay flower meadow by Paul Harris

How well do you really know the Yorkshire Dales?

Have you worked your way through our alphabet and done all these?

You can't do some of them at this time of year, so you might need to plan to come back next year?

Which are the ones you'd most like to do?

Enjoy an adventure in the wide-open spaces
Stand and admire the breath-taking views
Discover the magical underground world of our caves
Learn the centuries-old art of dry stonewalling
Take an evening walk by the riverside as dusk falls
Fish for your supper at Kilnsey
Gaze at the incredibly starry and clear night sky
Take a moment to count wild flowers in a traditional hay meadow
Enjoy ice cream on a farm
Experience the joy of suddenly spotting a red squirrel in Snaizeholme
Add to the kindness of Dales communities by supporting one of village events
Be lazy, lolly-gag and just enjoy being
Create lovely life-long memories: take your children to an open farm
Enjoy a natural high: walk to the top of a hill and wonder at the world below
Stay outdoors all day from dawn to dusk
Spot the peregrine falcons and their chicks at Malham Tarn
Join the locals in a traditional game of quoits on a village green
Brace yourself for a quick splash in an ice-cold river
Marvel at the amazing variety of sheep at one of our country shows
Take a trip on a steam train through stunning countryside
Unwind: sit among the heather on the moors and watch the bees at work
Visit one of our small local museums, full of curious signs of the past
Stand in wonder and admire a waterfall
X marks the spot - enjoy a family day geocaching
Buy and knit yarn made from Yorkshire Dales sheep
Zzzzzz... if you don't sleep well after all that, you never will!

A powerful stone

It’s not very often that places in the Yorkshire Dales remind me of famous landmarks in Sri Lanka.

The Dales version isn’t quite as big as Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, but it’s still remarkable, an impressive stone standing proud on a lonely moorland road south of High Bentham.

‘Our’ Sigiriya is imaginatively known as ‘Big Stone’, or the ‘Great Stone of Fourstones’. You won’t be able to find the other three stones but legend says they once lay nearby.

Big Stone is over 5 metres high, and offers views of Ingleborough on a clear day. At some point some strong soul painstakingly carved steps up the side of the stone so you can climb to the top. I think it’s a glacial erratic, transported to this spot when the ice retreated millennia ago.

Some people think the stone was a boundary marker between Yorkshire and Lancashire, others that it was once a meeting place. Some think it was dropped there by the same devil who tried to play a trick at Devil’s Bridge, Kirkby Lonsdale.

Thanks to Yorkshire Trails for the image

Three Peaks Arts Trail

The western side of the Yorkshire Dales is dominated by the dramatic outline of the Three Peaks: Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. Much of the time these powerful landmarks are the backdrop for strenuous outdoor physical challenges.

As Autumn sets in, and the colours change, it's refreshing to see them in a different light - the beauty of the Three Peaks has inspired countless generations of artists.

A group or artists formed Three Peaks Arts in 2018 and have since organised open studios events, exhibitions and workshops. The Three Peaks Arts Trail is an opportunity to meet some of the artists, see their work, take part in a workshop, and understand their response to the surrounding countryside and other influences. A very varied range of disciplines and artists are included in the activities between 12th - 20th October, with most of the events taking place over the two weekends.

You'll be able to hear poetry, see printmaking, ceramics, painting, wood-carving, photography, book-making, textiles, silversmithing and collage. Horton Old School will be open through-out the week for an exhibition of work and residency by Manchester Metropolitan University Fine Art Students who will respond to the local environment. The internationally-known artist William Tillyer will be will opening the preview evening and talking about his work.

If you'd like to develop your own creative skills, join (pre-book - the prices are very reasonable so I think places will go quickly) one of the workshops covering tutored life drawing, landscape painting, drypoint, pottery, printmaking.

Do you collect anything? I, and a lot of people like me, can't help picking up small items and nature's bounty when outside, so I'm intrigued by "Collections", an exhibition at Horton Station on both weekends when Josie Beszant, Hester Cox and Charlotte Morrison will show their work on the theme of collections, and invite members of the public to show and tell them about their own collecting.

You can book workshops and see full details of the Three Peaks Art Trail events on their website. For full details of the artists whose work is pictured below pls see the website.

Find more places to visit in the Yorkshire Dales

Wharfedale
Grassington
Kettlewell
Burnsall
Appletreewick
Kilnsey
Bolton Abbey Estate

Swaledale & Arkengarthdale
Reeth
Richmond
Muker
Thwaite
Keld
Buttertubs
Langthwaite
Gunnerside
Crackpot Hall
Corpse Way
Swale Trail

Wensleydale
Hawes
Leyburn
Masham
Middleham
Askrigg
Wensley
Aysgarth
Carperby

Ribblesdale & Three Peaks
Settle
Settle-Carlisle Railway
Yorkshire Three Peaks
Clapham
Feizor
Hoffman
Ingleborough
Ingleton
Stainforth

Nidderdale
Pateley Bridge
Scar House Reservoir
Coldstones Cut
Fountains Abbey
Brimham Rocks

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This independent not-for-profit website was created using recommendations from Dales insiders' - people who live in, and love the Yorkshire Dales.

Copyright Susan Briggs 2021
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