Dalesman June 2011

May 28, 2011

For Dalesman this month, I visited a primary school that has worked with the Post Office to provide a service after the village Parish Plan revealed a desire for a Post Office.

Pupils at Foston School serve in their Post Office

Pupils serving in Foston School's Post Office

Laura Glass, a teaching assistant at Foston School, in Thornton-le-Clay near Malton, says, “It was part of the Parish Plan – they wanted a Post Office, and we thought it would be a good way to help develop community links.”

While the children benefit from learning ‘real life’ skills, and villagers enjoy being served by the children, the services the school can currently offer are limited.  Basically, it’s stamps and cards.

Miss Glass says, “A kind lady from Halifax sent us some cards to sell, and at Christmas, the children designed some cards, which we printed.”

Miss Glass says, “We hope to expand it as time goes by – we’ll see how it goes.”

A spokesman for the Post Office explained “Any organisation can apply to become a stamp retailer, and we’ll provide stamps at a discount so they can make a small profit.  And to accept parcels, all you need is some scales and a template to measure the size, so that you can work out the correct postage.”

But the Post Office would charge to collect the parcels, unless the organisation was selling enough stamps to qualify for free collection.  However, parcels could be stamped and collected by an organisation such as the school or the pub, then taken to a main post office to be sent.  So if someone from the school was passing a main post office on the way home, this could be a next move for the school’s service.

When a community wants to save a Post Office that’s closing, then they can explore ideas, but if they wanted to open a brand new ‘Greenfield’ Post Office, then they would have to discuss this.  The spokesman explained, “We want to make it as easy as possible, but, the main criterion would be impact on other Post Offices – we wouldn’t want to take business away from an existing PO.  We’d also discuss suitable premises, a person to run it, and look at the business case so that we were confident it was sustainable.

Meanwhile, Consumer Focus (http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/policy-research/post/background-briefings/post-office-local) says that “Post Office Local” –sometimes called ‘Post Office Essentials’ is being trialled.  It’s a system where a limited Post Office service is offered over the counter of an existing retail business, rather than at a dedicated Post Office counter.

I doubt very much that service users care what sort of counter their services come over, as long as they can access the services they need.  With the cost of fuel and transport ever spiralling, the more services that can be accessed without long journeys, the better people will be pleased.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Sue Lawson, a deeply thoughtful artist.  Sue is an artists’ artist, bringing immense depth and experience to her work

Sue Lawson, artist

Sue Lawson, artist

She studied art at university, where she did fashionable installations, and pieces reflecting concepts of fame and consumer society.  She enjoyed her time there, and the exuberance of the city, of watching people and their activities.

But when she moved to the Yorkshire Dales, the landscape was, she said, ‘a revelation.’  And she took to painting it.  She says, “It’s important to take reference from other artists, to learn.  But then you have to forget it and find your own way of looking at things.  It comes from within – then other people respond to it.  It’s like music – they’re closely related.  I can’t paint properly unless I listen to music.

She aims to capture the particular feeling of a particular place, at a particular moment – her memory of being there.  She says, “You can put more emotion into a painting than a photograph.”

“It is not so much intellectual as a feeling thing.  I put a lot of energy into it.”

Although she doesn’t paint outdoors, she spends lots of time out, walking, taking photographs, and soaking up the atmosphere.  People say that Sue’ s work reminds them of coming home with ruddy cheeks after a winter walk..

There’s a lot of texture in Sue’s paintings, and for that reason, she sells only original paintings, not prints.  She says, “Prints wouldn’t work for my pictures, because they don’t carry the texture.”

Sue works in layers, adding glazes – It’s surprising that pictures so full of vitality are the result of such long labours.  But, says Sue, “Struggle makes you appreciate things – it’s how the old masters worked.”  She uses oil paints that allow her to do this, and says, “If I don’t get the atmosphere, it doesn’t leave the studio.  It needs the madness and energy.”

Her aim with her pictures, she says, is “Escapism – a feeling of being in a place, and recreating the overall impact of that place when you were there.”

She has to keep painting, as her favourites sell, and, she says, “I’ve never had a house with a view, so I put the views on the walls.”

See Sue’s work at http://www.suelawson.co.uk/

Read both articles in full in Dalesman magazine, in print only.

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Dalesman May 2011

April 26, 2011

Dalesman for May 2011 features two enjoyable, but very different visits.

Holgate Mill was  a surreal sight: an eighteenth century windmill in the middle of a street of comfortable twentieth century semi-detached family homes.

Bob Anderton beside the huge cogs that harness the wind to drive the grindstones

Bob Anderton beside the machinery of Holgate Windmill

When it was built, Holgate was the height of wind technology.  It boasted a fantail, a vane mounted to the rear of the mill that automatically aligned the mill to face the wind.

Previously, windmills had been mounted on a  post sunk in the ground.  When the wind direction changed, the miller had to rotate the entire building, millstones and all, to face the wind again – a hard, heavy job.

Older mills had four sails, usually made of canvas like the sails of a ship.  Holgate had five sails for maximum efficiency.  The sails were also fitted with shutters, like venetian blinds.  In low winds, the shutters were closed to catch as much wind as possible.  In high winds, the shutters were opened up to allow some wind to pass through, and avoid damage to the sails.

Despite being the height of technology when it was built, when electricity became easily available, the miller preferred to use an electric motor, rather than rely on the vagaries of the wind.  Even today, after restoring the wind powered machinery, the preservation society will run one grindstone on wind power, and the other with an electric motor, so that they can work when the wind doesn’t blow.

One of the joys of eighteenth-century engineering is that, unlike modern electronics,  it’s all big and visible.  Inside the mill,  giant cogs and shafts transmit the power from the rotating sails to the grindstones.  Most of the gears are cast iron, still strong and serviceable after over 200 years.  But many of the hoppers, vats and beams are wood, and years of damp and insects have destroyed these.  However, these have been built anew: the members of Holgate Mill Preservation Society have achieved a great deal in ten years.

Bob attributes this success to a skilled team, generous funders, and their strategy.  Rather than try to do all the work themselves, they went to a professional millwright, Tom Davies, and applied for grants to fund the work.

Visitors to the mill need to be fit and agile, as access to all four floors is by ladder.  As you progress up the tower, the rooms become progressively smaller, and right up in the cap, the room is dominated by a huge toothed wheel, attached the sails.  When the wind turns that wheel, it would be easy for the unwary to get caught in the machinery.  The picture above shows Bob Anderton, the chairman of the preservation society,  next to the great gear that is turned by the sails.

Bob hopes that soon the mill will be grinding corn, selling flour – and even possibly adding a bakery.

He says, “We want to grind flour and sell it for people to use.”  As the mill is currently in use as a mini-community hall, the addition of food can only mean even more visitors to this very unusual windmill.

For further information, see www.holgatewindmill.org or Telephone Bob  Anderton on 01904 795851

Holgate Mill was once cutting edge technology.  By contrast, Hackfall was always meant to evoke the past, created as a romantic ruin.

PAUL MOSLEY, THE WOODLAND OFFICER, ENJOYS A WALK AT HACKFALL

HACKFALL IS A SEMI NATURAL WOODLAND WITH ROMANTIC RUINS DESIGNED BY WILLIAM AISLABIE

Hackfall was originally woodland that would have been used for timber.  In fact, said Paul Mosley, Hackfall’s officer, “It’s believed that the Aislabies originally bought Hackfall for the timber, and for a tufa quarry, which they used to clad several buildings at Studley Royal.”

The Aislabies who bought Hackfall were famous for their landscape design around Fountains Abbey, now a World Heritage Site.  But their landscape at Hackfall, where they built  romantic ‘ruin’ eye-catchers in the forest, is less well-known.

But in its day, it was famous.  Turner painted it, and Victorian tourist guides advertised carriages from Ripon Station to Hackfall.   But, after years as a Victorian pleasure ground, the timber was all felled in the 1930s.

It chanced that the land was then bought by someone who went against the advice at the time, which was to replant with fast-growing, commercial conifers.  Instead, the new owner bided his time, and let nature take its course.

It has resulted in Hackfall now being classed as the relatively rare ‘semi natural ancient woodland.’  The semi-natural bit is because, says Paul – that lucky man whose job it is to know Hackfall intimately – “Most woodland has always been managed, and at Hackfall there’s evidence of limekilns, charcoal burning, and sawmills all in the wood.  But the seedbank, and the wildlife, such as invertebrates, are still there.”

“And there’s lots of wildlife.  We had a moth expert who trapped 158 species in one evening.”

Hackfall is made even more interesting by the series of follies built by the Aislabies.  They act as ‘eyecatchers’ and ‘surprises’ to draw walkers around the wood.

Hackfall is also full of falling water, with so many becks, trickles and cascades, it’s quite difficult to tell what’s natural and what’s man-made.  Which, of course, was the Aislabies’ intention: to enhance the natural landscape to make it more beautiful, and more interesting.   Nearly three hundred years later, it’s clear that they knew what they were doing.

Hackfall is beguiling at any time of year – I recommend a visit.

See www.woodlandtrust.org.uk and www.hackfall.org.uk for more, and information on how to get there, where to park, etc

News since the article went to print: Paul Mosley says that Hackfall has won

the Nostra Europa Award for its  Conservation / Restoration.

See: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/our-woods/hackfall/Pages/EuropaNostraAward.aspx?wood=5462

Or: http://www.europanostra.org/projects/50/

He adds that the restoration was achieved thanks to funding from The  Heritage Lottery Fund, The Hackfall Trust,  the Woodland Trust and volunteers,  the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Yorventure and the North Yorkshire Aggregates Grant Scheme.

To read my articles in full, in print only, buy Dalesman Magazine, www.dalesman.co.uk

MOWBRAY CASTLE, AN EYECATCHER BUILT BY THE AISLABIES

MOWBRAY CASTLE, ONE OF THE MANY EYECATCHERS EVOKING THE PAST GLORIES AT HACKFALL

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Dalesman April 2011

March 24, 2011

Dalesman April 2011 – Mulgrave Woods

A VIEW OF THE MULGRAVE ESTATE

LANDSCAPING BY HUMPHRY REPTON AT MULGRAVE

As a tree lover myself, it was a pleasure to meet Jim Mortlock, head forester for the Mulgrave Estate, near Whitby.

It was clear that Jim took real pleasure and pride in the woods he cares for, and, as he took me round the estate, I could see why.

He works to a plan laid out by Humphry Repton some three centuries ago – but this is the time scale a forester has to think in.  Standing in open parkland by the estate office, Jim pointed out how the swathes of woodland that he is still planting contribute to Repton’s landscape vision.

And, as he pointed out the views, it was clear that Repton’s vision was coming to fruition.  There were stands of trees across the treetops, cradling the green vale of pasture and parkland.  Here, large specimen trees were things of beauty in their own right.

Across the fields were breathtaking views of the sea and cliffs at Sandsend.

And the well-managed woods, said Jim, were full of wildlife.  He showed me trees that he’s kept for woodpeckers to nest in.  He likes to see the deer, which are a small, managed population that don’t damage his trees.

As for the flowers, after years of being shaded out, Jim says that thinning out firewood has rejuvenated them, producing carpets of primroses and bluebells in spring.

The policy of mixing decidous and evergreen trees showed its visual benefits when I visited, as dark evergreens provided a foil to the brilliant autumn colours of the hardwoods.

The estate has recently invested in state of the art machinery to cut logs for firewood.  Income from these logs has paid for new access tracks into the woods, which are available for public access on selected days.

To buy firewood, or to visit the woods, see http://mulgrave-estate.co.uk/index.php/land-use/access/

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Radio Debut

March 11, 2011

After years of visiting  people and places in Yorkshire for Dalesman Magazine, today BBC Radio York invited me to comment on my experience of customer service in Yorkshire.

Breakfast show host Adam Tomlinson suggested that Yorkshire folks’ economy with words might make them seem a bit brusque.

But my experience is that the small family businesses that make up the backbone of our market towns offer really good service.  They are expert, helpful, care about their work, and are genuinely pleased to welcome customers.

They know that their  customers are like themselves: they expect nothing less than excellent quality and value – and that’s what they get.

You can listen to the debate, just over two hours into the show,  at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00f6rcy/Adam_Tomlinson_10_03_2011/

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DALESMAN MARCH 2011 YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS’ UNION

February 24, 2011
NOSTERFIELD NATURE RESERVE LOWLAND WETLAND HABITAT

NOSTERFIELD NATURE RESERVE IS SCULPTED TO PROVIDE LOTS OF WATER MARGINS

It was a pleasure to meet two members of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, who were full of fascinating information.

Jill Warwick explained how her husband was involved in creating Nosterfield Nature Reserve from a disused quarry:  “When Nosterfield Reserve was set up in 1996, there were two target species: shoveler duck, and redshank.  They were both recorded breeding within a year – because we did our research before we set it up.  As a gravel pit, it was a square lake, and we had the land profiled to create islands, and a variety of depths of water.  In 2009, we had a second lake excavated, to make more water edge, which attracts wading birds.”

“Even when it was a working quarry, it was a top place for birdwatching.  Now it’s managed as lowland wetland grassland – a rare habitat.  It’s rare due to the drainage for agricultural improvements after the second World War.  We tried to get to more self-suffieient in food, and marginal land was improved.  It was understandable at the time, but it led to a decline in natural habitats.”

Living nearby, Jill often nips down to do a spot of birdwatching, but she is also expert in identifying moths.   She said, “For a long time, moths weren’t much recorded.  I had a book dating from 1910.  Then in 2004, a new book came out with photos of moths in their natural resting postiions, rather than pinned.  It led to an explosion of moth recording – it fuels interest when you can actually identify things.”

“Now there’s active moth trapping throughout the county, and we’ve mapped the distribution of moths far better than it used to be- the mapping lists are rising each year,” she said.

The Union exists to share knowledge, and Jill said, “There are regular field meetings, held all over the County.  On field trips, people with experience show less experienced members how to identify things.  It’s a gathering of knowledgeable people and those wanting to know more – and visitors are welcome.  For instance, we trapped moths at Keld, and local people came to see what we were doing.”

Fellow member Craig Thomas – who also edits the annual bird report, detailing sightings of all birds seen in the county, details some of the changes he’s noticed.: “Red list species are deemed to be in danger, either due to low numbers or rapidly declining.  A lot of these are farmland related.  Also woodland species are declining, despite the increase in tree planting.  It’s thought to be due to lack of management – there’s more tree cover, but less quality woodland.  Perversely, it can mean chopping trees down to let new ones grow, to create an understorey.”

Craig said, “Some species have increased over the last 30 years.  The succession of mild winters (excepting the last one) and targeting species such as Barn owl has increased numbers.  But the growing list of species on the red list is, sadly, tipping the balance into the negative.”

Some of the biggest changes, said Craig, are seen in sea and migratory birds.  A survey of birds on Bempton cliffs, said Craig, “Gave an indication of what’s happening in the north Sea.  It’s extremely important, as climate change seems to be affecting distribution of the food chain in the North Sea and Atlantic faster than in any other habitat.  Birds such as kittiwakes, that feed on sand eels, are declinging, while birds such as guillemots, that feed at a depth, are doing well at Bempton”

“Herring gulls are declining quicker than any other species on the cliffs,.  It’s thought to be due to the decline in the fishing industry, and the declining discards from boats.”

A reduction in birds wintering in Africa,said Craig, “Is thought to be largely due to climate change, and deforestation in Africa.  Also, Asian and Siberian birds are breeding further west.  Young birds that normally winter in South East Asia are going into reverse migration – migrating in the opposite direction, and coming to North West Europe.“

“The reason is unknown, but they turn up in autumn on the East winds, and birders hit the East Coast, looking for them.”

Yorkshire is so large that, to aid the studying and recording of all the wildlife, the  YNU divides Yorkshire into 5 ‘sub-counties’, each with its own data recorders.  This organisation has enabled the Union to collect years’ worth of information on Yorkshire’s wildlife.  Jill comments, “A lot of European countries are envious of the huge volunteer network we have in the UK.  Down through the last 150 to 200 years, there has been a wealth of volunteers going out birding.”

Therefore, it seems apt that the YNU will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a conference entitled ‘The ever-changing flora and fauna of Yorkshire’.

To learn more about, or join the Yorshire Naturalists’ Union, see http://www.ynu.org.uk/about

Read the full article in Dalesman Magazine, http://www.dalesman.co.uk/

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DALESMAN MARCH 2011 JOHN WALKER WATCH REPAIRER

February 24, 2011
JOHN WALKER AT WORK

JOHN WALKER MAKING NEW PARTS TO REPAIR A WATCH

John Walker had a long career as a repairer of clocks and watches in Harrogate.

When I met him, he was retired – but he loved his work so much that he’d kept a few tools, so that he could still maintain his own clocks.

He explained that the first clocks had only one hand: knowing the hour was good enough in those days.  As he described how the clocks worked, how to repair them, and some of the different timepieces he’d worked on, I was interested to learn more about the history of timekeeping.

Looking at the history of timekeeping brings up the question ‘what is time?’  We all know how to tell the time: we look at our watch and it is, say 3.30.  Simple.  But once, this was cutting edge technology.

Before the invention of clocks, people told the time from the sun and the stars.  Sundials measured ‘temporal hours’ – each one a twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset.  Therefore, the hours in summer really were longer, while in winter, the hours were short – twelve hours compressed into the brief period of light between sunrise and sunset.  Our fixed hours were only possible once someone had invented a clock.

Noon was the time when the shadow of the sundial was at its shortest, as the sun reached its highest point in the sky that day.  Due to the rotation of the earth, noon occurs at differing times at different longitudes (the imaginary lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole): Therefore, temporal noon in Scarborough, for instance, will occur slightly earlier than noon in Kendal.

In the Mediaeval period, people largely worked near home and accurate time keeping wasn’t necessary.  Furthermore, your work was your life: our modern day concept of selling our labour by the hour didn’t exist either.

In those days, the problem of accurately measuring time was cutting-edge science, a bit like studying sub-atomic particles today.

The ‘clockwork’ mechanisms we know evolved over the Mediaeval period.  The first such clocks were the preserve of the fabulously rich, and of large organisations.  It was the job of a watchman to check the town clock, and sound the hours.

Gradually, clocks became more widely available, but they were still set to local temporal time.  This didn’t matter until people began travelling quickly.  As railways began to cover the land, they found that varying local times were a problem – it even led to crashes.  So railways began keeping clocks at the stations, showing ‘railway time’.

Eventually, the Government took action, to set an official time for all parts of Britain.  And it used Greenwich Mean Time, a time standard that had been set up to help sailors to navigate the globe.

British Summer Time was instituted in 1916, as a wartime energy saving measure.  The clocks were advanced by an hour, allowing more daylight when people needed it.

According to the Greenwich Maritime Museum the idea was first suggested by one William Willett who enjoyed early morning rides in the summer.  He was incensed that, as he enjoyed the summer morning, many other people were still in bed.  So he proposed changing the clocks as a way of getting them up earlier to make use of the daylight, and save artificial lighting in the evening.

At first, his idea wasn’t liked.  But in 1916, Germany did it, and Britain, then at war, followed suit a few weeks later, creating British Summer Time.

All this, of course, can only happen because we have clocks.  Before mechanical clocks, when we told time by the sun, our rising and sleeping would automatically be related to dawn and dusk.

Changing the clocks raises people’s passions, and every autumn, when clocks go back and make it dark earlier in the evening, someone suggests we stay on BST for winter.

Moving the clocks, however, can’t actually create more light, and in winter, there is no escaping the short days.  BST means more light in the evening, but less light in the morning.

From 1986 to 1971 a three year experiment gave us ‘summertime’ – renamed ‘British Standard Time’ in winter.  Unsurprisingly, a review discovered pros and cons, especially the dark mornings, and we returned to GMT in winter.  I remember, as a child, going to school in the dark during that time – not much fun.

During the Second World War, we had ‘double summer time’ – BST in winter, then the clocks went forward another hour in summer.  Again, the aim was to save energy.  Therefore, some people are now suggesting we do this again, in the interest of saving energy to combat climate change.

Of course, anyone who wanted to take advantage of light summer mornings could simply get up earlier: what’s stopping them?

Today, most of use electronic quartz clocks and watches, rather than mechanical ones.  They too are the result of high technology, a spin off from space exploration.  But that’s another story.

Anyone interested in learning more about mechanical clocks, or finding someone to repair a clock, can contact the British Horological Institute, www.bhi.co.uk

Read the article in full in Dalesman Magazine, http://www.dalesman.co.uk/

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DALESMAN MARCH 2011 BURTON AGNES ORCHID FESTIVAL

February 24, 2011

THE WALLED GARDEN AT BURTON AGNES HALL

When I went to Burton Agnes last March, it was a lovely bright, sunny day.  The Hall was bustling with visitors, happy to get some sunshine after January’s snow and February’s fog.

The cold winter had delayed the snowdrops from their usual February, and after seeing the orchids, people meandered around the woodland walk to enjoy the snowdrops.

The clear weather allowed views for miles over the billowing Wolds, with field freshly ploughed for the spring sowing.  Being near the sea, the light was brighter, and it really felt as if spring was on its way.

After relating the Jane Austen-like tale of how he came to inherit Burton Agnes, Simon Cunliffe-Lister cheerfully explained what he loved best about living and working in this fabulous Elizabethan mansion: being able to work with his family, and share the job of looking after the children with his wife, Olivia.

It means that this beautiful Tudor mansion is also a family home.  Daughter Islay, three years old at the time, took her duties in the family business seriously, chatting politely, and posing to have her photograph taken with the orchids.

For more about Burton Agnes Hall, see http://www.burtonagnes.com/Home.html

Read the article in full, in print only, in Dalesman Magazine, www.dalesman.co.uk

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Dalesman January 2011 – Myton Grange

January 25, 2011

Myton stud farm

BRICK CHIMNEY AT MYTON GRANGE STUD FARM

BRICK CHIMNEY AT MYTON GRANGE STUD FARM

Brothers Nick and Nigel Ramsden restored a Victorian Stud farm, with help from Natural England.  The brothers’ involvement with Natural England came about as a consequence of the closure of the British Sugar factory in York, back in 2007.  They lost the sugar beet trade that was begun by their grandfather, 80 years ago.

They searched for other options, and liked the idea of Environmental Stewardship – grants for developing wildlife and conservation friendly measures.

On their arable fields, the brothers set aside field margins up to 6m wide.  Over the whole farm, explains Nick, this amounted to taking about 30 acres out of production.  The margins are good, he says, for English Partridge which nest there, and Barn Owls that feed there.

Natural England also wanted to increase numbers of Corn Bunting, a ‘red list’ bird that was discovered living on the farm.  This small brown bird now has 5 acres devoted to pleasing it.  Nick says, “We grow 5 acres of spring barley with no herbicides, pesticides or fertisilisers, then leave it unharvested through the winter.”  He explains that this is because corn buntings nesting in such fields tend to be late nesters, and are therefore often damaged by harvesting.  Nick says, “By leaving the barley unharvested, the nests are safe, and the birds get feed through the winter.  Also, not using pesticides allows insects for the chicks to feed on.”

Leaving off the pesticides and fertilisers, says Nick, results in the field producing only around a quarter of the barley that would grow with the pesticides and fertiliser.  It also gets weedy – “but the weeds are good for wildlife.”

As well as the wildlife, Natural England was interested in heritage, and, says Nick, “When they built Easingwold bypass, they found a big Iron Age settlement that goes through one of our fields.”  To prevent damage to the remains of the roundhouses, the brothers stopped ploughing the field, and put it to permanent pasture.

The brothers’ farms, Home Farm and Myton Grange, were built with bricks that were shipped by barge up the river from York.  Nick says, “They built a railway from the river to bring the bricks up to the site.”  Nick notes that horses, not steam engines, hauled the bricks on the railway.  He says, “There was a steam engine at Home Farm, but it was a stationary one, with pulleys and belts to transfer power to machinery.”  Machines would have included turnip cutters, feed mills, and threshing machines.

Nick’s Grange Farm House is next to the stud stables, and he says, “My house was built in 1868, then they built Home Farm and the Stud Farm in 1870.”

The stud farm buildings have been restored using as much as possible of the original fabric, and traditional materials such as lime mortar and copper nails.  Nick says that a condiiton of grant assistance is that the buildings must be used for their historical purpose.  He is therefore hoping to find someone to use them, perhaps for livery or horse training.

At one corner of the stable yard stands the water tower.  Nick says, “In the 1870s, the Estate put up the water tower, which supplied the village, vicarage and school as well as the farm.  Spring water was intercepted before it went into the river, filtered through a sand filter, then pumped into the tower by steam engine.  There’s lots of historical interest because it was an early water supply.”

“It’s been out of use for 30 years, but we’ve relined it and it’s sound.”

Nick is hoping to develop a renewable energy pump to refill the tower and use it once more.

Nick is happy to host educational visits, by appointment only.  Contact him at 07976 751463

Read the full article, in print only, in Dalesman Magazine

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Dalesman January 2011 – Ribblesdale Cheese

January 25, 2011

Ribblesdale  Cheese

IONA HILL STOCKS A RANGE OF SPECIALITY CHEESES IN HER LITTLE CHEESE SHOP

IONA STOCKS A VARIETY OF CHEESES IN HER SHOP IN HAWES

When I met Iona Hill, we discussed her previous work as an accountant in London and Dubai.  It  seemed totally unrelated to making cheese.  But, she says, many people starting in business struggle to learn the business side: keeping accounts, complying with legislation, etc.  Here, she had the advantage, as she was expert at this.  And, as a specialist in turnaround, she knew about making changes to a business.

When her Uncle founded Ribblesdale Cheese, he milked the goats and made the cheese himself.  But age and ill-health had forced him to contract out these tasks, until, in Iona’s analysis, he was ‘simply wholesaling a brand that he had created.’

She wanted to return the business to its heart, but she couldn’t cope with both keeping goats and making cheese, so which was it to be?  The decision fell into place as John Parker offered to keep goats and supply the milk, while cheesemaking friends taught Iona to make cheese.

And, she says, it was probably easier to learn to make cheese than to learn, from new, all the technicalities of running a business.  Iona says that, since the credit crunch, times are hard for small businesses.  She comments that she’d like to expand – she can see new products that she knows customers would love, but with no loans available, she has to wait until she’s saved up the money for new equipment.

Meanwhile, there’s a mountain of paperwork.  While I was there, Iona was speaking to a potential new supplier of cows’ milk.  They had to fill in forms certifiying where his milk quota would move on to.  Then a fax came through from Trading Standards: they’d been having a new label design checked for compliance before sending it to the printers.

And there are people too.  They’re a tight-knit team at Ribblesdale.  Each person’s contribution is vital in ensuring that the cheese is not only lovingly made, but the right product gets to the right customer at the right time.

So what happens if someone wants to go on holiday, or is ill?  Iona says, “We’re all learning each others’ jobs, so we can switch round.  We’ll be able to cover for each other, and it gives us variety.  And we can all talk to customers, knowing how the cheese is made, and with the pride that we’re actually making our own cheese.”

With everyone’s involved in hand-making the cheese, that pride shines through everyone at Ribblesdale Cheese.

See Iona’s blog at http://ribblesdalecheese.wordpress.com/,

Read the article in full, in print only, in Dalesman Magazine

By admin | Posted in Blog, Business, Countryside, Dalesman, Food, Small Business, Uncategorized, Yorkshire | Comments off

Dalesman for January 2011

December 22, 2010

Just as Christmas arrives, the January Dalesmans arrive!

This month features a visit to Colin Day, a man who likes to help people.

When I heard that he was putting maps of villages, with all the houses named, onto the internet, I saw how useful it could be to delivery men, visitors, and emergency services.

Often when I’m walking round our village, I get stopped by lost delivery men, looking for a particular house.  With no numbers on the street, an address of a house name could be anywhere.  Crawling up and down, checking every house name, used to be the only option.

In my village, we’re lucky because the  Postmaster, Tony Lawson, understood the problem, and drew up a map of the village, with the name of every house marked.  Lost delivery men could call in and ask him.

But when Colin asked if we’d like him to put Appleton Wiske onto the Internet, we thought it might be useful  when the Post Office is shut – for instance, if someone has a heart attack at 2am, it would be great if the ambulance had a map to get straight to the right place.

So I volunteered to put the house names to Colin’s map.  Colin traced his map from a satellite photo of the village, marking what he thought looked like houses.  But, a roof might cover one home, several in a terrace, or a large garage.  So the map took a bit of figuring out.  It wasn’t rocket science, though, and I walked round, marked the names, and described to Colin where what he thought was one house was three – and conversely what he thought was three cottages had been knocked into one big house.

It took longer than I thought, as once you leave your house, you meet people, who stop for a chat.   And others, seeing me outside, called me in for coffee.

After Colin had put the names onto his map, a friend volunteered to walk round and check the work.  It was well worth it, as, despite my care, she found quite a few corrections.

We hope the work was worthwhile, and people find it useful.

See Colin’s maps at:

http://www.colinday.co.uk/maps/

See the Appleton Wiske parish website at http://www.appletonwiske.com/

And here’s a picture of Appleton Wiske in the snow:

THE VILLAGE OF APPLETON WISKE IN SNOW

A SNOWY CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN APPLETON WISKE

By admin | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Dalesman, Rural Life, Yorkshire | Tagged , , | Comments off