If you want to play guitar in the Aire valley then call in to this shop at Greengates just up the road from the river itself.
However, if like me you have settled for the Air Guitar then I can sell you one for around £25.
Looking for a fireplace?
Best Punning Yorkshire Shops
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Coffee with Corrina & Friends
Harrogate’s homeless and vulnerable are benefiting from the food and support provided at Corrina and friends project in Mayfield Grove. The coffee and bakewell tart that I ate was as good or better than anything I could have got at Bettys and all the profits go to good causes.
The cafe is open between 10am – 5pm Monday to Saturday and ‘You pay what you feel’ for your drinks and food. Any donations and profit will contribute towards their ability to help the homeless and vulnerable. Payment into an envelope is discrete and any profit or surplus funds goes straight back into helping others. The volunteer staff are friendly and chatty and I recommend you give it a try and become a regular supporter.
As Corrina says ‘Local businesses, supermarkets, bakers and our generous community donate food for us to use. We have a good number of volunteer chefs that have the challenge of working out what we offer to our customer every day. Our aim is to make tasty meals and snack that you will enjoy.’
For the homeless
Every day the cafe opens it’s doors to the homeless and vulnerable. Between 5pm – 6pm doors open for a free meal for those who need it. On Sunday’s they open just for the homeless and vulnerable and offer a two course meal between 5pm – 7pm.
Posted in Our Yorkshire
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Novel Eco Gardens Yorkshire
This is a novel post with support from from our sister site which offer tips to gardeners.
Cornwall and the west coast of Scotland have some fine temperate gardens well worth a visit but Yorkshire has the grandeur of the stately home garden. Over the years they have each developed their own characteristics and ‘Novel Eco Gardens’ environments.
Starting with an old site a must visit is Yorkshire’s first World Heritage Site, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal a huge estate of beauty, contrasts and surprises including the largest abbey ruins in the country and one of England’s most spectacular Georgian water gardens. The monks created novel and micro climates for their growing communities.
Castle Howard’s 1,000 acres of Gardens are stunning whatever the time of year, and visitors can find peace and tranquility whichever path they choose. Delightful walks reveal in turn hidden glades and breathtaking views with Azaleas, Rhododendrons and Magnolias to dream about.
RHS Harlow Carr the northern mecca for Royal Horticultural Society members there is much to learn and see with the upgraded facilities now on display. I am looking forward to the opening of a new library in 2010.
Parcevall Hall Gardens, up in the true dales on a steep hillside near Appletreewick, are planted with many specimen trees and shrubs collected from Western China and the Himalayas. Far from main roads this is a retreat in more senses than one.
Helmsley Walled Garden and Duncombe Park can be visited as one but the Parkland was closed when I last visited. The walled garden dating back to 1758, and set against the spectacular backdrop of Helmsley Castle was more than enough to hold my interest.
Thorpe Perrow Arboretum is open all year and has 85 bacres of woodland walks and a display of Falcons and other birds of prey. Look out for spring bulbs and blossom or wait for the autumn foliage.
Ripley Castle has been in the Ingleby family for 700 years but is now open to the public. The walled kitchen garden contains an extensive herb bed and an extraordinary collection of rare vegetables. The pleasure grounds contain a collection of specimen trees from around the world and thousands of spring flowering bulbs, daffodils, narcissi, snowdrops, aconites and bluebells.
York Gate is a one-acre garden tucked away behind the ancient church in Adel that is opened for Perennial the Gardeners Royal Benevolent Society a charity that has been helping horticulturalists since 1839
Newby Hall has sweeping long herbaceous borders and is my current favourite garden to visit. The national collection of Dogwoods is spectacular when in flower.
Burnby Hall Gardens at Pocklington has a national collection of waterlilies and the Stewart Museum. look out for heathers and the old Victorian gardens.
Wentworth Castle’s 50 acres of Grade 1 listed gardens are, historically, some of the most important gardens in the country. There is a fine Fernery and some great Holly behind the castle pictured above.
I didn’t have space for Harewood house (above) in my top ten (which became eleven, so I wonder what else I may have missed, please tell me.
Posted in Our Yorkshire
Tagged gardens, novel ecological
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Marie Hartley’s Gayle
Gayle and Duerley Beck by Marie Hartley
Marie Hartley MBE would have been 104 this week had she not died in Askrigg at the age of 100. Fortunately there is a significant legacy of 33 books chronicling the Dales, numerous paintings and wood cuts and The Dales Countryside Museum at Hawes. Marie, born in Morley, went to the Leeds College of Art and the Slade School London where she specialised in wood engraving. She worked with two other redoubtable women Ella Pontefract and then Joan Ingilby.
With fellow Dales affectionado Ella Pontefract they published ‘Wensleydale’ in 1936 and many of the insights remain true today. For example they noted that may villages were built like little clumps up both sides of the valleys but ‘often two of them come together like sisters, as Hawes and Gayle, Bainbridge and Askrigg, Redmire and Castle Bolton.’ In 1936 not unlike now milk and cheese were the most important products of the local farms. Via the Milk Train, over 2 million gallons of milk a year were sent to London as part of the Milk marketing board’s sales campaign, using the Wensleydale Railway.
‘The Old Hand-knitters of the Dales’ was a 1951 book with Joan Ingilby that chronicled the development of knitting throughout the dales. Sold at Richmond Market, stockings and knitware were made in the homes of Gayle long after it declined in other parts of Yorkshire. Knitting started in the mid 16th century and it continued to be a successful activity, employing 400 knitters in Hawes homes, until the advent of machinery towards the end of the 19th century.
Gayle Mill started life in 1784 as a cotton-spinning mill, powered by a 22′ diameter overshot waterwheel, and over the next century, as economic conditions in the Dales changed, was also used for spinning flax and then wool for the local knitting cottage industry in the valley. Marie would be pleased to see the story continue into the 21st century as the latest sustainable technologies enable Gayle Mill to be create all its own carbon-neutral energy for heating and power from it’s reopened water powered generation system. Visit Gayle Mill and see how it has benefited from the BBC restoration programme.
Bringing Knitting up to date you can read Knitting for Yorkshire here
Credits
Knitters of Gayle by Sue Hasker – catching up after being away. ‘Detail from the millennium window in St Margaret’s church, Hawes, Yorkshire Dales. The window depicts the many aspects of life in the town.’ CC BY-ND 2.0
Posted in Our Yorkshire, Villages, Towns and Cities, Yorkshire Folk
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Dent – Rocks, Knits and Drinks
A trip to Dentdale and a drink in the local hostelries of Dent wont make much of a dent in your bank balance. Fresh air in this valley is free and that should appeal to all Yorkshire folk.
In addition to the Sun Inn shown above I can recommend the George & Dragon or the Sportsmans Inn at near by Cowgill. Both serve good beer and have bed and breakfast accommodation that I have tested several times. When I was walking through Dent on a dalesway trek I was put up in the old Vicarage and very nice and welcoming it was too.
St Andrews church was built in the 12th century and has flagstones of locally quarried black marble once a famous export.
Dent is famous for its knitters. In the 18th century, both men and women knitted, often while walking to the fields. Their output of hand-knitted gloves and socks was enormous, providing an important supplementary income. If you want to learn more about the social conditions and customs of the dale call in at the Dent Village Heritage Centre and learn about the ‘Terrible Knitters of Dent’.
Men, women and children knitted massive amounts of woollen knitwear for sale in distant towns and cities. Taught from childhood, the residents of Dent and Dentdale soon gained a reputation because of their incredible speed and productivity. It seemed that every spare minute was spent knitting – but it was a much needed supplement to the meager family incomes of farmers and lead-miners alike.
The knitters held a rough looking knitting stick under their arm pit so as to keep one hand free for ‘what ever’. They are reputed to keep knitting unless asleep or at Church!
This ancient tradition still survives, beside the Village Green in Dent you can find Sophies Wild Woollens, producing exquisite quality designer knitwear.
Bringing Knitting up to date you can read Knitting for Yorkshire here.
Posted in Food and Drink & Yorkshire Products, Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire History and Heritage
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Visit The Chevin Attraction – Otley
The Chevin is a ridge or escarpment to the south of Otley. A popular place for walkers and tourists. In summer there are many bilberries to pick but it is a long job to get enough for a decent pie.
Chevin Forest Park is an area near Otley managed by Leeds Council. The term Chevin is linked to Welsh ‘Cefn’ or ridge and may be derived from Celtic or Norse language.
Surprise View
- From the top of the Chevin in the Royalty car park (the pub, not where the Queen parks) you can look down on Yeadon airport with planes landing and taking off not necessarily in that order.
- Park at the official car park opposite the pub and walk towards the ridge you will get a ‘Surprise View’ of the Wharfe Valley and the north.
- At Easter there is a large wooden cross erected on the summit after it is hauled up from Otley in the valley below.
- The sign marker show what you can see on a clear day and includes Almscliff Crag and York Minster.
Walking
- There are Chevin ranger guided walks between April and September and there is an Otley Walking Festival of- short town-based walks, themed walks, waterside walks, strenuous moorland hikes
- The Chevin is used for Orienteering and Geocaching. Geocaching started in America and starts with an interesting item hidden in a box that other must find with or without GPS. (Sounds like a riot!).
- Chevin Forest Trail details
- If you are not quite up for walking there is a rural pursuit vehicle capable of carrying a wheelchair. There are also mobility scooters
Posted in Yorkshire Trips and Places
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Sport Stars of Sheffield
Danny Willett has captured the Yorkshire spirit with his golfing prowess. The Masters victory in Atlanta is partially attributed to his early training at Rotherham course in Birley Wood.
Joe Root has enjoyed a tremendous run of form for the England cricket team. He is going to surpass the feats of another local hero Michael Vaughan. Joe is a dab hand at bowling the occassional over but it is as a start batsman in all forms of cricket that he excels.
Jamie Vardy may be playing his football this season for Leicester City in some other county, but he is a Hillsborough lad. This seasons goal scoring feats have helped his team no-end.
Kell Brook born in Shirecliffe is the current IBF welterweight champion ranked number one in the world of boxing at welterweight. He is a knockout as 70% of his opponents know to their cost. Let us hope he unifies the division as a Sheffield world champion.
Jessica Ennis-Hill is a legend in her life time having gone to the same school as other local sport stars. Here olympian and world records deserve a page to herself.
Gordon Banks, Kyle Walker, Prince Naseem Hamed, Gary Cahill, Roger Taylor, Justin Wilson and the referee Uriah Rennie all hale from this great city. Let us know who we have missed from the list.
Jessica Ennis- Hill a Yorkshire Olympic Star
Jessica Ennis-Hill was the face of the 2012 Games in London and competed in Beijing 2008. What about Rio 2016. Jessica sat out for a period whilst she gave birth to her son Reggie before returning to international competition in 2015. She has won her second world title but is currently recovering from an achilles injury.
Good luck with the Brazilians, Russians, drug cheats and politicians – we know sporting opponents people don’t faze you.
The Sheffield born and trained Heptathlete Jessica Ennis is our own World Champion in the seven event Heptathlon.
At the Olympics in 2012 she was hoping to be able to perform in the 200 metres hurdles as well as the Heptathlon. To be able to do this the timetabling would need to leave space for her to recover from her exertions in the first event.
Become a fan of Jessica’s on her website
Last weekend May 23 2010 Jessica ‘was in good form at Loughborough, a week before her scheduled attempt to break Denise Lewis’s British heptathlon record’ according to the Guardian.
Continue reading
Posted in Yorkshire Folk, Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes
Tagged sport
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Welcome to Hovingham – Yorkshire
Hovingham is in great farming country on the North Yorkshire Moors. Whilst farmers are notoriously hard to please it must be a joy to work here with the animals and crops.
- The parish is large containing Coulton, Scackleton, and six other townships. Hovingham, formerly a market town, is situated in the vale of Ryedale.
- There were three mineral springs, yielding respectively sulphurous, chalybeate, and clear water. Originally Hovingham was the site of a Roman bath.
- Ancient parish information is available from the local historian.
- Hovinham Hall, for 440 years, has been the home of the Worsley family. The Palladian house was built in 1770 and is open through June.
- Hovingham Womens Fellowship is just one of the community activities in the area.
- Sport is taken seriously with Tennis, Cricket, Bowls and Table Tennis clubs all active.
- A full community plan can be downloaded from this pdf.
- Gardens in Hovingham will be open to the public
- All Saints Church (above) was rebuilt in 1860 retaining its Anglo-Saxon tower and a number of other early features including a Saxon west doorway and a 10th century Saxon wheel cross inset over the south belfry.
- The Worsley Arms is the only hotel in Hovingham but there is a shop and tearoom situated on the green. Walking is a popular activity and you can enjoy the magnificent North Yorkshire countryside
Hovingham Estate
- The Hovingham Estate has been in the ownership of the Worsley family for 450 years.
- It is a thriving rural Estate, in the heart of North Yorkshire located 17 miles North of the City of York.
- The majority of the Estate lies within the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
- photo Hovingham Ford – Yorkshire by nick.garrod CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
- It was the childhood home of the Duchess of Kent Katharine Worsley.,
- About a mile from the village is The Spa, which is much visited during the summer months by invalids; the waters are of a sulphursodaic character, and there is also a copious and very strong chalybeate spring, and one of pure rock water.
Quilts Museum and Gallery for Quilters
Sadly now closed York was the UK home for the Quilters Guild and their museum. There is always a good selection of varied quilts on display in the gallery. When you visit my experience is that there will be quilters and staff available to discuss all aspects of the art of making quilts. The Quilters’ Guild has a unique collection of over 700 antique and contemporary quilts and augment this with regular quilt exhibitions.
Based in St Anthony’s Hall, one of the medieval guild halls in York, you will find the environment is peaceful. The old building St Cuthberts Church and an art gallery are tucked away under the protection of York’s wall on Peasholme Green.
Quilters Guild
‘In 1990 The Guild embarked on the `British Heritage Quilt Project` to document items of patchwork and quilting dated prior to 1960, resulting in the publication of `Quilt Treasures` in 1995. In June 2001 we opened a small Resource Centre in our previous offices in Dean Clough, Halifax and this provided a stepping stone to our current home in York which opened just seven years later in June 2008’
Quilt Museum and Gallery – St Anthony’s Hall, York is the national headquarters of The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles and its extensive collection of quilts and quilt related artefacts.
The Quilt Museum and Gallery is Britain’s only museum dedicated exclusively to quilting and textile arts based in historic St Anthony’s Hall, York. The hall was originally built as the headquarters of a religious guild in the 15th century, and has had a colourful past – as a workhouse for the poor, a hospital, prison, and a school and archive. The beautiful medieval spaces have been restored and adapted to accommodate the Museum and its wide range of displays and activities. It is not cheap to visit but members of the guild get special deals and there are regular exhibitions. The current exhibition is ironically called ‘The Celtic Fringe’ (I wondered when the Fringe would come to York).
For a full and fascinating review of the exhibition by a British Quilt History List member who has visited the exhibition, read more on Textile Hunter blog
Not all quilts are rectangular ‘Triangle Tilt Quilt – For The Love of Solids Swap – Round Two by Sarah @ pingsandneedles CC BY-SA 2.0’ proves that ‘Turquoise linen, klona & kona solids, perle embroidery thread …. foundation paper pieced from own pattern.’
Quilt Styles Old and New
Quilts made of a solid piece of fabric as the top layer are referred to as Whole Cloth Quilts. The three layers of top, batting and backing were quilted together, and the quilting itself became the decoration.
Trapunto is the technique of slipping extra stuffing into certain areas of a quilt to bring out the quilting in that area.
Broderie perse refers to the applique of cut out motifs from printed fabric onto a solid background. This form of quilt making has been done since the 18th century.
Medallion quilts are made around a center. The central area is surrounded by two or more borders. Although some borders were solid, many were pieced or appliqued.
The latter years of the nineteenth century the best know quilt style was the Crazy Quilt made of abstract shapes sewn together.
To promote excellence in the art and status of quilt making and, through education, to extend knowledge and understanding of its heritage.
Quick scrappy quilts are usually made from many different bits of fabric or leftovers.
Nine patch is based on a pattern of square block designs three units by three.
Log Cabin patterns have a narrow strips around a central square often sown on to a foundation cloth of paper or fabric.
Four patch is a block 4 by 4 or multiples of 4 in rows
Pam Linott was also the author of The Quilt Room: Patchwork and Quilting Workshops.
Scrap Quilts offers lots of ideas and tips for both experienced and beginner quilters.
Quilt Romance is the 11th book by Kaffe Fasset who settled in England in 1964. He has exhibited at the V&A museum in London and is highly regarded for his knitting, patchwork and needlepoint books.
Click on book covers to purchase them from Amazon.
Other Sites of Interest for Quilters
Quilting at the Victoria and Albert museum has its own blog with good photographs.
Quaker Tapestry museum Kendal
Rag Rugs and Ragging in Yorkshire
If you are looking for other craft hobbies why not try making your own soap. There are some ideas on ‘Craft Your Own Homemade Soap’.
Quilt history an American site where quilting is very popular.
Quilting Magazine
Knitting for Yorkshire.
Posted in Yorkshire Arts & Music, Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes
Tagged hobbies, trips, york
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