Inspiration & ideas

A naked man, dozens of flowerpots, ancient buildings, dramatic natural beauty, a folly (that isn't really), an enormous 'oven' and the best cheese - where can you find them all? Visit Settle and you'll quickly realise this is no ordinary small town.

Settle's setting is beautiful - it's very close to the Three Peaks and some of Ribblesdale's finest landscapes. You can enjoy a great view from Castleberg. Within the town, narrow ginnels (or gennels or whatever you call them in your area...) thread…

Where have you seen evidence of the Mouseman? I'm not talking about vermin control! This small carved mouse made him famous, and his work is still to be seen in hidden spots through-out Yorkshire and on furniture that now commands high prices.

The 'Mouseman' was ​Robert Thompson, born in 1876. He lived in Kilburn near Thirsk and made oak furniture. A small carved mouse made him famous.

He was carving an altar rail one day, bemoaning his poverty with a colleague, saying they were 'as poor as a …

Have you heard of the Hecklers of Smelthouses? Neither had I until Amanda Brown wrote this! There was a lot of heckling in the Nidderdale hamlet of Smelthouses back in the late 1700’s.No, not from a gang of noisy protestors, but from the workers in the flax mill, known as a Manufactory, heckling the fibres using heckle combs before they were spun into fabric.

As an aside, apparently it was the women hecklers in Dundee who started a movement to improve wages and working conditions that led to th…

Most cars whoosh along the A65 between Long Preston and Clapham with no idea of the delights they're missing at Feizor. It's a small hamlet tucked away down a narrow meandering lane away from the rush of traffic. The lane takes its time curving this way and that, petering out into a track after Feizor as if it just couldn't bear to leave.

You might wonder why Feizor even exists, it's such a tiny place? It's said that it was once owned by the monks of Fountains Abbey and was a stopping point on …

Have you visited this place? This isn't the best photo of it (if you have a better one I can use, please do send!) but I think you can see it's an oddity! 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 on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales

‘Our’ Sigiriya is imaginatively know…

Do you recognise this landscape? Ribblehead Viaduct one of the most iconic sights in the Yorkshire Dales, and certainly one of the most famous along the wonderful Settle to Carlisle Railway.

I wonder how many visitors have been drawn to this incredible structure since its construction and how many photographers have captured its majestic beauty?

The facts behind its construction are pretty incredible. Designed by John Sydney Crossley, construction of the viaduct began in 1870. It was officiall…

Can you imagine carrying a full dinner service, several food courses, and heavy wood tables and chairs deep into the woods for lunch? Once upon a time in the 18th century, wealthy young men used to go on the European Tour, a kind of early version of the modern day gap year. They flocked to an ancient woodland Hackfall near Masham. Turner came to paint it, and scenes from Hackfall were featured on the Green Frog Dinner Service commissioned by Empress Catherine the Great of Russia from Wedgwood & …

Can you say 'Appletreewick' like a local? It sounds like it belongs in a children’s picture book, the sort of place that magically appears and disappears, depending on who is trying to visit. It’s a bit like that in real life. You could very easily drive along the little lane joining the two pubs with Masons Campsite and think that was it. It sort of is, and yet there’s so much more besides.

It’s almost as if Appletreewick has entered a village competition that no one else even knows about – ho…

You may already know Malham Tarn, but what about the Yorkshire Dales' other naturally formed small lake? Hidden in tiny Raydale close to Wensleydale, Semerwater is much loved by walkers and water sports enthusiasts. There's a circular footpath from the lake foreshore, or you could follow the footpath along one of England's shortest named rivers - River Bain which meanders over a couple of miles to Bainbridge. By the time it arrives there, it's powerful enough to turn an Archimedes Screw and prod…

Why do we say, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it"?

With over 50 dales, and at least that number of rivers and streams, there are plenty of bridges and river-crossings in the Yorkshire Dales. ​Some are not just useful, they're beautiful and historic. Many settlements grew up close to rivers, with important bridges or other crossings nearby.

The expression 'we'll cross that bridge when we come to it' probably came from the fact that rivers can be dangerous and changeable so crossings w…