A day out

One of our camera club members was holding an exhibition of her photographs in Pateley Bridge, so I decided to have a day out, visiting the exhibition and exploring the town. It's a good hour or so's drive from here, up in Nidderdale, east of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and north of Harrogate.  

Artefacts have been found dating back to Neolithic times and the Bronze Age, suggesting there were settlements in the area even then. In the Middle Ages it was part of the monastic lands of Fountains and Byland Abbeys, extensively farmed, and it is still a predominantly agricultural area. Sandstone was quarried nearby, flax and cotton mills became important. Pateley Bridge was granted a market charter in 1320 and became a significant centre for the surrounding communities, the only market town in Nidderdale. 

The River Nidd flows through the town and along its banks there are parks and meadows.

The narrow High Street climbs sharply up from the river bridge.

There are lanes and alleys branching off the main street. Some, through archways, may originally have been coaching inns with stables at the rear. Now they provide attractive courtyards for cafés and shops. 

The row of properties in the picture below is said to be the oldest in the town, dating back to 1661. It holds 'the oldest sweet shop in England', established in 1827 and verified (Guinness World Records) as the longest continuously trading sweet shop in the world. 

On the opposite corner, Cocoa Joe's is a tiny, independent café business specialising in hot and cold chocolate drinks, 'like you have never experienced before'. Made from high quality, single origin solid chocolates from all over the world, each with a distinctive flavour profile, the choice was overwhelming - and the one I had, from Peru, was tasty, nuanced and so rich that it left me feeling rather overfull!   

Milner Field walk, part 2

As I said yesterday, there's little left of the once grand Milner Field mansion, former home of Titus Salt Junior. There are, however, two gatehouses remaining, one at the bottom of the carriage drive and one at the top. Both are still lived in, though I'm not sure how comfortable they must be. They echo the mansion's heavy, solid Victorian Gothic style and must be very dark inside. 

Down the lane, on the edge of the Milner Field estate, Milner Field Farm also still exists and that too has a small gatehouse (below).  The farm was the Home Farm for the estate, supplying its meat, dairy produce and vegetables. There are traces of a huge walled garden. The farm still has a dairy herd and sells milk. 

From the gateway, there's a nice view over the Aire valley. 

Just below the farm, I turned down a narrow track, which must have been used for decades and is worn into a holloway (a sunken lane).

The track has probably existed at least since the canal was built in the 1770s, and probably even before that. 

You can see Dowley Gap Locks across the field, and the track ends at the changeline bridge, which I always think is a pretty spot, despite its proximity to the sewage works (just visible in middle distance to the left, below). 

Form here it was easy walk back to Saltaire along the canal towpath, a very familiar route. 

A threshold

Milner Field walk, part 1

So, the 1st of September arrived... the threshold of a new season, as we tip over into meteorological autumn. It has looked like the approach of autumn for a week or two, as the dry weather seems to have speeded up the fruiting of hedgerows and yellowing of the foliage. September 1st was, however, a lovely day and still had a summery feel with a pleasantly warm temperature, despite a stiff breeze blowing. 

I decided on a brisk walk up to Milner Field, a route I haven't taken for a while. I bumped into two of my neighbours on the way - a couple of brief but friendly chats to start me off on the right foot (as they say!) 

I crossed the canal (above) at Hirst Wood swing bridge and was attracted by the two bursts of red: the boat and the lady's jacket (with matching walking sticks, how stylish).

Next, I crossed the river and walked round to the weir that once powered the adjacent mill. The river is still quite low, though we'd had a bit of rain in the past few days. The weir now has opportunistic shrubs growing in the middle! I don't suppose they'll hold on once the winter flow builds up. 

Then up the hill to follow the carriage drive that goes through the woods to Milner Field. In parts it is now barely wide enough to allow the horse-drawn carriages that once conveyed gentry (including, in 1882, the then Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII) up to Titus Salt Junior's mansion. Not that that bothers today's users, mostly dog-walkers. I passed one chap walking nine big dogs. Thankfully, apart from one (presumably his own pet), they were all on leads. It seemed a lot for one man to handle but apparently there is no legal limit to the number that can be walked. 

There are huge trees toppled over here too, as everywhere. 

The imposing Milner Field mansion was once somewhere in the woods to the right of my photo below. You can still find traces of it if you root around, though it was left empty from the late 1920s. No-one would then buy it, as it had a macabre reputation due to the series of tragedies and early deaths that beset all its previous owners. It was mostly demolished in the 1950s. Read about its history HERE. 

Tea

That most English of things... tea. I must admit to drinking a lot of it. My preferred brand is, of course, Yorkshire Tea, processed and packed in Yorkshire, though - contrary to some of the jokey adverts - it isn't grown here! They source it (apparently) from farms in India and Africa. 

I was amused to see this poster (below) in a local café, playing on the endless debate about what 'colour' your cup of tea should be. I've a friend who prefers it somewhere between the second and the third cup on the chart. That's much too weak for me and I let her add her own milk and pour from the newly filled teapot. (I always use a teapot!) Then I let the pot stand and brew for a few minutes more as I like mine nearer to the fifth cup.  The ones on the bottom row are commonly called 'builders' tea'. Perhaps strong men like a strong brew. I had to look up 'Hendo's' - it apparently refers to 'Hendersons Relish', a spicy and fruity relish produced in Sheffield that's similar in appearance to Worcestershire Sauce. I'm not actually sure you could get a mug of tea to look as dark as the last two, certainly not with milk in it. Some people do drink it black, without milk, of course. 

It's been interesting to watch my granddaughters' progression towards tea. They were not offered it as little children and always preferred warm milk, even when they graduated from bottles and sippy cups. Maybe two or three years ago, the older one moved on to enjoying tea, and now makes quite a decent brew herself. The younger one still seems to prefer milk or juice but will sometimes try a cup of weak, milky tea. It must be an age thing! 

Along the canal

I always find plenty of things to interest me on a waterside walk. I feel fortunate to live close to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal so that I can access it as often as I want. The scene above, where the changeline bridge crosses at Dowley Gap, is in my opinion one of the more attractive stretches of the local canal. That boat has been moored there for so long that it is now almost completely hemmed in by arrowhead weeds.

There was a widebeam boat negotiating the locks at Dowley Gap. It was in the lower of the two locks, waiting for the water level to fall so it could progress on to Saltaire. That meant I could get a 'bird's eye view' from the walkway across the middle of the locks. There were several boats on the move. The drought has caused restrictions along the canal with many locks closed. It seemed that the Five and Three Rise locks in Bingley had been briefly opened to traffic that morning, letting quite a queue of boats through. 

It was near here that I'd seen a kingfisher in the spring, but the foliage has grown so much now that I couldn't see any perches where one might sit. I did, however, see quite a nice painting of one on the side of a boat! 

The bridge above is the one beside The Fisherman's pub, heading towards Bingley. There are moorings here and usually quite a few boats to be seen. 

I very much enjoyed the lyrical curves of a porthole and the marks where a muddy rope had hit the side of this dark blue boat. There's beauty everywhere if you look for it. 

Casualty

I set off to walk to Bingley along the canal towpath and I hadn't gone far when I came across this big tree branch lying across the path. Thankfully you could climb over it, so it wasn't a complete blockage, though people on bikes were having a bit of difficulty getting across and I wouldn't have liked to try and lift a child in a pushchair over it. Thankfully too, there was no-one trapped underneath it! I've never witnessed a tree actually falling so I have no idea how quickly it happens or with what noise. Would you have time to jump out of the way? You do hear of people killed by falling trees. It's a scary thought that you could be hurt just walking along through the woods or on the canal or riverside. The scar on the tree itself suggests that the limb was hollow inside. It does seem to me that there are many more fallen trees and branches around lately and I guess it has a lot to do with the stress that nature is under these days, with climate change, heatwaves, drought and then very wet winters. 

At random

I generally try to link my photos for the purposes of my blog - by place, narrative, style, theme or whatever. Every now and again I amass a few that simply don't 'fit' anywhere - but that, nevertheless, have some kind of appeal, at least to me. So here are a few random shots, wildly different in subject matter and linked only by the fact that I've played around with them a bit. 

I found the dropped and melting ice cream cone rather touching. There's a story there - and presumably, a very sad child somewhere... 

One yellowing bracken frond stood out sharply against those that were still green. It's an attractive shot in colour actually but I like the way the mono conversion emphasises the shapes and subtle curves, bringing out the detail. 

I liked the soft colours of the tree bark, which could be taken for rock or peeling paint, a riverbed or anything that one's imagination conjures up. And don't get me started on the potential pareidolia that might be involved! 

The last image is an evening shot, along the railway line at Saltaire station. I stopped and noticed it because, even though the lamps were not lit, the low sun shining through made them glow. Despite the electric power lines, it's timeless scene and seemed to need a cinematic treatment. 

An evening stroll

The evening light along the canal was rather gorgeous. It makes the honey-coloured stone of the mills glow softly. There's a lot of weed in the navigation but it doesn't seem to be stopping the boats (though I think many of the locks have also been closed due to low water, which does stop the boats.) There were a couple of quite smart wide-beam boats moored beside Salts Mill. One of them had a good crop of tomatoes and herbs in pots, which made an attractive 'still life'. 

I also enjoyed the random 'still life' compositions to be found among the detritus floating in the water. 

There are quite a few white feathers, presumably from these young swans who seem lately to have settled along this stretch of water. There are three near the mills and three further up, nearer to Hirst Lock, though I've occasionally seen them all together. I guess they are all from one family.

An award winning garden

On the canalside between Saltaire and Shipley there's a historic, Grade II listed, cluster of stone cottages called Jane Hills, built in stages between 1796 and the mid 1800s. One of them has a very tiny garden, but it is lovingly crammed with beautiful plants by its owner Kamal Hussain. Last year it was a finalist in the Garden of the Year awards and it won the BBC Gardeners World 'Gardens of the Year 2024 - People's Choice Award'. Despite the dry summer we've had, it is once again vibrant and interesting this year, with a huge variety of colourful plants. Kamal says he is inspired by David Hockney's use of colour. It also smells divine, with the fragrance of honeysuckle and jasmine wafting over the canal towpath as you pass by.  What a feast for the senses!

 

The puddles are back!

Much to everyone's relief, we began to get a few rain showers from mid August, after a couple of very dry months. The heaviest were mostly overnight but, one afternoon, I was about to set off for a walk when the sky clouded over and the drizzle began. I had to wait until after dinner to get my walk. In the end that turned out to be quite pleasant. It wasn't cold, yet there weren't many people about and the light was quite nice. I only had my ancient phone with me so the photos I took are not the best, though I was attracted to the reflections in the puddles. It's a long time since we had those! 

One patch right beside the canal made a bit of a puddle puzzle picture! 

Bingley St Ives circular - return

Back in the country park, the path crosses the golf course and then skirts the edge of Harden Moor. There is some heather out, though it all looks a bit half-hearted this year, with really tiny flowers. It's been far too dry for it to thrive.  

Things are starting to look prematurely autumnal. The bilberry leaves (above) have turned to a deep russet, (not unattractive), the bracken is dying back and some of the young trees, especially the birches, are already yellowing and losing their leaves. 

I passed the landmark of Lady Blantyre's Rock, said to be where, in mid-Victorian times, the lady of the mansion would come to sit and read, and gaze out over the valley. Most of the times I've been here, the view over the valley was obscured by tall trees that had grown in the intervening period. Since disease attacked some of the trees and they had to be felled, the view has been restored. It still takes me by surprise!

There used to be a wooden sculpture of Lady Blantyre here. Someone recently saw it on an old blog post of mine and wanted to know why it they couldn't find it.  The answer is that my photo of it HERE was taken 16 years ago, so the wooden statue, already decaying in my picture, has since rotted away. Only the (even older) memorial stone remains. 

I was a bit surprised to see Ragwort growing. It is highly toxic to animals, especially horses, so I'd have thought they'd be trying to eradicate it on the estate, given the number of horses living there. It is, however, a bright burst of yellow quite cheerful in our hedgerows. 

Partway down the return route I passed the Coppice Pond, a man-made lake dating back to the 1330s.  Once apparently a mill pond and providing a plentiful supply of fish, it was later landscaped by the Ferrand family as a decorative garden feature. 

My path took me back through the lower woods, down to the car park. The cattle looked a bit bored... not much green grass for them to chew.