No words needed

Looking for the wood among the trees

I enjoyed the glimpses of gold among the dark, straight trunks in the larch woodland on the hillside, though it would have been even better with a bit more sunlight. Larches are one of our few deciduous conifers in the UK.

Along the Dalesway

The Dales Way long distance footpath skirts the Scargill estate, on its way from Ilkley to Bowness in the Lake District. It makes for a good walk up the hillside, along a decent track at this point. 

Despite the drizzle, it was good to keep stopping to look back - gave me a breather too, as the track is quite steep here. You can literally see the weather coming at you along the valley!

Eventually the track levels out onto a flattish ridge, and here the views are broader as the valley opens out to the south. You can perhaps make out the overhang of Kilnsey Crag in the middle distance of the picture below.  An outcrop of limestone, it's a magnet for climbers. 

Up here there's also a small patch of limestone pavement, its deep fissures holding ferns and mosses. I always feel like I'm back in my school geography lessons when I'm up here. I can hear my teacher explaining about 'clints and grikes', and teaching us how contours on maps work, by use of a nifty plasticine 'hill' in a tub that she filled up with water, stopping every inch to gouge a contour line in the 'hill'.  

Scargill's gardens

Scargill's gardens are lovingly tended by the resident estate team, assisted by many volunteers who often come to stay as 'working friends'. The gardens around the buildings have wonderful views up and down the valley and across the fields. Tucked away in a corner is the walled garden. Once, I think, the kitchen garden when the main house was a family home, it's now a quiet place to sit, reflect and drink in the peace of the surroundings. 

Despite the late season, there were patches of colour: cyclamen tucked around tree roots; heathers in containers on the terrace;

a variety of skimmia (I think) with leaves prettily edged in pink; waxy hellebore flowers 

and some late-flowering fuchsia, vibrant even in the drizzle.  

Autumn leaves were falling but there were still enough on the branches to shimmer in the occasional bursts of sunshine. 

Autumn is a wonderful season in the Yorkshire Dales and Scargill is a beautiful place to lap it all up. 

Walking down to Kettlewell

I spent a few days recently at Scargill, the Christian community in Kettlewell, in Upper Wharfedale. It's one of my favourite locations. I'd hoped for good weather to make the most of the autumn scenery but, apart from a few brief lulls, it was dull, damp and rather dismal. On one slightly brighter day, I had a brisk walk down the lane to Kettlewell village, enjoying the brief glimpses of light on the far fells. 

Long time readers of my blog may remember my account of a ramble up that steep, walled track on the hillside that you can see in the photo below. (See HERE) It was a rather hot day when I did that, rather a contrast to the chill and damp of a few days ago. It's all so beautiful though, whatever the weather. 

There aren't as many stone barns in Wharfedale as in some of the other Yorkshire Dales but they still punctuate the fields, as of course do the many dry stone walls. 

Secret garden

One of my favourite books as a child was 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The walled garden at Scargill has very much that kind of feel to it, especially at this time of year when everything is lush and growing with wild abandon. It may have been a dry spring and early summer but despite, or perhaps because of, that some things seem to have had a particularly spectacular year, roses for one. 

It's all rather magical and there are many places to sit and enjoy the peace of nature. 

Water and woodland

I took a friend up to Kettlewell, in Upper Wharfedale, for the day recently. She is thinking of having a retreat and I suggested the Christian community at Scargill as a possible place to stay. It seemed a good idea to visit for the day to show her what it's like. It's one of my best loved places, only an hour's drive, and very much a 'thin place' that enables a deep spiritual connection. We stopped for a coffee at the café at Kilnsey Trout Fishery. The view over the fishing lakes is a favourite of mine and I always take a photo there. The leafy trees meant you couldn't see the imposing overhang of Kilnsey Crag in the distance but it's still a gorgeous vista. 

After exploring Scargill House, its chapel and its grounds we went for a walk up through the woods at the back of the estate, along a track that leads up to the Dalesway long distance footpath. We didn't go very far as it was rather wet, but we did go through the gate that I love on that path. It always feels like passing 'from darkness into light' along there! 

Alphabet

This was another exercise from the 'Mindful Photography' workshop: to find letters of the alphabet in non textual form. It was easier said than done but I think I managed quite well. It was a good project to focus on (pun intended!) on a very wet day as it could be undertaken largely inside.

The Scargill Estate

Before it became a Christian community in the 1950s, Scargill House was a country house owned by the Holdsworth family. It sits in its own, fairly large, estate with gardens and woodland extending up the side of the valley to the moor. 

It has, of course, been enlarged, with accommodation for guests and community members. Notably, its rather wonderful chapel was designed by George Pace (one of the leading ecclesiastical architects of his day) and built in 1958-61. It's now a Grade-II* listed building. It's a lovely place in which to worship, with the huge windows giving views over the dale. The octagonal building you see beyond it is the main meeting room, recently reroofed and refurbished - and again offering glorious views across the valley. 

Sheep farming is still the mainstay of the dales (and tourism of course). Something (not me!) spooked the sheep and they all went dashing off down the hill, ewes and lambs bleating loudly. 

There are a few strategically placed benches, this one having a lovely outlook up towards Kettlewell. 

In the woods there is a labyrinth, a sacred space used for walking meditation. 

The limestone pavement

The Dalesway footpath between Kettlewell and Grassington climbs high up the valley side, mostly tracing the boundary between the sheep pastures on the steep fellside and the rough moorland above. Before you reach Conistone Pie (not a pie, sadly, but a dominant outcrop of rocks) there is a small patch of limestone pavement: a flat expanse of limestone with deep, undulating fissures (grykes) carved out by water, and forming an unusual habitat for plants. 

It was a good place to stop and take photos, though the gale force winds and squally, driving rain made it a rather challenging endeavour. 

We were supposed to be taking black and white photos but the green plants, which I think are hart's-tongue ferns, looked so vibrant against the greyish rock and seemed to me to be the stand-out feature. Perhaps they would look good in mono but I like the colour versions. 

It's amazing how little plants hang on and thrive in such an apparently inhospitable environment. 

You could climb much higher up the moor but, given the inclement weather, we opted out of that and soon returned to Scargill House for afternoon tea and more cake! The walk was worth it for the wonderful views though we did get very wet.