Sunday calm

Here are a few more photos from my recent walk at Bolton Abbey. It was a calm, damp but relatively warm day. The famous view (known as Turner's View because JMW Turner painted it) was as pretty as ever, though very hazy.

The arch through the Nidd Aqueduct framed some lovely autumn colour. 

After a dry summer, the recent rain has encouraged moss and toadstools. I am not very good at identifying fungi but I suspect these are common Sulphur Tufts that grow on old tree stumps. The little grouping here was rather prettily arranged. 

The level of the river rises and falls very quickly, depending on the rainfall further upstream. It wasn't all that full on the day I visited, so the arches of Bolton Bridge looked really high. 

It's a narrow bridge, only one car width across and steeply arched, so crossing it on foot can be a bit scary. Thankfully there are little triangular inlets above the piers, so there is room to avoid the traffic. Climbing the ancient steps from the river bank also needs care, as you step out through the wall right onto the narrow road. 

The Bolton Abbey estate is scattered with farms and other residences, many occupied by estate workers. The farmhouse on the hillside above the river was covered in rich red Virgina Creeper. 

Rural Boston Spa

A short walk along Boston Spa's high street brings you to fields and woods, and we turned down a lane that led back to the village centre along the riverside. A farmer was busy ploughing the stubble from the cornfield, closely attended by numerous gulls feasting on the grubs and worms the process upturned. The natural cycle continues, irrespective of whatever weather we are blessed with. 

On our walk we were treated to a capricious mix of light showers and sunny intervals, though it felt quite warm. Not a bad day for a ramble. 

I was enchanted to find patches of pink cyclamen, in the church's graveyard, in the bases of hedges and in the woodland. It originates from the Mediterranean region, not a native plant in the UK, but it is now naturalised here. Delicate and pretty, they add a splash of autumn colour and seem to enjoy dappled shade. 

Crag House Farm

After my walk round Yeadon Tarn, I decided I'd drive a little further to Crag House Farm. It's run by a Christian charity, 'Caring for Life', which supports vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Leeds, through residential homes, care in the community and therapeutic projects at the farm. The farm site has lovely grounds, a plant nursery and a rather good restaurant and shop, selling local produce including beef, lamb and eggs reared on the farm. 

It's a while since I last visited and the grounds have been extended beyond the original woodland garden and down into the fields beyond. 

The bog and pond areas were low in water, though the bullrushes were abundant, as was the fruit on the trees and hedgerows. This was the last week in August and I'm not sure apples are usually ripe by now. Autumn seems to be early, I suppose sparked by the dry summer. The trees are stressed and prompted to produce fruit to survive, perhaps? 

Just alongside the farm buildings, some of the workers were checking (counting?) sheep. I hope they slept well that night! 

 

Hay meadows

 

Swaledale mini break 6

Muker's hay meadows bloom with wild flowers for just a few weeks in June, and I guess it depends exactly when you visit as to what flowers predominate. There were plenty of buttercups but less red clover and fewer of the purple geraniums (wood crane's bill?) than I remember from my last visit a few years ago.  

You can't really stray from the central path, which is there to prevent people trampling the plants, so proper identification of all the species present is not really possible. 

There are barns in every field. The long 'through stones', which bind the inner and outer skins of the walls together, characteristically project beyond the face of the wall, in rows. 

Further up the dale, farmers had already started cutting the hay. The drying piles have a wonderfully sweet, clean scent, so evocative. 

Swanley Grange

Part of the Fountains Abbey estate, Swanley Grange was one of the abbey's home farms. It has recently been renovated to provide a glimpse into medieval monastic life, with a vegetable garden and various craft activities, including wool spinning, dyeing and knitting. There was nothing actually being demonstrated (mid-week and mid-winter) when I visited but there was an attractive display of spinning wheels and wool, dyed using natural plant dyes. The spiky teasel heads (above) were used to brush woollen fabric to create a raised nap. 

The subdued, natural dyes produce very attractive, softly coloured, finished knits, here combined in squares into quilts. I couldn't help but notice the resemblance to the stonework used in the buildings' construction, which also showed a multitude of subtle colours. It all made my heart sing. 

Summer, strawberries, sisters

I can't believe I've lived this long and never visited a 'pick your own' fruit farm before. Of course, as children, we often used to visit my great uncle and aunt, who had a dairy farm with a huge orchard behind the farmhouse. We spent many happy hours there picking apples. But since then - nada. 

It was my daughter who suggested we should go and pick some strawberries, so we all tootled off to Kemp's Farm in Horsforth. 

We collected a goodly haul, as you can see. A few were eaten before I got round to taking the picture, but the girls were very good at resisting snacking whilst we were picking. 

I've spent the evening making strawberry crumble cake and a kind of raw strawberry jam/puree, made with chia seeds. 

The girls were in a mood for larking about! Sisters... 

Ravenroyd

Ravenroyd farm is now run as an equestrian centre, and it looked busy and professional as I passed through. The public footpath goes round the side of the house and past some other buildings at the rear.

There was a gentleman leading some horses out to pasture, so they followed me right along the track. The gentle clip-clop of a horse's hooves is such an evocative sound, quite soothing. I noticed some of the horses wore net hoods, to protect against flies I think.