All creatures great and small

You wouldn't believe how many different varieties of sheep there are at Kilnsey Show; few had horns as magnificent as this fellow though. Sadly, I don't know my Swaledales from my Lonks, my Mules, my Rough Fell or my Dalesbred so I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what breed this one is. 

The highland cattle were close contenders in the horn stakes, mind you:

The alpaca - no horns but plenty of fluff:

These two Border collies were waiting their turn in the sheepdog trials. They're the classic British sheepdog - highly intelligent, highly trainable, athletic and very hard-working - and utterly beautiful, I think. Years ago, I used to work in a building where the caretaker had working sheepdogs. One had puppies and they were adorable. It was only the realisation of how much they need exercise and proper training that stopped me taking one home! 

Kilnsey Show

Last week saw the welcome return of Kilnsey Show, first mounted in 1897 and now one of the biggest one-day agricultural shows in Yorkshire, showcasing Dales farming life and businesses. It was dull and unseasonably cold. In fact, so cold that I had to buy myself a fleece gilet to add to the T-shirt, fleece and coat I was already wearing! Luckily there were several 'country wear suppliers' there. I forget that you get colder just mooching around than striding out on a hike. 

I still enjoyed myself though, and it has to be one of the most picturesque of showgrounds, set in Upper Wharfedale and with a backdrop of the famous Kilnsey Crag (below). That's usually swarming with rock climbers - but not on Show Day. 

It has everything you want and more: marquees of crafts and produce, trade stalls, show jumping, sheep and cattle judging, sheep shearing demos, dogs, vintage tractors, drystone walling, harness racing, children's activities, a fun fair and the famous Crag fell races. (Though they take place quite late in the day and I didn't stay for them this year). There was a silver band playing, which I listened to whilst I had my picnic lunch (though there are endless stalls selling food and drink).

It's a grand day out for all the family - and great for 'people watching' too!

Sheep are a serious business... 

... and of course an alpaca had to make an appearance too, one of several pets that are used as therapy animals. 

Fundraising

I've mentioned before that I've had some success in past years selling greetings cards made from my photos, to raise money for various good causes. So when my church, St Peter's Shipley, mounted a fundraising drive to pay for much needed repairs to the roof of the church hall, I decided this was another appeal that I could help with. We are blessed with extensive halls that, together with the church itself, provide meeting spaces for a plethora of groups and activities for the local community - from the WI to choirs, seniors' groups, children's groups, scouts, guides and even blood donors. The halls are showing their age though, and it doesn't do to let buildings deteriorate too far before taking remedial action. They've been patched up a lot over the years. Now is the time for some radical repairs but that doesn't come cheap. 

There's a really good little local printing business - The Dandy Arthouse - that used to be based in Saltaire and has now moved to larger premises in Bingley. They produce beautiful, high quality cards on lovely paper and with bright coloured envelopes colour-matched to the image. I love their 14 cm square cards, and although I don't intentionally take square images, I find a lot of my photos can be cropped to these dimensions quite happily.

So I've made up four different sets of four cards, selling at £6 per set. It's a win-win really: people get a lovely and useful product, no more expensive than in the shops; the fund-raising gets a good boost; and I'm pleased to use my hobby in a good cause. (Photography can sometimes be a rather self-focused pursuit.) I will see how these sell. I am hopeful to offload the first print run and perhaps even order more. I'm certainly very pleased with the finished products (even if I am a little biased!) 

 

White Wells

It's a steep climb up the side of Ilkley Moor, from Darwin Gardens in Ilkley to White Wells. The views, however, make it worth it. The largest building in the photo above, among the trees, is Wells House, built in 1856 as an hotel and hydropathic establishment when Ilkley was a popular spa town. People, notably including Charles Darwin, came to take hot and cold water baths as a 'water cure' for a variety of ailments. The house later became a college and is now residential apartments. The building in front of it, set in lawns, was a former water pumping station that has been imaginatively converted into a luxury home. 

White Wells itself, sitting up on the moor side above the town, dates back to the early 1700s and was also a small spa. One of the plunge pools is still there. The cottage is now run as a café and - helpfully - flies a flag when it's open so that you know whether to bother making the long climb. 

As well as the plunge pool, there's an interesting old tap and basin round the back. Apparently in the past there were some larger plunge pools too. 

The view from White Wells' terrace over the town is far-reaching and you can sit for a long time just looking. Unfortunately it was a really overcast day when I was there - not the best for enjoying the scenery. 

On Ilkley Moor

I've been intending to go for a ramble among the heather, as I usually try to do at this time of year, but I haven't really found time. When I went to watch my friends zip-lining off the Cow and Calf above Ilkley, I walked up from the town over the moor. Ilkley Moor, however, isn't really what you'd call a heather moor nowadays. It is predominantly bracken, which soon takes over if it's allowed to. There are some bilberries too, and a certain amount of patchy heather. It's pretty but you don't get the 'wow' effect of a mass of purple like you do on some of the more remote moorlands. 

There's a stream called Backstone Beck that tumbles over the rocks, making its way down to the River Wharfe. It was a mere trickle, since we haven't had much rain for the past week or two.  

As you near the Cow and Calf rocks there is a disused quarry, its craggy rocks making a circular dell full of heather. The rock is millstone grit and the quarry was probably a source of building stone as the town expanded in the 19th century. Very little of the landscape is untouched by humans. Carvings from the early Bronze Age 1800 BC have been found, but it was the coming of the railways in Victorian times that led to Ilkley's growth as a spa and tourist destination. Nowadays, erosion of the paths from the masses of visitors tramping around is an increasing headache for those trying to manage and conserve the moorland environment. 

Zipping the Cow

A couple of friends of mine from the camera club were doing a sponsored zip-wire leap from the top of the Cow and Calf Rocks in Ilkley. I went along to watch and cheer them on. It was to raise money for the Sue Ryder charity, an organisation that supports people through terminal illness, neurological conditions and bereavement via its network of centres, hospices and home care. A very worthy cause; charity fundraising has been badly hit by the Covid pandemic. 

The photos I'm showing are not my friends, but they will give you some idea of the nerve they needed to do it. It was a long wire, from the top of the rocks down beyond the café at the bottom and they certainly did 'zip' along it!

It was a really dull day so I found taking photos was quite a technical challenge, to get a high enough shutter speed to capture the movement - and the figures looked more like silhouettes against the sky.  It was fun to watch though and it confirmed that many people are a whole lot braver than I! I'm not sure you'd get me doing it, even for charity. 

 

Pendle Witch Sweets

It's always lovely to see canal boat traders moored in Saltaire. A while back, I met this lovely chap selling traditional sweets: 'Pendle Witch Sweets - they're magic!'  I rarely take a purse out with me when I'm walking locally so I couldn't buy any, though they had my favourite - chocolate raisins! We had a great chat though and he even gave me a boiled sweet to try. Loved the vintage weighing scales and all those wonderful, colourful jars. Heart-warming. 

Detail in the gardens

As my gaze sweeps across the views and borders at RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, I often find I am drawn to stop and study individual plants or small groups of plants, artfully arranged together by the expert eyes of the gardeners there. I was at first attracted to the plant above because it looked like lots of swans heads. ( I believe it is called a gooseneck loosestrife, lysimachia clethroides.)  Then I noticed the butterfly, which I think is a peacock, enjoying the nectar. 

 

One of my favourite small areas is a couple of borders planted with grasses that ruffle gently in the wind. I tried to capture the motion in my photo. 

A sinuous border planted entirely with mauve (Russian sage?) looked like a river. Then there was mauve juxtaposed with orange (sneezeweed/helenium?) ...

And then there was just orange - a bright wall that showed up the wonderful shadows of this plant, which may be a type of fennel.  

Prairie-style drifts of plants in the herbaceous borders are effective. 

 

And no garden should be without a few cheerful sunflowers. 

 

Alice in Wonderland

With it being school summer holiday time, the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr have a family garden trail, this year based on the story of Alice in Wonderland. There are things for children to find and activities to get involved in, as well as some enchanting bronze sculptures by the Robert James Workshop. I thought 'Alice' (below) was adorable. There was a little girl looking at her as I stopped to take my photo - and with the addition of a blue headband she could have been Alice herself. Being such a young child though, I thought it would be wrong to ask for a photo. 

'The Mad Hatter' was wildly pouring tea in the Diarmuid Gavin Garden, a space created originally for a BBC TV series 'Gardens Through Time' in 2004. In the background the trees were festooned with tea cups and saucers. 

'The Cheshire Cat', trapped in a cage but still grinning madly, looked to me rather more rat-like than cat-like. 

In the woodland I came across a distorting mirror, which I assume was part of the Wonderland trail. So I went 'through the looking glass' myself and ended up a good deal shorter and wider than I really am... Yikes! Thank goodness it was only a mirror and I didn't have to drink any potion to return to my normal size! 

 

Philip Haas sculptures

At RHS Harlow Carr, there is currently an exhibition of The Four Seasons sculptures by American artist and film-maker Philip Haas. These huge pieces, fifteen feet high, are inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo's renaissance paintings of the four seasons. (See HERE)  I was slightly disappointed to find they are made of fibre glass rather than natural materials, but I suppose natural materials would rot and wouldn't be easy to transport and assemble. The pieces have been displayed in London and New York, amongst other places. 

My favourite, by a long way, was 'Winter', above - comfortable in its mature woodland setting and with a truly imperious expression. 

'Spring' (above) literally has rosy cheeks - and 'Summer' (below) is a harvest of fruit and vegetables. Try as I did, I couldn't track down 'Autumn', despite walking round the majority of the huge garden estate.  

A joyful return

Despite having RHS membership, it's a full nine months since I was last at RHS Harlow Carr Gardens near Harrogate. Waking relatively early one morning, on a whim I decided to drive over there, arriving before most of the crowds, though it did soon get busier. Thankfully the gardens cover a huge area so it's not too difficult to 'socially distance'. The long borders of herbaceous planting are colourful at this time of year, though the planting scheme hasn't seemed quite as inspired lately as it was perhaps five years ago - still attractive though.

Clematis and roses trained around the supports at the entrance to the Edwardian garden looked like hanging baskets. 

Even in the areas where there is just foliage, it is surprising how many different tones and textures there are. In the autumn, I think that little acer will have its time in the spotlight. 

The Rite of Spring Re-imagined

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, I nipped into Bradford to watch a dance performance in City Park.  The advertising said: 

'The award-winning Seeta Patel Dance Company re-imagines Igor Stravinsky's iconic ballet, The Rite of Spring, in the powerful Indian classical dance style, Bharatanatyam. Showcasing some of the finest dance talent from across the globe, this unique re-telling of a pagan folk story celebrates the re-opening of our city by bridging two cultures, and two technical, powerful and evocative art forms: Western classical music and Indian classical dance. Expect expressive prowess, intricate rhythmic footwork and dynamic movements, creating one of the most exciting flirtations between East and West and a truly not-to-be-missed event for Bradford. 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Stravinsky, a commemoration marked and celebrated by thousands around the world.'

Beautifully danced, it was wonderful and quite moving to watch, although - with my hearing aids - I found the music a little hard to follow in the open air. 

I've done my best to dim the rather ugly metal railings that surrounded the platform, so that you can see the lovely movements and expressions of the dancers. I almost didn't stir myself to go down to see it but I am very glad I did.