By the way, the film we saw was 'Ali and Ava', a multi-faceted love story from writer-director Clio Barnard, set in and filmed in Bradford. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it. I would also recommend the Pictureville experience. They often show films with subtitles for the hard of hearing, which means that I can go along and enjoy a movie the same as anyone else. It's rarely busy either, which is a bonus as far as I'm concerned.
Hardcastle Crags has sometimes been called 'Little Switzerland', due to its steep sided valley and ravines and the upland meadows surrounding it. I think that's stretching it a bit! Nevertheless, it's a scenic area. This time I ventured a bit further up the valley than I have explored before, beyond Gibson Mill. The valley widens out slightly and there is a rocky outcrop: Hardcastle Crags itself - with good views from the top.
From here you can see some of the rolling meadows that characterise the belt above the valleys and below the higher moorland.
The valley at this side of Gibson Mill has some open play and picnic areas, with space and materials for den-building. There's also a rather nice willow sculpture of a heavy horse, a reminder of the horse power that used to be central to the trade in wool cloth and other commodities in these valleys.
There are waterfalls too, cascading down into the ravine in a spectacular fashion after our recent storms.
There's plenty to explore at Hardcastle Crags, so I'm hoping my camera club outing in May will be successful. So much depends on the weather...
Behind Gibson Mill (Hardcastle Crags NT) there are a couple of mill ponds that offer various photo opportunities and, if you're lucky, some rather good reflections. The valley is deep and steep-sided so the winter sun doesn't penetrate far but at least in the winter the leafless trees offer some views through.
The water-powered mill, built in 1800, was one of the first mills of the Industrial Revolution and produced cotton cloth until 1890. In the early 1900s it was used as an 'entertainment emporium', popular with local people, offering dining, dancing and a roller-skating rink. It was disused after WWII and passed into the care of the National Trust in 1950. It is now run sustainably and completely 'off-grid' with solar panels, wood-powered boilers, water from a local spring and composting toilets. (Having said that, I did notice a diesel generator out the back. Perhaps is not sunny enough in winter to power the café.)
It's not only the mill that provides interesting reflections - hooray for the red jacket!
I'm planning a camera club outing in the spring to Hardcastle Crags, a wooded valley near Hebden Bridge managed by the National Trust. It needed an exploratory recce and I happened to choose a rather lovely day for it: much warmer than of late, dry, sunny and with no wind. Perfect! The river (Hebden Water) was running fast after recent rain and that added to the beauty and atmosphere.
There are various clues that the past, in this valley, was rather different from now. Old gateposts and walls, flagged packhorse trails, weirs and stepping stones across the river remind you that at one time the area was a hive of industry...
... and eventually you arrive at Gibson Mill, nestled deep in the valley, once a 19th century cotton mill, later an entertainment emporium and now a café and exhibition space.
Crossing Apperley Lane from Dobson's Lock, you arrive at the Apperley Bridge Marina. It was purpose-built, relatively recently, as part of a large waterside residential development. It provides short and long term mooring, as well as services for canal boats. Bear Boating, a boat hire company, have their base here. Compared to many places along the canal, it is very smart and orderly. It makes for some colourful photos, especially when there's hint of sunshine. I always think it has a bit of a European holiday feel to it.
Different stretches of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal have different 'flavours'. Situated about four miles east from Saltaire, the area around Dobson's Lock in Apperley Bridge is open, with far-reaching views.
Dobson's Lock, a two-rise staircase lock, was a hub of activity in the early 1800s, with warehouses to hold the merchandise being transported on the canal, a workshop that made lock gates and swing bridges, and a blacksmith to shoe the horses that pulled the barges. There's also a sweet little row of cottages, presumably built to house the blacksmith and other workers.
In the thin winter sunshine, there were few people around to disturb the peace, though several swans seem to have this area as their base.
The Leeds to Skipton railway passes over the canal nearby. There's some graffiti on the bridge that begins to look quite historic from today's perspective. It was 1990 when the much hated Poll Tax was introduced by Thatcher's government. It was a per capita Community Charge to replace the previous 'rates', which were a levy on property. Quite a few folk decided to 'Pay No Poll Tax' and there were widespread riots, which led to its repeal in favour of Council Tax (again a levy on property value) in 1993.
Love Ukraine by Volodymyr Sosiura (1944)
It's easy enough to take attractive photos of conventional beauty spots and tourist destinations; perhaps it's more of a challenge to find the beauty in our old industrial heritage. It does 'speak' to me, however, and I could have happily spent an hour or two exploring the angles and hidden corners of Sunny Bank Mills.
It started out as a scribbling (combing wool fibres) and fulling mill (pounding and wetting the cloth in water or urine to thicken and felt it). Gradually other buildings were added to carry out spinning and weaving, so that in time the complex became a renowned manufacturer of fine worsted cloth. The colonnade (above) started life as a yarn winding and twisting shed.
All of the buildings have now been repurposed into small business, creative and retail outlets. The 1912 mill (above) was built when James Ives and Co took over the business. It was recently used to film the Christmas and New Year 'celebrity special' episodes of the BBC's Great British Sewing Bee.
Rough stonework, peeling paint and rusty artefacts combine to retain the gritty industrial vibe that I find really captivating.
I made my first visit to Sunny Bank Mills recently. It is a Victorian woollen mill complex in Farsley on the outskirts of Leeds. The oldest building on the site was opened in 1829 and when the textile business closed down, as recently as 2008, its owners converted the site to units for small businesses and creative organisations. It has a gallery that hosts exhibitions, with a small café and a shop full of original and creative gifts: prints, jewellery, ceramics, houseware and textiles. It's a bit like Salts Mill, though not on such a grand scale, and without the associated village setting.
It's a delightful place to browse and I very much enjoyed the current exhibition: Drawn from the Land, by various artists whose work is inspired by and evolves from the land. I particularly liked the prints by Bridget Tempest (see HERE for her website).
These colourful ceramic buttons in the shop caught my eye, as well as some gorgeous blue-green glassware, amongst a host of other delightful things.
Everything was attractively displayed alongside old artefacts that presumably once graced the mill, like this cash register.
I enjoyed Oonagh Corr's pieces, woven from brambles and reminiscent of birds nests:
The colourful boards below are Bridget Tempest's work too. They are painted (or printed) but reminded me of the kind of effects some photographers manage to achieve with Intentional Camera Movement - and it prompted me that I should go out and have another play with that technique.
