You know you are in Yorkshire when ...

Cakes, zumba, tractors, sheep jams and misbehaving dogs within the castle walls!
 

Horsing around

Met up with Simon in the morning and he took us around the stables and then off to the gallops. 

Every morning string after string of racehorses walk up through the cobbled streets of Middleham village to exercise. They are heading to the training grounds which span vast stretches of open moorland - the Gallops. The gallops are used daily by around 13 to 15 local racehorse trainers and 16 training yards, serving over 1,000 thoroughbreds! 

Lovely to see Olivia ride across the tracks while Simon told us all the inside goss of all the horses and trainers ha ha!

We will miss these beautiful horses (and their riders). 

We got back to Leyburn just in time to meet up with Anna and Ben and family at the famous Tennants auction house. No wedding here this time but lots of interesting things on auction including fashion house items ... ties, shoes, bags, dresses, coats and much more.  I was very careful not to move in case I made a bid!

We loved the Shawl walk and its stunning views.  The local story is that it got its name from Mary Queen of Scots who when she escaped from nearby Bolton Castle dropped her silk shawl, giving the escarpment its name.

Mmm, on the other hand historians suggest 'Shawl' comes from the Old Norse/Old English word schalle, referring to a cliff, slope, or wooden ridge.

Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes

Hawes is a lovley town, with markets, lots of craft work including a stall selling old musical instruments.  OMG has anyone ever lifted a tuba.  The one we tried weighed 13.6 kg.  Imagine marching with that and playing in tune!

It had an incredible museum, fabulously curated with really friendly knowlegeable staff. I sort of knew about tin mining but I had no idea that knitting was such a part of Dales culture

In Hawes hand-knitting cottage industry was at its peak in the 18th and early 19th centuries, Whole households, men, women, and children, knitted continuously while walking, carrying loads, or sitting around the hearth. 

An average family would turn out 6 to 10 pairs a week. In the late 1700s, the Dales region produced roughly 5,000 to 6,000 pairs of stockings every week. This added up to over 250,000 to 300,000 pairs of hand-knitted socks and stockings per year, which were sold across Britain and exported to military forces abroad.

To produce that quantity purely by hand, knitters in Hawes used knitting sticks which were to strapped to the waist to anchor one needle, allowing knitters to use both hands for rapid, continuous movement reaching speeds of over 200 stitches per minute. I loved the rag rug, I used to make those with my grandma.

One section of the museum was in the train.  It showed regular life in the Dales but the police section had a notice displaying crimes for which you could be jailed including false thoughts!