Another Trip To The Dales

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know by now that I love the Yorkshire Dales. It's views like this one that really sell the area to me.

I recently read a blog post on Mo's A Small Holding blog about St. Bartholomew's Day and the Burning of Old Bartle in West Witton. It took place yesterday, and though I'd have liked to have gone, Mick and Daniel were playing cricket. The burning yesterday was followed by a fun day taking place today so we decided to go and see what it was all about.

When we arrived, the fun day was only just starting, and to be honest, there wasn't much happening. There weren't many people there, and things just hadn't got going. It was a rather cold, blustery day so we decided not to hang around, but to see what else we could find to do.

The first thing we came up on was White Rose Candles, a business celebrating it's 40th anniversary. The workshop is housed in a 19th century water mill, and is full to the brim with all manner of candles which you are able to buy.

I've been looking for some reasonably priced floating candles for a while, so came away with three yellow and three purple. I also bought a candle snuffler.

Eleanor loves to have candles burning while she's in the bath, so she treated herself to half a dozen scented tea lights. They smell delicious.

Outside the candle workshop is Wensley Waterfall. I do love the sound of gushing water, it's so relaxing.

In the grounds of White Rose Candles is Wensley Community Wildlife Garden.

It's chock a block full with plants and flowers and is on quite a steep incline with a path weaving it's way down to the bottom.

Our next port of call was Wensleydale Creamery.

We didn't take a tour of the cheese factory, but we visited the shop. They're so generous with their samples, we must have tried a couple of dozen cheeses, all were delicious, but Wensleydale Special Reserve is still my favourite, so I bought a block of it to bring home.

We then headed in to Hawes, which is located at the head of Wensleydale. It's a small market town and was thriving with tourists today. I don't think I've ever visited Hawes when it's been quiet. It's got a main street with some lovely shops.

We saw our second waterfall of the day from the bridge over the river, though it wasn't really a waterfall, it was a weir.

Wensleydale pottery is at the bottom of main street. I would have liked to have visited the workshop but it was closed today, so we had a look around the shop instead.

We never visit Hawes without a look in The Old Sweet Shop. It was so busy today that we came away without making a purchase.

After our trip to Hawes, we headed south to Appletreewick and stopped for a drink at the Craven Arms. It's good to find a pub which will allow dogs in. I remember this pub being featured on a Yorkshire Television programme when they were building a cruck barn at the back of the pub. This building is now used as a restaurant.

There are fabulous views from the front of the pub.

After our light refreshment, Eleanor requested that we stop off at Barden on the way home. We've often visited this area in the Yorkshire Dales.

Daniel and Eleanor enjoyed skimming stones in the river.

I can't finish this post without a photo of Archie. He was itching to get in the river, but he wasn't allowed.

I'm hoping for some decent weather tomorrow so we can get out for the day again.