What a surprise! - A black Swaledale lamb

Once in a blue moon the unexpected happens and an all black Swaledale lamb is born!

It is a rare occurrence and has caused great interest & delight with friends and visitors to Pry House Farm B&B

 

The lamb is a gimmer (female)
It is quite likely that a farmer will want her to breed from although at the moment there are quite a few people who would like to take
her home!

 

Take a walk with the children - Keld to Angram

Showing You the Way ..... Keld to Angram 

A fun, circular family walk with a colour illustrated guide for the children.

  Going on a walk with children shouldn't be a fight.  Make it fun, give them a map to follow, a list of things to find, exciting things like fossils.  Let them lead the way and keep you on the right track by following the illustrations and the way markers.

Even on the warmest of days in Upper Swaledale you can find a sparkling clear stream to sit beside or better still to play or paddle in!

 

Stiles to negotiate and bridges to cross......

 A stretch of wetland with duck boarding to stop you getting your feet wet ....

Depending on the time of year discover pastures full of ewes and lambs or meadows rich with flowers & herbs that will be made into hay to feed the sheep throughout winter and lambing time.

And everywhere you look; in meadow field or on hillside high cow'uses, cow'uses, cow'uses.

What is a cowus?  It is a cow house of course!  Quite simply, a place to keep cows.

Five Minutes of Fame with Paul Rose

You may remember that last July we had a BBC film crew at Pry House Farm who were making a programme about the Yorkshire Dales

The programme is called Yorkshire Dales with Paul Rose, a series of three, half hour episodes featuring Wensleydale, Swaledale and Wharfedale

The Swaledale episode was aired on BBC1 last Monday.  It is available on iplayer for a few weeks and will be repeated on BBC 2 in May (provisional date 25th May 2018).

 I was so apprehensive about seeing (and hearing!) myself on t.v. but I needn't have worried.  The BBC did a wonderful job of presenting me, the farm, the dale and its residents at their very best.

It was great seeing the end result of the day we spent with the producer and the cameramen.

Seeing the farm from the air, seeing our beautiful hay meadows full of flower, seeing Chris and Paul Rose leading the hay in and stacking it into the cowus by our house is something I'll never forget.  I hope you are able to see the programme too.

Muker to Thwaite & back - an Every Barn Tells A Story Walk

Muker to Thwaite via Occupation Road and Appletree is one of the Every Barn Cowus Tells a Story walks.  There are 6 in the set.  I have them at Pry House Farm B & B and guests are welcome to use them or find them online on the YDNPA website.

From Muker village, cross over the bridge and branch off up the track to the right.

One of the nicest aspects of this walk is looking over to Muker and Kisdon from this lesser known path and seeing the village, the hills and the river Swale from a whole new angle.



 Turn right off Occupation Lane between two parallel walls, follow the lane to the bottom and through the gate on the left.

Discover waterfalls with bridges over, babbling streams and lovely places for a picnic.






Shortly after crossing the waterfall, the path comes out onto the B6270 opposite Scarr House.
Turn left and walk the short way to Thwaite.

In Thwaite find the Kearton Country Hotel which serves delicious lunches, coffees, cakes and snacks, ice-cream and sweets.

From Thwaite follow Straw Beck back to Muker.  On the way, cross over the most delightful, little packhorse bridge, wriggle your way through a few squeeze stiles and ......

....... past cow house, after cow house,
after cow house.

Swaledale has more cow houses (don't forget, they are not barns in upper Swaledale) than any other dale in North Yorkshire.
The booklet that accompanies the walk explains all about them; why they are here, how they were used and the stories they are hiding.