Over the moon with night sky (From Craven Herald)

Over the moon with night sky

11:27am Thursday 12th January 2012 in From The Farm

Tonight, the first Monday in January, is the annual land-letting ceremony at Hubberholme, and Stuart and Eddy have gone down to take part in proceedings. It is a beautiful night, clear and cold, and everywhere is bathed in silvery moonlight.

The moon, which must be nearly full, is huge and a creamy yellow colour. The features of “the man in the moon” were quite clear to see. When we were driving home tonight he was just appearing, low in the sky, often hidden behind the hills, but you could tell he was there because of the silver glow on the horizon.

As we neared the top of the dale he was much higher in the sky, just hanging there in full view and away from light pollution. Everywhere had that eerie unreal look about it. I would have liked to have captured the view as we came over the bridge – of the house and sycamore tree in silhouette.

It is not surprising early civilisations were fascinated and often worshipped the moon and stars. Not knowing or quite understanding what they were, sometimes there and sometimes not. It just makes you wonder what they did actually make of it all.

In more recent years many have been inspired to write the most beautiful poetry and music. One of my favourite arias is Rusalka’s Song to the Moon from Anton Dvorak’s opera Rusalka. In this fairytale of nymphs, Rusalka, daughter of Jezibab, spirit of the lake, falls in love with a handsome prince and wishes to become human so she can be with him. Her song to the moon is where she confides in the moon her secret longing.

We are lucky to be able to see a real “night sky”, being far away from that “urban streetlight glow”. It was one thing many of our B&B guests used to comment on – the pitch black, the stars. We occasionally had people say that they couldn’t sleep because it was too dark, and quite regularly found guests standing in the garden, heads tipped back, just looking up into the vastness of the milky way.

Just past Yockenthwaite, at the bottom of our pastures, there is a stone circle. There is much debate about its origin, as there is with many of these structures. Is it a hut circle, a sheep enclosure, a druid’s circle? Who knows. I'm not sure what would happen if I stood in the middle of it tonight though!

Stuart did manage to get his century – a hundred moles before Christmas – and is now proudly boasting a tally of 149 and still counting. It seems when one is dispensed, another one takes over the runs and the job of chief excavator.

The sheep are now up on Yocken-thwaite moor and Raisgill Hagg. They were more than ready for off. They always are at this time of year – after all, it is home and there’s no place like it!