Victoria Benn visits Kettlewell, home of a very special festival and a close and friendly community

There aren’t many Dales villages that can lay claim to having had Elvis, Pavarotti, Abba, and The Spice Girls take up residence for a week.

Then again, there aren’t many Dales villages like Kettlewell; a picture perfect village nestled in the valley bottom of steep rich green limestone studded fells. So picture perfect in fact, that the village used to depict Emmerdale in the opening credits of the soap opera and, more latterly, represented the village of Knapley in the film Calendar Girls. By the way, did I mention that Elvis and co were all scarecrows?

Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival, which ended on Sunday, started nearly 20 years ago, and over the intervening years it’s grown from a one-day event into a nine day extravaganza. Jennie Howorth, one of the original organisers, credits her late mother Kathie Lamb with the trailblazing idea. Kathie lived in Wray, a village over the border in Lancashire, which was the first village in Britain to host a scarecrow festival.

“Mum knew I was trying hard to raise funds for Kettlewell School, along with the other mums in the village, and was incredibly excited about the first scarecrow festival in Wray, and sent me all the newspaper cuttings. When I saw them I knew it would work perfectly in Kettlewell too,” remembers Jennie. Initially, the festival was a school fundraiser, but within a few years it had become too popular for the friends and parents of Kettlewell School to manage alone, so in 1998 it became a full ‘village event’ organised on behalf of the School, St Mary’s Parish Church, and Kettlewell Village Hall.

Over the last 19 years proceeds have benefited the community tremendously, paying for a fully stocked school library, a school adventure playground, a new roof for the Village Hall, and a community website to name but a few. “The money we raise each year is ploughed back into the infrastructure of Kettlewell,” explains Colin Harvey, Chairman of the Festival Committee. “The overall aim of the festival is to preserve the heart of the village for future generations.”

If you are reading this, and thinking that your village would benefit from something similar, then be under no illusion that the massive rewards are borne out of a massive village commitment. Over the nine days of the festival, around 10,000 people converge on Kettlewell. The huge influx of people and vehicles requires 40 volunteers to be on hand every day to man the car parks, the stalls, and the tearooms in the village hall. Staggeringly, the village hall tea room serves between 500 and 1,000 people every day. Add to this the months of baking that are required in the lead up, and, of course, the 100-plus scarecrows to be created. That is 100-plus fantastic scarecrows that not only delight and amaze, but are able to withstand nine days of Yorkshire weather. Indeed Elvis, a scarecrow from an early year, was so ‘lifelike’ that he caused a bit of a news sensation. Having been stolen, he was later discovered floating face down in the River Wharf. It was only after the police and the fell rescue had arrived on the scene that his true scarecrow identity was discovered.

The festival prides itself on being ‘an affordable day out’, and indeed it is, with prices being just 50p and £1 for the scarecrow trail sheets, which provide a map of the village, and some cryptic clues to help you work out the prize-winning hidden word. More importantly, the festival offers a truly unique day out. Where else can you be welcomed by a scarecrow vicar and sit a while in a church amongst a congregation of scarecrows?

Or, watch the ribbons of the maypole flutter and dance in the hands of the scarecrow children? Even Chris Froome (the scarecrow one that is), stopped to have a rest and enjoy that spectacle!

Next year’s festival, starting on August 9, will follow hot on the heels of the Tour de France, which passes through the village on the July 5, as the competitors race from Leeds to Harrogate through Skipton, Kettlewell and Buckden. Colin Harvey reveals that “the committee have something very special planned to coincide with and link both events”. Sounds exciting, and with some of the best fell side and road side viewing spots, and several tight hair pin bends for the cyclists to negotiate, Kettlewell certainly looks on track for a double header of magnificent entertainment.