ANYONE wanting to buy a copy of An Almshouse for Linton, which we recently featured in our pages, may have been frustrated by the website address at the end of the feature, which was inadvertently cut short. It should have read: An Almshouse for Linton by Jane Houlton (Devenish Press 2018) is available on-line from bit.ly/RichardFountaine. The book, which shines new light on the fascinating building (pictured) and just who may have been the architect, can also be bought from the Dales Book Centre in Grassington.

IN our coverage of the Kilnsey Show last week, we neglected to mention that the 1957 Ferguson FE35 (pictured) is owned by Ivor John Lawson, of Eastby. It was pictured with John Dowbiggin, of Skipton, who shows the vintage tractor for Mr Lawson.

THERE is a lot of discussion going on currently surrounding the issue of young people living in the Dales, and just why it is that the numbers are significantly lower than other parts of the country. Indeed, a two day conference as part of the Great Place: Lakes and the Dales programme is due to take place at Broughton Hall in November. The ‘elephant in the room’ is the issue around housing, and specifically, affordable housing that younger people can afford. But, of course, this is nothing new, and was being discussed a hundred years ago in the pages of the Craven Herald. The paper’s leader writer highlighted the need for more housing in rural areas and commented, that if agriculture was to prosper in the country, then more and better housing for farm workers would be needed. In the same paper, a councillor speaking at a meeting of the Skipton Rural Council complained that a shortage of cottages for farm workers in Burnsall was chiefly due to the fact that many of the cottages were let to visitors - and this was in September, 1918. Cllr J Stockdale, in comments that could easily have been made now, said the cottages let to visitors were in use just ‘two or three months’ in the year. The councillor continued the situation may well be wrong, but blame should not lie with the ‘visitors’. “We presume that the cottages would be empty when the present tenants agreed to rent them, and the farmers would at that time have the same chance as any other persons of renting the property,” he said.

EARLIER this year, Nancy Hollow from Cornwall (pictured) made the long trip up from the West Country to attend an annual shareholders meeting at the Rendezvous Hotel in Skipton - she was so impressed with what she saw, that she decided to come back. She stayed for just a week, but plans to come back - there is so much more to see, she says. Here, she describes just what she likes about the town.

“The Fent Shop - a word not in my dictionary, but I wish we had one down here, fabric of every type imagined. In a great warehouse with the scissor ladies in the centre ready to cut out your order. Around a street corner another wonderful find - an antique- curiosity shop on three floors of warehouse size. Couldn’t tear myself away from that, but luckily my case was already too full to carry. I simply had to see Skipton Castle. That castle is remarkably well preserved, and organised for visitors to walk around and absorb its enthralling history with no risk of clashing with swordsmen or women, who actually are in residence on special occasions. With the 40 page sketch info sheet in hand, I was there most of a day. Before my second visit to Skipton I had managed to persuade the local U 3 A walking group to let me join them on a local outing - a risky matter, after all I was a foreigner up from Cornwall. I enjoyed every minute of that lovely walk. Every wall was a picture of pride in its creation and its utility, the difference from my own Dartmoor walls being in the quality and regularity of the stone. Farmers down here have a tough task to build a wall!(Yes, I know it’s hard up north too!) But most of all I enjoyed the company of the 20 or so seasoned walkers, who took me, a complete stranger to their hearts and gave me a safe and memorable experience. There is so much to see in Skipton, I was there for a week, but it was not nearly enough time to do justice to this thriving largely wealthy and fascinating town. The street markets four days a week, the remarkable variety of stalls selling under canvas, the brightly coloured canal boats, the elegant covered areas where one can sit in complete comfort for food and drink--the country bus rides, Holy Trinity Church in a dominant position and well attended. The hair dressers who would only use modern methods, the dogs in well behaved order, a lovely bus ride to Grassington - thank you Skipton, I will come again”.

MANY vegetable growers out there will be well aware how good a year it has been for marrows and courgettes - indeed, a colleague has on several occasions this year shared with us all in the office bag loads of delicious courgettes, having practically eaten them for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past several weeks. Looking at the Craven Herald of 50 years ago, I noticed a recipe for stuffed marrow, which made me think the summer of 1968 was similarly good for marrows and courgettes. It was an interesting recipe, and not the healthiest. Basically, beef mince, dripping, meat extract, stock and an onion.

FANS of the Netflix series The Innocents will have had fun spotting familiar scenes in and around Skipton. The film crew was in town towards the end of last year and spent several days filming the series, which is set both in England and in Norway. But how many spotted Skipton Academy (pictured) being used as the school where one of the main characters (played Sorcha Groundsell) attended, before she ran off with her boyfriend (played by Percelle Ascott) and discovered her ‘shape-shifting abilities. The whole of Season One of the series, which also stars Guy Pearce, can be seen now on Netflix, and as yet there is no release date for a second series, which is a shame, as the last one ended on something of a cliff edge. Meanwhile, Skipton Academy has shown it too knows a thing or two about film making with its promotional video This Is the Greatest School.

SHOWING at Skipton’s cinemas 50 years ago, in September 1968 was Sodom and Gomorrah, staring Stewart Granger and Stanley Baker, and Carry on Cleo at The Plaza. Over at the Classic, it was Rod Steiger in Al Capone and The Proud Ones, with Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo.

A RECORD breaking number of overseas visitors headed to Yorkshire in the first three months of 2018, says Welcome to Yorkshire. Just under 294,000 people came to the county from abroad between January and March - the highest number for the first quarter of any year, since records were started.

Visitors have been recorded from as far afield as Australia, the UAE, Serbia, Singapore, Nigeria, New Zealand, Qatar, Chile and Canada. New figures released by VisitEngland also reveal the Borough of Scarborough, which includes Whitby and Filey, has retained its crown as most visited holiday destination in England, outside of London.

Sir Gary Verity Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: “It’s been a fantastic summer for tourism here in Yorkshire and it’s great to see official stats now showing a record breaking start to the year too. We work hard showcasing the county across the globe and we’re delighted to have welcomed visitors from such a broad range of countries.”