Beautiful day today so no excuse for resisting a walk around Fewston Reservoir & then on to Otley for lunch by the River Wharfe (see extra). Otley is a lovely Yorkshire town, birthplace of Chippendale, the famed furniture designer and maker, and the writer of the first book on interior design. Probably. 

Otley has its origins in Saxon times, its name coming from the Old English for a wood clearing. Cattle markets began in the town in 1222 defining its future for almost 800 years, and in 1644 the Market Square played host to Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarian army on the eve of the Battle of Marston Moor. It’s said they drank the pubs dry before their famous victory! The town was also famous for paper, candle and leather industries, now all long gone. But it remains a lively, independent town with plenty of buzz. 

And to quote the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jan/11/lets-move-to-otley-west-yorkshire)
“What's going for it? They like to keep themselves busy in Otley. A scan of the posters in pubs and corner shop windows, and I needed to sit down. Where do they find the time? There are reading clubs and camera clubs, amateur radio clubs and science festivals, the film club at the Otley Courthouse and all the walking, of course. There's even a sailing club (not a Yorkshire joke – we're a splash or two from the sea – though Weston Water is hardly Chichester Harbour). Not to mention the rugby clubs, folk festivals and allotment societies. Nor the town's 17 pubs, the great markets, location spotting for Heartbeat fans and delicious shopping in the pretty Victorian lanes. Not to mention, either, two fine butchers on the market square: Weegmanns' black pudding was a winner in this year's Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage & Products Competition; while Middlemiss's windows boast Yorkshire Supreme Sausages Champion 2006-2007, National Pie Champions 2008 and Yorkshire Supreme Pork Pie Champions 2004-2005.”