A most beautiful space

Yorkshire Day
However many times I have done it, I just love the train journey from Appleby through to Settle and beyond - wonderful landscape and time to read. Perfect for Yorkshire Day and preferable to driving or walking in the heat. Today we changed at Skipton and then got a local train to Saltaire. Then across the road and into Salts Mill. Splendid coffee and then a delicious lunch in the Diner.

One reason for going to the Mill was to see a photographic exhibition of some of Ian Beesley’s photographs, mainly focused on capturing the North’s cultural and industrial heritage before it disappeared. Whilst it was fascinating, as these were places I knew when I was young, it was interesting that the photographs were not all neatly framed. There were contact sheets and negatives alongside the photographs, which made the viewer look at the process and creativity of photography, as well as the final images. The extra is a set of negatives, which he describes as being ‘ghostly, ethereal artefacts’. I liked them.

Gordon went down to walk along the canal, whilst I of course spent a long time wandering this most beautiful space and the best bookshop that I know of. The light, the space, the layout, the old floors carrying ancient footsteps, the Hockney and other works scattered around, the seats, the fine music . . . just wonderful.