Wensleydale

We have moved south to the Yorkshire Dales, to Hawes in Wensleydale. Here in one photograph are some of the elements that give the Dales their charm and beauty, limestone crags, drystone walls, flower rich meadows and fieldbarns.

Fieldbarns, of which there are very many in the Dales, were built in response to the problems of overwintering cattle in a harsh climate. The system revolved around grassland management. In the spring and summer the cattle were grazed on the high fells whilst hay was grown in the lower fields. The hay is cut and dried in July and then stored in the barns. In November the cattle were brought down from the fells and overwintered in the barns. The farmer visited each day to feed and milk the cows. In May the cattle are let out and the manure which had accumulated over the winter was spread on the fields, originally by hand rather than machine, to fertilise the next grass crop.

The barns are usually built at the top rather than at the bottom of sloping fields. This used to puzzle me as it meant that the farmer had to walk up the hill every day to visit his cows. The penny dropped when a farmer explained to me that it is easier to spread dung down the hillside, rather than to cart it up!