Wharfedale views

Upper Wharfedale is the Yorkshire dale I am most familiar with and I love the sweeping views once you climb up the valley side. One afternoon I walked from Scargill House to Conistone Pie (not a pie! Just an outcrop of rocks.) Part of the path follows the Dalesway long distance trail. The stormy weather made for some fabulous and quickly changing cloudscapes. It was very windy, with a high chill factor, but I only got hailed on once.

Hardy Yorkshire sheep and dry stone walls are a feature of the valley. The sheep often seem as curious about us as we are about them.

Bench with a view

Scargill House (where I was staying on my break) sits in a small estate: a series of limestone terraces, mostly wooded, climbing up the hillside behind. There are traces of a couple of very old, ruined stone dwellings up there, believed to be post-Roman, possibly shepherds' huts or small cottages, evidence that the valley has been inhabited and farmed for centuries. Scargill House itself dates from the 18th century. It was originally a gentleman's residence used for hunting and fishing.

In the late 1950s, it was sold to the Church of England and became a Christian community, run as a conference centre and retreat house. In 2008 that venture folded and the house was put up for sale again. Under the leadership of a close friend of mine, a new charitable trust, the Scargill Movement, was formed and the property was bought and has since been revitalised, initially by a team of dedicated volunteers and eventually developed into a residential Christian community. Like Lee Abbey in Devon (where I have also stayed several times) many in the community are young people from many different countries, who volunteer for a year or two. It is a wonderful place to stay, to study, to rest and recharge, with rather a wonderful story behind it too.

The views from the corner of the estate, looking over Kettlewell village, are stunning. If it hadn't been so cold, I could have sat on that bench for hours!

Wintry scenes

I thought when I booked it many months ago that it was either mad or inspired to take a break in mid-February in Kettlewell, up in the Dales. In the end it turned out to be a bit of both. I was staying at Scargill House on a Christian study break, which proved to be a wonderful and thought-provoking experience. The house itself is welcoming, comfortable and cosy. Some of the lounges have huge windows, from which you can watch, in comfort, the weather as it sweeps down the dale.

I took these photos within a minute or so of each other, looking from the main house down the drive. Sandwiched between the weekend storms Ciara and Dennis, the skies were unpredictable and dramatic, jumping from calm to gusty, with bursts of excoriating hail (and snow on the tops) and the occasional breath-taking shaft of sunlight slicing through. Great weather for photos and I did manage a few lovely - if muddy - walks.

Pink blush

Nancy's blushes, pale carmine, party surprise, rose trellis - just a few names for this shade of pink, according to the paint manufacturers' charts. Personally, I never would choose pink to decorate a room. Being a naturally fair-skinned blonde (English rose, I guess) I do, however, like to wear pink, and have a sweater in a similar colour to this geranium. The plant was in the greenhouse that runs along one side of the walled garden at Scargill House. Despite the lateness of the season it was full of flowers, including some late flowering sweet peas that filled the air with their delightful fragrance.

Within the walls

Whilst in the Yorkshire Dales I was staying at a Christian holiday and conference centre, Scargill House. It's a wonderfully peaceful place in a lovely setting, and nowhere is more beautiful to rest awhile than the walled garden. It is well-established, though it had been neglected for a time and has been revived by the careful tending of volunteers over the past two or three years. Even at this season there were many flowers still blooming and plenty of rich colour in the foliage too. 

Pointing heavenwards

I was staying, as I have done before, at Scargill House: an international Christian community, holiday, retreat and conference centre. It's in Upper Wharfedale, just outside the village of Kettlewell. The iconic chapel's roof made a bold statement, looming out of the mist. On a better day, the views from inside the chapel through those huge, clear windows are awesome. It's a wonderful place in which to worship.  For more information about the Scargill Movement - and more photos - click the Scargill House label below and also look at their website.

My very first post about the Centre, back in 2009, described how it had been forced to close and a rescue plan was taking shape. The news on that is tremendous. Much practical work has been done to bring the buildings back into good repair and many of the bedrooms have been completely updated to lovely, ensuite rooms. There is a growing and lively community of families, couples and single people at its heart. Many of them are young people, from all over the world, who come for a year or so to serve, learn, develop skills and enjoy community alongside a core of more mature leaders who tend to stay for a few years. The community therefore constantly changes, which must be challenging but also makes it exciting and vibrant. It's a great success story, a lovely place reborn and reinvigorated with a compelling vision to see lives transformed by the love of God in Jesus Christ and to offer hospitality to all.

Misty and moisty

My holiday week didn't get off to a great start weather-wise, as the first morning saw heavy fog that took a while to lift. Even then, the light was dull and flat and the sky an unappealing flat grey. Never mind, a bit of mist makes for an atmospheric woodland walk. There are flashes where the leaves are beginning to change colour but so far most of the trees are still green. There is a decidedly autumnal feel to the air though.

Through the triangular window....

It was raining at the time (!) but I think nevertheless you can see the impact of the glorious scenery viewed through one of the gable windows of Scargill House's chapel... Yorkshire drystone walling and lots of trees on this side, a view across the valley on the other.

I don't suppose many people will remember where my title comes from - did you ever watch 'Playschool'?  When my daughter was small, in the early 1980s, we often watched this children's TV programme. They zoomed in to a film sequence through a different-shaped window each time.

The chapel at Scargill House

I had another holiday! I spent a few days up in the Yorkshire Dales (Upper Wharfedale, to be precise) at Scargill House near Kettlewell. Scargill is a Christian holiday and retreat centre, home to a resident community of some thirty people from all over the world, who welcome all to enjoy a few days being well-cared for in a spectacular environment. The programme I went on was a photography holiday (what else!) so I spent time with a lovely group of like-minded folk, exploring some of the wonderful local beauty spots and being patiently coached where coaching was needed. I think I have finally got to grips with using a tripod, which had always frustrated me before. I'm not saying I will always lug one around with me; I like to travel light on my walks - but at least I now feel I can make proper use of one when I need to.

My photo shows the chapel at Scargill, recently short-listed in the top ten in a competition to find the best churches built in the last 60 years. Built in 1960 and designed by George Pace, the chapel has a soaring A-frame roof in a Scandinavian style. Through the huge, clear glass, gable windows you can see the lovely Yorkshire scenery outside, making it an especially uplifting place to worship the Creator God.

A walk in the rain

I headed up into the Yorkshire Dales last weekend to help celebrate a friend's birthday, with a weekend house-party at Scargill House in Upper Wharfedale, not far from the village of Kettlewell. It's about 25 miles (40 km) NNW of Saltaire. (For more information about the house and the Scargill Movement please click the links.)

After all the brilliant weather we have been having, sadly it reverted to type, with fine drizzle for much of the time. But that didn't stop me walking and taking photos. Upper Wharfedale is a classic U-shaped valley, scoured out by glaciers in the Ice Age. It has been farmed since at least the Bronze Age, and farming and tourism continue to be the main activities in the area. The scenery is dominated by outcrops of Great Scar Limestone (notably at Kilnsey Crag) and the area is popular with walkers, climbers and pot-holers. This whole area is part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

A 'dale' is a river valley. The Yorkshire Dales National Park covers the scenic, rural upper reaches of these rivers: the Ribble; the Aire (Saltaire is in Airedale. The upper reaches of Airedale around Malham are known as Malhamdale); the Wharfe (Ilkley, the town I featured earlier this month, is in Lower Wharfedale and Kettlewell is in Upper Wharfedale); the Nidd; the Ure - whose valley used to be called Yoredale but is now known as Wensleydale, after one of its villages; and the Swale. There are also numerous smaller dales, all of which are very attractive and interesting. The geography and geology of the Yorkshire Dales are a bit complicated to describe at length here, but there is plenty of info and maps on the internet.

Scargill House, near Kettlewell

Yesterday I made a brief foray into the "beyond Saltaire"...up into the Yorkshire Dales - Wharfedale to be precise. I visited Scargill House, which is a Christian community near the village of Kettlewell. It is the 50th anniversary of its founding, celebrated with a garden party and an open-air service of worship, thanksgiving and rededication. As well as enjoying the celebrations and seeing lots of friends, it was good to revisit the lovely open spaces and greenery of Wharfedale.
The celebrations were especially significant because last autumn the original trustees put the house up for sale because it was no longer financially viable. A group of concerned Christians banded together to 'save' Scargill and ensure that it keeps going as an international Christian community and centre for teaching, renewal and transformation. There is a lot of work to be done before it can reopen - fundraising(!), major building repairs and improvements, and the forming of a new core community. But there is a real sense of God at work in what is happening and a clear sense of vision and commitment. As well as the impact that a visit to Scargill (or Lee Abbey or Iona or any similar Christian community) can have on individuals or church groups, I believe such places have important things to say in our society, modelling values of community and stewardship that are crucial in the individualistic and materialistic world we inhabit.

The photograph shows Scargill's Chapel, designed by architect George Pace in a Scandinavian style and built in 1960. It is now a listed building.