Milner Field Farm

Many of the original buildings associated with Milner Field's model farm still survive in use. Just behind the farmhouse is the small, square dairy (now used as a store), where milk, butter and cream would have been prepared for the folk up in the grand mansion. The outbuildings are built in a U-shape of cowsheds, barns and stables, now infilled with a more modern structure that shelters the huge milk storage tanks. 

I sampled some of their farm-made ice cream - and very delicious it was, too. 

You could see into the former milking shed, though now the cows are milked in a more modern facility in one of the other buildings. I understand that the farm is solely a dairy farm nowadays. Any crops grown are used as animal feed and the few chickens running loose were there to provide eggs for the famer's family.

Dairy cows mean calves and there were a few youngsters in the barn.

In the field by the gatehouse we saw a very newborn calf, struggling to stand. There were two cows beside it. The one with the white shoulders was its mother but the other seemed to be rather aggressively trying to keep the calf from feeding. I have no idea about cows so I'm not sure if that was normal behaviour or not!

A visit to the farm

I've driven past many times, but never really speculated what lay beyond these gates, the entrance to Milner Field Farm. To coincide with Saltaire Festival and as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme (which sees private properties of historic interest opened to the general public), Saltaire History Club was offering guided tours of the farm.

It was built by Titus Salt Junior (one of Sir Titus' sons) in 1871 as a model farm for his grand mansion at Milner Field. I've written about the now demolished house in the past. (See HERE) It has a fascinating story though little remains apart from a few old stones, a fragment of the conservatory's mosaic floor and the top and bottom gate lodges. The farm, in contrast, continues as a business, run as a dairy farm by tenant farmers, currently the fourth generation of the Downs family, who have lived there since 1902.

The gates and gatehouse to the farm (top photo) give a hint of the grandness of the original Milner Field mansion, which was a solid-looking place built in a heavy Victorian Gothic style. The farmhouse itself (above) is less grand, though its windows with their slightly rounded arches give a nod to Saltaire's architecture. 

It has a wonderful view, perched on the hillside looking down towards Cottingley. The lone tree in the photo below is the upper of my two 'favourite trees', the ones I often take photos of when I'm walking along the canal towpath at Dowley Gap. (See HERE). 

To the east of the farm and its outbuildings, there's a view down to Saltaire itself.

Behind and slightly above the farm is the site where the Milner Field mansion was. The site is now overgrown by trees but just underneath those trees is a wall and a ha-ha (hidden ditch) that marked the garden boundary.

For those who like maps, I've included one below. Saltaire village and its mill are in the bottom right

corner and I've marked Milner Field Farm and the site of the original Milner Field mansion with a purple overlay.  

A grand time with my grand girls

I had both of my granddaughters to stay at various times during the school holidays. It's good to spend time with them, together and separately. I'm usually too distracted to take photos and anyway it's hard to catch them when they are not larking about these days but I managed to get a few snaps with my phone. This is the older one, who will be seven in a few weeks' time. She is growing up so fast; starting now to lose her baby teeth, so that's a big milestone. They both love playing with 'My Little Ponies'. (An enduring toy. My daughter loved them too, thirty years ago!) I took her to Leeds, to the Royal Armouries Museum, where she enjoyed dressing up in costumes, and consented to pose by the elephant statue. 

She also introduced me to her favourite restaurant, Yo Sushi. She polished off several plates of sushi and seaweed, finishing off with a rather rich chocolate confection. I was impressed with her chopstick skills.

Another day we all went to Halifax's Piece Hall, where there were giant deck chairs to pose in, though the bright sun shining into their eyes was an irritant!

Lee Abbey sunset

So, that was my holiday journal... I took so many photos! I hope I haven't been boring about it. I wanted my own record of a very enjoyable 'grand tour' of the south west of England  - and anyway, I haven't been taking many pictures at home recently.

Finally, just because I can't not show this - here is another sunset shot, taken during the time I was at Lee Abbey, Devon. The sun drops down over Lee Bay into the sea and each night it looks different, depending on the cloud cover. Irresistible to watch - and to photograph. It was like having your very own light show, night after night. As the sun neared the sea, it seemed to change shape from a sphere to an oval. Absolutely compelling. It seemed as if there should be a symphony playing but instead all was quiet. Even the people watching stopped talking and simply enjoyed one of the masterpieces of God's creation. Such peace.

"If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of anyone, 

I shall feel that I have worked with God."

G K Chesterton

Wiltshire: Lacock

When I set off to visit Lacock Abbey (see yesterday), I had no idea the village of Lacock itself, also owned by the National Trust, would be so pretty. It's a sizeable place, though plagued - like Saltaire and so many of our beauty spots - with cars parked everywhere. These old streets weren't built with cars in mind and have few garages or off-road parking. I spent a while exploring. It was like wandering around a film set - and indeed, Lacock has featured in many films and TV series, notably 'Downton Abbey' and the BBC's versions of 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Cranford'.

Most of the existing buildings are 18th century or earlier, made of stone or half-timbered with stone roof tiles. The village is laid out in a grid of streets, as a planned medieval estate village. The village's wealth came from the wool trade and outwardly little has changed for 200 years. It is, however (like Saltaire) a living, breathing village. The NT rents the buildings to private tenants and there are shops, cafés, galleries, pubs and an interesting 14th century church, St Cyriac's.

There is a wonderful tithe barn and the old village lock-up (bottom) where they held people overnight for minor misdemeanours.

Wiltshire: Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey was founded in the early 13th century as an Augustinian nunnery. Thanks to Henry VIII (again!) when religious houses were dissolved in the 16th century, it fell into private hands and was converted to a house, belonging to Sir William Sharington. Later it became the home of the Talbot family, notably of William Henry Fox Talbot, a scientist and pioneer of photography (see yesterday). 

Since 1944 it has been in the care of the National Trust (I'm rocking that membership!) and is often used as a film location. In fact there were film vans outside when I was there. It is perhaps most famous for being in some of the Harry Potter movies.


There are attractive gardens and a very pretty tearoom in the 16th century stable courtyard.

The Great Hall (below), completed in 1755, is home to lots of statues, sculptures and gargoyles, some rather grotesque!

Wiltshire: A pilgrimage

At first glance you wouldn't realise the significance of this rather lovely oriel window... I have wanted to see it for many years though, in fact ever since I saw an exhibition on the history of photography at the Media Museum in Bradford. For this window was the subject of the earliest surviving photographic negative, made in 1835 by William Henry Fox Talbot. It is a window in Lacock Abbey (of which more tomorrow). Lacock was Fox Talbot's home. A scientist, polymath and inventor, he had long wanted to find a way to fix images on paper and through research and experimentation, he devised the calotype negative, using silver salted paper.  

Fox Talbot was certainly a pioneer in photographic history although there were other processes, notably the Daguerreotype developed at the same time in France, that also had a profound impact. Fox Talbot's work was the first to enable many prints to be made of the same image. Those Victorians... what a debt we owe them all.

It seemed only fitting that I should take a photograph of the window, in homage - and it is very pretty.

Wiltshire: Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Longbarrow

I also walked to Silbury Hill, which is not far from the Avebury stone circle and is quite astonishing. At around 4400 years old, it is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe, 30m high and 160m wide. It was built in stages, starting with a small mound of gravel that was added to over generations. No-one knows why it was built. Though it is equivalent to some of the Egyptian Pyramids in scale and the effort it took to build it, there is no evidence that it is a burial chamber or even intended as one. It's like a giant plum pudding plonked into the landscape! 

Nearby, however, there is a Neolithic burial chamber, the West Kennet Longbarrow, built 5650 years ago and used for around 1000 years. The remains of 46 people and various artefacts such as pottery, beads and stone tools have been found within the stone chambers that extend inside for just 13m; the rest of the 100m long barrow is solid chalk. The entrance is blocked by huge sarsen stones but the excavated area behind is accessible and absolutely awe-inspiring - not least because there was hardly another soul around! 

Wiltshire: Avebury Manor and village

This is Avebury Manor, the early 16th century manor house where the archaeologist Alexander Keiller lived. Like the nearby stone circles, it is also in the care of the National Trust. In 2011, the NT and the BBC collaborated on a TV series 'The Manor Reborn' (which I haven't seen) and the house was refurbished so that each room reflects a different period in its history, from the 16th to early 20th century. NT are good about allowing photos (no tripods or flash) but usually you aren't encouraged to finger the fabrics or sit on the chairs. In Avebury Manor, you're urged to make yourself right at home! Sit on the chairs, lie on the beds... Rather wonderful.

I particularly liked the 1930s style sitting room, really cosy. Cocktail, anyone?

There's an elegant Georgian dining room, with hand-painted Chinese wallpaper. Children were enjoying the 'exercise chair' which you can see at the back. It's a 'chamber horse' - a wooden chair with a seat mounted on leather bellows and metal springs. The idea is that you bounce up and down upon it for exercise! 

One of the bedrooms is fitted out in Tudor Style and there were some costumes displayed too.

The village of Avebury, which lies in and around the stone circles, is very pretty, with old cottages and houses, some of which are thatched.

The dovecote in the old farmyard dates back to the 1500s. It would have housed over 100 nesting pigeons, whose meat was an important part of the diet in those days.