Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes, England

The Dales Countryside Museum is the less famous attraction in Hawes, home of the Wensleydale Creamery (seen in yesterday's post). The museum is also the visitor information center for the town and thus has a shop and a self-service tea and coffee machine. We had a quick snack then got to exploring the museum.

The Dales Countryside Museum

The first part of the museum is the "Time Tunnel," where the ancient history of the Dales is explained in fun, interactive exhibits.

L ready to enter the Time Tunnel

Stone age items from the dales

The Romans built a wooden fort in Bainbridge in the AD 80s. Around 200 they rebuilt the fort in stone to accommodate a cohort of 500 infantrymen from Belgium. A settlement sprung up around the fort and eventually the fort was staffed with locals. 

Roman display

Model of Bainbridge Roman Fort

After the Viking raids of the 800s and 900s, the area settled down with the Norman conquest. The Normans brought four new institutions for the locals: castles, forests, market towns, and monasteries. Forests weren't just wooded areas (obviously the local area already had those). Forests were areas (wooded or not) reserved for the nobility to hunt, thus why it was forbidden to poach in the forest.

Medieval times they are a-comin'!

Soon after that we were out of the Time Tunnel and, indeed, outside where we saw the railway carriages. The first carriage is a "Creation Station" for children to do art, crafts, and activities. J and L said it was their office and adults were not allowed in. Readers might think we were annoyed at this, but it left us free to explore the rest of the train which had exhibits about life in the 1800s and early 1900s.

The front of the train (the tracks go nowhere)

Various crimes circa 1830 (note no penalty for adults going into Creative Stations!)

A fishing net and a rag rug

19th century church furnishings

Patient customers waiting for their stop

Near the train is a variety of sculptures inspired by the Dales.

A coveted chair

Owl by Andris Bergs

Lead Mining Landscape by Ewa Gorska

L and Wensleydale Vessel by Anna Whitehouse

Aurochs by Jennifer Tetlow

We went back inside to discover the Local Industry, Crafts, and Farming exhibit. Many different professions were included like shoemakers, miners, cheesemakers (naturally), and farmers.

Cobler's wares and tools

A faux lead mine

Molds for making fancy cheese tops!

Artificial hives were put in stone walls to attract bees to gardens

L dressed as a farmer

Nothing in my hat!

We enjoyed the museum very much. Maybe a little too much, because it became very dark driving back (we visited in November when the daylight rapidly diminishes) and J was worried we'd be late for dinner. Luckily, we had some rice and cashew chicken in the fridge ready to reheat. Not a typical Dales meal, but a satisfying end to the day.

View of the Dales before it was dark

Wensleydale Creamery, Hawes, England

Wensleydale is most famous for the cheese produced there. Cheesemaking in the Dales goes back at least as far as the Christian monasteries and has continued to the present day. We visited the Wensleydale Creamery, the home of real North Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese. In addition to their cheese production buildings, they have a museum, a visitor centre, a shop, and a restaurant. We visited them all!

The working part of the creamery

Our first stop was the museum where we saw a bit about the history of Wensleydale cheese. The first cheesemakers in the area were French Cistercian monks who came in 1150.

Monastic tools of the trade

When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the 1530s, the monks gave the recipe to the wives of the farmers who had provided the milk to make cheese. The tradition was preserved in homes for about 450 years.

A sample farm kitchen with a sample J

In 1897 Edward Chapman built the first creamery to make Wensleydale cheese on an industrial scale. He bought milk from the local farmers and made a success of exporting the cheese.

Cheese presses (to get extra liquid out of the cheese)

Various cheese making implements

In the 1930s, the Great Depression almost closed the creamery but Kit Calvert drummed up enough support to save it. The company changed hands a few times until May 1992 when the creamery was closed by Dairy Crest, then the current owners. Some of the laid-off managers got together and bought the creamery and reopened it in time for cheese to be sold at Christmas. The place is still making hand-crafted cheese from local milk according to the classic local recipes.

Milking implements through the ages

A display on butter making, which they also do at the creamery

The museum includes an activity area for children which naturally drew J and L. A telly in the corner shows Wallace & Gromit animations (which caused a resurgence in people's interest in Wensleydale). They were more distracting for L than for J.

Children's activity area

After the museum, we went across the way to the Cheese-making Viewing Gallery, a grand name which I did not make up!

People go left; cars go right

The gallery has nice views of the men and women (about 200 people are currently employed by the creamery) making cheese. The windows were a little foggy so it was hard to get good pictures. The children were fascinated by the large tubs in use.

Gathering cheese ready for molding on left; draining large slabs of cheese on right

After the tub was emptied of cheese, one man started washing it out with a power washer. At one point he playfully shot our window which got a good laugh from us.

Stirring the proto-cheese

This area had a few items on display, including an old-fashioned delivery vehicle.

The cheese express!

The next building was the visitor centre with the cheese shop and a restaurant. The restaurant was rather full so we were unable to have a snack. We went into the cheese shop (a room with a controlled environment--cool enough to store cheese in the open!) where we sampled a good variety of their offerings. They make not only Wensleydale cheese, but cheddar and Gloucester and other combinations of flavors. My favorites were the Wensleydale with cranberries and the other with pineapple and the smoky cheddar. It was so delightful I forgot to take pictures!

We browsed a bit in the rest of the shop but did not buy anything (though L was pretty insistent that she needed a small stuffed sheep). It was a great visit though the whole place wasn't as large as I was expecting.

The surrounding hillsides are quite beautiful!

Bolton Castle Part IV--Archery and Birds of Prey

Bolton Castle provides many wonderful opportunities. Daily demonstrations of archery and birds of prey made our visit even more memorable.

At 10:30 was an archery demonstration in the courtyard. The lady told us about the history of archery and the importance of bowmanship in England. There was a law that every child from age seven to seventeen was entitled to a bow and two arrows from their father so that they could practice archery. Another law stated that the only sport that could be played on Sundays was archery. She asked the crowd if they played any sports on Sundays. Some mentioned football (i.e., soccer if you're American), others rugby. Then she said that these laws have never been taken off the books, so the children should get their parents to cough up a bow and two arrows. And those others who play forbidden sports on Sundays, shame on them. Of course, the Olympics had just started which could have been a problem.

She then demonstrated the proper technique with a long bow, shooting some targets in an isolated corner of the courtyard.

I took this shot before the archery demonstration, but you can see the haystacked corner

Then she asked if any of the children would like a go at shooting the bow. She chose one side to start. That side was our side, so Jacob was the first to try it out!

The lady and I help Jacob get his arrow stringed

He shoots....

He scores!!

Lucy gets ready to shoot

Lucy considers her shot...

Got him in the knee!

Autumn draws down on the villainous haystack

Ready to shoot!

Alas, I don't have a picture of Autumn's shot, but she did well.

The lady also told us about various practices back in the day. The feathers at the end of the arrow are called fletchings. They help the arrow fly straight by helping it spin. When the spinning arrow hits a target (like a human being) it will drill into the person, turning the head around several times inside the target. Removing the arrow becomes difficult, especially when the arrowheads have "exotic" designs.

Ouch!!!

Another practice was to stick arrows in the ground where the archer would stand, so they'd be easy to pick up and fire at an enemy. An added benefit of dirty arrowheads was that targets would get infections as well as holes. After a battle, they would recover arrows from any dead bodies or other spots they might have landed.

Later on in the morning, the same lady showed some of the birds of prey that are kept at the castle. She first brought out an owl. Owls were used to keep out mice and other vermin.

Snow owl and keeper

She also had one of the hawks, which were used for hunting. He also had a bell on his ankle. In case he ever gets away, he'll be easier to find.

Coming in for a landing

Showing the hawk to us

They both looked magnificent in flight. Later on there was a falcon demonstration we didn't get to see. In the afternoon (i.e. during nap time) they had a wild boar talk and feeding time. That would have been interesting but naps were definitely a higher priority for us.

We loved our visit to Bolton Castle and would definitely recommend it to those visiting the Yorkshire Dales.

Bolton Castle Part III--The Gardens

Bolton Castle is not only an impressive example of a medieval fortification and Lord's manor house, but it also boasts of fine gardens right under its south wall.

View of Bolton Castle from the gardens

There is a small vineyard and a herb garden right by the wall. These would have served the needs of the brewers, cooks, and the resident monks, who would make the messy medieval water potable or use the herbs cooking or tending to the sick. A large variety of culinary and medicinal herbs are still grown there, and the vineyard will most likely yield up to 1000 bottles annually once it reaches its prime.

The vineyards

Some nice flowers

A hedge maze also provides delightful diversions. Jacob, Lucy, and Autumn enjoyed finding their ways in and out of the small labyrinth.

View of the maze

Autumn and Jacob find each other

Just down the hill is the Bee House. Bees are important to the gardens for pollination. The house has a display about beekeeping through the years. They even have a window into an active beehive. This was not so popular with the children.

The Bee House

History of bee keeping

The views from the Bee House are quite special.

View of Wensleydale

Bee's eye view of the castle

More of the countryside

The castle offers even more to visitors, with demonstrations of archery and presentations of birds of prey, but I will write about those in the next (and final) installment on Bolton Castle.