A Day in Slaidburn

On Tuesday we decided to go for a run to Slaidburn, which is a pretty little village in the Hodder Valley.


I have known Slaidburn for almost fifty years, due to the fact that Dot's Mum's side of the family were born and grew up here.


When I first visited the place in the late sixties, it was something of a culture shock. It was like stepping back in time fifty or sixty years. The village was very feudal, and still had a Squire, who owned most of the property. There was still very much a feel of "them" and "us." Them being the "landed gentry" and us being the people who rented their properties from the squire. As the village gentlemen walked down the village street they would doff their hats to the squire, who really was the Lord of the Manor.


To look at Slaidburn in the present day, there has been very little change due to the control of the squire. There have been no outlandish modern buildings erected, and the village still retains its air of peace and tranquillity. The stone built cottages which line the main streets (Chapel Street and Church Street) have a feel of unity. There are no garish modern extensions to them.  The village green beside the River Hodder looks just as it would have done fifty years ago.

Our first port of call was the Riverside Cafe for soup and sandwiches - Tomato and herb - home made and absolutely delicious. This was followed by Tuna Sandwiches fro Dot and Egg Mayonnaise sandwiches for me. Each plate also had a side salad of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers etc.

The Riverside Cafe, opposite the Village Green and the River Hodder

The Village Green and road bridge over the River Hodder

By the bend in the road is the Village Hall, which used to be a Chapel

Moving into the centre of the village is the War Memorial



To the right of the War Memorial are these lovely flower displays

You will find the ancient Parish Church of St Andrew down Church Street

Gargrave and a short walk on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath for Ruby

Last Monday I had a look at the weather forecast for Tuesday, as we had planned to take Ruby out for a walk along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. According to the forecast we were due to be in for fine day, so the trip was planned. We would drive up to Skipton and I would drop Dot and Ruby off at Niffany Bridge, which is just north of Skipton.

Dot planned to walk as far as the Twin Locks at Gargrave, but we arranged to meet up where the Eshton Road crosses the canal, (just in case she or Ruby had had enough walking!)

Whilst I was waitng for them to arrive, a canal boat pased through the locks at Eshton Road so I took the opportunity to get a few photos of it.

I crossed over to the other side of the road bridge which crosses the canal at this point, and as I was looking around I noticed an unusual VW Camper Van parked in a garden.

On closer inspection you may have noticed that it has guy ropes coming from the corners of it. Indeed it really is a VW Camper Van - it is a tent!

After a little while Dot and Ruby appeared........

It was decided that they would walk on to the Twin Locks at the far side of Gargrave, so I drove on there and whilst I was waiting for them another canal boat went through the locks there.

Eventually Dot and Ruby arrived.......

After a cooling drink (for Ruby) we loaded Ruby into the car and drove back to Gargrave, where we had a cuppa and a sandwich in the Dalesman Cafe.

It has some intriguing "furniture" inside it. Have a look at the table support!

There are some other quite quirky touches too. The fridge, which is to the far left of this photo, is contained in an old GPO Telephone box!

There are also lots of interesting items outside too!