Voices From The Dales

Hear the voice of the bog as recorded by composer Sarah Smout in this one-off episode about the restoration of a vast area of peatland in the Yorkshire Dales called Fleet Moss. Peat Restoration Officer at the Yorkshire Peat Partnership Jenny Sharman speaks about how she has developed a ‘real love’ for Fleet Moss as as a ‘black, broken land’ has once again become a place with ‘a wealth of life’. The episode also features Bishopdale landowner and grouse shooting enthusiast Rob Brown speaking about the recovery of the nearby Stake Moss peatland. And there is great archive clip from 1963 of Grassington farmer Oswald Jacques on cutting and drying peat for domestic use. The episode is presented by Andrew Fagg on Fleet Moss and was largely recorded in July 2022.

Kit Calvert’s conversion and cow story, begun in episode 8, concludes. We also hear him telling how he was persuaded to ‘translate’ parts of the Bible into Wensleydale dialect, and why he collected the poems of John Thwaite. He reads from St John's gospel and the poem 'Wakken Mother Wakken'. This is followed by concluding thoughts on dialect. Published on Wed 1 November 2023.

The Courtyard Dairy cheese shop at the foot of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales has been named 'among the best 50 food shops in the world' (by the Financial Times). In Voices From The Dales 'Cheese Present' hear the Courtyard Dairy story from co-founder Andy Swinscoe and his fellow cheesemongers, as they 'fill faces' with farmhouse cheese made from raw milk. 'Cheese Present' follows on from the last episode, Cheese Past, which featured clips from the oral history collection at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes. 'Cheese Present' was recorded at the Courtyard Dairy on Tues 28 Sept 2021, in advance of the fourth Dales 'Cheese Festival'. Presented by Andrew Fagg.

Series Two special guest Rob Ward remembers Kit Calvert. He adds ‘warts and all’ to our understanding of the man regarded as the ‘Complete Dalesman’. After Rob, a Kit Calvert recording gifted to the museum in 2019 is published for the first time. It is the story of how he came to faith through the travails of a milk cow. Published on Wed 1 November 2023.

Michael Watson fothers sheep in a high allotment with haylage and cake. He paints a picture of the scene in Upper Teesdale, and describes how much the stock means to him. The talk turns to the changing climate and Michael reveals that 2023 was the first time no hay was made at Stoney Hill.