They’re all around the village, motorhomes skulking in their owners’ drives, or tucked carefully away in unobtrusive corners, just waiting for an adventure throughout the country, over to Ireland, or east and with luck this year, anywhere on the continent….
Category: Tourism
Detour of delight
Considering the speed with which they’re clearing the remains of the roadside trees at Redwell Corner, I can’t quite believe that the notified ‘4 week closing’ can be correct. After less than 1 week it’s looking pretty much gone! Meanwhile,…
The burning heather
Without taking any sides (environmental, conservational, pro- or anti-shooting) on the traditional practice of burning swathes of heather on the grouse moors around the valleys, the diary entry today notes the annual fires and smoke, and considers a few viewpoints….
The traditional tea rooms
I’m sitting comfortably, chatting with proprietor Jane Stollery, sipping a delicious cappucino prepared so nicely by Emma Harrison, and feeling very cosy and expansive, after walking the long way around the circuit from Station Garage, as I survey the delightfully,…
Dale Manor, crown of a 5 year project
About five years ago a group of local folks made a short-term cash investment (but a long-term tangible investment) in the community by helping Linda and Tony Beck purchase the crumbling Dale Hotel, with a view to increasing the number…
Eviction Notice for Dalek & Shed
The shed housing the Dalek stands inconspicuously enough beside the basement Museum of Classic Sci-Fi. Could you, could you really make it up? I wonder. The idea of a Museum of Classic Science Fiction, in the heart of Allendale, when…
The golden heart of the village . . .
‘Coeur de lion’ was the given title of King Richard I, while in exile in Brittany, France, after his escapades in the Crusades, or as he became known later throughout the British Isles, Richard the Lion-Hearted. Intriguing, then, that The…
Pocket Directory 3.1
It’s newly printed as of yesterday, and out in the shops and other special places today . . . the third yearly edition of the handy little Allendale and Allen Valleys Pocket Directory. Invented in 2017, this directory is unique…
MarketPlace: 3 in one!
It’s a Visitor Information Point It’s a Post Office with Money Machine I was just chatting with a good friend about the heroic stint Elsie Archer put in, maybe a decade ago now, when the Post Office was between owners…
If a well-established rookery brings good fortune . . .
. . . then Jennifer Makepeace’s Gift Shop has been truly blessed. But on the whole, I’d say that The Gift Shop, a renowned institution in Allendale, has thrived because of its proprietor’s dedication and acumen, even though, as she…