AA Walks: Dalesfolk Traditions in Hubberholme Literary pilgrims visit Hubberholme to see the George Inn, where JB Priestley could often be found enjoying the local ale, and the churchyard, the last resting place for his ashes, as he requested. He chose an idyllic spot. Set at the foot of Langstrothdale, Hubberholme is a cluster of old farmhouses and cottages surrounding the church. Norman in origin, St Michael’s was once flooded so badly that fish were seen swimming in the nave. One vicar of Hubberholme is said to have carelessly baptised a child Amorous instead of Ambrose, a mistake that, once entered in the parish register, couldn’t be altered. Amorous Stanley used his memorable name later in life as part of his stock-in-trade as a hawker. Church Wood. Hubberholme church’s best treasures are of wood. The rood loft above the screen is one of only two surviving in Yorkshire, (the other is at Flamborough, far away on the east coast). Once holding figures of Christ on the Cross, St Mary and St John, it dates from 1558, when such examples of Popery were fast going out of fashion. It still retains some of its once garish colouring of red, gold and black. Master-carver Robert Thompson provided almost all the rest of the furniture in 1934 - look or his mouse trademark on each piece. Ancient Yockenthwaite and Remote Cray. Yockenthwaite’s name, said to have been derived from an ancient Irish name, Eogan, conjures up images of the ancient past. Norse settlers were here more than 1,000 years ago and even earlier settlers have left their mark - a Bronze Age stone circle a little further up the valley. The hamlet now consists of a few farm buildings beside the bridge over the Wharfe at the end of Langstrothdale Chase, a Norman hunting ground which used to have its own forest laws and punishments. You walk along a typical Dales limestone terrace to reach Cray, on the road over from Bishopdale joining Wharfedale to Wensleydale. Here is another huddle of farmhouses, around the White Lion Inn. You then follow the Cray Gill downstream, past a series of small cascades. For a more spectacular waterfall, head a little way up the road from the inn to Cray High Bridge. Burning the Candle. Back in Hubberholme, the George Inn was once the vicarage. It is the scene each New Year’s Day of an ancient auction. It begins with the lighting of a candle, after which the auctioneer asks for bids for the year’s tenancy of the ‘Poor Pasture’, a 16 acre (6.5ha) field behind the inn. All bids have to be completed before the candle burns out. In the days when the George housed the vicar, he ran the auction. Today a local auctioneer takes the role, and a merry time is had by all. The proceeds from the auction go to help the old people of the village. While you're there: Nearby Buckden Pike has fine views and a memorial to five Polish airmen whose plane crashed there in November 1942. One man survived the crash, following a fox’s footprints through the snow down to safety at a farm. the cross he erected has a fox’s head set in the base as thanksgiving. Buckden Pike is best climbed up the track called Walden Road from Starbotton. What to look out for: A number of barns in the area have been converted into holiday accommodation bunk barns. An initiative set up by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and the Countryside Commission in 1979, the aim is to solve two problems - how to preserve the now-redundant barns that are so vital a part of the Dales landscape, and a lack of simple accommodation for walkers. Farmers add basic amenities to the barns for cooking, washing and sleeping and let them to families or groups at a realistic nightly rate. WP0001 237.9 WP0002 239.1 WP0003 241.9 WP0004 253.2 WP0005 245.9 WP0006 244.7 WP0007 239.1 WP0008 238.3 WP0009 239.9 WP0010 244.7 WP0011 246.7 WP0012 241.1 WP0013 246.3 WP0014 248.8 WP0015 250.4 WP0016 251.6 WP0017 250.8 WP0018 251.2 WP0019 250 WP0020 248 WP0021 248 WP0022 248 WP0023 249.2 WP0024 256 WP0025 258.9 WP0026 258 WP0027 258 WP0028 258 WP0029 258.5 WP0030 259.3 WP0031 260.5 WP0032 260.9 WP0033 260.9 WP0034 264.1 WP0035 269.8 WP0036 273.8 WP0037 281.1 WP0038 294.8 WP0039 310.2 WP0040 325.1 WP0041 324.7 WP0042 319.9 WP0043 327.9 WP0044 336 WP0045 340 WP0046 342.9 WP0047 346.5 WP0048 340 WP0049 338 WP0050 336.4 WP0051 337.2 WP0052 340.9 WP0053 349.7 WP0054 345.3 WP0055 346.5 WP0056 347.7 WP0057 345.3 WP0058 342.5 WP0059 358.6 WP0060 357.4 WP0061 352.6 WP0062 349.3 WP0063 354.6 WP0064 355.8 WP0065 351.8 WP0066 350.1 WP0067 346.5 WP0068 346.1 WP0069 346.9 WP0070 348.5 WP0071 348.5 WP0072 340.9 WP0073 342.5 WP0074 346.5 WP0075 337.2 WP0076 331.2 WP0077 334 WP0078 337.6 WP0079 334.4 WP0080 334.4 WP0081 332 WP0082 328.7 WP0083 323.9 WP0084 319 WP0085 308.9 WP0086 305.7 WP0087 295.6 WP0088 280.7 WP0089 265.3 WP0090 254.8 WP0091 249.2 WP0092 239.1 WP0093 237.9 WP0094 231.4 WP0095 231.8 WP0096 233.4 WP0097 238.3 WP0098 236.6 WP0099 231 WP00100 236.2 WP00101 237.9 WP0001 237.9