 If you're a fan of all things orange... If you've got children who are bursting with excitement to carve a pumpkin head and stick a candle inside... If you enjoy having hideous things suddenly go BOO! at you... Then these are the places to go!
May we put out a gentle plea? Please don't junk your pumpkin in the countryside after use. It's really not a good idea, and it looks horrible. Pumpkins are food, and shouldn't be wasted. Here's a link to no fewer than 49 recipes on the BBC's Good Food site, from Pumpkin Hummus and Pumpkin Cake to the really traditional Pumpkin Pie. Yum!
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 Some of the UK’s best jazz talent is coming to Richmondshire soon.
This year’s headliners are Hejira, a seven-piece band which recreates Joni Mitchell's jazz-influenced albums of the 70s. Other highlights include Alligator Gumbo, the guitar great Jim Mullen, the Nicola Farnon Trio, the Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective. Performances are at St Matthew's Church and the Garden Rooms at Tennants. Full details of the Festival and ticket information are at www.leyburnjazz.org  This week's Lucky Dip into What's On Richmond has pulled out an event which is very close to our hearts. It's a talk by well-known local journalist Joe Willis (once of the Northern Echo, now of Richmondshire Today) about his recently published book, Swaledale: An insider's guide.
By an extraordinary coincidence (ahem) the book is published by ourselves (Richmond Information Centre) and has been a best-seller both in our Market Hall pod and in local shops, as well as through our online bookshop. Joe will talk about the creative process involved in writing the book, which takes the reader on a journey from Richmond to Ravenseat, at the very top of Swaledale. En route, Joe talks with the shepherds and farmers, the artists and gardeners, the High Court Judge and the bootmaker, the innkeepers, cave-rescuers, singers and brass band players who are just some of the fascinating people who live and work in these wild northern Dales. The talk is at The Station in Richmond at 11:00 on Monday 23 September. Adult tickets are £8 at booksandboots.org or at the door. If you can't get to the talk, you can still pick up a copy of the wonderful book for £5.99 from our pod or (with P&P) at richmondinfo.net/books.  New to Richmond? Don't know what to do now the evenings are drawing in? Join a club!
Bog-snorkelling, spider-collecting... No, these aren't on offer, yet, but dozens of other activities and interests are supported in Richmond. They include sports and music of all kinds, dance, amateur dramatics, local history, and chess and bridge and much much more... A quick check among our own volunteers showed that they enjoy...
Where to start? Here are some ideas:
 Aske Hall is a fine 18th-century house outside Richmond, owned by the Dundas family. Tours of the house and its art collection are very infrequent, so it's great news that there will be free guided visits on Tuesday 10 September and Wednesday 11 September at 1000, 1100 and 1200. Well worth seeing!
Groups are limited to 15 people. Please do book ahead! Details are at heritageopendays.org.uk/submission-event/aske-hall. (Sorry we missed this off our previous selection, but our search criteria didn't pick it up.)  "England’s largest festival of history and culture" - a bold claim, and probably true! Every September thousands of volunteers across England organise events to celebrate the fantastic history and culture of this country. It's your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE to explore.
Here are a few. Move fast!!! Blossomgate Gazebo, Ripon. An 18th-century marvel, beautifully restored and hidden in the middle of the city. 7 September, 1300-1600, no booking required. Cotherstone Quaker Meeting House, near Barnard Castle. 1654 meeting house in open country. 7 September and 14 September, 1000-1600, no booking required. Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. One of the most wildly OTT museums in Britain - and it's free! 7 September, 1000-1700, no booking required. Easby, the Romantic Ruin. Just outside Richmond. The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s saw abbeys across the country fall into ruin, but their history did not stop; rather, they entered another, fascinating phase, that of Romantic Tourism. 7 September and 11 September, free themed tours at 1400: must be booked! Escomb Saxon Church, Bishop Auckland. Built around 680AD - they don't come much older... 7 September, 1300-1700, no booking required. Binchester Roman Fort, Bishop Auckland. 4th-century remains, including the commanding officer's house and an exceptionally well preserved regimental bath building. Free access daily, 7-15 September, 1000-1600 (last entry), no booking required. Nidderdale Museum, between Harrogate and Richmond. Less familiar round here than our own Richmondshire and Swaledale Museums, the Nidderdale cousin is an imposing Victorian Workhouse, where you can sit in an old school room or pub snug, walk down a mine tunnel, see the table laid for tea in a Victorian parlour, visit a complete Cobbler's shop (photo above), look in at the Dairy and Blacksmith's, or follow the Children's trail. 7 September, 1000-1630, no booking required.  Books and Boots is coming soon (the Richmond Walking and Books Festival), and it attracts hundreds of walkers from all over the UK. But what if you're in Richmond outside the Festival period? Or if you're a woman who feels more comfortable in an all-female group?
Our attention was caught by a couple of female-only walks coming up in September, which seem to be part of a regular programme:
 We like to concentrate on positive news here - but sometimes the news is a bit meh. We've just had two groups of visitors in our pod to report that neither of the RingGo payment machines at Nun's Close car park in Richmond is working. Well, hey ho, it happens, and they will no doubt be fixed soon. But if you face this problem in a public car park, here's the advice:
1. Look for another, working machine in the same car park. If there is one, you should use it. 2. Check for alternative payment methods, such as a phone number to call. If an option is available, you should use it. 3. Document the situation: take photos of the broken terminals as evidence. This can be useful if you need to contest a fine later. 4. Look for signs: Some car parks may have signs stating that you should not park if the payment machines are out of order. And finally, if you are offered the possibility of paying through a QR code (see photo above), be very careful that it is legitimate and not simply stuck there by an opportunist villain hoping to scam you out of your money. Enough doom and gloom! You're going to have a wonderful and problem-free visit to Richmond. If you use a smartphone and don't already have the RingGo app, we suggest you download it (free) before you visit. It does actually make life a bit easier - for example, you can pay the parking charge from the seat of your car, without having to hunt for a terminal or stand in a queue. |
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