Farndale

Farndale

Farndale is a dale amongst the North York Moors in the North Riding of Yorkshire; a dale which is known for the daffodils which flower each spring along a seven-mile stretch of the River Dove. The dale is in the North York Moors National Park, eleven miles north of Kirkbymoorside, the nearest town. Pickering is seventeen miles to the south-east and Helmsley as far to the south-west.

Farndale in winter

This is an isolated, scattered agricultural community with traditional Yorkshire dry stone walls. The valley is popular with walkers due to its famous wild daffodils, which can be seen around Easter time all along the banks of the River Dove. To protect the daffodils the majority of Farndale north of Lowna was created a Local Nature Reserve in 1955.

Two hamlets sit in the dale: Church Houses at the top of the valley and Low Mill further down. Low Mill is a tourist honeypot during daffodil season as this is where the famous daffodil walk begins. The other end of the daffodil walk is at High Mill a cluster of houses a short distance down a lane from Church Houses.

Name

Sources disagree on the origin of the name Farndale. Several possible origins for "Farn" have been put forward, all of which could describe the dale. One has the name from the ancient British language word Faren, meaning beautiful. Alternatively it could be derived from the Scandinavian "Fæn" meaning sheep or possibly from Old English "Fearn" meaning fern or ferny place or even from the Gaelic "Feàrna" which means alder tree of which there are many in Farndale.

The name of the River Dove, which flows through Farndale, is accepted to from the Old British "Dubo" meaning 'Black', like the Modern Welsh du.

Geography

Farndale is a valley within the North York Moors, surrounded by some of the wildest moorland in the county. The dale is sandwiched between Bransdale to the west, Rosedale to the east and Westerdale to the north. To the north-east sits Blakey Ridge at over 1,300 feet above sea level, and to the north-west, Cockayne Ridge reaching up to 1,500 feet above sea level is one of the highest points of the North York Moors. The southern boundary of the Farndale Parishes are along Harland Beck and Shortsha Beck (across Lowna Lund), although the Gillamoor to Hutton-le-Hole road is considered as the boundary for all other purposes, south of this the dale continues but changes its name to Douthwaitedale, though the Tabular Hills until it reaches Keldhome then Kirkby Mills just east of Kirkbymoorside.

The River Dove rises on Westerdale Moor North of Farndale, then flows through Farndale south-east past to Church Houses. Here it turns south and continues meandering past Low Mill to Lowna. At Gillamoor it heads south-east again past Hutton-le-Hole before returning southwards past Ravenswick and to the east of Kirkbymoorside. It continues past Keldholme and Kikrby Mills to Great Edstone. From there it flows south-south-east to where it joins the River Rye in the Vale of Pickering near the village of Salton. Several tributaries meet the Dove through Farndale two of these make the valley is almost 'cactus' shaped, with a long central valley following the River Dove, and two side branches to make the arms - Blakey Gill near Church Houses and West Gill near Low Mill.

Local nature reserve

Farndale daffodils

The Farndale Local Nature Reserve constitutes the majority of Farndale, which is a dale within the North York Moors National Park. It was created in 1955 to protect the wild daffodils (narcissus pseudonarcissus), for which the dale is famed. The Local Nature reserve comprises the larger part of the Farndale Site of Special Scientific Interest which has been declared over 387.95 acres of the dale.

Over 40,000 people visit the dale in the springtime to walk along the River Dove and see the daffodils. The variety of daffodil that grows wild in the valley, has shorter stems than the cultivated variety and are believed to have been planted by monks in mediæval times. The daffodils are also known as Lent Lilies in Farndale and they usually appear around Lent.

Long distance foopaths

Around the north of Farndale, between Bloworth Crossing and Blakey is the track bed of the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway (Rosedale Branch) which forms part of three Long Distance Footpaths these being Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk, The Lyke Wake Walk and the Esk Valley Walk.

The Farndale show

The annual Farndale Agricultural Show which is held on the Summer Bank Holiday Monday in late August is a popular local event. The 100th Show was held in 2006.

The first Farndale Show was held in August 1896, the exhibits were confined to Farndale, Brandale and Rosedale and held near Church Houses. By 1898 the show had become known by the name Farndale, Bransdale and Rosedale Show

The official name of the Farndale show is the Farndale Agricultural, Horticultural and Industrial Society annual exhibition.

Farndale hunt

The Farndale Hunt may have been one of the oldest in the country. It is known that George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham stayed with a tenant in Kirkbymoorside and hunted in the area. However the first documented reference states "it dated from 1835", although it is likely to have existed long before this date.

The hunt was disbanded in 2015 although their Facebook page remains active.

In popular culture

Farndale has been used as a location for a number of film and television locations including:

• Film:
  • The Secret Garden (2020 film), includes moorland scenes filmed around Farndale.
• All Creatures Great and Small (1975) included locations in Farndale
• Television:
  • BBC Documentary: A Wild Year, The North York Moors was partly filmed in and around Farndale, and featured the wild daffodils.
  • Bad Move, an ITV sitcom was partly filmed in Farndale. The location of Rawlings' new home is near Low Mill.
• Inside Out (BBC) covered Heavy Snow in Farndale in November 2010

Location

• Location map: 54°20’47"N, 0°57’54"W

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Farndale)

• Farndale Community
• Farndale Show
• Farndale Village Hall
• Farndale Parish Council
• BBC Look North (11 April 2007). "Yorkshire A-Z: Farndale" (video). BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6540000/newsid_6546700/6546707.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=6546707&bbcws=1. Retrieved 4 January 2010. 
• BBC Look North (1968). "Look North: Farndale - Daffodil walk" (video). BBC Rewind. https://discover.bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60d2aef470c9c1001f8ad41c. Retrieved 13 October 2022.