Читать книгу Walking in the Yorkshire Dales: South and West. Wharfedale, Littondale, Malhamdale, Dentdale and Ribblesdale онлайн

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Long before Wallace and his indefatigable companion Grommit revealed their attachment to Wensleydale cheese, dairy farming in the lower dales had been an important element in the local economy. Prior to the arrival of the railway, milk itself could only be used to supply local demand, but the coming of the railway meant that cheese and butter made on the farms could be ‘exported’ for sale in distant towns, even as far away as London. Cheese is still produced in a small factory at Hawes and, although the milk trains no longer run, road tankers make the daily round of farms to supply the bottling and processing plants. Higher up the valley, the pastures are not as rich and the cattle are bred for meat, being sold on for fattening before finally going to the butcher. Traditionally the cattle were set out to graze the riverside meadows in spring before being moved onto the higher pastures. During the summer, the meadows were left to produce hay, the herd being brought back after the harvest to graze the late growth. Individual field barns or laithes removed the need to cart the hay and meant that cattle could over-winter in the fields rather than be brought back to the farm.