Neil Hanson's Blog - Posts Tagged "inn-at-the-top"
Literary Lunch
I'm at the Yorkshire Post Literary Lunch next week (Thursday 12 September, Cairn Hotel, Harrogate, 12 noon-3pm) talking about my new book The Inn at the Top. It's the first time I've done the event since 2001, when I shared the platform with Edna Healey and Esther Rantzen. It took place a few days after 9/11 and having eaten the lunch, watched by an expectant audience, the three of us were all clearing our throats and girding our loins, since we didn't know in which order we'd be speaking, and, in my case at least, also wondering whether a) I should have gone a little easier on the Chablis and b) probably linked to a) above, whether I should have nipped to the loo before the hour-long series of talks began.
Just then, the Chair of the event, the Yorkshire Post's long-standing right-wing columnist, Bernard Dineen, rapped on the table for attention. 'Before we begin,’ he said, ‘I'd like to ask you to stand for a two-minute silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack on Manhattan.’ You could have heard a moth's wing-beat in the silence that followed and you could tell from the faces of the audience that everyone was reliving the horrific sight of those television pictures of the Twin Towers collapsing.
Once we'd sat down again, however, a horribly selfish thought struck me: I began praying that I would not be the first one called upon to speak, for if I lived to be 100, I would never find an audience that would be less receptive to the light, trite and bright speech I'd been planning, than a roomful of people with images of that horrific death and destruction still filling their minds. I stopped breathing as Dineen cleared his throat and said ‘And now, ladies and gentlemen, our first speaker today is... Edna Healey.’
Edna gamely rose to her feet and began her talk in complete, deafening silence, but slowly managed to steer the audience away from those horrific memories and onto much safer ground. When she sat down, I led the applause. Esther Rantzen and I had a much easier task later on, but I never got a chance to thank Edna at the time for dealing so well with the poisoned chalice. So Edna, if you're reading this, it's twelve years late, I'm afraid, but thank you, you saved my life.
Just then, the Chair of the event, the Yorkshire Post's long-standing right-wing columnist, Bernard Dineen, rapped on the table for attention. 'Before we begin,’ he said, ‘I'd like to ask you to stand for a two-minute silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack on Manhattan.’ You could have heard a moth's wing-beat in the silence that followed and you could tell from the faces of the audience that everyone was reliving the horrific sight of those television pictures of the Twin Towers collapsing.
Once we'd sat down again, however, a horribly selfish thought struck me: I began praying that I would not be the first one called upon to speak, for if I lived to be 100, I would never find an audience that would be less receptive to the light, trite and bright speech I'd been planning, than a roomful of people with images of that horrific death and destruction still filling their minds. I stopped breathing as Dineen cleared his throat and said ‘And now, ladies and gentlemen, our first speaker today is... Edna Healey.’
Edna gamely rose to her feet and began her talk in complete, deafening silence, but slowly managed to steer the audience away from those horrific memories and onto much safer ground. When she sat down, I led the applause. Esther Rantzen and I had a much easier task later on, but I never got a chance to thank Edna at the time for dealing so well with the poisoned chalice. So Edna, if you're reading this, it's twelve years late, I'm afraid, but thank you, you saved my life.
The Inn at the Top
I'm off up to Tan Hill in the morning, the inn featured in my new book under the soubriquet of "The Inn at the Top" - I changed the names of every person and place both to protect the innocent, and protect myself from law suits! It's been 28 years since we sold it and moved on, and in all that time, I've only ever been back there twice, partly because I felt that chapter of my life was closed and there was no point in going back, and partly perhaps because it was a bittersweet parting from the place for me and I didn't want to see someone else failing - or even worse succeeding! - in my place. I'm over that now though and am back up there for a photo-shoot for the Yorkshire Post to go with an article they're running in the magazine on 21 September, just before the book comes out.
It will be strange to be back up there, though the inn is so transformed from when we ran it that it's almost unrecognisable as the same place. When we took it over it was, as I say in the book, "a wet, windy rat-infested ruin". We began the process of improving it and, if it's still wet and windy, it's neither rat-infested nor ruinous, and has been further improved and much-extended over the years. It still wouldn't win any prizes from Interiors magazine, but it's an unique place and a life-saver - sometimes literally - for walkers plodding up the Pennine Way. I'm not sure if there is still the rich vein of local characters that we knew - I think they "broke the mould" with some of them - but the landlady is certainly doing her personal best to uphold that particular tradition, because she's a very feisty character!
It will be strange to be back up there, though the inn is so transformed from when we ran it that it's almost unrecognisable as the same place. When we took it over it was, as I say in the book, "a wet, windy rat-infested ruin". We began the process of improving it and, if it's still wet and windy, it's neither rat-infested nor ruinous, and has been further improved and much-extended over the years. It still wouldn't win any prizes from Interiors magazine, but it's an unique place and a life-saver - sometimes literally - for walkers plodding up the Pennine Way. I'm not sure if there is still the rich vein of local characters that we knew - I think they "broke the mould" with some of them - but the landlady is certainly doing her personal best to uphold that particular tradition, because she's a very feisty character!
Tan Hill
The prodigal son's return to The Inn at the Top, aka Tan Hill, was great. Even though I spent three years of my life up there in the late Seventies and Eighties (the decades, not my age...) I had almost forgotten quite how remote the inn is, especially if you approach from the east, via Arkengarthdale. The road - only just about wide enough for two cars to pass, with not a single street light, white line or cat's eye to help motorists after dark - seems to go on twisting, turning and rising - never falling - for ever, with one false summit after another, so that by the time you finally get to the inn, you're certainly ready for a drink.
The surroundings are unchanged of course, a great ocean of wild moorland stretching away unbroken to the horizon under a vast cloudscape. And if the inn itself is much-changed, extended and improved from the "Wild West" days when we ran it, the bar is virtually unaltered with the seats either side of the inglenook fireplace still the most coveted and keenly contested by customers who've braved the often wild wind and weather to get there. The landlady, Tracy Daly, is a great character with a no nonsense approach and a mischievous sense of humour - just what the inn needs, in fact, because people who make it up there expect their visit to be an event, and I suspect they rarely leave disappointed.
If you fancy running it yourself and have a cool £1.3 million or so to spare, Tracy might be willing to sell it to you, she and her partner Mike also have a B&B business in Somerset they're keen to put more time into, but it takes a special kind of person to survive and thrive up there. You may make your mark on the inn, but it'll certainly also leave a mark on you.
If you're within range of Yorkshire over the next few weeks, you may catch me at one of the events to promote my book The Inn at the Top - commercial alert! - published this week by Michael O'Mara Books at £8.99. With my wife and sometime writing partner Lynn, we'll be talking about The Inn at the Top in York, Richmond, Knaresborough, Huddersfield, Morley, Northallerton, Ilkley, Scarborough, Malton, and Ilkley again, with a couple of events still tobe confirmed
The Inn at the Top Events:
Thursday 26 September, 6.45pm, Waterstone’s York, (Tickets/details: 01904 628740 www.waterstones.com )
Friday 27 September, 7.30pm, Richmond Walking and Book Festival at Richmond School Sixth Form Centre, Darlington Road, Richmond, N Yorks, DL10 7BQ (Tickets/details: www.booksandboots.org 01748 824243)
Saturday 28 September, 12noon-2pm, Castlegate Books, 13 Market Place, Knaresborough, HG5 8AL, book signing, (Details: info@castlegatebooks.com 01423 862222)
Thursday 3 October, 7.30pm, Herbert's Bar, 30 Cross Church Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2PT, (Details: Waterstones 01484 430701 / Herberts 01484 434888)
Tuesday 8 October, 7.30pm, Morley Literature Festival, Gildersome Conservative Club, Street Lane, Gildersome, Morley, Leeds, LS27 7HX, Includes "Pie and pea supper" (Tickets/details: Morley Library or Lesley Gettings on 0113 253 9763)
Wednesday 9 October, 12 noon-2pm, Waterstone's, 102 High Street, Northallerton, DL7 8PP (Details: 0843 2908515)
Wednesday 9 October, 7.30pm, Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms, Ilkley, (Ilkley Literature Festival event). Includes “Delicious two course supper followed by tea and coffee”. (Tickets/details: Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms, Ilkley, 01943 608029)
Saturday 12 October, 11am-2pm, Waterstones, 98 Westborough, Scarborough, YO11 1UQ, (Details: 01723 500414 enquiries@scarborough.waterstones.com)
Saturday 19 October, 10.30am, Ryedale Book Festival, The Milton Rooms Studio, Market Square, Malton, YO17 7LX (Tickets/details: www.ryedalebookfestival.com)
Thursday 14 November, 7pm, Grove Bookshop, 10 The Grove, Ilkley, LS29 9EG, (Tickets/details: 01943 609335)
The surroundings are unchanged of course, a great ocean of wild moorland stretching away unbroken to the horizon under a vast cloudscape. And if the inn itself is much-changed, extended and improved from the "Wild West" days when we ran it, the bar is virtually unaltered with the seats either side of the inglenook fireplace still the most coveted and keenly contested by customers who've braved the often wild wind and weather to get there. The landlady, Tracy Daly, is a great character with a no nonsense approach and a mischievous sense of humour - just what the inn needs, in fact, because people who make it up there expect their visit to be an event, and I suspect they rarely leave disappointed.
If you fancy running it yourself and have a cool £1.3 million or so to spare, Tracy might be willing to sell it to you, she and her partner Mike also have a B&B business in Somerset they're keen to put more time into, but it takes a special kind of person to survive and thrive up there. You may make your mark on the inn, but it'll certainly also leave a mark on you.
If you're within range of Yorkshire over the next few weeks, you may catch me at one of the events to promote my book The Inn at the Top - commercial alert! - published this week by Michael O'Mara Books at £8.99. With my wife and sometime writing partner Lynn, we'll be talking about The Inn at the Top in York, Richmond, Knaresborough, Huddersfield, Morley, Northallerton, Ilkley, Scarborough, Malton, and Ilkley again, with a couple of events still tobe confirmed
The Inn at the Top Events:
Thursday 26 September, 6.45pm, Waterstone’s York, (Tickets/details: 01904 628740 www.waterstones.com )
Friday 27 September, 7.30pm, Richmond Walking and Book Festival at Richmond School Sixth Form Centre, Darlington Road, Richmond, N Yorks, DL10 7BQ (Tickets/details: www.booksandboots.org 01748 824243)
Saturday 28 September, 12noon-2pm, Castlegate Books, 13 Market Place, Knaresborough, HG5 8AL, book signing, (Details: info@castlegatebooks.com 01423 862222)
Thursday 3 October, 7.30pm, Herbert's Bar, 30 Cross Church Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2PT, (Details: Waterstones 01484 430701 / Herberts 01484 434888)
Tuesday 8 October, 7.30pm, Morley Literature Festival, Gildersome Conservative Club, Street Lane, Gildersome, Morley, Leeds, LS27 7HX, Includes "Pie and pea supper" (Tickets/details: Morley Library or Lesley Gettings on 0113 253 9763)
Wednesday 9 October, 12 noon-2pm, Waterstone's, 102 High Street, Northallerton, DL7 8PP (Details: 0843 2908515)
Wednesday 9 October, 7.30pm, Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms, Ilkley, (Ilkley Literature Festival event). Includes “Delicious two course supper followed by tea and coffee”. (Tickets/details: Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms, Ilkley, 01943 608029)
Saturday 12 October, 11am-2pm, Waterstones, 98 Westborough, Scarborough, YO11 1UQ, (Details: 01723 500414 enquiries@scarborough.waterstones.com)
Saturday 19 October, 10.30am, Ryedale Book Festival, The Milton Rooms Studio, Market Square, Malton, YO17 7LX (Tickets/details: www.ryedalebookfestival.com)
Thursday 14 November, 7pm, Grove Bookshop, 10 The Grove, Ilkley, LS29 9EG, (Tickets/details: 01943 609335)
Kindle
Deadline looming - help! But if any Kindle-equipped readers out there have so far failed to buy a copy of The Inn at the Top, for some unaccountable reason, this may be the moment to remedy that shocking defect, as in a fit of seasonal generosity, the publishers, Michael O'Mara Books, have dropped the price on amazon to a mere 99 pence (UK) during January. Enjoy! Normal blogging activity will resume once the deadline has passed and the manuscript is delivered (with luck simultaneously)
Sheepish
If you're at a loose end today and fancy a little trip "Oop Dale" you can catch one of the great Yorkshire experiences: the annual sheep show - the Swaledale sheep-breeders' World Cup - at the The Inn at the Top, aka Tan Hill. The usual country show clutter of craft and cake stalls is notable by its absence from Tan Hill. Rather than tourist trinkets, there are a handful of stalls selling wellies, foul weather gear, shepherds' crooks, veterinary products and farm supplies like "Two Gallons of Battle’s Summer Dip", "One Bag of Minerals", and "Five Litres Top Clip Worm Drench", but that's pretty much it apart from the pens of sheep and the men who breed them. If, to the untrained eye at least, the sheep look virtually indistinguishable from each other, all with peaty-coloured, off- white fleeces, black faces and white noses, the farmers - or at least the clothing they wear - tend to be just as identical, all clad in flat caps, tweed jackets, moleskin trousers, wellingtons and Barbour-type coats.
The sheep show at the inn might look homespun and unassuming, compared to the village shows elsewhere in the Yorkshire Dales, let alone the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate, or the Royal Show in the days when it was held every year, but as one farmer said to me, back in my days at the inn, ‘There are classes for our sheep at the Royal Show, but the winner there might not even get a ticket [an entry] to this show. This is where you’ll see the best tups and yows to be found anywhere.’
If the sheep don't tickle your fancy, the Lofthouse and Middlesmoor silver band from Nidderdale will be playing as they have since the very first show in 1951, when they happened to be passing on their way back from a concert elsewhere, and stopped to see what was going on. Inside the inn, the bar will be doing an absolutely roaring trade. If the weather's dry and the wind isn't howling over the "tops", get yourself a pint, perch up on the fellside and listen to the band playing the local anthem: "Beautiful Dale". When the last notes fade away, all you'll hear is the liquid song of the curlew, the gabbling calls of the grouse, the monotone piping of the golden plovers nesting among the tussocks of heather and the beautiful song of the lark raining down from the sky above you - only occasionally interrupted by the noise of the farmers arguing about the judges' choice of the supreme champion sheep. Enjoy!
The sheep show at the inn might look homespun and unassuming, compared to the village shows elsewhere in the Yorkshire Dales, let alone the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate, or the Royal Show in the days when it was held every year, but as one farmer said to me, back in my days at the inn, ‘There are classes for our sheep at the Royal Show, but the winner there might not even get a ticket [an entry] to this show. This is where you’ll see the best tups and yows to be found anywhere.’
If the sheep don't tickle your fancy, the Lofthouse and Middlesmoor silver band from Nidderdale will be playing as they have since the very first show in 1951, when they happened to be passing on their way back from a concert elsewhere, and stopped to see what was going on. Inside the inn, the bar will be doing an absolutely roaring trade. If the weather's dry and the wind isn't howling over the "tops", get yourself a pint, perch up on the fellside and listen to the band playing the local anthem: "Beautiful Dale". When the last notes fade away, all you'll hear is the liquid song of the curlew, the gabbling calls of the grouse, the monotone piping of the golden plovers nesting among the tussocks of heather and the beautiful song of the lark raining down from the sky above you - only occasionally interrupted by the noise of the farmers arguing about the judges' choice of the supreme champion sheep. Enjoy!
