Monday 10 September 2012

Tunes in Dent

I was under the impression we were off to darkest Yorkshire for a weekend of tunes. The direction seemed about right - down the M6 for a bit, turn left and drive for half an hour down winding roads. But for all Dent is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, I never left Cumbria. What does it matter where it is, it's a lovely little village. Thank goodness the George and Dragon had a car park because what you see below is the main street.


Our home for the weekend, the George and Dragon.

In exchange for a couple of evenings of music, which seemed to go down very well, we were offered rather attractive rates and the landlord fed us on the Saturday night.


Must say the George and Dragon's food is very good and the trio of Cumberland sausage (who'd have thought you'd find three quite different Cumberland sausages) was no exception. It was though very large and I certainly couldn't eat it all, nor did I see anyone else succeed in finishing it in the time I was there.


I went for a bit of a wander through the village on Saturday morning. This is the local parish church of St Andrew's.


Any excuse to pop a bit of stained glass in the blog. As far as I could see most of the glass here was early 20th century.


Across the road from the pub, where the road divides and is at it's widest, is this memorial to the 19th century geologist, Adam Sedgwick, who was born in the village in 1785. I imagine that Sedgwick is a local name because from 1768 to 1885 all the ministers in the local church were also called Sedgwick.


The villages Methodist church is a much more modest affair.


 It was supposed to be the weekend of the Dent show but it had been raining and the showground was in poor condition so it was cancelled. This poor wee Martin or swift seems less than impressed too.


The one event that did take place was the dry stone dyking  competition (photographed form the road to save me a traipse across a soggy field.) One local told us that they were needing a new wall anyway and it seemed a good way to get it.


In a demonstration of drinking infidelity, we popped into the Sun Inn for a small visit (actually, we popped in for a beer if the truth be told.)


A fine pint (it's really a half pint) of Radical in the Sun Inn.


The George and Dragon is the pub for the local brewery, appropriately named The Dent Brewery . Described by the website as nestling in the hills, I think dug into the hillside and seriously camouflaged is more like it. Even with directions from a local, we couldn't find it when we set out to persuade them to let us have a look around. We did find a large chicken farm but it's really not the same. Perhaps it's there ability to remain hidden that gives them the time to brew some excellent beer. This, T'owd Tup, was my favorite.


Being a bit of a lightweight, I would have fallen over if I had had a pint of every beer on tap, especially as you might have noticed that the T'owd Tup rings in at 6%. The worryingly named Kamikaze isn't exactly alcohol free at 5% either. The pub though, for the price of a pint will sell you three thirds of a pint so you can try more varieties, served up in a bat with holes to help you carry them. Great idea and it feels like you're getting more than a pint.


Honourable mentions must go to the Meadowside cafe in Dent, where we played for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. It was full when we went in and empty when we left and still they provided us with drinks (a nice cup of tea in my case) and chips.


7 comments:

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Good to see that "The Sun" is still shining in Dent. Haven't been up there for years. Sedgwick was years ahead of his time and is the father of modern geology, he studied at Cambridge and has a street named after him in the city. Sounds like you had a good session in all senses of the phrase.

Ellie said...

What a lovely country village that is. It looks like you were well fed and watered while you were there.
You always seem to find interesting things to do!!!
You know when we were driving to Dundee I did notice a lot of cars filled to the gunnels and I suppose that must have been students moving to university. And no I wasn't the driver, lol.

The Glebe Blog said...

I think I've drunk T'owd Tup at one time Sandy, or was that Sheep Dip, I can't quite remember.
Sound's like you had a great time. You'll be going full time 'folk' before you know it.

Very interesting post, the closest I've been was stopping in a cafe in Sedbergh a few years ago

Shundo said...

That does look like a lovely place to spend the weekend, even in the rain. I also like the idea of three thirds of pints to get a better sense of what's on offer - being pretty much a beer lightweight myself.

Unknown said...

I loved this post, though it does sort of seem that you were doing a 'pub crawl' though nothing wrong in sampling all of the local beer! Darkest Yorkshire eh? How did you find walking on the cobbles? So glad that you were shown our wonderful Yorkshire hospitality as well.

Sandy's witterings said...

John, I often forget that a session down the pub means something different to non-instrumental types, who probably think it a very poor one when I only drink 2 or 3 pints over as many hours.
Sedwick was quite new to me - I'm always pleased to have one of the numerous gaps in my education filled.

Ellie,I'm amazed at how few places don't have something interesting in them.

Jim, the folkie from does seem to come along in fits and starts. Dent and then Portpatrick - seems I've had my fill though because I turned down an offer of a lift and a bed for Linlithgow last weekend for tunes there - must be getting old!!

I stopped at a cafe in Sedbergh on the way back - very brief appearance in the next blog.

Shundo, the thirds of a pint were great. Being a beer lightweight is cheap - and it's good to wake up in the morning feeling well :)

The Solitary Walker said...

I really like Dent, and the whole of Dentdale. Remember it fondly from walking through it on the Dales Way, and also from camping there a couple of times. The Sun Inn was great, though I didn't visit that other pub.