Hawes is a market town full of surprises. The name means "a pass between mountains". To the motorist, Hawes is linked with Fleet Moss, the highest stretch of road in Yorkshire, and Buttertubs Pass, between Wensleydale and Swaledale.

Glance at Hawes during the short, sharp descent from the Ingleton road and it seems little more than two rows of buildings with a broad street in between. If it was not for the parked cars – a feature of every town – you might expect to see hitching posts and a few horses.

Ten years ago, Hawes was commended by the English Tourist Board as the best "day trip out". Signs direct you to the Creamery, where you might watch the making of Wensleydale cheese – then taste a sliver or two of cheese in the shop. A tour of the Ropeworks and a visit to the Dales Countryside Museum are recommended.

I recently enjoyed a free art exhibition in two parts – pictures of local interest in stained glass at St Margaret's Church, and wooden sculptures of a farmer, his dog and sheep, fenced off in the most prominent place – a busy traffic island.

My attention was drawn to the steep path leading to St Margaret's, the Anglican church, by the rows of daffodils that fringed it. Their golden hue enlivened a gloomy setting of bare trees and the dark mass of a church with its three-stage west tower. I left the winding streets of the town for a building that is seen by Pennine Wayfarers, trudging along a flagged path.

A surprise awaited me within. An aisled nave was spacious and bright. The first object of interest to be noticed was the original parish bier. Less conspicuous were the mice – on carved woodwork by "Mousey" Thompson of Kilburn. Then I beheld a stained glass window installed to celebrate both the Millennium and the Tercentenary of the award, by William III, of a Market Charter to Hawes.

The vicar, Rev Bill Simms, related the story behind the installation of this remarkable window. When those two notable events – Millennium and Tercentenary – coincided, "we felt we must do something about it. A memorial window was proposed." It became the last fling of Septimus (Sept) Waugh of York, a man who had spent many years working with stained glass.

Said the vicar: "We wanted to represent the recent history of Hawes, working backwards to the future." As I approached the window, my eye went to a dominant figure – that of a Dales shepherd. It had been requested that the shepherd should be modern and this effect was captured exactly.

Every glance revealed other features and figures of local interest. I saw an old-time Gayle hand-knitter. The craft of hand-knitting, once an important commercial adjunct to farming, involving four needles, one of which was attached to a dagger-like knitting sheath held in place by being tucked behind a leather belt.

Among the objects produced were gloves and stockings. Interestingly, the designer had given the hand-knitter the company of a more modern knitter. On the Millennium window was Methodist preacher on horseback and a train crossing a viaduct.

The cost of the window, including fitting, was £16,000. Raising it, which might have been daunting, turned out to be quick and easy, such was the local response to this unusual and splendid feature. The Tolls trustees offered £5,000.

An appeal made to the townsfolk raised £12,000 – in a fortnight.

At a special service, the Bishop of Ripon (John Packer) addressed a packed congregation. A big feast was set out in the Market Hall. "Tables groaned under the weight of food. Everyone came."

My old friend Alan Watkinson gave me the background story to the wooden sculptures on the traffic island at Town Foot. Until a few years ago, local volunteers maintained a garden in immaculate condition.

When the county council undertook major road works, the garden was succeeded by a layer of tarmac with a mere few inches of topsoil above. "The area became the most unsightly weedbed, much to everyone's annoyance."

Enter Andris Bergs, a chainsaw sculptor in Bainbridge. He set up the effigy of a Dales farmer with a crook and gave him a dog and sheep. The dog has been provided with a collar to stop it looking more like a pig. Local folk seem to like the sculpture. Tittering visitors have their photographs taken with it. And Hawes acquired yet another tourist attraction.