Shining a spotlight on farming families in the Yorkshire Dales with film and photography festival

To Mark Holmes, community engagement officer for the Tees-Swale Naturally Connected programme, the festival is aimed at understanding and inspiration.

“This is a stunning part of the world, that’s what draws people to it,” said Mr Holmes. “This is adding depth to the landscape.

“Hopefully it adds depth to people’s understanding of a way of life in the Dales, and of the farmers who have passed that down the generations.

“It’s linking that history and heritage with the past and the present of the Dales.”

The festival, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, sees two photography exhibitions, featuring the work of five photographers in capturing the countryside, farming and landscapes.

Then three film evenings, in Reeth, Muker and Richmond, featuring a series of short films from the Yorkshire Dales and its surrounding areas.

One was filmed with a farming family in Coverdale, while another examines the challenges - and emerging opportunities - a second family in the Lakes face across the generations.

The Tees-Swale Naturally Connected programme is a five-year project, led by the North Pennine AONB in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA), collaborating with farmers and landowners to ‘put farming at the heart of nature and nature at the heart of land management’.

Mr Holmes said the festival is aimed at engaging people with farming and the landscape, forging a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities it can bring.

“It connects people with the history, the heritage and the culture of the Dales, as well as with farming,” he said. “ It’s an insight into the challenges of farming, through the year.

“We are all very much aware of the springtime lambs, and happy sunny pictures,” he added. “This is about understanding the work that goes into that; all the hard work of haymaking so that there is food for the animals through winter, and then as the nights get darker. It gives a voice to farmers to tell their own story.

“I hope people take different things from it,” he added. “A picture can paint 1,000 words.”

A photography exhibition opened yesterday at Reeth’s Hudson House and runs until June 21, before moving to the Station at Richmond until July 5. There will be three film showings, at Reeth Memorial Hall on June 14, Muker on June 21, and Station Cinema Richmond on June 29.