Iconic Dales farmer Hannah Hauxwell dies at 91

A Yorkshire farmer famous for her TV appearances and self-sufficient frugality has died at the age of 91.

Hannah Hauxwell first became well-known when she was interviewed by the Yorkshire Post in 1970 about her yearly budget of just £170. She had inherited her parents' farm, Low Birk Hatt in a North Pennine village called Baldersdale, when she was 34.

She had no electricity or running water, and tended her small herd of cattle in ragged clothing when temperatures were below freezing.

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Yorkshire Television later made a documentary about her called Too Long a Winter, which chronicled her struggle to survive in the harsh Pennine winters. The series was well-received, and a local factory even raised money to have the farm connected to a power supply.

Film crews returned for a follow-up series two decades later, and documented Hannah's decision to sell the farm and move into a nearby cottage when her health began to fail.

Future TV appearances even showed her visiting Europe and the USA for the first time.

Hannah was a natural in front of the cameras, unaffectedly discussing privations such as a cow pail she used as a bath and bread deliveries which were left at a gate three fields away. She drank from a stream.

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Her story of drinking a pint of warm milk in a byre and snuggling up beside her favourite cow for warmth during a particularly cold night touched the nation's hearts.

She was in her 60s when she sold up in 1988 to a couple who have renovated the farmhouse extensively - see the changes they have made here.

The site is part of the old North Riding of Yorkshire - dubbed 'England's last wilderness' - but administrative changes have seen it since become part of County Durham.

View an image gallery of Hannah's life here.