New podcast series launches about Ingleborough

The Dales Countryside Museum has published six new Voices From The Dales podcasts starring people from the mountainous heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, as part of the ‘Wild Ingleborough’ nature recovery project.

Podcast characters include Muslim hikers, a builder, a farmer, an access campaigner, a guide known as the ‘Dales Dipper’, and the man at the helm of England’s most remote signalbox.  They share their personal stories and visions for the landscape across six 15-minute Voices From The Dales episodes, presented from the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve by oral historian Anna Greenwood and Andrew Fagg, from the nearby town of Hawes.

Commissioned by Wild Ingleborough, the podcasts have been produced as part of a wider community arts project called ‘Our Ingleborough’, which culminates this week with a festival at venues in Ribblehead, Clapham, Ingleton and Settle. 

The Ingleborough area covers around 100 square kilometres of the Craven district of North Yorkshire, known by some as the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

Voices From The Dales is available on all podcast platforms.

Wild Ingleborough lead, Jono Leadley, said: “As part of nature’s recovery, it’s vital that we listen to the voices of local people and their visions for future. This series of podcasts highlights the importance of Ingleborough for people, nature and livelihoods and the complex demands placed on our natural environment”.

Oral Historian Anna Greenwood, from Nidderdale, said: “The beauty of oral history is that it capture’s people’s thoughts, beliefs and perceptions in their own words and using their own expressions. It brings us closer to each other and expands our understanding in ways that written history cannot.

“What I realised from meeting the people who contributed to these podcasts is how varied their use, enjoyment and understanding of the land is.”

Kevin Frea, who is Member Champion for Promoting Understanding at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which runs the Dales Countryside Museum, said: “Our mission is to share the stories of the people and places of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Wild Ingleborough’s contribution to the Voices From The Dales podcasts fulfils that mission beautifully.

“In the podcasts farmer John Dawson makes a powerful demand: ‘We must be heard’.  Many, many people and organisations have a care for the Ingleborough area of the National Park and it is our pleasure to promote the voices of those who know it best.”