Friday Fungus: a few magic mushrooms (and some others) at Ogden Water

Ogden Water is just on the Halifax side of the hill down from Denholme (from where it is always downhill) and is a great place for a wander. Especially if you like mushrooms - ones like the rather chewed fly agaric in the picture above. We'd wandered up to the top of the woods - right on the edge of where the moor fires of this spring had caught into the trees:

It was really striking to see just how quickly nature recovers from fire - and to ponder about how it must have been during the burning. And to remember the discussion I had with Bradford's top fire officer about the moor fires and the difficulties in responding to them, the work with farmers and gamekeepers, and the problems with getting water to the fire (Yorkshire Water have a helicopter that drops those big water bombs). Looking closely you can see how deeply the fire cuts into the peat and leaf mould:

With the recent rains, it was a great day to see some mushrooms - and there were plenty to see including this rather attractive fellow - which I'm not sure about but think might be a rufus milk cap;

An excellent walk - a lovely wood. Worth a visit if you're over that way.

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Jimena de la Frontera - thoughts on ruins, heritage and the price of historical interpretation

At Jimena de la Frontera in Andalucia there is a ruined Moorish castle above the town. You can see the castle from a fair way off (I suppose that's why they built it there) but to actually reach it you have to go up through the old town, up steep winding streets lined with white-fronted houses. The streets are very narrow - so narrow that the trip down is not for the faint-hearted or the owner of anything bigger than the Citroen we were driving. And, so typically of Andalucian hill villages, every second front step was occupied by an elderly man, woman or some small children.

There are no signs to the castle. One supposes that this is because anyone local knows where it is - at the top of the village - so directions would be a waste of space. Which problem provides our first clue about the attitude to heritage here. Back home there would be brown signs containing the appropriate castle symbol, there would be an expectation that visitors would arrive and want to visit the castle.

Anyway, we wound our way to the castle. You know you've arrived because there's no more road and a tatty little car park in which we found one of those international groups that bring a smile - a chatty Spanish chap with some very fine photography equipment and an elderly Austrian lady (who was really a local as she lived in the village and had done for a lot of years). A brief chat with this pair revealed that they were - I wasn't quite clear why - showing a young Irish couple around.

Now imagine what such a location would be like in England. There would be a barrier or gate, a little visitor centre and shop. And, of course, a charge of £4 or £5 just to go in and look at the ruins (you would be able to pay extra for a little guide book that explains the history). You get none of this in Spain.  No visitor centre, no shop and no charge. We simply have to walk up through the old Moorish gateway.

At some point in the past the local council had put up a series of "interpretative" notices. Over the years these had become rather tatty and, in some cases, difficult to read and where still legible really didn't assist much in understanding who had built the castle and how it became a ruin. It seems that Jimena has been there a long time though:

This gem of a village, has a fairly checkered historical past, having been inhabited at various times by the Iberians, Phoenicians and Carthaginians as well as by the Romans, who made good use of the rich metal deposits found there. Around the year 750, it was of great commercial importance to the Moors, who also used it as a strategic military point. Over the centuries Jimena was conquered and re-conquered on many occasions and twice fell into the hands of the Christians, but by in 1879, during the reign of Alfonso XII, Jimena was so highly considered that it was given the title of Cuidad (Town). With a present population of just over 9,000 inhabitants (some 1,000 of whom are foreign residents - many British), its narrow cobbled streets and white washed Andalusian houses, it certainly retains its village ambience and is a delight to visit.

Whatever the history, the ruins are just that - untidy, unkempt, uninterpreted by the mavens of plastic history. You can wander round at liberty, there aren't any don't go there, don't do that signs. There are no rails, no barriers - just the ruins of a Moorish castle with kites, kestrels and vultures in the skies and the most spectacular view.

It seems to me that, in our desire to inform, to educate, to manage our heritage, we have lost a little of the magic of looking at the ruins of what once was great. Rather than staring at the old tower, looking up through a hole broken in the ceiling. Rather than allowing the visitor's mind to wander, their spirit to soar in personal reflection and speculation, we force that visitor's eyes down to the approved, official interpretation of the heritage. Visiting an "interpreted" castle we come away better informed but less inspired than is the case with the uninterpreted place like this castle at Jimena.

This isn't to say that we shouldn't cherish our heritage but this needn't mean turning it into an "attraction" resplendent with a visitor centre, shop and cafe. Leaving it stark, allowing us to draw our own lessons, get our own undirected pleasure from the visit, might be as good, if not better. Maybe Jimena's apparent lack of care relates to past poverty rather that present decisions - indeed the big board by the castle bedecked with EU symbols suggests that the dead hand of officialdom is creeping closer. For once, I hope that the usual path of European funding in Southern Europe applies and it vanishes into the dusty hills rather than into shiny attraction management at this lovely little castle.

It was a delight to visit this castle, to wander its walls, to poke my head into the tower, to look out at the view - the reason the castle was built here I'm sure - and to ponder on how different is was a thousand years ago when the Moors were running Andalucia. Whether the cork woods were still the same, if the fields were filled with horses and fine cows - plus the great bulls destined for the blood and passion of the ring - and what the economic importance might have been? Above all it was a delight to look out and soak up the spirit of the place.

Maybe it will stay that way?

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Campaign Diary: Day Six - well it is Bingley RURAL!

Spent a really pleasant day exploring the rural in Bingley Rural. The picture above is the view looking back over Whiteshaw Estate towards Denholme.

Our journey started in the late morning with a circumlocation of Cullingworth. Chatted with walkers on the path to Sugden End Farm (weren't going to vote Tory but didn't live in my ward so who cares!) while waiting for half a dozen cyclists to struggle up the slope - rather them than me! Dropped in on Mrs Wood on Lees Moor - safely sat in her new bungalow (the one the planners didn't want to let her have - yours truly went to committee and helped secure the permission). Met some nice folk in the gorgeous little hamlet of Ryecroft - had a series of planning, water supply and environment issues there so they mostly knew me and appreciated the support. And then - via Leech Lane and a discussion about dog poo - to lunch in our own garden.

After lunch up to St Ives - absolutely heaving with families taking advantage of the free adventure playground, woodlands and walks. One of the best playgrounds you'll see and a facility we worked hard to get.  Here's a picture (taken on a much quieter week day!):

Great stuff - shows what Council's can do and fantastic to see so many people enjoying what we've put in. From St Ives - via the controversial barn at Beckfoot - to Hallas Bridge, one of the hidden wonders of the ward. A sweet little hamlet set down by Hallas Beck just along from Goit Stock waterfalls.

Up Bents Lane dropping in a farms, barn conversions, livery stables and cottages - ending up at Wheelrace Cottages where the lovely Mrs Lee gave us a cup of tea and we sat in her wonderful garden for half-an-hour. Then the final circle - round Denholme - Whiteshaw is all closed off now with big gates, codes and such making it a tricky place to deliver - shame but an illustration of how security conscious folk have become these days. Finished along Trough Lane - real mix between the conversions filled with well-off folk and the obvious struggle that is hill farming - you can see why farmers want to turn their fine stone homes and barns into posh living when it's evident that farming doesn't pay its way. It's a real shame that all of us who take advantage of the hard work these men put in looking after the hills and moors don't put a little back in - maybe stopping acting like we own it all would be a start.

Best day of the campaign so far - highlights including gatecrashing a house party, talking about campaigning in Clayton back in the 1960s and, of course, Mrs Lee's tea.

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