BRADFORD-born writer AJ Brown is to be honoured with a blue plaque at what was his favourite local pub.

Alfred J Brown, who worked as a sales director in the wool industry in Bradford before taking on a hotel in North Yorkshire, was one of Yorkshire’s leading ‘outdoor’ writers.

A cult figure throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he became well-known for his ‘tramping’ books. Devoted respectively to the Dales and the Moors, Tramping Through Yorkshire and Moorland Tramping were top sellers.

Collected together in Striding Through Yorkshire, they conveyed the special joys of moorland walking: the wide horizons and sense of freedom, the intimate pleasures of the intervening valleys, and the satisfaction of ending the day in a hospitable moorland town or village.

They encouraged readers to explore ‘God's Own Country' on foot, but Brown - whose father was an electrical engineer employed by Bradford Gas Company - also wrote semi-autobiographical novels, personal stories and a book of verse.

His books came about following a suggestion from the then editor of Country Life magazine, to which Brown contributed, to put all his experiences together.

To commemorate him, a memorial blue plaque will be dedicated in his honour on Saturday August 25 at The Hermit inn at Burley Woodhead. The characterful inn, with spectacular views across the Wharfe Valley, was Brown’s favourite hostelry between 1927 and 1945, when he lived at Burley-in-Wharfedale.

The plaque will be unveiled at 12pm by well-known writer and founder member of the Yorkshire Dales Society Colin Speakman, who has acknowledged A. J. Brown as "a founding father for rights of way and freedom to roam, who was one of the most popular and widely-read authors about the Dales, and indeed the whole of Yorkshire".

Copies of the biography: Alfred John Brown, Walker, Writer and Passionate Yorkshireman by John White, will be on sale at the event.

John says: “Having the plaque will be very special as this was his favourite inn and he was inspired by walking on the surrounding moors. It is a splendid traditional English pub, as it was in his day.”

He adds: “Alfred could also see the moors from his home. At the end of a walk he would stop at the pub and lay plans for the next one.”

Prior to the unveiling ceremony there will be a three-mile walk starting at 9.30am from the Roundhouse in Burley and finishing at The Hermit. The route follows part of the A. J. Brown Memorial Trail endorsed by the Burley 'Walkers Are Welcome' Group

John White will lead the walk visiting locations around Burley associated with this once-famous resident.

The route is on pavements, tracks and field paths with some small stiles. Light refreshments will be available at the inn after the unveiling ceremony. Both events are free as part of the 10th Annual Burley Summer Festival, from August 18 to 27.

*For full details of the trail see: waw-burleyinwharfedale.org. The walk is limited to 28 people and booking is required - for further details see the Burley Festival website: burleysummerfestival.org.