Dales Folk

But there is in Chapel-le-Dale a place called Frank's Bank and it could be a spot of great significance for the future of the Yorkshire Dales. For in a month or so, the bird's eye primrose will be in bloom.

As British farming goes through its biggest crisis for 60 years, the bird's eye primrose, certain rare orchids, and the heather moors high on the fells of Whernside and Ingleborough have assumed what could be a critical importance.

The flowers, of course, are extremely rare but even the heather is getting rarer. In many parts of the Dales, such fragile flora have been destroyed by over-grazing as farmers put ever more livestock on to their land in an attempt to stay in business.

Now there is another way and Frank Brennand and his bank are the pioneers. For he is being paid to conserve the flowers and the heather in the hope that the traditional landscape of this much-photographed area is preserved forever.

Thanks to grants from the Yorkshire Dales National Park - whose ecologists dubbed the place Frank's Bank - Frank and his brother William, who husband their 800-acre Ellerbeck Farm with loving care, will fence off the bank and areas of heather high up on the fells in the next few weeks.

In doing so, they voluntarily reduce the amount of grazing available to their 1,000 ewes and the 60 suckler cattle which glean their food in the valley. The brothers are also restoring miles of dry-stone walls which criss-cross the farm.

This, of course, costs them a great deal of money: several thousand pounds a year, a figure that could be the difference between survival and failure to hundreds of hill farms in the Dales.

Most of the difference, however, is made up by their national park cheque, much of which comes indirectly from the European Union. In return for those public funds, the millions of visitors who pour into the Dales every summer - and local folk, too, of course - are allowed to view this majestic dale as it has been for hundreds of years.

"I don't know how many postcards are sold showing the Dales when the heather is in full bloom but it must run into millions over the years," said Frank, a 44-year-old bachelor.

"I have loved this valley since I was a child and I would like it to stay as it is forever. But even in 40 years, I have seen many changes: the heather has suffered badly from disease and overgrazing could have been the last straw.

"It gives William and I deep satisfaction to help turn the clock back a bit. With farm prices being what they are now - our income has dropped by almost 50 per cent this year - the national park grant is a vital part of our business.

"I look upon it as an ideal trade-off. We look after the national park for the benefit of the general public and that keeps us in business. At the same time, we help preserve some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. Not a bad arrangement, I think."

Frank and William Brennand are, to be honest, unusual. Dales farmers are notorious for their reluctance to accept what many look upon as outside interference from "t' council" - or in this case, the national park.

But as talks begin to admit several more Eastern European countries like Poland into the European Union, countries which are mainly agricultural, the problem will be to produce less food, not more.

One solution has been Set Aside, when farmers have been paid for not growing food on parts of their land.

This has led to vast tracts of ugly scrub and bracken spreading across the landscape - and more intensive production of areas still in use. It makes more sense, in these environmentally aware days, to pay them to do something for the benefit of visitors like, for instance, keeping public footpaths, gates and stiles in good condition: the townies get their walks and the country folk get recompensed.

And although the bird's eye primrose and orchids are shy plants not seen by many - there are, sadly, unscrupulous plant collectors who will dig them up and take them home - the thought of the Yorkshire Dales in August without the heather in bloom would be like Trafalgar Square without Nelson's Column.

Trouble is, there is now talk of cuts in European funding which supports such schemes. The national park and other conservation bodies are fighting these cuts tooth and nail. Let's hope the Government backs their fight.

Frank Brennand, who is a voluntary adviser to English Nature, and brother William need as much support as they can get.

So, too, do places of stunning beauty like Chapel-le-Dale. It is battles like this which will decide the future look of the Yorkshire Dales.

l Do you know someone to feature in our Dales folk articles? We're looking for Craven folk whose story would make a good read, an unsung hero perhaps, someone who has become an important part of the community in the Dales. Write to or contact the editor and we'll send John Sheard out to profile him or her.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.