I blame the sun!

Sheepfold Number 4
Casterton, Fellfoot

Sorry! I haven't given up on recording the Horse Fair, but today was such a lovely day I could not think of spending any of it amongst crowds.

So we set off (in between the Rugby!) away from it all. Going the long way round, as our direct access to most places is closed for the week, we headed for Kirkby Lonsdale in search of a sheepfold. Well no, not a sheepfold - sixteen sheepfolds!

There is a walled track, almost but not quite a road, between fields, not far from Kirkby Lonsdale. It is called Fellfoot Road. Along this track, on either side, are lots of small, old sheepfolds, a bit like rooms attached to a corridor. In 1996 Andy Goldsworthy decided to rebuild sixteen of these and inside each he wanted to place a big stone.

The stones, or in most cases huge boulders, were field stones that had been in the adjoining fields for a long, long time. Farmers over the years had worked round them and now they were going to be unearthed. This took a lot of doing and often big machinery was involved.

So a boulder was placed inside each fold, as it was rebuilt. Each fold with stone has a different effect - some are strong and powerful, others quiet and reticent. Goldsworthy wanted people to wonder about them and about how the stones got inside. He incorporated a hole for sheep, called a creep hole, but also made steps in the wall, so people could get inside. (It's not actually easy climbing the wall, never mind getting inside!)

We walked all along this track and discovered them all. It took a bit of doing and we walked quite a distance, but it was lovely day. The sun was shining, the path was lined with bluebells, buttercups and other wild flowers and there was a constant buzz of insects and the darting of butterflies. The views were wonderful. Idyllic really. A world away from any Horse Fair!

Here is just one of the sixteen. A strong and powerful one, I think!