Dates for your diary in September from Festivals to Exhibitions, Walks to a Brass Band Competition. Enjoy!

Can’t believe what’s coming up in September this year! You'll always find an art exhibition at The Station in Richmond along with wonderful produce on sale, plus the cinema of course, there is an exhibition celebrating the Yorkshire Dales in Photographs: Where the Past Meets the Present at the Gardens Rooms at Tennants in Leyburn.

The finalists from this year’s amateur photographic competition will be on display in a new exhibition, arrive on the 17th and you will have the chance to vote for the winning photograph. Also at the Garden Rooms from 2 September until 31 October there will be a display if fine and decorative arts on loan from The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, John and Josephine Bowes: Collecting the Far East.

Hunton Steam Gathering 9 and 10 September for those enthusiasts amongst you, there’ll be plenty of steam and plenty of noise, great fun!

Sunday 10 September the Hardrow Scar Brass Band Contest will be held behind the Green Dragon in the open air bandstand in the gorge beneath Hardraw Force near Hawes in Wensleydale . Bring chairs, a picnic, your favourite tipple and settle in on the terrace for the afternoon with the sound of brass bands wafting up and around.

For those book worms and walkers, yes, you know who you are, and anyone else too, the annual Richmond Walking and Book Festival will be coming up 23 September until 1 October. Ten full days of walks lead by knowledgeable guides, evening talks with authors such as Val McDermid, Jo Baker, Joanne Harris, former MP Clare Short and many, many more. Find out all at Richmond Walking and Book Festival

Coming up for the first time ever is the Yorkshire Dales National Park Cheese Festival on the weekend of 23 until 24 September to be held at The Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes. A celebration of cookery, drink and cheese-making from across the Yorkshire Dales and the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Beauty. To follow the weekend will be five more days of events with farms, attractions, restaurants and cafes championing the fantastic food produced on our doorstep.

During all of September the first exhibition of the Yorkshire Dales Photographic Grid Project will be open Monday to Friday at the Yoredale National Park Offices in Bainbridge. The project is an archive of images mapping the Yorkshire Dales National Park from top to bottom, phew! Also throughout September the Dales Countryside Museum hosts an exhibition by Lucy Pittaway sharing her love of nature and landscape through her striking use of pastel.

I’m sure I’ve missed loads but this will give you a flavour of what’s happening here. If you’d like to book a cottage nearby, you know who to call on 01969 663559 or check our availability at Country Hideaways