A weekend to enthral most folk

Folk music is entwined with the heart and soul of Britain’s rural community, which is what Cumbria’s award-winning shepherdess, Alison O’Neill, will be illustrating, in her own inimitable style, between June 27-29. That weekend, Alison will not only be basing her Shacklabank ‘free-range walking holidays’ around the rhythm of life in the velvety hills of the Howgills (Wainwright’s favourite hills), but also around the music resounding from the beautiful village of Dent, as it stages its annual Dent Folk Festival.

The Dent Folk Festival weekend at Shacklabank is a new introduction for 2008 and one that epitomises the Shacklabank walking holiday experience, the essence of which is to walk the life Alison lives as a Cumbrian hill farmer.

Alison will be weaving the Dent Festival folk music experience into her usual – or rather, most unusual, walks, which allow the guest to step inside Alison’s shoes during their stay. This enables them to meander across the Howgills, in Cumbria’s fells, but also on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

They may find themselves stepping foot in meadows full of wildflowers and butterflies, or following the course of a river to spot the wealth of wildlife living in and around the crystal clear water.

They could spot a kingfisher or otter one minute, or a skylark or curlew the next, perhaps stopping off to take a cold dip in a mountain tarn, or head off to the next dale to taste the local cheese from the creamery.

They could drop in to a neighbour’s for a cup of tea and some long yarns, or head off to collect the eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast. The experience is tailored to suit guests’ desires, rather than guests having to fit into a package that’s pre-set and off the peg.

The Dent Folk Festival weekend will allow guests to live and breathe Alison’s life, but also soak up the atmosphere of one of England’s most famous folk festivals, in a village known as the jewel of the Dales. Comedy, music, street theatre, dance, puppetry and story-telling will fill the evenings of the Shacklabank guests, as Alison takes them into the village and introduces them to all the local characters.

There may well be the chance to learn how to play the fiddle – a skill Alison's daughter Scarlett has already mastered. Mingling with the regulars and talented musicians will be something that any folk lover will adore, but one which anyone new to the world of folk could soon find addictive.

Seeing the festival through the eyes of a local is something money cannot usually buy, but Alison has a way of allowing others to feel at home, wherever they ramble. Eating the view she enjoys is certainly easy, thanks to copious amounts of delicious, home-made Shacklabank fare, fresh from the farm and the landscape all around.

The cost of the Dent Festival Weekend, for a three night stay between Friday, June 27 and Sunday, June 29, accommodated in either the Shacklabank farmhouse, or one of Alison’s luxury, Cath Kidston caravans, close by in the meadow, is £350 inclusive of all food. This also includes admission to the main Dent Folk Festival marquee during the weekend.

More information about Shacklabank Free Range Walking Holidays, Cumbria Tourism’s Visitor Experience of the Year for 2008, is available at Shacklabank.co.uk.