Even though I had done months of reading and research before my stay in the Yorkshire village of Settle, I learned so much more by living there a month. 

How I loved all the small town events in the village: folk singing many nights in the pub, a weekly market day every Tuesday, the weekend organized hikes up into the moors to see caves and waterfalls, and talks at the library and museum by people with first-hand accounts of events. And while I didn’t see any front porches with swings, nearly everyone had a gorgeous flower garden out front or window boxes bursting with blooms. This usually meant plenty of gardeners to chat with when you went for a walk.

I will talk later about the people I met, the museum programs I went to, the help I received from two authors and a museum curator there, and the retired folks who told fascinating stories of WWII involvement and working on the railroad during the steam train era. That kind of research was invaluable. Just as colorful, though, were the little local traditions that varied from village to village, the things that made each village unique.

The Settle Flowerpot Festival

One fun tradition in this small village involved making flower pot people and animals for their annual flower pot competition. The event was over by the time we visited Settle, but a few of the homes and businesses still had them on display. So, just for fun, here are a few. Will I use this information in the book I’m working on? Maybe. It’s authentic local color, the kind of detail that hadn’t shown up in anything I’d read or seen online. 

These are just a sampling of the flowerpot people and animals I saw on my walks. Can you tell what these creatures are?

   

  

  

  

Simple fun. Certainly creative. The fun side of research.