Many lives - a day walk tour

Up above Hebden Bridge, on the edge of the moors, lies an "untouched by modernity" village called Heptonstall. It is so peacecul with its narrow cobblestone streets, and hidden away location. You can drive to it, but we walked, up a steep path. We spent an hour or more wandering through the market square,

 past the old houses,

 through the grave yard where we found Sylvia Plath's grave,

In another church yard we found the oldest continually used Methodist church in the world,  a rare hexagonal church dating back to 1764. 

 Then we had a really truly delcicious lunch in one of the local pubs. I love the words on the wall, which is exactly what we were doing.

 To walk off lunch we headed across paddocks, down through woods, to the bottom of the valley and along the Hebden Water river to an area called Hardcastle Crags and an old mill.

 Gibson Mill was built in the 1800s, spinning and weaving cotton, which became unprofitable by the turn of the century, so the owners converted it into an entertainment venue with boats on the mill pond, accomodation in the old mill worker's cottages, a restaurant with seperate first class and second class dining, roller skating  and dancing. They had over 500,000 guests each year. That lasted until the 1950s. It was no longer attracting visitors. When the last of the Gibson owners died in 1956, he left the mill to the National Trust who have restored it and now operate it as an example of sustainable technology. It generates its own power from solar panels and two water driven turbines, uses biomass for heating and engages in numerous other sustainable practices. They have a cafe, museum, nature teaching room and small shop. This is the new life for a building that has seen many changes in its life.

Another of its previous enterprising owner's money making schemes was a toll to cross the bridge.