A special interview with the celebrated linguist Professor David Crystal and Swaledale farmer John Waggett.

We are delighted to say that the Story of Schools in the Upper Dales artwork and interpretation panels are available online. Find out about the changing journey to school, the tension between learning and earning and the life of teachers, bus drivers and school attendance officers known as ‘Kiddy Catchers’; zoom into hundreds of photos at your leisure; and listen to the podcast that was made about the project.

In the Spring of 2021 we invited KS3 students from local secondary schools to be involved in an exciting new poetry project that Swaledale Festival developed alongside M.R. Peacocke, a much-admired published poet who lives in Barnard Castle. The Festival has a strong legacy of working with local young people both in and out of schools, and we hoped that the project would inspire and strengthen our ties with students in Dales schools.