The Inn At The Top

My memories of Tan Hill Inn are of a country pub which is located in an isolated part of Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales.  The Inn is Britain's highest pub, at 1,732 feet above sea level.

I last visited Tan Hill Inn some years ago and remember a hostelry with a warm welcome and good food, which is a far cry from how it was in the late 1970s when Neil Hanson and his wife Sue took over as landlords.  The Inn At The Top, which I am currently reading, is a fascinating and at times hilarious account of  their first year at the pub. 

I find social history really interesting and I'm particularly interested in the origins of language.  Anyone who has visited this part of Yorkshire will know that the local dialect can be hard to understand without a translation!  Many of the words used in modern day language are derived from Norse, at the time when the Vikings invaded.

Picture a wild and windswept ocean of peat bog and heather moorland which stretches as far as the eye can see and you have an image of upper Swaledale, which is breath-taking in its beauty.  Stand outside the pub and look around you ~ enjoy the view.