Simple pleasures of a cold-looking Edwardian Easter!

This scene is thought to show ‘Benson’s’, named after the farming family that had started selling refreshments at Four Lane Ends on the well-trodden route from Riddlesden to Ilkley Moor.

Walking over to Ilkley on Easter Monday or Tuesday used to be extremely popular.

After Easter in 1910, the Keighley News listed other favourite local destinations as Shipley Glen, Newsholme Dene, Ghyll Grange, Bolton Woods and Grassington, which was then accessible by railway. “In whichever direction one looked either on Monday or Tuesday,” observed a reporter, “people were to be seen taking their walks abroad by field or stream, by lane or wood.”

The delights of walking over Ilkley Moor are expressed in a letter from a young servant girl to her mother on the eve of the Great War: “We walked away all on the moors and never saw a soul but the sheep. The west wind was blowing against us all the way and it was lovely. It nearly took our breath at times. We had a lovely view... we came to some lovely little streams and ferns growing, and the heather smelt beautiful and am sending you just a bit.”