Saturday took us to the Yorkshire Dales village of Grassington for a bite to eat and the Theakston Nidderdale Cricket League. Upper Wharfedale, league leaders in Division 1, were at home against Ben Rhydding.
First, a very important pit stop at Cobblestones Café, where their breakfast hash of potato, sausages and fried bacon was beautifully hidden under a glistening blanket of fried eggs.
If that’s making a hash of things then I am all on board – and will return.
Suitably stuffed, I made my way to the top of the square in search of the Stripey Badger.
It’s important we all support independent bookshops when we can on high streets. I find they have a personality of their own, allied with local knowledge and a diversity of reading to delight in.
The Badger, complete with stripes, is a well-curated bookshop, coffee shop and kitchen: somewhere I’ve been coming for years. A browse later, we picked up the only Almanac we buy in this household: not the yellow-jacketed cricket tome – but ‘A Seasonal Guide to 2027’ by Lia Leendertz.
The beautifully illustrated month-by-month guide, including timetables, sunrises and moon phases, along with tales of wildlife, folklore and seasonal recipes.
Stocked up on inspiration for the coming year, we headed back through the National Park Visitor Centre and drove the short distance to Upper Wharfedale Cricket Club on Grass Wood Lane.
Having withered in multiple heatwaves then watched, in horror, as the mercury plummeted to 13°C in Bingley, the balance was just right now.
A pleasant summer’s afternoon, early-twenties. The sun-splashed dales cast shadows across the hills. A white horse beyond the top end of the ground stood stock still against a dry stone wall; an elegant sculpture shaped in the landscape.
As it happens, we turned up just in time as most of the game had already finished. Upper Wharfedale had dismissed Ben Rhydding for 110 off 31 overs.
Tom Baines (4-35) and Damon Malcolm (3-7) doing the bulk of the damage.
Upper Wharfedale’s run chase shifted towards emphatic, turbo-charged fairly early doors.
We got talking to Ross Malcolm, who was taking photographs for the hosts – these are his images, gratefully used to illustrate his travelogue. His son Damon has hit 1,215 runs for Upper Wharfedale’s first team this season (I very nearly wrote Devon Malcolm, but that’s an entirely different era).
It sounds as if Yorkshire has already tugged at the heartstrings for the Malcolms and they want to come back next year.
With Ben Rhydding bundled out for 110, Upper Wharfedale made short work of their reply, scorching to 20 league points and a handsome win by nine wickets.
It was all done and dusted in 12.5 overs with opener James Raper 32 not out while Damon Malcolm (above) launched a series of sixes en route to 38 not out off 27 balls.
Up on the balcony, the hospitality was free-flowing, with guests chatting over a drink and an elevated view of the game. I was perfectly happy with a wooden bench, mug of tea and a bag of Seabrooks, though the smell of burgers and sausages wafting over from the BBQ did call their siren song once or twice.
In between firing off a round of shots as the inevitable victory speed towards the last rites, Ross told me about the lucky tin that had been perched at the corner of the table next to the volunteers doing the BBQ a previous week.
The tin absorbed the full impact of a Malcolm maximum while helpers dived for cover, scattering like startled pigeons. Thankfully, no-one was hurt. Except the tin.
Malcolm, averaging 110, has hit a mere 45 sixes this season. I wonder if the locals are being sold branded Upper Wharfedale protective tin bucket hats?
This is a part of Yorkshire I’m very fond of, having come to the village for many years. Us fullers have walked Grass Wood many times and paused to hear an LBW shout ring through the woodland. The cricket club, village and surrounding area has a character and charm that is irresistible.
From the dry stone walls with steps jutting out like goofy teeth to signage with its own touch of personality. I spotted a sign attached to a tree that read “The man with the strimmer hates the taste. Please pick up your dog’s poo!!!” which made me smile.
As a cricket author, I pick my book cover designs carefully before Mrs Cricket Yorkshire brings them to life. For Dales, Bails and Cricket Club Tales, Upper Wharfedale is the inspiration.
To continue a brief tour, the sightscreens have a life about them too: sturdy, white-framed and squat, as if designed specifically for the high winds that winter is bound to bring to these parts.
There are lots of personal touches that, if you’re a ground hopper like me and savour village and club cricket, you come to appreciate pretty quickly.
One such detail being the electronic scoreboard (above) from our friends at Bespoke Scoreboards, attached to a wooden facing that blends beautifully into the landscape.
We were only at the cricket about an hour but it was enough to get a sense of the Dales, watch the league leaders flex their batting and bowling muscles, then remind ourselves to come back before too long.
- Upper Wharfedale postcard: The hash, Stripey Badger and sixes - August 26, 2026
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- Latest reviews of Brews on the Boundary (August) - August 20, 2026
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