Summertime At Overdale Cottage

A Memory of Burtersett.

I have happy childhood memories of a summer my brother and I spent in Burtersett. We, along with our mother had travelled from our home in Canada and were visiting our grandparents William and Ethel Lawson, and our aunt Joan at Overdale Cottage.
The four hundred plus year old cottage, was across the lane from the Thwaite Farm and I remember that kind family providing great company and new experiences. We watched the birthing of a calf, and participated in the 'haymaking' which, for us lucky kids, consisted of riding the wagon - perched high up on the bails of hay as they were brought to their rightful place in a barn. I remember hiking the dale to a lake for afternoon swims (Semerwater I believe it is called), and walking a path through the fields to Hawes on Market Day. The only store in Burtersett was also a source of entertainment; the shopkeeper always appearing happy to see us. I also remember antagonizing a bull in the fields for fun and falling in to a patch of stinging nettles - not so much fun. And the thrill of seeing a real castle (Bolton) for the first time.
Visiting as an adult in the late 80's and recalling those childhood memories, I began to see how Burtersett is one place on earth that really doesn't change from one decade to the next. I felt as though I was stepping back in time during that summer in the early 70's and again - almost twenty years later in the late '80's - and therein lies the simple charm of Burtersett village - time to go back.

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