Hannah Hauxwell

80 years in the Dales

By W.R. Mitchell

"The world's favourite Daleswoman"
Yorkshire Post

Who has not heard of Hannah Hauxwell? For years, she lived quietly, austerely, with only a dog and a few cows for company, at a little farm in an obscure North Pennine dale. Her income and her wants were negligible.

Hannah's life changed dramatically when she was 'discovered' by the press, then by Yorkshire Television. A film, Too Long a Winter, which on first showing gave five million people an insight into her hard life, led to instant celebrity. This was a status she was to retain through her last few years of farming and into quiet retirement in a village not many miles from Low Birk Hatt, where her solitary - but never lonely - farming life unfolded.

This book updates and puts into perspective the Hannah Hauxwell story. It has been written by one who regularly visited her on the farm. He has also sat beside her on the platform at public appearances when she invited questions. Some of her homely answers, with a touch of wit, are recorded. Read also about her last years in farming, about the circumstances of the sale that took place when she retired and of some of her activities and friendships in various parts of her beloved north-country.

Hannah, through television, toured Europe and the New World and attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. She also rejoiced, in later years, when she was introduced to the Lake District and when Cedric Robinson, the official Guide, accompanied her on a jaunt across the Sands of Morecambe Bay.

Through all the changing scenes of life - as one of her favourite old hymns has it - Hannah has retained her faith, her modesty and her charm....

PUBLICATION JULY 2008

[The] book . . . records Hannah's journey from her harsh, isolated winters at Low Birk Hatt to international stardom and tours abroad. She's now living a quiet life in the village of Cotherstone, just six miles from Low Birk Hatt, but a world away from the bleak moorland of the Pennines. It's written by her contemporary, Bill Mitchell, former editor of the Dalesman, who was a regular visitor to Hannah's farm after she was "discovered" in the early 1970s.
Northern Echo

The book is as much about the dramatic and often harsh landscape and weather found in Hannah's country because it's this environment that created a woman of such quiet determination and grit. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs of Hannah and the Dales.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner

It's a paradox that the world's most famous Yorkshire woman is a solitary person from the back of beyond who remains unchanged by more than 30 years of celebrity. WR Mitchell, who has known Hannah Hauxwell for most of that time, has brought her story up to date in a new book written to mark her 80th birthday.
Yorkshire Post

Beautifully written and illustrated with striking photographs of Hannah and the Dales landscapes, it's a fascinating insight into her story and north country life, as brutal as it is glorious.
Bradford Telegraph and Argus

WR Mitchell's gentle appreciation of the Dales country helps him describe the burdensome toil of Hannah's former existence with delicacy, recalling the endless, uncompromising winters and contrasting it with the smell of hay and the gentle breezes of late summer.
Darlington and Stockton Times

'At a time when parsimony and thrift have become fashionable once more, Hannah Hauxwell should be an inspiration to us all.' Daily Mail [Full Article]