(AGENPARL) – Tue 03 February 2026 Please find our latest news release below.
Andrew Fagg
Media Officer
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http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
Yoredale | Bainbridge | Leyburn | DL8 3EL
News Release
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“Middle of Somewhere” opens at DCM
Bainbridge, 3 February 2026
The Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes has reopened after its January break, offering a “different version of the Dales” through its new special exhibition from local visual artist Joanne Coates.
First staged by the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, “Middle of Somewhere” is a photographic study of four young women from rural areas who are grappling with uncertain futures.
In one photograph, the artist captures Roz looking towards Penhill and Wensleydale from the Shawl in Leyburn, weighing up whether she can live in the place where she grew up (see picture).
In another, a rabbit lies dead next to goal posts in Hawes, in an image which both rejects a romanticised view of country living and speaks of demographic change – a decreasing number of young people – in some National Park communities.
Joanne Coates, 35, is a visual artist and farm worker from Coverdale. The exhibition of her latest work, “Middle of Somewhere”, opened on Sunday and will run at the Dales Countryside Museum until 31 May. It features photography, sound, film and installation.
She said: “I was exploring rural housing and affordability, young women and their experiences of the countryside. It came from being someone who, growing up in rural North Yorkshire, felt like I had to leave. I left at 16 through feeling there was a lack of a future there for me. I didn’t know you could be an artist and stay in the countryside.
“[Middle of Somewhere] is about rural life: how is it changing, how is it staying the same? How do people get to stay in the communities they are from, or how do they get to come into the community? It’s a different version of the Dales that is not always photographed.
“There are four women involved. When I first met them we were sending each other voice notes and talking to each other a lot. I gave them microphones to record themselves – and that’s part of the film, which talks about their experiences, their worries and their dreams.”
Of the photograph of Roz, she said: “Roz as a student was thinking about her place in the National Park. This was when Roz knew she wasn’t going to come back home. This is the moment she was deciding that.
“She’d left to be a student, but she felt torn because this is where her family are and she also felt a deep connection to this place. You feel like you belong here, but you also feel that you can’t stay here.”
The particularity of Dales life – drawn from the artist’s observations of “hyper locality”, where people living in one part of the National Park are seen as “offcumdens” in another – is part of the exhibition. There is a photograph of the “Ta-ra” sign, on a stone shaped like a grave memorial, beside the road at Braidley in Coverdale. Another features a scarecrow and washing line.
Member Champion for Promoting Understanding at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Neil Heseltine, said: “The Dales Countryside Museum exists to share the stories of the people and places of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. ‘Middle of Somewhere’ by Joanne Coates does that in a probing and timely way, exploring rural community through the experiences and struggles of young women.”
He added: “I would highly recommend a visit to the museum, not just to see the new special exhibition, but to see new acquisitions that are being put on permanent display, of which we’ll be able to say more later this month.”
The Dales Countryside Museum is run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. It is open seven days a week. Admission is £5 for adults, or £10 for an annual pass.
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Note to Newsdesk
Image: Roz looks to Wensleydale, Middle of Somewhere exhibition, by Joanne Coates
1. The Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of 15 National Parks in the UK. It is administered by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which has two main purposes: “to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage” and “to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the National Park”. In carrying out these purposes, the Authority has a duty “to seek to foster the economic and social well being of local communities”. The National Park Authority comprises 25 members, made up of unitary, county and city councillors and members appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment to represent parishes or in recognition of their specialist skills or knowledge.
1. All of our work is guided by the vision for the future of the National Park set out in the Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan: “Through their passion for this special place, local people and businesses will keep the Yorkshire Dales National Park a thriving area. Its unique cultural landscape will be treasured for its stunning scenery, exceptional heritage and wonderful wildlife, and every year millions of people will be inspired to be a part of it.”