Sleepy little Appleby-in-Westmoreland is one of those beautiful northern market towns which seem to avoid the ravages of time. Here the seasons are marked by the drop and swell of the river Eden as it curls through the heart of the town; and you can set your watch by the regular rattle of rail carriages trundling from Settle to Carlisle along one of Britain’s finest lines from the golden age of train travel.
But once a year this slumbering settlement is filled with laughter and gaiety, and the clip-clop of trotting hooves, as the Gypsy, Roma and Travelling community throng to the Appleby Horse Fair.
