Now a new Hebden Bridge-based group wants to tell the world about Calderdale’s wonderful outdoors by having its town designated Britain’s first Walkers Welcome town.

The Hebden Bridge Walkers’ Action group reckons that putting out the welcome mat will bring in more visitors and help boost facilities, both for local walkers and for tourists. And why not? It’s just another string to the bow of what is already Calderdale’s most important tourist area.

What a long way Hebden Bridge and its hilltop neighbour, Heptonstall have come in the last 30 years – a generation which has seen the near-disastrous decline of their traditional manufacturing base, followed by the discovery of their huge tourist potential. Hebden Bridge, with its rivers, its canal, its shops, its old mills, its cascades of top-and-bottom houses and, above all, wonderful Hardcastle Crags and the newly restored Gibson Mill. And older, unspoilt Heptonstall, with its charming weavers’ cottages, twin churches, rare octagonal chapel and grammar school museum.

The walkers’ group is not the first to appreciate the potential benefits to be derived from the combination of the upper Calder Valley’s stunning Pennine scenery and historic settlements. Increasing the number of visitors – provided they don’t swamp the area – can give a boost to shops, restaurants and B&Bs. And an influx of walkers can provide the impetus to improve footpaths and bridleways, a notoriously difficult and expensive exercise because of the sheer number of paths and therefore the daunting size of the task.

Hopefully everyone can benefit from Hebden Bridge’s becoming a Walkers Welcome town. No wonder other places, like Todmorden, are already thinking of jumping on the bandwagon.