When we used to live up there we saw it totally differently as to how we see it now, especially the Harle Syke area. I don't think they would have looked around at the beauty of it all, more as a cold, damp, inhospitable place. But then again they stayed there, I wonder if they ever thought of moving on, or maybe it wasn't an option, or even a thought.
I used to exercise horses all around the lanes and never once gave a thought to my rellies who used to live there. Perhaps if I had known then, what I know now, I would have taken a lot more interest in the buildings I was passing. And I know this sounds daft BUT the lanes seem a lot narrower, and the distance from A to B a lot shorter, but maybe also that is because I am now in a car and not on a horse.