Hi all, last year my daughter and I spent a week walking through the Cotswolds and it was awesome, thanks in part to suggestions from this forum. Next year I'm hoping to spend a week in Yorkshire Dales with my cousins. I'm a big walker but my cousins, thought they love to walk, have health issues so they can walk but not very long distances. We will have a car but would prefer not to have to drive it long distances every day! So we're looking for a location that is nice as a destination but that's also a good stepping off place for attractions (such as museums, historic landmarks, or scenery). We're hoping to go this spring (maybe May). Thanks!
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good base for Yorkshire Dales?
- Thread starter mismirr
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Eleanor
1000+ Posts
May is a wionderful time to visit and the hay meadowswill be covered with wild flowers.
You are literally spoilt for choice here... Of the top of my head, places like Skipton, Settle, Grassington, Hawes, Reeth, Richmond... even Barnard Castle, which is actually County Durham rather than North Yorkshire, but is still a good base for Teesdale and Swaledale. Wensleydale is just over an hour in the car.
Each place is very different with different attractions and scenery. You can't go wrong, where ever you decide to stop. (They will make the Cotswolds seem tame!!)
If you like museums I would possibly head to Barnard Castle and the wonderful Bowes Museum. (Don't miss the wonderful mechanical silver swan.)The town itself is a thrivng local market centre with a good range of shops and an attractive place to walk round. It has a ruined castle and ruined abbey close by. It is also convenient to visit Durham as well as Teesdale and places like High Force... Richmond with its ruined castle as well as Easby Abbey and St Agatha's church with its medieval wall paintings, and Swaledale are easily reached from here too. Auckland Castle, once the home of the Bishops of Durham, is only a short drive. Raby Castle is just a few minutes drive and is still very much a much loved family home with a very long and illustrious history (Go and see the family tombs in Staindrop church.) The inside is magnificent and it has lovely gardens to walk round and a very good tea troom. Eggleston Hall Gardens are delightful and completely off the tourist radar.
This area tends to be ignored by visitors who head to the southern part of the Yorkshire Dales, but it does have a lot to attract it. There is also plenty of good walking too.
You are literally spoilt for choice here... Of the top of my head, places like Skipton, Settle, Grassington, Hawes, Reeth, Richmond... even Barnard Castle, which is actually County Durham rather than North Yorkshire, but is still a good base for Teesdale and Swaledale. Wensleydale is just over an hour in the car.
Each place is very different with different attractions and scenery. You can't go wrong, where ever you decide to stop. (They will make the Cotswolds seem tame!!)
If you like museums I would possibly head to Barnard Castle and the wonderful Bowes Museum. (Don't miss the wonderful mechanical silver swan.)The town itself is a thrivng local market centre with a good range of shops and an attractive place to walk round. It has a ruined castle and ruined abbey close by. It is also convenient to visit Durham as well as Teesdale and places like High Force... Richmond with its ruined castle as well as Easby Abbey and St Agatha's church with its medieval wall paintings, and Swaledale are easily reached from here too. Auckland Castle, once the home of the Bishops of Durham, is only a short drive. Raby Castle is just a few minutes drive and is still very much a much loved family home with a very long and illustrious history (Go and see the family tombs in Staindrop church.) The inside is magnificent and it has lovely gardens to walk round and a very good tea troom. Eggleston Hall Gardens are delightful and completely off the tourist radar.
This area tends to be ignored by visitors who head to the southern part of the Yorkshire Dales, but it does have a lot to attract it. There is also plenty of good walking too.
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Eleanor
1000+ Posts
If you want a centre to the south, then Skipton is probably the best bet. Again it is a thriving local centre. There's lots to do and see with castle, church, good but small local museum. There is the canal with boat trips. There is the Embsay Steam Railway (have a cream tea while you steam through the countryside). This takes you to Bolton Abbey. Alternativerly drive there. There is the ruined Abbey as well as walks along the river through the woods to The Strid.
Settle, Malham, Grassington are just a short drive. These are much smaller places which are fun to walk around and very much geared up to the day visitor with cafes etc. This is limestone country and all about scenery (Malham Cove, Goredale Scar, Janets Foss, the Three Peaks) . It is very popular walking countryside. At Clapham there is a lovely short walk along the Nature Trail to Ingleborough Cave, which can easily be extended for the more energetic and mobile members. .
You also have the Leeds Settle Carlisle Railway which is a wonderful run through the dales to Appleby and Carlisle. Alternativerly drive to Ribblehead Station for views of the viaduct (you don't see it that well from the train) and the Visitor Centre which has an exhibition about the history of the line. You might want to visit Chapel le Dale church with its memorial to all the men who dies while building the railway.
Wensleydale and Hawers is just a short drive from here...
Settle, Malham, Grassington are just a short drive. These are much smaller places which are fun to walk around and very much geared up to the day visitor with cafes etc
You also have the Leeds Settle Carlisle Railway which is a wonderful run through the dales to Appleby and Carlisle. Alternativerly drive to Ribblehead Station for views of the viaduct (you don't see it that well from the train) and the Visitor Centre which has an exhibition about the history of the line. You might want to visit Chapel le Dale church with its memorial to all the men who dies while building the railway.
Wensleydale and Hawers is just a short drive from here...
Eleanor
1000+ Posts
Hawes is the market town for Wensleydale and again would be a good base. There is a small museum in the old station buildings and you can go and watch cheese being made at Wensleydale Creamery. (It used to have a rope maker but unfortunately that shut a few years ago.) There is Hardraw Foss and Aysgarth Falls. There is the ruined Bolton Castle with its connections to Mary Queen of Scots, or join a sheepdog demonstration. At the bottom of the Dale are the delighful gardens of Constable Burton. (The house isn't open.)
At Leyburn, there is the Wensleydale Railway that runs down the dale to the outshirts of Northallerton.
Hawes gives access to Swaledale over the dramatic Buttertubs Pass. These massive potholes were used to cool butter by farmers who had puffed up the road on a hot day on their way to Hawes market.
Alternatively, take the road into Dentdale, possibly the most isolated and least well known of the Dales, stopping off in Dent Village before finishing in Sedburgh.
At Leyburn, there is the Wensleydale Railway that runs down the dale to the outshirts of Northallerton.
Hawes gives access to Swaledale over the dramatic Buttertubs Pass. These massive potholes were used to cool butter by farmers who had puffed up the road on a hot day on their way to Hawes market.
Alternatively, take the road into Dentdale, possibly the most isolated and least well known of the Dales, stopping off in Dent Village before finishing in Sedburgh.
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