The Yorkshire Dales has many moods; it can be wild and windswept or quietly tranquil.
It includes some of the finest limestone scenery in the UK, from crags and pavements to an underground labyrinth of caves. Each valley or 'Dale' has its own distinct character, set against expansive moorland tops - heather clad in The North.
Stone-built villages sit amongst traditional farming landscapes of field barns & cowuses, dry stone walls and flower-rich hay meadows, and show how the area has been shaped over thousands of years by the people who have lived and worked here.
Wildlife to be seen are red squirrels, hares, curlews, lapwing, pheasant, deer, woodpecker, hedgehogs, otters...
For more information go to Yorkshiredales/Wildlife...
Spectacular waterfalls and ancient broadleaved woodland contrast with the scattered remains of former lead mine workings (prevelant in Swaledale) and other rural industries which remind us of the area's rich industrial heritage.
The rugged and majestic limestone Karst scenery with its unusual features such as the 'Buttertubs', deep and strangely shaped sink holes on Buttertubs Pass, North of Hawes, (made more famous recently as a major climb on the Tour De France), or the Yoredale series, layered limestones interspersed with shales and sandstones causing the unique "stepped" landscape of the Upper Dales - most noticeable in Upper Wensleydale around Hawes. The famous limestone pavements and caves - more in the Southern Dales - and The Three peaks...
The southern part of the Dales offers riverside scenery and walking experiences like no other.
Burnsall is a popular starting place, as is Bolton Abbey, its romantic priory ruins on the riverside making it the perfect location for a picnic or a stroll.
The rocky outcrop of Simon’s Seat looks over the picturesque village of Appletreewick. The grandstand view over much of the southern area of the Yorkshire Dales is worth the climb.
There's so much.
Other features well worth seeing are Wensleydale's waterfalls. The highest unbroken waterfall in Britain, Hardrow Force at rear of The Green Dragon Inn at Hardraw. Further down the Dale are Aysgarth Falls, three of them, Upper, Middle and Lower.
Semerwater, is a lake formed by glacial action from which flows into the shortest English river, the river Bain, hence the village of Bainbridge. The walk around the lake is quintessentially outstanding and was visited by Turner.