Activities in and around Littondale:
Click here to see where
to eat in the area.
Walking: there are walks in every direction out of
Hawkswick from gentle strolls up the river to Arncliffe, Litton or beyond to
more demanding walks such as a circular walk over to Kettlewell and
Arncliffe or to Malham and back through either Arncliffe or along
Mastiles lane and Kilnsey. Some examples are provided and this link
offers some excellent local examples:
https://parkbottom.co.uk/littondale-walks
Cycling: The Yorkshire Dales offers superb road and
mountain biking opportunities for all experience levels and hosted the
Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour de
France in 2014.
The Yorkshire Dales Cycleway provides many local routes to suit all
abilities. The Yorkshire Dales National Park website also provides some good
route information for both road and mountain biking. There are many
excellent mountain bike routes varying from double blacks (mountain loop
around Wharfdale and Littondale) to shorter trails out of Arncliffe and over
to Malham and an annual Littondale Mountain Bike Challenge every May.
Climbing: A magnificent steep crag at Kilnsey (5 mins
away) has many superb routes, many higher grade climbs but are a few routes
at about E1 level.
Horse riding: Kilnsey Trekking and Riding Centre (5 mins
away) offers pony treks for novices and people with no riding experience.
The rides are suitable for intermediate riders and advanced riders and there
are some superb routes along the river and up Mastiles lane towards Malham.
Kilnsey Park: this is a family friendly place with fun
fishing, kids activities, nature trail, friendly farm animals as well as a
cafe.
Places to visit:
Littondale is one of the most beautiful, tranquil and unspoilt dales in the
Yorkshire National Park, stunning in every season. It is rich in Bronze Age
and Iron Age settlements with signs of early medieval ploughing in wind
bank. The river Skirfare has been running from its source at Foxup for
almost 10 miles through a sheltered fertile valley for 5,000 years or
more. There are signs of early medieval ploughing to be seen on Windbank.
Hawkswick is first small hamlet in Littondale described by Boyd as ‘the
sunny hamlet of Hawkswick, sheltering under the hill, and trapping every ray
of sun that shines in the valley throughout the day.’ It has long narrow
ridges in the hillside above the village were formed by medieval ploughs
called lynchets. Oats were grown and oatcake and porridge was eaten
throughout the dale because wheat cannot stand in the summer rain. The
village used to have a ballroom in a barn which is now a house still called
The Ballroom. The Field House was formally a hen house until mid-nineties
when it was transformed into a house and has since been extended.
Arncliffe is the largest village in Littondale with a pretty village green
and old fashioned pub, the Falcon (still serving beer from the barrel via a
porcelain jug) which was once the fictional pub in the TV soap, Emmerdale.
It has great walking routes in every direction and an annual fete and fell
run in July.
Litton is a small village 2.4 miles up the dale from Arncliffe. The centre
of the village is an old public house, the Queens Arms (with its own
brewery), that dates back to the 17th century. It is surrounded by great
local walks (see https://parkbottom.co.uk/littondale-walks)
Kettlewell is a pretty grey stone village in a steep narrow part of the
Wharfedale where the old coach road over Park Rash Pass from Middleham and
Coverdale joins Wharfedale. It’s about an hour’s walk over Knype Crag from
Hawkswick and boasts several pubs and cafes. It is on the Dales Way and part
of the Dales Inn Way. Much of the film of the Calendar girls was filmed here
and it has probably the best scarecrow festival in the second week of August
each year.
Threshfield is a small village just outside Grassington. In the 16th
century, it was part of a huge deer park and now is home to Wharfedale Rugby
Union Football Club, the Old Hall pub (built by monks and reputedly the
oldest inhabited building in Wharfedale)
as well as a fantastic Spa (with its own butcher, deli and petrol station).
Grassington is a pretty small market village with stunning views, beautiful
stone buildings, good walking (part of the Dales way, start of the Dales Inn
Way and Grass Woods), quirky shops (including a small supermarket, bakers
and green grocers), friendly pubs and a high quality restaurant (Grassington
House Hotel). It has regular farmers’ markets, an annual music and arts
festival the third week of June and for the two Saturdays before Christmas,
it travels back in time for the annual Dickensian Festival where visitors
are treated to a glorious array of sights, tastes and smells from a bygone
era. Recently it has been used in the remake of All Creatures Great and
Small as the town of Darrowby. Much of the filming has taken place in this
part of the Dales (including some in Hawkswick and Arncliffe).
Long Ashes Park is just a ten minute drive away. Long Ashes has a spa and an
impressive range of facilities including an indoor heated swimming pool,
steam room, sauna Jacuzzi and gym. There is a pub on site, The Gamekeepers
Inn, offers good food.
Skipton is an historic market town about 25 minutes drive away, where you
will find a cinema, canal trips, castle and larger stores and supermarkets
including Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi, as well as its well-known street market
4 days a week.
Not far away, you can visit Malham with its spectacular limestone cliffs,
gorges and pavements (annual show towards the end of August); the riverside
beauty spot at Bolton Abbey, the spa towns of Ilkley (with the famous Ilkley
moor and Bettys’ team room, spa town of Harrogate with another
Betty’s team room and Brimham rocks with its amazing weird and wonderful
natural rock formations that can be admired or over which you can scramble.
Further north are the fascinating market towns of Hawes (situated between
two mountains and noted as the home of Wensleydale Cheese), Richmond (with
it Norman castle, Georgian architecture, a large cobbled market place,
museums and monuments, the fast flowing river Swale and magnificent views
and scenery), Middleham (nestled between two rivers, with a magnificent
castle, cobbled market squares often with race horses walking through,
Georgian and Victorian tearooms and galleries) and Masham (small town with
two working breweries, Black
Sheep Brewery and Theakstons),
