Buckden

Buckden has only a small amount of accommodation of its own, so hotel-style stays tend to mean the Buck Inn in the village, a Georgian coaching inn with en-suite rooms in the centre, right by the National Park car park and just across the road from the campsite. It is a proper Dales pub with rooms above rather than a large hotel, but that is exactly the appeal for walkers doing the Dales Way or tackling Buckden Pike, with food and a pint available without having to move the car. Beyond the village, the choice widens considerably in Kettlewell, Grassington and Skipton, all within a 20-minute drive down the dale, where converted farmhouses, small country hotels and traditional coaching inns cater for a wider range of budgets and group sizes.

Because Upper Wharfedale is sparsely populated, booking ahead is strongly advised, particularly in summer when Dales Way walkers pass through in numbers and rooms in Buckden itself sell out weeks in advance. Anyone wanting a base for exploring the head of the dale, Buckden Pike, Cray and Hubberholme should weigh up staying in the village itself against the wider choice and slightly easier access further south around Kettlewell or Grassington, both of which still put Buckden within easy reach for a day out.

Buckden rewards walkers more than any other type of visitor, but there is plenty to see even on a short stop.

• Buckden Pike — The distinctive hill directly above the village, with a summit cross and a poignant memorial to the crew of a Polish Wellington bomber that crashed here in 1942; the climb is steep but the views back down Wharfedale are among the best in the Dales.
• Buckden to Hubberholme via Cray — A classic circular walk taking in the Cray Gill waterfalls, the hamlet of Cray with its old drovers' inn, and Hubberholme, one of the smallest and most photographed villages in the National Park.
• St Michael and All Angels, Hubberholme — A part-Norman church with a rare 16th-century rood loft, and the resting place of the writer J.B. Priestley, who called Hubberholme one of the most pleasant places in the world.
• The Dales Way — Buckden is one of the principal overnight stops on this 84-mile long-distance path from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere, and the village fills up with walkers' rucksacks most summer evenings.
• Yockenthwaite stone circle and the Buckden to Yockenthwaite circular — A gentler riverside walk upstream along the Wharfe, passing limestone scars and a small Bronze Age stone circle near Yockenthwaite.
• Langstrothdale — The remote continuation of Wharfedale beyond Buckden, a single-track road threading past Beckermonds and Oughtershaw towards the source of the river high on the fell.
• Buckden Rake — A steep old drove road climbing out of the village towards Cray, offering a shortcut onto the higher ground and fine views over the head of the dale.

The Buck Inn is the obvious focus, a traditional Dales pub serving hearty food and local ales to walkers straight off the fell, with a beer garden looking up towards Buckden Pike. The village shop and adjoining café offer breakfasts, packed lunches and basic supplies, useful given how little else is available further up the dale. A short drive or a good walk away, the George Inn at Hubberholme is a destination in its own right, a flagstone-floored free house once favoured by J.B. Priestley, serving well-kept beer and simple pub food in one of the most atmospheric settings in the National Park.

Buckden Camping sits right in the village on a working farm that has been run by the same family since 1994, offering simple tent pitches, a Caravan and Motorhome Club certified site, and glamping pods for those who want a roof without a hotel bill. Its position directly on the Dales Way, and a short stroll from the Buck Inn, makes it a natural stop for walkers doing the long-distance route from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere, as well as a good base for tackling Buckden Pike or the loop out to Cray and Hubberholme. As with anywhere in England, wild camping without the landowner's permission is not legal in the Yorkshire Dales, however remote it looks on the map, so pitching up on open fell or riverside land without asking first should be avoided; the National Park has very little tolerated wild camping and rangers do patrol popular spots.

The terrain around Buckden is proper Dales limestone country: steep-sided, thin-soiled, and exposed once you climb above the valley floor, so tents and pitches are best kept to established sites in the sheltered dale bottom rather than the tops. Ground can also turn boggy quickly after rain given the underlying rock, so a pitch with good drainage matters more here than in gentler parts of the country. The most comfortable camping window runs from late spring to early autumn, when the meadows are green and the becks manageable, since winter conditions at this altitude and latitude can be harsh, with the high fells around Buckden Pike holding snow long after it has cleared lower down the dale. For those who want the setting without the exposure, the glamping pods at Buckden Camping and similar small-scale glamping elsewhere in Upper Wharfedale offer a warmer alternative while keeping the same views over the river and the fells.