Oxenhope

Oxenhope is a village of quiet stone terraces rather than big hotels, so accommodation here tends to be small and characterful: bed and breakfasts in converted weavers' cottages, farmhouse guesthouses on the edge of the moor, and self-catering barn conversions with views down the Worth Valley. Staying in the village itself puts you a short walk from the steam railway terminus and the local pubs, and within easy striking distance of the moorland paths that climb straight out of the back streets. For a wider choice of hotels and inns, nearby Haworth offers guesthouses close to the Bronte Parsonage and cobbled Main Street, while Keighley and Hebden Bridge, both a short drive away, have a broader range of hotels serving the wider Worth Valley and South Pennines area. Wherever you base yourself, book ahead for the summer months and for the Oxenhope Straw Race weekend in July, when the village fills up quickly.

Oxenhope punches well above its size when it comes to things to see and do, thanks largely to its railway heritage and its moorland doorstep.

• Keighley and Worth Valley Railway - Oxenhope station is the southern terminus of this five-mile heritage steam line to Keighley, built in 1867. The station has an exhibition shed of locomotives awaiting restoration, a tearoom in a converted carriage, and regular steam services most weekends and daily in summer.
• Oxenhope Straw Race - held every July, this quirky village tradition sees teams carry a bale of straw around a course between the village pubs, sampling a pint at each stop. It is one of the best-loved local events in the Worth Valley calendar.
• Haworth and the Bronte Parsonage - the cobbled village made famous by the Bronte family is a short drive or steam-train ride away, with the Bronte Parsonage Museum and the moorland walk to Top Withens, said to have inspired Wuthering Heights.
• Oxenhope Moor and the South Pennines - footpaths lead straight from the village onto open heather moorland, part of the wider South Pennines landscape, with views back down the Worth Valley and connections to the Pennine Way.
• Leeming Reservoir and Warley Moor - a bleak, beautiful reservoir on the tops above Oxenhope, popular with walkers and photographers, especially at dusk.
• Denholme and the old mill villages - nearby settlements with surviving mill architecture that tell the story of the valley's Victorian textile boom.

The village centres on a couple of well-regarded pubs. The Dog and Gun, a 17th-century coaching inn on Denholme Road just above the village, serves home-cooked food and a strong range of cask ales, with a dining room built around the pub's original well. The Bay Horse Inn in the village itself is a friendly, traditional local known for fresh, simple pub food. Oxenhope station's own tearoom, set inside a heritage railway carriage, is a good spot for a cream tea between train rides, and Haworth's Main Street, a short trip away, adds tearooms, cafes and restaurants set among its cobbled shopfronts.

The moors above Oxenhope, part of the wider South Pennines, are classic gritstone and heather country, with Oxenhope Moor and Warley Moor rising directly from the village to open, exposed tops. As in the rest of England, wild camping here is not a legal right and requires the landowner's permission; the moorland around Oxenhope is largely managed grouse moor and farmland, so pitching a tent without asking is best avoided. Instead, look to the area's campsites and glamping sites, which range from simple farm fields to well-equipped touring and camping parks in the Worth Valley and surrounding Bronte Country, several with views straight up onto the moor.

Because Oxenhope sits at real Pennine altitude, the weather can turn quickly even in summer, so a good four-season tent, warm layers and proper waterproofs are worth having whatever the forecast says at the campsite gate. Late spring through early autumn is the most comfortable window for camping, with long evenings to enjoy the heather in bloom from late July, though the changeable weather common to the South Pennines means rain gear is never a bad idea. Winter camping is possible for the more experienced, with the moors at their starkest and quietest, but conditions underfoot and overhead can be genuinely harsh.

For those who want the setting without the full exposure, glamping sites in the surrounding valleys offer pods, shepherd's huts and yurts with the same views of moor and mill village but a proper bed and heating to retreat to. A short walk or drive brings you to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, and miles of open-access moorland, making Oxenhope and its surrounding campsites a good, less crowded base for exploring Bronte Country on foot.