Wharfedale

Wharfedale's hotels and guesthouses range from smart country-house stays near Bolton Abbey to traditional Dales inns in Grassington, Kettlewell and Burnsall. Many occupy old coaching inns or stone-built village houses, offering log fires, hearty breakfasts and easy access to riverside walks straight from the door. Grassington has the widest choice of accommodation in the dale, from boutique guesthouses overlooking the market square to simple bed and breakfasts on quiet lanes just outside the village, making it a natural base for exploring Upper Wharfedale. Further up the valley, Kettlewell and Buckden offer smaller, quieter options popular with walkers tackling the surrounding fells and the Dales Way. Towards the southern end of the dale, Bolton Abbey and Burnsall combine easy access to the estate's woodland trails and the famous stepping stones with a more polished, country-hotel feel, and several properties here make good choices for a relaxed weekend away from the busier honeypots. Whichever village you choose, expect to be within a short drive or walk of at least one traditional pub serving Yorkshire ales and classic dale-country cooking. Booking ahead is worthwhile year-round, as Wharfedale's limited stock of rooms fills quickly during the Grassington Festival, the Kilnsey Show and busy summer and bank-holiday weekends.

From ruined priories to limestone crags, Wharfedale packs a huge variety of Dales scenery and history into one valley. Highlights include:

• Bolton Abbey — the ruined 12th-century priory sits beside the River Wharfe amid 80 miles of estate footpaths, woodland walks and riverside picnic spots, with the famous stepping stones across the Wharfe right beside the ruins.
• The Strid, near Bolton Abbey — a narrow, fast-running gorge where the wide River Wharfe is squeezed into a channel only a few feet across; spectacular to look at but notoriously dangerous, so best admired from the marked paths.
• Grassington — Upper Wharfedale's liveliest village, with a cobbled market square, independent shops, cafes and pubs, and the Grassington Festival of music and arts held every summer.
• Linton Falls — the largest waterfall on the River Wharfe, a short walk from Grassington, with a restored hydro-electric weir and footbridge giving good views of the falls.
• Kilnsey Crag — one of the most dramatic limestone cliffs in the Dales, a magnet for rock climbers, with the Kilnsey Show held beneath it every August featuring fell races, show classes and country sports.
• Kettlewell and Buckden — classic Upper Dales villages beneath Great Whernside and Buckden Pike, both good bases for walking and within easy reach of Langstrothdale and Hubberholme.
• Yorkshire Dales National Park walking routes — Wharfedale offers everything from gentle riverside strolls around Burnsall to serious fell walks, and forms part of the Dales Way long-distance path.

Grassington's square is home to several cafes and pubs, including the long-established Grassington House, while the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey and the Bull at Broughton are well known Wharfedale coaching inns offering good food and local ales. Kilnsey Park, beside Kilnsey Crag, has a farm shop and cafe alongside its fly-fishing lakes, and villages such as Kettlewell and Burnsall have traditional pubs serving hearty, walker-friendly menus. Look out for Wensleydale and other Yorkshire cheeses, and locally brewed ales from Dales breweries, on menus throughout the valley.

Wharfedale's combination of riverside meadows, limestone scenery and dramatic fells makes it a popular spot for camping, though as with the rest of England, wild camping without the landowner's permission remains illegal here, so it is worth sticking to established sites. Established campsites and caravan parks are dotted along the valley, from family-friendly fields near Kettlewell and Buckden in Upper Wharfedale to sites closer to Grassington and the Bolton Abbey estate further south, many offering direct river access, dales views and easy walks from the pitch. Ground can be uneven and thin over the limestone in places, so a good tent and pegs suited to rocky or shallow soil are worth packing, along with layers for changeable Dales weather even in high summer.

The best camping season generally runs from late spring through early autumn, when the hay meadows are at their most colourful, days are longest for exploring the fells around Great Whernside and Buckden Pike, and river levels in the Wharfe are usually low enough for a paddle in the shallows well away from the dangerous currents at the Strid. Spring brings newborn lambs to the surrounding pastures and wildflowers to the meadows, while a well-timed early-autumn trip can offer quieter sites and the first colours in Strid Wood and around Grassington, though pitches can still be busy during the Grassington Festival in summer and the Kilnsey Show at the end of August.

For those who prefer a roof over their heads without giving up the outdoor feel, glamping options across Wharfedale range from wooden pods and shepherd's huts to safari tents, often set on working farms with views over the dale. These sites suit visitors keen to base themselves near Kilnsey Crag for climbing, Kettlewell and Buckden for high-level walking, or Bolton Abbey for gentler riverside strolls, while still enjoying warm beds, proper bathrooms and, on many sites, a farm shop or on-site cafe close by.