Visit the Dales for spectacular scenery and a touch of nostalgia
This year, the Yorkshire Dales National Park celebrates its 50th anniversary. In that time, it has become one of Britain’s most popular inland destinations.
Its geology and topography have allowed the Dales to largely escape 20th Century commercial excesses, leaving a landscape of unsullied valleys, rolling hillside pastures, ancient meadows, drystone walls and stunning limestone features.
Fans of the TV dramatisation of All Creatures Great and Small will find that much of the Dales pictured in the series has remained unchanged.
It is a place that is easily accessible from most parts of the country by road, and still offers the chance for visitors to get away from it all. Yet there is still so much to see and do. In addition to the stupendous natural features, there are mills, art galleries, ruined castles and monasteries, craft workshops, farms, a brewery and a cheese factory to visit. Weekly markets and annual shows typify a way of life unchanged for decades.