Yorkshire Dales National Park ~ Grange over sands

On this page:

1 Short facts about Yorkshire Dales National Park
2 Where is the park?
3 Visiting the park

Established in 1954 and extended in 2016, the Yorkshire Dales National Park covers most of the Yorkshire Dales, an upland area of the Pennies in Northern England. Some parts of the dales that aren’t a part of the park are instead located within The Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

An average year, the park receives over 8 million visitors.

Short facts about Yorkshire Dales National Park

Counties	North Yorkshire Cumbria Lancashire
Size	2,178 square kilometres 841 square miles
Maximum elevation	736 meters 2,415 feet
IUCN category	V – Protected Landscape/Seascape

Where is the park?

Yorkshire Dales National Park is located roughly 50 miles (80 km) north-east of Manchester.

A majority of the park is in North Yorkshire, but some of it is in Cumbria instead and a small part is located within the borders of Lancashire.

Visiting the park

Long-distance routes

Yorkshire Dales National Park The park is popular among walkers and hikers, and there are several long-distance routes to explore here, such as Pennie Way, Pennie Bridleway, Dales Way, and the Coast to Coast Walk.

Cycling is also popular and several cycleways are available.

Visitor Centres

There are five visitor centres in the park, located at:

Aysgarth Falls, a triple flight of waterfalls on the River Ure
The market town Grassington
The market town Hawes
The village Malham
The village Reeth

Dales Countryside Museum

This museum is found adjacent to the old Hawes railways station in Wensleydale, in the northern part of the park.

The Yorkshire Three Peaks

Collectively, Ingleborough mountain, Whernside mountain and Pen-y-Ghent fell are known as Yorkshire’s Three Peaks.

Villages

Yorkshire Dales National Park This is an inhabited cultural landscape, home to approximately 20,000 people. Traditionally, buildings here have been made from locally sourced stones, and many such buildings still remain.

One of the villages that can serve as a base or a resting point for visitors to the park is the picturesque Clapham, located just off the A65 road and served by the Clapham railways station. Situated right at the base of the Ingleborough mountain, Clapham is a starting point for mountaineers hoping to ascend it. In Clapham, you’ll find an outdoor education centre, guest houses for rent, the New Inn public house, a post office, and a community-run shop.

Another settlement well worth a visit is Hawes, a small market town in Upper Wensleydale, south of the River Ure. This is where the famous Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese is produced. The Wensleydale Creamery makes cheese following recipes brought here by French monks in the 12th century. In 2018, the creamery’s Yorkshire Cheddar was crowned Supreme Champion at the Great Yorkshire Show’s Cheese and Dairy Show.