Dales Countryside Museum - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Wensleydale Famous for its cheese, historic villages, traditional markets, and crafts. This beautiful valley set in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales has plenty to captivate the visitor. The valley is famous for its cheese, with the main commercial production at Hawes. It was a common destination for visitors who like walking on mountains, moorland, dale-sides, and valley bottoms.

Semerwater is the second largest natural lake in North Yorkshire and one of only two natural lakes to be found in the Yorkshire Dales, the other being Malham Tarn. It was one of the iconic location for a picnic with your family and also there are so many other leisure activities in this area.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a 2,178 km2 national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. The majority of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Cumbria and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designated in 1954 and extended in 2016. Over 95% of the land in the Park is under private ownership; there are over 1,000 farms in this area.

Aysgarth Falls was actually a series of three main waterfalls, which the signs referred to them as Upper, Middle, and Lower. The falls are quite spectacular after heavy rainfall as thousands of gallons of water cascade over the series of broad limestone steps, which are divided into three stages: Upper Force, Middle Force and Lower Force. There is a visitors' centre with an exhibition, information, items for sale, a café, toilets and a pay-and-display car park.

Ribblehead viaduct is just over the border from Cumbria into North Yorkshire and is undoubtedly the most impressive structure on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. The viaduct carries the Settle to Carlisle Railway line across Batty Moss. The Viaduct has twenty-four magnificent arches that carry the railway line 104 ft above the moor. It was one of the iconic structures in this area and attracts a lot of tourists.

Bolton Castle is a stark and imposing medieval fortress at the entrance to Wensleydale, begun by Richard le Scrope in 1378. It was a grand family home as well as a defensive fortress and, despite being partially ‘slighted’ by Cromwell’s’ men during the Civil War siege, is still preserved in outstanding condition with many interesting rooms and features to discover. The castle is still in the private ownership of Lord Bolton, the direct descendant of the castle’s original owner Sir Richard le Sc