Hawes in Wensleydale is truly the heart of the Dales. An ideal base for exploring the beautiful
Yorkshire Dales National Park.
We are ideally situated for touring The Dales or walking,
exploring Wensleydale, Swaledale, Wharfedale and further afield.
There are many walks from Hawes, right from our front door, to suit all levels of ability, from gentle ambles to more challenging higher levels,
such as Shunner Fell, easily accessible from Hawes and a good days walk.
The rugged and majestic limestone Karst scenery with its unusual features such as the 'Buttertubs',
deep and strangely shaped sink holes on Buttertubs Pass North of Hawes,
(made more famous recently as a major climb on the Tour De France,
or the Yoredale series, layered limestones interspersed with shales and sandstones
causing the unique "stepped" landscape of the Upper Dales.
Other features well worth seeing are Wensleydale's waterfalls. The highest unbroken waterfall in Britain,
Hardrow Force at The Green Dragon Inn at Hardraw, 100 feet high, an easy walk from Hawes. Further down the
Dale are Aysgarth Falls, three of them, Upper, Middle and Lower.
Semerwater, is
a lake formed by glacial action from which flows into the shortest English river,
the river Bain, hence the village of Bainbridge. The walk around the lake is
quintessentially outstanding and was visited by Turner.
A few miles to the South West (10mins drive on the beautiful Hawes to Ingleton road)
is the famous Ribblehead Viaduct, made up of twenty-four arches built 1870 - 1874, 440 yards (400 m) long,
which carries the Settle to Carlisle railway
across Batty Moss,
made famous by being saved from closure in 1989. Surrounded by the three peaks, Ingleborough,
Pen-Y-Ghent and Whernside, truly it is a sight to behold with high and lower level walking around the area,
or just an amble to experience The Viaduct and The 3 Peaks.
The town of Hawes offers a good selection of shops, cafe's, pubs and restaurants,
the Wensleydale Creamery, Rope makers and Countryside museums as well as Gayle Mill.
Watch Richard Fawcett, a world famous sheep dog handler, sheep dog trials, every Thursday
at 6.30pm in t' Summer just after Haylands Bridge, one mile North of Hawes,
fish for trout or simply walk
in the peace and tranquility across the beautiful North Yorkshire hills and Dales and enjoy the relaxation.