Driving to the Yorkshire Dales involved leaving Scotland. Our last lunch (above) was in Jedburgh right above the English border. No surprise, we had to stop at the border and take photos with us standing on each side of the border.
Then we arrived (after wandering down some really questionable roads because the GPS can’t tell the difference between a 2-lane road and a one lane sheep track) at the most wonderful B & B of our trip in Hawes (David fit in the shower and the bed was super comfortable). Plus our hosts were really friendly and gave us plenty of advice about where to go). This is the sheep model in the hall. So, based on their recommendation we went to Hardraw Force, Bolton Castle, Aysgarth Falls, and Grassington for dinner. Long day!
After the walk around the falls we stopped at the Green Dragon Inn in Hardraw. This inn serves as the interior of the pub in the current PBS All Creatures Great and Small show. The exterior is in Grassington, but they use this pub for the interior because it is more authentic and really hasn’t been modernized much. It’s a 12th century pub with original stone floors.
Next stop was Bolton Castle, home of the Scrope family. Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here for several years before being moved because she was getting too friendly with the Lord’s wife. Part of it is in ruin, but part is still sound. They also had a variety of demonstrations there. We watched the archery demonstration, the birds of prey demonstration, and the feeding of the wild boars (they use them for meat).
Asysgarth Falls has three sections. The upper falls are on private property, but you can walk to the middle and lower falls.
Next we drove to Grassington for dinner. This is where the external shots for the current All Creatures Great and Small are filmed. You really can’t see the square like it is in the show because it’s used for parking when off the show. But you can see the Vet’s house (has a portico in the show), the pub, etc.
After eating a fine dinner we had to drive quickly. There is only one “main” road between Grassington and Hawes. It’s only 24 miles to drive, but it takes 45 minutes to an hour to drive. If you don’t take this B road, then it’s 40 miles of single lane roads to go around. Not fun! Normally, this isn’t a problem, but as we were driving to Grassington we kept seeing road work signs and diversion signs. When we arrived in Starbotton on the road, we saw that the road would be totally closed through the town from 10:00 pm until 2:00 am. We figured this wouldn’t be a problem since our dinner was at 7:00 pm. But, they were understaffed and we didn’t leave the restaurant until 9:25 pm. We drove as fast as we had driven on these tiny roads to get through Starbotton at 9:48 pm (the workers were all there ready to put out the cones to block off the road as we headed through). Of course it ended up taking us till 10:30 pm to get back because (1) there were sheep on the road and (2) there were corn crakes on the road.
Overall, the Dales are beautiful and I recommend them highly as one of my favorite places in England. It’s unique and iconic. We drove through the Lake District on our way to Wales and weren’t that impressed. It’s very touristy and the mountains are mainly at the very north end. Most of the touristy spots like Grasmere, Windermere, Ambleside, etc. are overcrowded and not fun to try to get around in. I’d stay near Keswick if I went back because at least it was pretty mountains next to the lakes. Next stop, Betws-y-coed.
David and Heidi’s Travels 