Exploring the Yorkshire Dales

This weekend, we went to visit our friends Jackie and Richard in the stunning Yorkshire Dales. I’ve never been to North Yorkshire but I adore watching the rolling hills and wild moorlands on programmes like All Creatures Great and Small, The Yorkshire Vet and The Yorkshire Farm.

To say it was breathtaking was an understatement. Field after field of ewes with their newborn lambs, bluebell woods and stunning landscapes crosscut with dry stone walls. I absolutely lost my heart to each and every field of lambs and it was only with great reluctance that I didn’t come home with any!

Malham Cove is definitely worth a visit, a vast Carboniferous limestone pavement which towers over the cove. There are lots of wonderful walks up to and around the top. We walked up the stairs at the side and explored the limestone pavement at the top. The views were spectacular! Apparently it featured in one of the Harry Potter films.

One highlight was driving to Malham Cove and finding the road blocked by a herd of Highland Cattle. They were inquisitive with the matriarch standing stubbornly in the road despite cars driving past. I’ve never seen so many Highland Cattle in one place – they formed a big herd but seemed to prefer breaking off into smaller groups to graze. Several which were beside the road were quite skittish so we retreated a little. I was especially captivated by their horns, which were huge. Often photos or artwork of highland cows focus on the face and tend to crop out the full length of the horns. I would definitely not want to be on the sharp end of those!

The bluebell woods around Settle are absolutely amazing. Between the trees, a sweeping blue carpet of bluebells. Although we did spy some of the invasive Spanish bluebells, we found that the majority were the English variety which are a deeper shade of blue and tend to be a little shorter than the Spanish ones. Nearby a river, we discovered a white variety which none of us had ever seen before!

There are so many winding footpaths and country lanes all over the place that our friends, despite living up here for two years, still find several new ones each day!