The Yorkshire Dales is one of the most popular areas to visit in the UK, and despite the thousands of tourists each year, there are areas where you'll feel like you and your family have it all to yourself. Choosing to visit the dales on your holiday means being presented with a vast selection of daily activities, from hiking, cycling, and caving, along with night times of the finest local food and drink in quaint English towns and villages.
Read on to see why so many of our visitors at our caravan park in Lancashire visit the Yorkshire Dales and learn the best places to see for your visit.
Settle is a wonderful starting point for exploring the parts of the dales near our park. This classic market town has a wonderfully quaint feel, sits between Skipton and Ingleton, and is overlooked by Castleberg Crag, a 300ft high limestone outcrop where amazing views are waiting for you.
Whilst the surrounding nature is always worth visiting, you can't leave Settle without experiencing the culture and people there first. The many pubs, cafés, and restaurants provide a lot of choices for your family to treat themselves.
Every Tuesday is market day for Settle. This popular weekly event brings all the local artisans and growers to one place and lets visitors experience everything Settle provides in one convenient place. Additionally, in July and August, the town hosts the Flowerpot Festival, where dozens of artistically creative sculptures and mannequins are made and used to decorate the town.
Whilst tourist locations and towns are great ways to enjoy this county, every holidaymaker should experience the natural side of Yorkshire. One great place to choose is the circular walk that starts in Malham and takes you on a round trip past three impressive and varied natural sites: Janets Foss, Gordale and finally, Malham Cove.
You'll follow the nearby Gordale Beck to be introduced to Janet's Foss. This outstanding first stop is a waterfall surrounded by wooded areas. After this, following the path, you'll find Gordale Scar. This limestone gorge has cliff faces an impressive 100m high down its length and provides a sense of raw nature as you pass through or around it. If you continue down this path, you'll find Gordale Bridge, which will finally lead you to the cove. Malham Cove is a favourite for professional and amateur ornithologists alike as wild birds, such as the Peregrine Falcon, find many places to nest in the 80m high wall of rock.
For the more adventurous holidaymakers, there is an impressive challenge to take advantage of: the Three Peaks challenge. This famous collection of walking routes consists of Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, and they attract thousands of hikers who wish to take in the wide open vistas only visible from the peaks themselves.
Most people will tackle one per visit, as the total journey is a 24-mile off-road hike, so we recommend being well prepared and setting aside between 5-12 hours to complete, depending on how many peaks you attempt in one day.
However, once you've overcome all three, you and whoever you go with get to enjoy bragging rights over your friends, and you can proudly say you've completed one of the most famous walking challenges in not just Yorkshire but the UK.
If the sunny outdoors is not currently what you're after and you want something more exotic, try exploring the show caves of the Yorkshire Dales. Ingleborough Cave and White Scar Cave are both close to our caravan park in Morecambe, making one or both a perfect day-out idea for our visitors
Ingleborough cave, the closest cave, is found at the end of a casual nature trail that connects Clapham village and the cave. The subterranean passages are floodlit and consist of maintained concrete paths to avoid the need to bring spelunking gear; just outdoor footwear and coats are necessary. During the tourist season, a guide is even present to assist your journey through the cave and point out the fascinating features along the way.
White Scar Cave is roughly a mile and a half further away from Ingleton but has the lauded status of being the longest show cave in the country and one of the few with an internal waterfall. Similar to the previous one, you will find easy-to-access floodlit paths and guides that provide a safe and enjoyable experience. For most visitors, the highlight is viewing the 200,000-year-old Battlefield Cavern, named this for the thousands of stalactites that have formed, conveying an image of a massed army.
Our location is perfectly placed to be your best choice when looking for a Yorkshire Dales caravan park this summer, as we are a short drive from each of these attractions.
Explore our range of static caravan holiday homes for sale in Lancashire as well as our touring caravan plots outside Lancaster online and discover the benefits of investing long-term in a holiday home so close to the Lake District today. Contact us to schedule a visit and see the possibilities of our park for yourself.