Wensleydale
Wensleydale is one of the most celebrated and beloved of the Yorkshire Dales, a long, broad, and gently winding valley carved by the River Ure as it flows eastward from the high Pennine moorland toward the Vale of York. Stretching roughly from the market town of Hawes in the west to Leyburn in the east, it is widely regarded as the grandest and most varied of all the Dales in character, offering a sweeping combination of limestone scenery, lush green meadows, ancient field systems, dramatic waterfalls, and historic abbeys. Unlike the narrower, steeper valleys to the south, Wensleydale has a wide, pastoral floor that has supported farming and human settlement for thousands of years, giving it an unusually rich cultural and agricultural heritage. The valley gives its name to the famous crumbly white cheese that has been made here for centuries, and this alone has made it known to people far beyond the borders of North Yorkshire.
The history of Wensleydale stretches back into prehistory, with evidence of Bronze Age and Iron Age activity on the surrounding moors and hillsides. The Romans passed through, and a fort was established at Bainbridge, where a garrison maintained control of the upland routes. After the Norman Conquest, the valley came under the influence of powerful lords, and it was the Cistercian monks of Jervaulx Abbey, founded in the twelfth century, who are traditionally credited with first making the cheese that bears the valley's name. The Abbey, whose atmospheric and romantic ruins survive near Middleham, was one of the great religious houses of the North, and its dissolution under Henry VIII in 1537 sent shockwaves through the local economy. The valley also played a role in the turbulent centuries of the border conflicts and the English Civil War, and many of its ancient castles, including Middleham Castle — childhood home of Richard III — speak to its strategic importance in medieval England.
In person, Wensleydale is a place of extraordinary peacefulness and visual richness. The valley floor is divided into small fields by grey limestone walls that climb the lower hillsides before giving way to open bracken and heather moorland above. In late spring and early summer, the meadows are filled with wildflowers — buttercups, wood cranesbill, and yellow rattle — a sight increasingly rare in lowland Britain but carefully preserved here within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The sounds of the dale are the sounds of moving water, birdsong, and the distant bleating of Swaledale sheep on the moors. The air has a freshness and clarity that comes from the altitude and the prevailing westerly winds sweeping across from the high fells.
Among the most celebrated physical features of the dale is Hardraw Force, a spectacular waterfall near Hawes that plunges over ninety feet in a single drop, making it the highest unbroken waterfall above ground in England. Access is through the Green Dragon Inn, and the walk behind the curtain of falling water is one of the dale's memorable experiences. Aysgarthfalls, where the River Ure tumbles over a series of wide limestone steps through a wooded gorge, is another iconic sight, familiar to many from its appearance in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The Bolton Castle, rising dramatically above the village of Castle Bolton, is where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1568 and 1569, and it remains one of the most impressive and complete medieval castles in the north of England.
Wensleydale sits within the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is surrounded by other famous dales and upland landscapes. Swaledale lies to the north, separated by the ridge of moorland that includes the high ground around Buttertubs Pass, one of the most dramatic road crossings in the Pennines and a route familiar from the Tour de France, which passed through in 2014. To the south lies Bishopdale and Coverdale. The market town of Hawes, at the dale's western end, is the highest market town in England and serves as the practical hub for visitors, with shops, a famous creamery where Wensleydale cheese is made and can be toured, and the Dales Countryside Museum. Leyburn, at the eastern end, is a lively market town with good facilities. Between them, the villages of Askrigg, Bainbridge, and West Burton offer quintessential Yorkshire Dales charm.
Getting to Wensleydale is most comfortably done by car, as the valley is served by the A684 running along its length from Sedbergh in the west to Northallerton in the east. There are bus services connecting the main settlements, and the Wensleydale Railway, a preserved and partially restored line, offers a scenic journey from Leeming Bar near Northallerton through to Redmire. The Settle–Carlisle railway passes close to the western reaches of the dale and offers connections for walkers arriving by train. The valley is accessible year-round, but the most rewarding times to visit are late spring for the wildflower meadows, and autumn when the moorland turns to gold and purple and the light is particularly beautiful. Winter brings a stark grandeur to the fells, and a good snowfall transforms the valley into something almost otherworldly, though access on the higher passes can be difficult.
One of the more delightful and unusual facts about Wensleydale is the unexpected fame it gained through animation: the cheese's worldwide profile was enormously boosted by the animated characters Wallace and Gromit, after creator Nick Park gave Wallace an obsession with Wensleydale cheese. The Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes credits the television shorts with saving the creamery from closure in the 1990s, and Wallace's image now appears on some of their packaging. This unlikely alliance between a small artisan dairy and a claymation inventor has become one of the more charming footnotes in British food history. The valley has also long been associated with the television series All Creatures Great and Small, both the original 1970s and 1980s series and the modern remake, as much of the filming takes place in and around the dale.