Grassington Yorkshire Dales
Grassington is the principal village and the visitor hub of upper Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, a stone-built market town of considerable charm whose cobbled market square, independent shops, cafes and the excellent access it provides to the Dales landscape in every direction make it one of the most rewarding and most welcoming bases for exploring the central Yorkshire Dales. The combination of the village character, the Dales scenery immediately accessible from the village and the walking available on the surrounding limestone country creates one of the most complete small town visitor experiences in the national park.
The Wharfedale landscape around Grassington provides walking of exceptional variety, from the riverside path along the Wharfe through Bolton Abbey to the south to the high limestone country of Grass Wood and the moors above Kilnsey Crag to the north. The Dales Way long-distance walking route passes through Grassington and the combination of the waymarked long-distance route and the extensive network of footpaths across the surrounding limestone plateau makes the village the starting point for an almost unlimited variety of walking excursions.
The former lead mining heritage of the Grassington Moor above the village, whose extensive field systems of mine shafts, smelt mill chimneys and spoil heaps provide one of the finest examples of a Dales lead mining landscape, adds an industrial heritage dimension to what is primarily a landscape and village tourism destination.