Yorkshire’s Lost Dale
Outdoor adventurers throng to Yorkshire Dales National Park, while a neighbouring, equally stunning valley is overlooked by most visitors. Dixe Wills enjoys the tranquil autumn treasures of Nidderdale
“You’ve got to do it first.” Heather, the helpful assistant in the Pateley Bridge tourist office, had seen me looking admiringly at a bowl of enamelled badges that proclaimed ‘Nidderdale Way – 53 miles’. “If you want one, you’ll have to come back at the end and show me the mud on your trousers.”
As its name suggests, the circular and mostly off-road Nidderdale Way (recently extended to 54 miles) provides an excellent means of exploring the eponymous dale. The most south-easterly of the Yorkshire Dales, Nidderdale is the only one not included in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Its exclusion has been somewhat controversial and, after several attempts to incorporate the dale, a compromise led to the designation of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1994. The upside to this apparent snub is that Nidderdale largely remains a secret waiting to be discovered.
The route of the Nidderdale Way resembles the outline of a boomerang, with Pateley Bridge – home to England’s oldest sweet shop – in the middle. The bijou market town (population 1,400) is Nidderdale’s largest settlement and, being easily accessible by bus from Harrogate station, provided me with my starting point. I found my first waymarker and forged out along the River Nidd up the narrowing valley.
BRILLIANT START
‘Nidd’ comes from an old Celtic word meaning ‘brilliant’. It was apt, therefore, that the sun should show its face at the very moment I had my first sweeping view of the upper dale. I’d gained some height shortly after Wath, where I had consoled myself at being too early to explore the ivy-clad Sportsman’s Arms (see box, below) by visiting the hamlet’s tiny and almost triangular Wesleyan chapel, complete with harmonium.
If I’m completely honest, I gained precisely the same height twice after Wath, having somehow managed to walk almost a mile before realising I had left most of my possessions behind in the chapel. It meant I got a double helping of the vista afforded by the lower slopes of Light Hill, which takes in much of what the upper dale is all about.
Immediately below lay Gouthwaite Reservoir. One of three large bodies of water in upper Nidderdale, it put me in mind of a mini-Coniston. Drystone walls criss-crossed the hills behind, while, towards the lofty head of the dale, the lush vibrant greens faded to moorland browns.
STAYING ON TRACK
But ever since I’d left Pateley Bridge, I had been aware that the track on which I was walking had not always been so verdant nor so quiet. A low embankment here, a retaining wall there. And was that really ballast poking up through the grass at one point? Well, yes it was, for this was once the route of the Nidd Valley Light Railway. In operation from 1907 to 1936, it climbed 13 miles up to the valley head, transporting close to two million tonnes of masonry for the mighty dams that created the Angram and Scar House reservoirs.
There was a passenger service, too, that went as far as Lofthouse. A rather beguiling private dwelling in Wath once served as the village’s station building (and, before that, as a public house).
Seldom a populous route, beyond Lofthouse – the final village on the eastern side of the Nidd – the road withered into track and the countryside emptied of all human life but mine. My companions now were distinctive Belted Galloway cattle and a solitary merlin hunting above Scar House Reservoir’s impressive dam. Here, near the head of the dale, the trail hops over In Moor and back down the western flank of Nidderdale to lonely Middlesmoor, offering views into neighbouring Wharfedale in the dwindling light.
LIMESTONE AND GLASS
“And that hook up there in the cave roof is the one on which they hanged the highwayman Tom Taylor.”
I’d just enjoyed a coffee the following morning in the dramatic glass-floored café that overhangs How Stean Gorge. Now Stan, co-proprietor of the attraction, was giving me a tour of this enchanting limestone ravine, created by the cutting powers of a Nidd tributary and generations of quarrymen. “Total yarn, of course,” he continued, “but that’s the story the guides here used to tell.”
He himself was full of more factual stories of fossils, ice ages, Vikings, early railways, Victorian visitors and the gorge’s thrillinducing via ferrata, all related with an infectious ebullience.
However, it was not limestone but sandstone that I ran across in Pateley Bridge. The stunning piece Pillars Past – portraying a local shepherd, lead miner and monk – stands by the Nidd just outside the town and transported me instantly back to a bygone Nidderdale. It had been carved by Joseph Hayton, one of the artists at the town’s King Street Workshops. “It’s great here,” he enthused. “People can walk in and watch us work. It’s not like an art gallery where you don’t see what’s going on.” Having just had a good old gawp at the glassblowers next door, I could only agree.
The next day began with a climb up to Yorke Folly. A notable landmark on the edge of heather-carpeted Heyshaw Moor, its construction in the late 18th century was a philanthropic venture designed to give work to newly unemployed miners. It also affords some choice aerial views of Pateley Bridge and offered me a chance to wave goodbye to the upper dale.
Some might say that, once you enter the lower dale, Nidderdale loses its inherent daleness. Certainly, the upper dale’s classic rough-hewn landscape, apparently wrought by some giant’s cleaver, is replaced by something much more placid. Dropping off High Crag, the scenery I passed through was blanketed by rich pasture and arable land. Innumerable groves and thickets – many garbed in autumnal gold – speckled low undulating ridges, their folds tumbling over one another like a duvet on a hastily made bed.
The highly manicured estate-village of Ripley reflects this more domesticated topography and is not the sort of place one might expect to find a multipleinternational-award-winning gin distillery.
“We always use Harrogate spring water here,” Steve, co-owner of the thriving Harrogate Tipple (harrogatetipple.com), told me as he and production manager Andrea showed me around their shiny copper stills and well-equipped gin school. “And we harvest most of our own botanicals next door from the gardens and hothouse of Ripley Castle.”
Their homey shop is tastefully decorated for Christmas each year by friendly assistant Paul, who invited me to sample the delicious elixirs I’d seen being produced (and have a spray of their innovative not-for-profit hand-sanitiser sideline). As I headed out for my night’s lodgings, I found I had quite the extra bounce to my step.
With no large towns to speak of, accommodation is somewhat at a premium in Nidderdale. However, I still did admirably. In the upper dale, I took one of the spacious pods at Studfold, making full use of kettle and heater to warm myself as the evening chill cut in. At the dale’s mid-point, I pitched my tent in one of the many trailside campsites there. At Nidderdale’s lowland end, I treated myself to a night in a gorgeous new safari tent where I lay on the comfy sofa by the woodburning stove and listened to the rain on the canvas roof, a deeply soothing experience after an energetic day under a rucksack.
MEET THE DANCING BEAR
Rejuvenated, on my final morning I found myself taking a waymarked spur off the main path to the National Trust-managed Brimham Rocks. These weirdly shaped millstone grit formations, sculpted by water and weather, sport names such as Dancing Bear and the Gorilla.
Marvelling as I wandered among these stony beasts, I spied a tiny frog scampering in the grass. It made me reflect on a few of the many living wonders I had encountered on my tramp through the dale. I had unwittingly surprised a family of roe deer, been startled myself by the plangent call of a curlew close to my ear, and seen numerous red kites, one spiralling so near to me that I wondered if it had mistaken me for carrion.
In truth, the only disappointment with my Nidderdale experience concerned my timing. Completing the trail at Pateley Bridge with a healthy spattering of mud on my trousers, I discovered the tourist office had closed for the day. My claim upon that prized enamelled badge will have to wait for another time.
Dixe Wills is an author and travel writer who writes for The Guardian on green travel.
His books include The Wisdom of Nature, Tiny Islands and Tiny Britain.
A WILDER DALE
Autumn is largely a transitional season for wildlife in Nidderdale. Large numbers of over-wintering birds, such as goosanders and tufted ducks, begin arriving on Gouthwaite Reservoir, while on the blanket bog of the moorlands, fluffy heads of cotton-grass flutter gamely ahead of winter’s icy blasts. All-year-round residents include hares, who make their home in the farmers’ fields of the lower dale. And if you keep your eyes peeled and get really lucky, you may spy one of the otters that have begun to reinhabit the River Nidd, feeding on the wild trout that swim in its waters.
NOW GO TO NIDDERDALE
Where to stay, visit, eat and drink by Dixe Wills
GETTING THERE
Singles from London King’s Cross to Harrogate with LNER start at £18.50; lner.co.uk. Take the bus from Harrogate to Pateley Bridge; harrogatebus.co.uk.
WALK THIS WAY
The Nidderdale Way is a mostly gentle 54-mile waymarked circular trail that runs up and down the valley of the River Nidd. I hiked it in four days but it splits easily into a five- or six-day trip, too. Go in spring or autumn and you will have long stretches all to yourself.
Accommodation is most available in Pateley Bridge and to a lesser extent in Ripley and Lofthouse. Inns, campsites and farmhouse B&Bs fill in most of the gaps along the way. Beth Rimmer’s meticulous guidebook Nidderdale Way (Rucksack Readers, £12.99) will help you make the most of the walk.
EAT
Sportsman’s Arms, Wath
Quite the loveliest country inn to look at, the Sportsman’s Arms offers a warm welcome with a smattering of cosy rooms, a fire in the bar and a menu of locally sourced dishes that are a cut or two above standard pub grub. 01423 711306; sportsmans-arms.co.uk
ADMIRE ART
King Street Workshops
After you have dropped in on Joseph Hayton, have a look at the stunning work of the other artists with studios here. There is fine art, ceramics, jewellery-making, glassblowing and sculpture to enjoy. kingstreetworkshops.co.uk
The Coldstones Cut
Just off the Nidderdale Way but worth a detour. Created by artist Andrew Sabin and inspired by local industrial heritage, Yorkshire’s largest and highest public artwork overlooks the vast workings of Coldstones Quarry and enjoys good views of Nidderdale. thecoldstonescut.org
STAY
The Nidderdale Experience
The Nidderdale Experience at Studfold has pods, tent pitches and a magical fairy trail for kids. You can also grab a bite to eat at their Nidderdale Way Café. Pod (sleeps two adults and two children) from £55 per night. studfold.com
Little North Field
For a touch of exotica with all the mod cons, stay in a super-swish safari tent at Little North Field in Bishop Thornton. From £243 for two nights (sleeps four to five). littlenorthfield.com
For more accommodation ideas, go to yorkshire.com.
RAINY DAYS
Nidderdale Museum, Pateley Bridge
Packing a lot into its 11 little rooms, this is the place to gen up on Nidderdale life, past and present. Come for the recreations of the cobbler’s shop and schoolroom, and stay for the general store and Victorian parlour. Free entry for children. 01423 711225; nidderdalemuseum.com
DRINK
Cocoa Joe’s, Pateley Bridge
Choose from a dozen single-origin chocolates from around the globe and see your selection transformed into a steaming cup of cocoa or an ice-cold drink, depending on whether you need warming up or cooling down. 01423 313400; cocoajoes.co.uk
The Crown Hotel, Middlesmoor
Middlesmoor is too delightfully remote a hamlet not to stop off at its traditional stone-flagged inn for a restorative drink. A real fire awaits, along with gorgeous dale views. 01423 755204
GO THE EXTRA MILE (OR SEVEN)
If your boots are made for walking, try the Nidderdale Way’s optional extension. An exposed 11km loop takes you around Scar House and Angram reservoirs and past the ghost village of Lodge.
FURTHER INFO
Find out more about the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural beauty: nidderdaleaonb.org.uk