Area guideYorkshire Dales
Where we’d send a friend: walks that start at your door, waterfalls worth the drive and pubs with the fire lit. Everything is measured from the cabins, nearest first.
Our favourites
If you only do six things.
Jervaulx Abbey loop, find it on the map
Our favourite walk, and it starts at your door. The abbey you can see from the cabins is the halfway point.
3 hrs11.3km walk
Aysgarth Falls, find it on the map
The falls we send everyone to. After a night of winter rain they’re at their loudest.
25 min driveWaterfalls
Middleham Castle, find it on the map
A castle, a square of old pubs and racehorses on the gallops in the morning, ten minutes away.
10 min driveCastle
Masham’s breweries, find it on the map
Two breweries in one market town. Book the Theakston tour and save room for the Old Peculier.
10 min driveBrewery tours
Brimham Rocks, find it on the map
Wind-carved towers of gritstone on the open moor. The biggest view for the least effort.
35 min driveRock formations
Malham Cove, Gordale Scar and Janet’s Foss, find it on the map
Worth the drive: a limestone amphitheatre, a ravine and a waterfall, linked by one circular walk.
1 hr 15 min driveCove, ravine and waterfall
Three days in the Yorkshire Dales
Written for winter, when the days are short, the rivers run full and the fire is the best seat in the house. Check in from 4pm, check out by 10:30am, and fill the hours between with the wild.
Day oneArrive slowly
- On the way
Coming from the south? Stretch your legs among the gritstone towers, 35 minutes from the cabins.
- 2pm
Theakston brewery tour, Masham
Book 48 hours ahead. Afterwards, stock up for supper in the market square.
- 4pm
Check in
Find your cabin among the pines and light the fire pit while there’s still light in the sky.
- Evening
Copper bath, dark skies
Run the bath and look up. On a clear night the sky out here gets properly dark.
In winter. The sun sets around 4pm in December. Aim to arrive with the last of the light.
- On the way
Day twoFrom your door
- 9:30am
11.3km along the River Ure and through the abbey ruins, without touching the car.
- 1pm
The Blue Lion in East Witton, five minutes away, for local food and Masham ales.
- Afternoon
Nothing at all
The armchair, a book from the shelf, the view. This is what you came for.
- Evening
Supper over the fire pit
Logs, kindling and fire starters are waiting. Cook outside, eat wrapped up.
Bring. Proper boots. The riverside path gets muddy after rain.
- 9:30am
Day threeThe long way home
- Sunrise
Coffee on the deck
Mist in the valley and frost on the fields, if you’re lucky.
- 10:30am
Check out
Leave the key, take the long way.
- 11am
The castle walls, the market square and, earlier in the day, racehorses on the gallops.
- Midday
Three stepped falls on the Ure, in full spate after winter rain.
- 1:30pm
Lunch at The Wensleydale Heifer
In West Witton, on the road back down the dale. Seafood, for a weekend worth celebrating.
For the brave. A cold dip at Cauldron Falls in West Burton, five minutes from Aysgarth. Only when the water is calm.
- Sunrise
Opening hours shorten in winter, so check before you set off. Drive times are from the cabins.
Explore the area
Everything we recommend, nearest to the cabins first.
- 11.3km walk
Down through the fields to the River Ure and through the Grade I listed abbey ruins you can see from the cabins. In summer, stop at Brymor for ice cream made on the farm.
- 8km walk
Through Low Sutton to the market town of Masham, with its pubs, cafés and two breweries. Refuel in the square before the walk back.
- 5 min
Among the largest privately owned Cistercian ruins in the country, right below the cabins, with a tea room by the gate. It sometimes closes for weddings, so check before you go.
- 5 min
A beautiful 18th-century pub cooking with local ingredients and pouring ales brewed in Masham. A roaring fire in winter, a garden for warmer days.
- 5 min
Ice cream handmade on a working dairy farm, a stone’s throw from the cabins. Take one down to the abbey.
- 10 min
Theakston, one of the oldest working breweries in the country, runs tours: book online 48 hours ahead, or call for the same day. Black Sheep is across town.
- 10 min
The childhood home of Richard III, with a towering 12th-century keep and views over the dale. Known as the Windsor of the North; find a pub in the square afterwards.
- 10 min
In the Wensleydale Hotel, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Book ahead for dinner or Sunday lunch.
Before you go
The practical bits, for a stay without surprises.
Stay in the Yorkshire Dales
Five off-grid cabins in a pine forest above Wensleydale, each with an outdoor copper bath and a fire pit of its own.
See the cabins and datesPhoto credits
- The lancet-windowed walls of Jervaulx Abbey, seen through a gap in the weathered stone of the ruins.: Kristian Thomas, Pexels License
- Silky white water spilling over the limestone steps of Aysgarth Lower Falls in cool evening light.: Grahame Jenkins, Unsplash License
- Looking down from Middleham Castle's keep over the gatehouse, stone rooftops and the green patchwork of Wensleydale.: Mike Norris, Pexels License
- Oak casks and stacked iron hoops in a Masham brewery yard.: Insan Farooqi, Pexels License
- Stacked gritstone towers at Brimham Rocks rising from autumn bracken and heather.: jcw1967, CC BY 2.0
- Limestone pavement at the lip of Malham Cove, the valley falling away beneath a brooding sky.: Greg Willson, Unsplash License
- A lone tree and drystone walls across snow-covered pasture at Sedbusk in Wensleydale, sheep grazing under a pale winter sky.: Nigel Chatfield (Boxley), CC BY 2.0, cropped
- Ice floes on the River Ure at Upper Aysgarth Falls, with frozen curtains of icicles on the wooded bank behind.: Caroline Ward, CC BY 2.0
- Low golden sun on the tower and nave of Fountains Abbey, framed by dark trees.: Lewis Ashton, Pexels License
- The great east window of Bolton Priory silhouetted against a soft evening sky above the Wharfe.: Andrew Craig, Unsplash License
- Cauldron Falls at West Burton pouring in a soft white veil into a mossy, rock-lined pool in winter light.: Colin Gregory (colgregg), CC BY 2.0
- Hardraw Force dropping in a single white ribbon from its overhanging limestone lip into a green amphitheatre.: Sandie Clarke, Unsplash License