Exploring the Yorkshire Dales Wharfedale campsite and Grassington

Now that we have finished writing our book and all the editing is completed, I have made it my goal to get back to writing regular blogs which I have always loved doing. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to write a series of blogs about exploring the Yorkshire Dales, starting with our stay at Wharfedale CAMC Campsite in Grassington.

Spring in the Dales is magical with the sound of the newborn lambs bleating echoing through the valley. Driving up from Skipton on the B6265 is the lambing highway and they are everywhere and full of mischief.

The Wharfedale campsite is situated about 2km from Grassington but it is a lovely walk into the village - we liked the fact that it was more out in the countryside as it was quiet and calm. We fell asleep to the sound of owls hooting and woke up to the loud dawn chorus of birdsong - just perfect.

Grassington

Grassington is most renowned for being where the current series of 'All Creatures Great and Small' is filmed and we were lucky enough to visit when the village was dressed up as the 1940's village of Darrowby. It was truly like stepping back in time, we loved the small touches like the 1940's village community board and the posters dotted about on the gable ends of houses.

A quintisential Yorkshire Dales village, with beautiful stone houses, it is a major tourist destination and even on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon, there were people from all corners of the world wandering around. The tearooms - and there are plenty - were all full and when we had a delicious lunch at the 'Drovers Arms' it was packed.

Linton Falls

From the big Yorkshire Dales carpark, which is also where the buses arrive, you can drop down the picturesque narrow path to Linton falls. Both the path and the falls are iconic photo spots for any visitor to Grassington. When we visited, after a week of torrential rainfall, the waterfall was in full flow and the sound of it roaring was quite incredible! The village of Linton is also very picturesque and worth a visit, there is a great little pub, 'The Foutaine Inn' and it is nice to sit outside there after a long walk along the river.

The loop from the campsite into Grassington and down to the falls is probably just over 5km in total and the terrain is not too challenging.

Hebden Suspension Bridge

We decided to extend our walk as the weather was lovely on our second day, so we headed down the river towards the village of Burnsall. Our destination was the Hebden suspension bridge which was to be our turn around point. It is a really pretty walk along the river, particularly on a sunny day in spring when the tress are all in bud and the blossom is just starting to come out.

From the bridge, you could retrace your steps back along the river or take a higher route through the village of Hebden. We are told there is a great cafe stop there which would be perfect as a half way point of the hike. The fields were slightly boggy in places, which is not surprising given how much rain we had the previous week, but we walked through a pretty woodland of special scientific interest A couple of the fields we walked through are designated wildflower meadows in the summer which I am sure would be stunning.

The final part of our hike dropped us down into Grassington with lovely views over the village, however, the highlight for me was the 2 fields of rare bread sheep - the likes of which we have never seen.

Wharfedale CAMC

We were really impressed with the campsite. We were greeted by friendly wardens and as it was only about half full we had plenty of choice of where to park up. Obviously, when we saw another Sunlight Cliff Adventure 540 then we had to park next to it!

As I said previously, it is a lovely quiet campsite out in the countryside and the amount of wildlife that we encountered and could hear was fab! A pheasant came wandering past the van on our last morning and everytime we went to the toilet block in the evening our head torches would catch the white bobtails of the dozens of rabbits that have made the top field their home.

The facilities are what you would expect from a CAMC site and also for the price that you pay for the pitches. Not cheap at around £42 a night. We had a Free Night voucher so it felt like we had a real bargain - of course that meant that we had a little bit of spare money to have a pot of tea and cake in Grassington.

In our next Yorkshire Dales Blog we stay at the Masons Campsite in Appletreewick and explore the village of Burnsall as well as take a wonderful hike up to Simons seat.

Jackie and Richard