Upper Wharfedale

Upper Wharfedale is the National Trust's share of a classic Yorkshire Dales valley: steep sides, heather moorland on the tops, wooded hillsides, and hay meadows on the valley floor divided by drystone walls and barns. From Buckden the lane up Langstrothdale reaches Hubberholme, whose 12th-century church, the last resting place of the playwright J B Priestley, has a rood loft thought to have come from Coverham Priory in 1558 and pews carved with Robert Thompson's mice, and then Yockenthwaite, a Norse-named hamlet with a stone circle beside the Dales Way. The meadows at Cray and Yockenthwaite hold cranesbill, devil's-bit scabious and three species of orchid in summer. Two Trust trails start at Buckden: a 5-mile circuit over the fellside to Starbotton, climbing the Centenary Path created to mark the Trust's centenary in 1995, and an easy 4 miles along the River Wharfe to Kettlewell, where the Trust asks walkers to cross the hay meadows in single file. Dogs are welcome on leads. The car parks and toilets at Buckden and Kettlewell belong to the National Park, and members pay too.