The Yorkshire Dales, somewhat like the Cotswolds, drystone walls, and pretty villages, but more down to earth and with a dry Yorkshire humour. The Northern Dales, my favourite part of the Dales, less touristy, excellent walking country. At the foot of Swaledale is the town of Richmond with a norman castle overlooking the River Swale.
Riverside walks .
The Distinctive character of Swaledale, small fields, stone walls, field barns, hay meadows full of wildflowers -cranesbill and buttercups in late June . Unspoilt villages Sleepy and picturesque Gunnerside, derived from the Norse for 'Gunners Pasture'. In the 18th and 19th century a lead mining centre, many of the houses are in fact miners cottages. Rushes still visible on the hillsides where the old miners dammed streams, the released water torrent exposing the lead bearing bed rock. Muker reachable over an arch bridge.