Special Qualities Nature’s Stage Embrace The Wild Side! Climbing the Walls? With some of Britain’s finest scenery, AONB features 600km2 Woodlands as playgrounds, caves Nidderdale AONB is home to some of the most precious habitat in Whether you’re visiting alone or have little ones to entertain, you won’t climb of protected working landscape, with farmsteads and field barns, quarried as amphitheatres, and vistas to beat , with nine Sites of Special Scientific Interest. the walls in Nidderdale. From rock climbing to caving, farm attractions to hillsides and crags criss-crossed by drystone walls with stunning outcrops the finest theatrical backdrops! Large areas are internationally important, with a number of protected sites that ice cream parlours and adventure trails to llama trekking, the AONB offers a of nature’s handiwork. An open air geology lesson, featuring some of Nidderdale AONB is nature’s stage in boast a rich concentration of rare plants and wildlife, from curlews breeding in the wealth of family adventures. Get out in the great outdoors! the darkest skies in for star gazers, it’s also home to a number the heart of the . meadows to amphibians and reptiles in its moorlands. The woodlands, wetlands, Horse Riding Fishing of reservoirs, attractive towns, villages and world class heritage sites. A Events 2018 © Chris Lacey/ Events 2018 grassland, reservoirs and rivers nurture a great diversity of species, such as the picture-perfect combination to inspire great days out. Saddle up at Riding Centre, Grab your rods and supersized wellies. common lizard, damselflies and water voles. Nesting sites for rare raptors feature near (bewerleyridingcentre. With 11 stunning reservoirs to choose • Tour De Yorkshire - Thur 3 to Sun merlin and hen harrier. 6 May; Stage 4 passes through co.uk) or Riding & Trekking from, the website “From Centre (mashamridingcentre.com). (yorkshirewater.com) has details on fishing Nidderdale AONB on 6 May How Gorge spots, or head to the River . Find out • 100k Yorkshire - Sat 23 & Sun 24 June dragonflies to more at nidderdaleac.co.uk Gorge walking, caving, climbing, abseiling, • Walking Festival - Sat 23 June to dippers, adders to canoeing and via ferrata high wires. Check Nidderdale Llamas Sun 1 July otters, curlews to cuckoos - out the gorge-ous view from reinforced Want a bit of a different walking partner? • Masham Steam Engine & Fair Organ glass floors.howstean.co.uk Llama Trekking. It’s a thing. All year © Charlotte Wise Nidderdale is currently rich Rally - Sat 21 & Sun 22 July Birchfield Farm round. nidderdalellamas.org • Pateley Bridge 1940’s Weekend - Sat in wildlife but it needs our A working farm with seasonal events Himalayan Garden 28 & Sun 29 July help to stay that way.” for families including a maize maze, A botanical masterpiece and Sculpture • NiddArt Trail - Fri 17 to Mon 27 strawberry picking, woodland walk and Park in stunning woodland features ice-cream parlour. birchfieldicecream.co.uk natural springs, lakes, playground August Martin Hughes-Games Studfold Walks and Trails and tearoom. Seasonal opening. • Nidderdale Food & Drink Festival - Sat himalayangarden.com 27 October An adventure trail, wild flower meadow, woodland and wildlife with seasonal Brymor • Fountain’s Abbey Events - Year-round Check out © Charlotte Wise activities. studfoldtrails.co.uk Situated at High Jervaulx Farm is the 2018’s traditional must-visit ice-cream parlour, with play area and farm shop. brymordairy.co.uk agricultural shows! NiddFest AONB Events Experience farm Pateley Bridge, Year-round life first-hand, from 16 & 17 June Nidderdale AONB Nidderdale AONB features 125 ancient monuments, handsome heifers to Bringing people host a calendar 574 listed buildings, 3 historic gardens, a world sheep dog trials... © NiddFest who love books of events around heritage site and 14 conservation areas, with 568 • Otley Show: closer to nature, and people who the exploration, © Sarah miles of public rights of way. Sat 19 May love nature closer to books! This preservation, The names of villages hint at the industrial past – a • Ripley Show: unique, family-friendly festival enjoyment and appreciation of the heritage drawn from thousands of years of human Sun 12 August features world-class AONB. From activity. Its 11 reservoirs, built after the industrial authors and cool outside stargazing The Wild Watch project is carrying out its biggest survey revolution, managed by Yorkshire Water, are • Nidderdale Show: events. niddfest.com to birdsong of wildlife to help safeguard important species. Across important for wildlife and loved by walkers. Mon 24 September workshops. the UK, more than 50% of species are in decline. • Masham Sheep Hills Photography Hawkins/Surrey © Jon A third of Nidderdale AONB features heather You can find more details of events © Mike Dickson Get involved, go outdoors. Check out activities and moorland of international importance, home to rare Fair: Sat 29 and Sun 30 September at nidderdaleaonb.org.uk events at thewildwatch.org.uk plants and wildlife. © Paul Harris © Iain Mann About AONBs The Village that Vanished On Yer Bike! nidderdaleaonb.org.uk Plan your trip Recognised as so outstanding that it should be Step back in time to the 1920s Are you a lean Lycra-cycling machine? Or enjoy a pootle and a picnic? nidderdaleaonb.org.uk • , paid for by protected for the nation! Once you discover when up to 2,000 people lived in the Cycling in Nidderdale guarantees stunning scenery, from World Heritage bus info harrogatebus. Bradford Corporation, cost over 2018 the character of Nidderdale AONB - its ; temporary, remote but flourishing Sites to iconic Yorkshire attractions. With a range of routes, from off-road co.uk or dalesbus.org two million pounds (over £26 heritage, landscape, wildlife and special settlement of Scar Village. tracks to a section of Britain’s Heritage Cycling Route - it’s no wonder top wider tourism info ; million in today’s money). qualities - you’ll see why it is one of the UK’s visitharrogate.co.uk cyclists train in the Dales. Visit NIDDERDALE It was created to house the workers FOLLOW US ON • It used over one million tons of FACEBOOK & TWITTER Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. constructing Scar House Reservoir concrete and local stone. f t (1921-1936) - a tremendous feat of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty engineering. • The Nidd Light Railway, built Families lived in undreamed of luxury for transporting materials, was with indoor flushing toilets, electricity, dismantled in 1929. hot and cold running water, a 600-seat • The 31.5 mile (51km) Nidd The Nidderdale AONB cinema, library, concert hall, canteen, Aqueduct uses gravity to supply tennis court and golf course, hospital team works on behalf fresh water to Bradford. of those who live and and school, and even its own fish and work in the AONB, chip shop. • Today, it supplies the city with 100 visitors and the wider All that remains are tantalising glimpses million litres of water every day. Cycling- community, putting of the past. • When finished the water’s depth fever continues people at the heart of After 1929 the population started was greater than anywhere else in in September 2019 the landscape to help to leave as work neared completion. Britain. as cycling on a scale conserve the AONB’s Buildings were sold off and dismantled never seen before heads to special qualities. in the 1930s, leaving just the remains of Tour de Yorkshire Be Our Friend Yorkshire with the 2019 UCI They work with land this special place. Road World Championships. 3 to 6 May 2018 is the main managers, volunteers, Thank you to the friends, partners All Yorkshire may be great, but if competition town. communities, and volunteers who support the you saw the 2014 Tour de France, government agencies, AONB. you’ll know the most breathtaking local authorities Friends of Nidderdale AONB is a bit (literally, watch those hills!) has and third sector volunteer-run charity that supports to be Stage 4 of the race on 6 May: bodies to protect local wildlife and heritage projects. The Yorkshire Terrier – from Halifax the environment in a to , which passes through To become a friend, visit nidderdaleaonb.org.uk sustainable way. Nidderdale AONB. © David Tolcher © Fancy yourself as the next Bradley Get in touch: Supported by: Wiggins? The Maserati Tour de Now you can explore Nidderdale AONB Yorkshire Ride offers a unique chance the clues. The Upper A nationally protected landscape The Old Workhouse to ride many of the same roads as Nidderdale Landscape © Tolcher David King Street, Pateley Bridge the pros, including the pro finish Partnership has installed Harrogate, HG3 5LE Printed on carbon balanced paper Yorkshire to © SWPix/Welcome line, complete with support from the interpretation panels on the site, alongside waiting crowds. a web app, to fire imaginations, bringing Find more info on cycling and bike A pocket guide to help you explore and discover T: 01423 712950 this lost village to vivid life. routes at nidderdaleaonb.org.uk letour.yorkshire.com one of the UK’s finest landscapes. E: [email protected] CBP0004440908164347 © Janina Holubecki Map Key More walk The information AONB Boundary Viewpoints and downloadable Explore Nidderdale A 53-mile circuit traditionally walked walk routes at Roads in four stages that takes in some of nidderdaleaonb. Railway Point of Heritage Druids Temple Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Yorkshire’s iconic sights. interest org.uk Nidderdale Way Yorkshire’s own Stonehenge! Point of wildlife/bird An atmospheric folly set in pine woodland on the Swinton “The manifold delights of interest © Joanna Swiers Rowel Estate near Masham. Perfect the Nidderdale Way… past Beautiful and atmospheric, this Reservoirs for families to explore. hamlets and farms, across becks Jervaulx ruined Cistercian monastery Woodland is set in tranquil parkland and and bridges and along lonely tracks noted for the vast number that were once trodden in ancient of wild flowers that grow amongst its walls. times … It’s pure William Blake,” Main Towns The Financial Times MASHAM Pateley Bridge Nidderdale Museum © Eric Moss Hackfall A1 (M) Stage 1: Pateley Bridge to A beautiful Grade 1 listed woodland garden with follies, Set off from pretty Pateley Bridge to the grottoes, and waterfalls handsome old Wath Mill and former Nidd Valley Leighton Light Railway. Look out for Nidd Heads, where Reservoir landscaped by John Aislabie, famed for his work at the river bursts forth from underground, walk Roundhill through the village of © Louise Brown Fountain’s Abbey. Blessed with enviable good Reservoir Scar House P Lofthouse, evolved looks in the heart of the AONB, Reservoir © Paul Harris from a medieval it was crowned Britain’s Best A community-run museum monastic grange. Village High Street and one of Kirkby filled to the brim with P Spot the entrance to The Sunday Times’ Best Places Middlesmoor Malzeard artefacts telling the story Nidderdale’s largest to Live. Don’t miss the hive of Lofthouse of life in Nidderdale in the cave at Goydon Pot. From the remote © Janina Holubecki artisan workshops at The Old historic Old Workhouse. settlement of Lodge, visit Britain’s largest Workhouse, King Street. © David Rodway dam, Scar House, and end with breathtaking views in Middlesmoor. Lumley Moor Reservoir Coldstones Cut Studley RIPON Stage 2: Middlesmoor to Bewerley Masham Gouthwaite Grantley Roger Boasting Yorkshire’s largest Reservoir Fountains Abbey & From Middlesmoor pass market square, Masham is on ‘Little Switzerland’, How Sawley Studley Royal Stean Gorge, to Studfold the north eastern edge of the Wath AONB famed for its family-run Farm (with café and picnic © Visit England/Diana Jarvis breweries, steam engines and spots), and press on to Ramsgill, one of Yorkshire’s prettiest villages, annual sheep fair. PATELEY Brimham © Janina Holubecki and . © Paul Harris BRIDGE P Rocks Gouthwaite Viewing Yorkshire’s biggest and Bewerley P Platform offers a birdwatcher’s heaven. Step highest public artwork on an into the industrial past at Prosperous Mine, awesome monumental scale, © Chris Lacey/Fountains Abbey with its preserved flue, and take a moment at with viewpoints and a platform © Eric Moss A stunning World Heritage Bewerley Grange Chapel, built in 1495. overlooking the working Summerbridge Site with a ruined Cistercian quarry. Abbey, Water Garden, Deer Dacre Ripley Park and more. Stage 3: Bewerley to Ripley Drink in picturesque Fishpond Wood before Toft Gate Lime Kiln heading to the romantic Yorke’s Folly. At Darley the towering crag at Guisecliffe, take in A largely intact piece of dizzying views over the dale. Walk through © Louise Brown Thruscross Washburn Heritage industrial heritage, the remains Reservoir the villages Dacre of a Lime Kiln sit on the edge Centre Banks, Summerbridge and Darley; don’t miss Low Dam of Greenhow village. HARROGATE near Birstwith, a reminder of centuries past, it dates P from 1822. Walk on to Fewston A pretty Victorian spa town Reservoir village, a Swinsty designated Conservation on the southern edge of the P Reservoir AONB, with the famous Cow Area, before finally ending up in the quaint and Calf Rocks sitting proudly Ings and historic Ripley village with its own Castle. on the moor. A rock climbers’ March Ghyll Reservoir paradise, with fine tearooms to © Paul Harris A hidden gem in Fewston refuel at. Church celebrating the Stage 4: Ripley to Pateley Bridge Washburn Valley heritage of the valley, with The final stage features a highlight - Brimham Pillars Past Lindley Wood a programme of walks and Rocks - weird and wonderful Reservoir Enjoy magnificent walks and workshops, and a popular Otley ILKLEY formations. The walk A stone sculpture celebrating wildlife around Fewston, weekend tea room. A historic market town on the meanders to Smelthouses, the heriage of Nidderdale. Swinsty and Thruscross southern edge of the AONB which in 1833 housed the Carved by local stone mason Reservoirs. Low Dam, © Paul Harris with Indy shops and cobbled flax-spinning mill, and leads Joseph Hayton, each pillar alongside the , streets. Grab an award-winning OTLEY to a glorious slow descent into represents a key part of the is a Site of Importance for pork pie and hike to the top of Pateley Bridge on the Panorama Walk, a area’s history including a Nature Conservation (SINC). The Chevin. monk, a minor and a farmer. popular scenic route. Don’t miss the Church Timble Ings is a favourite spot of St Mary, dating from the 13th century, for birdwatching and The Rock, a natural outcrop railed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s golden © Janina Holubecki jubilee, with sweeping views of Nidderdale.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database rights 2018 Go to uppernidderdale.co.uk for a downloadable,

© Howard/Harriet Greenwood © Paul Harris © Paul Harris easy-to-use walking guide.