Giggleswick

This charming village is located less than one mile north of Settle and provides a perfect base for people who wish to visit the Yorkshire Dales’ most challenging peaks as well as those looking for a quaint place to relax.

With its own train station, Giggleswick is easy to reach on the lines running to and from Leeds, Lancaster and Morecambe.

The village has many great places to eat and drink as well as delightful self-catering cottages and guest houses. It does not have many shops, but that isn’t a problem as Settle is walking distance away and has a number of amenities including a busy market each Tuesday.

Giggleswick’s private boarding school is perhaps its most famous institution and includes the late Countdown presenter Richard Whiteley, Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels and motor sport journalist Nigel Roebuck amongst its alumni.

The school also claims that the Three Peaks walk – which includes the scaling of the mountains Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent – was created by three of its masters in 1887.

Above the village is Giggleswick Scar, a series of limestone cliffs that were formed by the Craven Fault. The cliffs are surrounded by woodland in which visitors will see an abundance of wildlife.

At the foot of the cliffs there are a number of caves including Schoolboy Cave and the larger Kinsey Cave, which has been the site of numerous prehistoric discoveries.

At the end of the scar stands Schoolboy Tower, a cairn created by pupils from the boarding school that was built up following a tradition of laying down a single rock to signify the end of the teaching each day.

Grassington is home to one of the dales’ four National Park Centres. The centre has information on local attractions and can provide maps of popular walks around the area. The centre makes a great starting point for anyone wanting to make the most of their visit and is open seven days a week during the summer months.

The village is also only around seven miles from Malham Cove, an impressive natural limestone cliff face with an equally striking pavement at its summit. The cove was included in the BBC series Seven Natural Wonders and can also be seen in the movie Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows (Part One).

Nearby is Gordale Scar which is a dramatic ravine with 100 metre high cliffs and two waterfalls. It is the site that inspired a sonnet from William Wordsworth and was famously painted by James Ward.