Besides its dramatic moorland and valley scenery, crossed by numerous footpaths, and traditional stone buildings, there is a wealth of exploring to do in towns, villages and the countryside.
Ripponden, just 3 miles North, is a traditional stone-built Yorkshire village with reputedly the oldest inn in Yorkshire, The Old Bridge Inn, and has cafes, pubs, shops and restaurants. The first weekend of September sees the local Rushbearing festival, one of only a handful left remaining in the country, and the quirky Norland scarecrow festival is outstanding in its field too on the same weekend!
History abounds in our local town Halifax, 6 miles away, where you’ll find The Piece Hall, www.thepiecehall.co.uk. This is the only surviving Georgian cloth market in the UK and featured together on the ‘Gentleman Jack’ TV series. The square feels almost ‘Italianate’ and is filled with quirky, independent shops, bars and restaurants. In the centre of the hall is a magnificent square where there are year round free and paid for family events and concerts. At weekends a free museum, the Calderdale Industrial Museum. is based just round the corner too.
Eureka – the Children’s Museum is also based in Halifax and is a multi-sensory award-winning interactive museum for children. Great for under 10s on a rainy day.
A mile out of Halifax, featured too on ‘Gentleman Jack’, is ‘shabby’ Shibden Hall and it’s surrounding parkland. This was the home of Anne Lister.
Hebden Bridge and Haworth. Hebden bridge is an attractive small town around 25 minutes drive away built into steep valley sides, offering narrow boat rides along the Rochdale Canal; it has a wealth of independent shops, bars and restaurants. Mytholmroyd, just next door was the birthplace of Ted Hughes. Plan a day trip along with a trip to NT Hardcastle Crags and Haworth and see the Bronte sisters parsonage and the nearby moors – the setting for Jane Eyre too on the ‘wild and windy moors’.
Find out more about this and other local attractions at www.visitcalderdale.com
Heading south takes you into Kirklees, within 3-5 miles of the barn are Slaithwaite, Marsden Moor (National Trust area – a haven for birdlife) and Marsden with its dramatic moorland scenery. You can ‘leggit’ through Standedge tunnel all the way to Lancashire and experience ‘The Handmade Bakery’ at Slaithwaite with sourdough to die for!
A few miles further south and you’ll arrive at Holmfirth, famous for being the location for TV series ‘Last of the Summer Wine”. A little further on from Holmfirth is the Holme Moss road – well known in the local cycling fraternity and part of the Tour de France route when it left France for a leg and came through Yorkshire in 2012.
Although rural, we also have no less than 3 well stocked farm shops within 10 minutes drive, one which even opens 7 days a week and has an award-winning coffee shop and café so you can easily get all your necessary provisions.
There are several spas we can recommend just a few minutes drive away if you’re wanting to unwind and really relax.
Walks and cycle routes are straight from the door of the barn, we recommend a local E bike hire specialist and can recommend local walks.
Easily reachable but a little further…
York – if you haven’t visited before this is a must. Avoid rush hour and the journey is just over an hour, parking is always difficult so the ‘Park and Ride’ is recommended. Medieval streets, York Minster, Ghost walks and oodles of history from Romans to Vikings to present day.
Bradford – The National Museum of Media and Photography is in Bradford and is a good rainy day activity. Combine with Salts Mill, Saltaire around 5 miles away, a UNESCO Heritage site, a huge textile mill converted with interesting art gallery – often with David Hockney originals / exhibitions as Bradford is his birthplace, exhibition centre and info about Sir Titus Salt and his utopian workers vision. Plus shops and restaurants too…
Harrogate – a lovely spa town, famous Betty’s tea rooms. Large park right near centre of town. Lots of independent and upmarket shops.
The Peak District. – The northernmost part of the Peaks is only around 45 minutes drive through Holmfirth and onto Holme Moss. The nearest visitor centre at Edale is approx. at 1hr 20min drive through the hills. https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting
The coast – St Anne’s (near Blackpool but much nicer!) is on the West Coast and takes 1hr 10mins outside of rush hour.
The East coast however is our favourite with Whitby and Scarborough being around 2 hours away. Flamingo Land is near this coast.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park – go in the morning to see the lions and tigers feeding! Around 1hr 15 mins away near Doncaster.
Yorkshire Dales – Skipton, a bustling market town, is around 90 mins away. Visiting Grassington and villages such as Kettlewell is a pleasant day trip. Malham Cove – a well known beauty spot within the Yorkshire Dales. Great for a walk. See www.malhamdale.com for more info.
Chester Zoo – 1hr 30mins away. Best zoo in north of England. Make a full day of it.