A recipe for a great day in Hawes

We recently had a great day out in Hawes in the heart of the Yorkshire dales in Wensleydale. It included everything to make a great day and keep everyone happy.

Here’s our recipe for a great day out in Hawes:

Walking – Mummy’s choice to get everyone outside enjoying the fresh air and hips and legs healthy and exercised

Waterfall – Everyone is captivated by waterfalls and there are shrieks of glee when you go around a corner and see it for the first time. Not far from Hawes is the Hardraw Force Waterfall.

Ice-cream – A promise of a treat goes a long way and has surprising results on the most tired of little legs!

Wensleydale cheese – More cheese Gromit?! We love cheese in our house and now that my little boy has outgrown a slight dairy intolerance we can all enjoy a bit. We visited the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes for some cheese and ice-cream shopping.

But first to have earned the goodies you need to work up an appetite. The kids this time picked where we would walk this week. They’ve got used to every weekend us going out for a walk but I want to keep them interested. I’ve bought them some books especially written for children to lead the walks and from these they picked our walking location and led the walk reading the instructions.

Our little walk was just over four miles long. We parked at the far end of the village just down from the Wensleydale creamery although there are other car parks to choose from in the centre.

The walk led us over pretty farmland and fields and through tiny villages. We came to the Green Inn pub where for an admission fee you can walk to the Hardraw Force waterfall. Privately owned it is said to be England’s largest single drop waterfall and was an impressive sight. We didn’t stop for a pint but carried on our walk as the little people were keen to get back to Hawes for some ice-cream.

Once back at Hawes we made our way up to the creamery and treated ourselves to ice-cream and sat enjoying the sunshine on the grass. We then went around the cheese shop where there are samples of the gorgeous Wensleydale cheese to taste and buy. With so many different flavours it was hard to choose which one to buy so we came out with all sorts!

We enjoyed exploring a small part of Hawes and walking the surrounding little villages. It was great for the kids to lead the walk and feel they were in charge of where we were going. I would go back if only to stock up on more cheese!

Info: We parked at the far end of the village for £5 all day although we spotted other car parks in the village – some even take cards!

The books I bought were from Walking Books and they have a great choice.

Hardraw Force Waterfall is accessed via The Green Dragon Pub. We paid £7.50 for a family of four with kids over the age of 5-years.

We visited Wensleydale Creamery for the cheese and ice-cream and they have a shop, cafe and visitor centre.

I have received no incentive to write this blog post and all views are my own.

Have you walked around this area? Or do you have a walking idea for me? Let me know in the comments below and thanks for following our adventures!

12 comments Add yours
  1. I haven’t visited but I’d like to, that’s a great selection of places to visit for all the family in Hawes. I love the photos from the waterfall with all the people standing behind, it gives a great sense of the amazing scale of the cliff and how far the waterfall reaches. My kids would like the ice cream incentive and I’d love the cheese visit.

    Thank you for sharing a great 4 mile walk on #CountryKids

    1. I think the kids will be expecting fantastic treats every time they pick a walk destination now, either that or they’ll go for the same one!

  2. You had me at cheese!! Yorkshire Dales is turning into my destination of choice for microadventures, so I’m definitly adding Hawes to my list #adventurecalling

    1. Ha ha! The cheese is amazing. There’s certainly lots to do if you’re looking for a microadventure.

    1. It’s a great waterfall and quirky that you have to walk through the pub to get to it. Thanks for reading!

  3. I really want to explore more of Yorkshire, so always enjoy your posts about the area. This sounds like a great day, ice-cream always goes down well here too! I love the sound of those books too, definitely a great idea for the future. I think it’s really important that kids are engaged and not just dragged along on walks. Thank you for linking up with #AdventureCalling

    1. Thanks Lauren I’m glad you enjoy reading about my Yorkshire adventures! I agree the kids need to be engaged and not dragged along, the books are such a great idea.

  4. Loved following your adventures Emma and it was great to see you all enjoy your day out with our ‘Making Tracks in the Yorkshire Dales’ guide.

  5. Walking, waterfalls, ice cream and cheese would all feature very highly on my great day in the day outdoors. Thanks for joining us on #adventurecalling I hope you can again when it opens in a few hours time.

Leave a Reply to MikeCancel reply