Yorkshire Dales

Yorkshire is beautifulThirsk would be a wonderful home basea B&B there is The Gallery Bed and Breakfast, 18 Kirkgate...gallerybedandbreakfast.co.uk would be nice to stay at~~~~~also Leyburn would make a nice home base and the B&B there is Dales Haven Guest House...daleshaven.co.uk...have stayed at both and enjoyed the stay very much. The Gallery B&B is down from the James Herriot museum and Dales Haven Guest House is across from Bolton Arms Pub which was used during the filming of All Creatures Great and Small. If you would like a route to follow so be able to see a lot of the areas from All Creatures Great and Small send me a PM and I'll be glad to give you all the info. You won't have any trouble with the roads...it's fun.

thanks very much. Just the sort of info I was looking for. I trust the roads aren't too narrow and scary! I will keep the B&B info.

Our favorite villages in the dales are Hutton-Le-Hole and Thornton-Le-Dale. Thornton is starting to get popular on weekends. An alternate would be to stay in the country near York (we were near Castle Howard) which enables you to easily see both York and the Dales as well as some of the ruined abbeys near York. you will have a car and the locations are relatively close

We did not find the country roads in the dales to be narrow at all. We found the roads in the south (Dorset, Somerset, Devon) seem much norrower with tall hedges

We spent two days driving through the Yorkshire Dales last July, spending the night in the village of Grassington at Ashfield House B&B. Absolutely beautiful area and adorable village and B&B. (Harrogate seemed too big to me - I prefer the smaller villages with the "All Creatures Great & Small type of scenery.) Roads were fine - bridges were narrow though!

We spent a week at a small village near Thirsk and visited both in the dales and the moors. If I was going to concentrate on the dales and be near Harrogate I would stay over near Ripon . We prefer the villages also. We had lunch at Pately Bridge which seemed nice-very picturesque. There are lots of villages with B & B's in this area. I agree the roads are not bad-narrow in this part of England.

Another beautiful spot in the Dales is Ivelet Bridge. Don't be afraid of the roads. The views from many of them are spectacular and we have never encountered crazy drivers on any of them....If you are lucky enough to have a day with moody weather, drive to the coast and visit Whitby and its abbey. From the town you can climb the 99 steps up to the abbey-very evocative and not that difficult a climb. This is where Bram Stoker had Dracula come ashore-that definitely adds a bit to the atmosphere!

Many thanks to everyone for their excellent ideas and encouragement. It always helps to hear from someone who has "been there". P.

We spent a week with Sue and George at the Garden House B&B in the small town of Masham, north of Ripon. They are the quintessential small town English couple. We took day trips to Hawes (Wensleydale Creamery), York and even Keswick, although that probably would have been better as an overnight. Every evening we returned to Masham and The Bay Horse pub. (Masham is home to both the Theakston and Black Sheep Breweries). It was slow-paced and the perfect way to get past jet lag and be ready to spend a week in London.

i enjoyed pickering and the steam train that went from there to somwhere else

As I recall Pickering is where little John of Robin Hood fame was buried. The church is worth visiting. As I recall there were murals in the Church covered over with white wash ages ago which have now been uncovered