Settle folks and hive mind! The wife, kids (11 and 10) and I are off to Settle next week on a last minute mini break thing. Want to do some walking and see the best bits of the area in 2 days. What are the must see’s and places to go, eateries etc??? Many thanks in advance x

Nice cafe and garden centre at Holden Clough if you like that sort of thing.

Walk up to Malham Cove (spectacular plus kids can spot the bit filmed in Harry Potter)

Check if any country shows on in the local villages as usually interesting.

South and West of Settle is the forest of Bowland which has miles of virtually traffic free cycling, gisburn trail centre is there.

There are some beautiful houses and abbeys around the area if you check English Heritage and National Trust.

Get on settle to Carlisle railway!

Probably loads more, the dales are stunning and you wouldn’t go far wrong just heading into somewhere and going for a walk, e.g Horton then try one of the three peaks?

+1 for Malham Cove. Great place. Make sure you go up the top and check out the runnels.

Isn’t there the Pennine Way close by? Seem to recall going up Pen y Ghent (sp?)

This (or variations on it) is a fabulous walk, taking in Malham Cove, Gordale Scar, Janet’s Foss etc.

http://www.gateway2thelakes.com/Walking%20Diary%202008/Malham%20030408/malham030408.htm

settle malham cove ..bring stuff for walking and get over from malham cove via mastiles to kilnsey.. long walk but proper worth it and 10 and 11 year old will make it easy.. great pub and cafe and fishing ponds in kilnsey then walk back to malham cove/tarn

For walks, one of the three peaks if you want to do a peak. One of the nice ones is starting in Clapham, up passed Ingleborough cave, gaping gill and on to Inglebro Peak.
A lower level fun walk would be up Gordale Scar, across and down Malham Cove, maybe taking in Malham Tarn (or do it the other way round if you prefer). Gordale has a short easy scramble up the middle of the waterfalls, so I’d probably recommend going up Gordale rather than down.
Or just a short walk from Ribblehead.
EDIT: beaten to it!

When you’re walking down the side of Malham Cove (I think it’s stepped?), there’s a little climbers path off to the left which takes you to the balcony directly under Malham Cove, walk along the balcony and down a path at the far end, to the stream. maybe miss this out if you’re not good with heights.

Malham Cove, Gordale Scar. I wouldn’t do that big walk IMO its a bit dull. On that same map you can do a shorter walk that takes in the cove and scar.

Also think Malham to Kilnsey is dull on a bike let alone walking!

Walk up Inglebrough.

Kids with bikes worth the journey to Gisburn.

Go to the cove in Malham ,
Go to Grassington, lovely walk to Linton play the river in wharedale , Grassington house is a cracking eatery ,i got married there (well had the food thing there),
Go up to the viaduct in Horton , Settle is a bit Hmmm ,? you will see it all in an hour ,great base though.
Go to Skipton bigger town for a wander round shops , Anchor Inn at Gargrave is a basic Breweres fayre type but great outside area next to canal (lovely walk to bank Newton 1 mile , Angel hetton for mega classy food 3 miles from Gargrave ,
Skipton has a castle and my neighbour dresses like a tool as a guard ha ha , Welcome to gods county fingers crossed for sun .

FunkyDunc is right, that route can be trimmed down and still take in highlights.

Great stuff! Malham Cove is a must. Loving the Harry Potter connections too, the kids are big fans.

Holden Clough is a proper nursery, not a garden centre by any stretch of the imagination! The cafe is rather good and very popular so you’d do well to book. Their picnic tea is good fun for kids.

Settle to Carlisle railway is a great outing and they do run steamers sometimes.

You can go to the Naked Man cafe in Settle market square and get naked if you like. We sometimes cycle over for coffee and cakes.

lambchop – Member
Great stuff! Malham Cove is a must.

In that case, to cut the walk shorter you can cut across where the Blue number 65 is printed on the map above, picking up the footpath, there’s a gate you can go thru/climb over.
weather permitting, I’m doing the shortened version on Friday with 6 and 11 yo boys, I’ll let you know how they get on with the distance and scramble (which is quite straightforward with lots of hand holds).

Great part of the world , all 3 peaks worth doing as is surrounding area

There’s a falconry centre just north of Settle which the kids will enjoy.

If the weather is good then either Stainforth Falls (just west of Stainforth) and Catrigg Falls
are both worth a look for some paddling and swimming.

kids (5 and 11) had no problems climbing the Gordale falls ( with only a little help from me with the 5 yo), despite a group of 4 adults making a meal of it before them. We did the whole circuit to Malham Cove and back to the car with only minor whinging moments about being tired from the 5 yo (picnic above malham cove and ice creams in malham village helped). kids kept mostly saying how they loved it (especially the Gordale scramble bit).

Gordale scramble can be a bit intimidating if wet (a bit polished and slippery in places). I certainly wouldn’t do it downwards, so wouldn’t include it at all in the loop above. There’s a load of nice, easy paths down from the tarn which don’t include Gordale.

Personally at that age I’d be trying to tempt them up Pen y Ghent or Ingleborough using the promise of cakes and ice creams. Pen y Ghent is the shorter walk of the two. The best route to Ingleborough is the one from Clapham that goes past Ingleborough Cave (well worth a visit, ice creams available), Trow Gill, Gaping Gill etc.

If you’re looking for stuff further afield, Wharfedale has some nice things. Burnsall has nice bit of river for paddling and swimming, Bolton Abbey has the Strid Walk and nice eats, or the walk up to Simon’s Seat for something a little more challenging.

Skipton Castle is OK, not worth a special trip though.

I certainly wouldn’t do it downwards, so wouldn’t include it at all in the loop above.

Eh? the loop above goes up it, so why would you not include it? fair enough if you have a real fear of heights. I’d probably concede that when we arrived a the foot of it I started wishing I’d brought a safety rope for the 5yo, as it was, he shot up it without much trouble (with me climbing directly behind him and fielding him, not that I needed to).

Duh, made the assumption it was clockwise without looking at the map properly. I’d always walk that towards the cove to make the most of the approach, I guess.

My point was about it in greasy conditions, or if the stream is higher, which it may be next week. You tend to get some spray on the holds in those circumstances.

It’s great your 5-year-old is so confident!