My little family and I are visting Yorkshire this weekend and we’ve never been to this area at all before so I’m after suggestions for things to do. We’ll be staying our first night at Mankinholes (great name) and our 2nd night at Malham. I’ll not be taking a bike and I’m after suggestions that are not hiking,walking or biking thanks. We are members of the national trust and would probably like to visit one big country house type thing and we’d like to break the journey up between the 2 with something roughly in the middle. We have an active 4yr old girl who’ll need entertaining and I’d like to visit a brewery, maybe a little brewery tour or a shop type thing. We don’t mind a hour or 2 looking round nicky nacky shops and areas of interest.
So suggestions please for NT country houses, tourist stops, any small breweries offering tours and cool little towns or villages with nick nack shops or anything else you’d care to suggest. Thanks.

Tod is not far from Hardcastle crags.. Great place to walk, mess about in the trees, a bit of nature spotting and a look at the old mills on the river.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardcastle-crags/

Also, Tod has a microbrewery near to the railway arches, but I can’t remember the name.. Good stuff, though! Probably the reason why I can’t remember!

Bear arts is the Brewery i think. Really nice bottle conditioned beer.

Go futher and take them to the Textile Museums at Helmshore. Fascinating and very well explained for kids with a demonstration of pre-industrial fulling and a cotton spinning jenny operating. Nice cafe too.

A wander round Hebden and a walk in nearby Hardcastle Crags. Not sure but Skipton Castle might be on your route. Never been, but it looks ok.

It’s just gonna frustrate me going there and not having a bike. Isn’t the magazine offices somewhere in that area?

If you stop at Skipton on the way to Malham there’s plenty of nick-nack shops (Especially if you park in the canal basin car park off Water Street), a Castle, a good brewary (Copper Dragon) and plenty of other things to keep you all amused.

If coming from Tod over the tops Haworth is worth a visit and you could always have a ride on the steam train.

You say no walking but Janets Foss and Gordale Scar are a lovely walk along the river from Malham. Not taxing and very pleasant.

Office is in Tod. It’s Calderdale – the riding doesn’t get much better or more accessible anywhere in England. Nice enough for mooching around too, though. Enjoy yourself. And bring waterproofs.

Hebden would be nice with kids. Can feed the ducks by the bridge.

Nothing much touristy really in Tod apart from hiking,biking and walking 🙂
Hebden is more touristy and Mankinholes is almost half way to Hebden anyway
This is on this weekend http://www.hebdenbridge-vintageweekend.org.uk/
Are you at the YHA? Wave at all the MTB and roadriders enjoying themselves 😉 A walk up the Pike is pretty much mandatory for any visit to Tod btw,coming down on your bike is better.Traditional food/beer at the Top Brink and Shepherd’s Rest only a short walk from Mankinholes.Lots of choice in Hebden and a couple of nice places in Tod,including a BYOB Moorish restaurant that looks interesting,though I’ve never been.You should bring your bike,really or borrow one from a friendly local 😉 if only to squeeze in a quick evening ride.

On the way to Malham – you could do tea here:

http://www.billybobsparlour.com/ or combine it with an afternoon mauling animals at Hesketh Farm which is just up the road.

Skipton Castle is OK. Bolton Abbey is a decent spot as well. You’ve got the Copper Dragon Brewery just outside Skipton town centre (I think they do tours and stuff).

Not an awful lot else in town, TBH – very granny orientated.

Just remembered – if the weather’s half decent, have a wild swim at Gaddings Dam. It’s safe, unusual and not far from Mankinholes. Good for kids.

I would say Worth Valley Railway & look around Howarth.

Skipton Castle was ok for our 4 yr old, but its not geared to kids, its just a castle, and not a great one at that.

Grassington is your touristy crappy shop place of choice.

Brewery Tours – Not sure who does them locally, if any. although there are great beers brewed in the area. The only one I know is Blacksheep in Masham which is miles away.

The area is also not great for NT. You could combine Fountains Abbey with Blacksheep?

Heptonstall, above HB, is the original Pennine weaving village but without the towerist tat of Haworth. Remarkable little place.

thanks guys, loads to go at there.

Wave at all the MTB and roadriders enjoying themselves

😐 …. 😥

stay away nothing to see the folk are a bit dull it always rains you d much prefer a day in rochdale watching the traffic lights.. Yarkshire is sooo last year wouldnt be seen dead there..

(one less to block the roads and get in my holiday snaps)

Copper Dragon Brewery in Skipton do tours. Set up by an engineer who worked at Rolls Royce and a bit different.
They’ve got an onsite bar and a really good brasserie. You can book tours online too.

Hardcastle crags (try the eccles cakes and curd tart…best in England).
Billybobs for icecream and lovely burgers.
The limestone pavement at Malham…

weekend done!

Copper Dragon Brewery in Skipton do tours. Set up by an engineer who worked at Rolls Royce and a bit different.
They’ve got an onsite bar and a really good brasserie. You can book tours online too.

If it is an option, you should phone up and double check that, because they recently moved, downsized and now call themselves Grey Hawk Brewery.

Struggling a bit on other stuff, Worth valley railway, Riddlesden Hall is the only NT house I can think of between your two points, malham cove will kill a few hours, Hebden Bridge OKish, Howarth OKish, Skipton (castle/canal) OKish, Bolton Abbey OK, Brimham Rocks OK, Grassington OKish, Kilnsey trout farm always seems quite busy, falconry centre at Settle was ok for young kids.

If it is an option, you should phone up and double check that, because they recently moved, downsized and now call themselves Grey Hawk Brewery.

Didn’t realise they’d gone kaput.

have a walk into malham cove. it is breathtaking.

Towneley Hall in Burnley, nice park and woodlands. Barnoldswick for a big marque in the town square with a big sandpit in and a few nice cafés. Billy bobs is ace for kids and the food is good, it gets very busy so booking a table is a good idea.

the toy museum in ilkley is good if the kids are small

http://www.ilkleytoymuseum.co.uk/

Ilkley also has a betty’s tea room so you can stuff your face on fat rascals.

Bit of a drive from Malham, but…

Home

…is great with kids. And a couple of miles down the road you’ve got:

https://www.theakstons.co.uk/Visitors/Daytime-Tours/

and Blacksheep brewery also. Not that I’ve ever done a brewery tour.

Forbidden corner is fantastic. Good fun for adults as well.

Go futher and take them to the Textile Museums at Helmshore

It must’ve got better then – it was as dull as ditch water when we used to go there on school trips.

On top of mayhem cove is the cracked pavement used in Harry Potter, the 7th film I think.
Hebden is worth a mooch and a possible canal trip.
Hardcastle craggs is a nice walk.
Quarry Bank Mill ( national trust) is near manc airport but only 45 mins from where you will be. That’s a great spot for a pretty much full day.

Copper Dragon Brewery in Skipton do tours. Set up by an engineer who worked at Rolls Royce and a bit different.
They’ve got an onsite bar and a really good brasserie. You can book tours online too.

If it is an option, you should phone up and double check that, because they recently moved, downsized and now call themselves Grey Hawk Brewery.
Struggling a bit on other stuff, Worth valley railway, Riddlesden Hall is the only NT house I can think of between your two points, malham cove will kill a few hours, Hebden Bridge OKish, Howarth OKish, Skipton (castle/canal) OKish, Bolton Abbey OK, Brimham Rocks OK, Grassington OKish, Kilnsey trout farm always seems quite busy, falconry centre at Settle was ok for young kids.

Are you sure? Had not heard that and had some copper dragon labeled beer last week.

http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/yorkshire/138690-/

They’ve just last week dropped Brewers Choice and Black Gold from their bottled range. the new Greyhawk Brewery is somewhere else on Snaygill

chestrockwell, Copper Dragon beers are still brewed by Greyhawk Brewery. It essentially the same people under a new name in new premises.

I bet OP is quite deflated about his trip to Yorkshire now.

Of course if he was bringing his bike, we have some of the best riding in the country

Shame about Copper Dragon. Maybe just a bit wrong sized ie not quite big enough to make it with the big boys.

Hope Saltaire doesn’t go the same way, but they do brew nicer beer ! OP if you can get down Friday night Saltaire Brewery has an open evening, where they literally do have a piss up in a brewery !

http://saltairebrewery.co.uk/saltaire/?p=3631

Well the weekend is going great so far. Stopped in tod on the way in to get some supplies, some drunken locals shouting & almost fighting in the street so we exited sharply. Stopped at mankinholes YHA and had a lovely meal at the top brink, great place, great service and great double Cumberland sausage & chips. Was really impressed with Hb when we went this morning, lovely place, nice atmosphere watching all the vintage vehicles come through and blazing saddles was a good browse. Really impressed with the whole area being geared to cyclists, cafes, shops and routes and loads of dirty backed mtbs riding through the town. In a cafe in Skipton at the moment, going to the castle shortly and then onto Malham. We’ll do Cove in the morning before heading home. I shall have to come back here without family and with a bike.

In a cafe in Skipton at the moment, going to the castle shortly

Hold your kid’s hand as they do the dungeon tour bit. 😀

You need to do forbidden corner as well. Its a fantastic way to spend a few hours. The kids will be over the moon if you went there.

Glad you’re having a good time op. Probably passed you as we’ve been wondering around town today.

Been reading about copper dragon since it was mentioned above. What a shame, hope they keep going and keep making pippin.

I’ve been to the saltire Friday night and can highly recommended it. Great beer and the hog roast is ace.

You need to do forbidden corner as well. Its a fantastic way to spend a few hours. The kids will be over the moon if you went there.

Yeah, for the kids Forbidden Corner will def trump malham cove. You need to book tho or get tickets from Leyburn T.Info.
At malham Cove you can walk right up to the climbers balcony, walk along the balcony and pick up a footpath at the far end to go up top to the limestone pavement thingy (or just go up the normal way).