Swaledale Yurts

Top choice in Yorkshire Dales National Park


Yurts beat glamping tents hands-down for insulation, and the five luxurious ones at this pretty rural site are toasty warm and comfortable, with wood-burning stoves, seating areas and creature comforts such as minifridges and kettles. Other perks include hot breakfast baguettes and dinners to order, a fully licensed drinks menu and swish kitchen barn. If that's not enough, how about a private waterfall?

The Keld Bunkbarn (www.keldbunkbarn.com) sits on the same site and is a cut above most other bunkhouses in the Dales – well worth a look if you want to keep your toilet trips inside, and there's even one double en suite. Both accommodation options share access to a private hottub with Dales views (90-minute sessions for two people £20), and the owners also rent out mountain bikes; the property is ideally situated at one end of the new Swaledale Trail.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Yorkshire Dales National Park attractions

1. Hardraw Force

6.11 MILES

About 1.5 miles north of Hawes is 30m-high Hardraw Force, the highest unbroken waterfall in England, but by international standards not that impressive …

2. Sheepdog Demonstrations

6.82 MILES

On Thursdays from May to October, a local farmer gives demonstrations of working sheepdogs, held in a field 800m north of Hawes on the minor road towards…

3. Dales Countryside Museum

7.07 MILES

Sharing a building with the national park centre, the Dales Countryside Museum is a beautifully presented social history of the area that explains the…

4. Wensleydale Creamery

7.28 MILES

Wensleydale Creamery is devoted to the production of a crumbly white cheese that's the favourite of animation characters Wallace and Gromit. You can visit…

5. Barnard Castle

13.67 MILES

Built on a cliff above the River Tees by Guy de Bailleul and rebuilt around 1150, Barnard Castle was partly dismantled some four centuries later, but its…

6. Bowes Museum

13.87 MILES

A monumental chateau half a mile east of the centre contains the lavishly furnished Bowes Museum. Funded by 19th-century industrialist John Bowes, and…

7. Forbidden Corner

15.16 MILES

There can surely be no other place like this in the world: a modern walled garden furnished with Victorian-style follies, some veering into gothic horror,…

8. Georgian Theatre Royal

17.38 MILES

Built in 1788, this is the most complete Georgian playhouse in Britain. It closed in 1848 and was used as an auction house into the early 20th century,…