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28/05/2026, changed; 11/06/2026, 10/06/2026
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Walking with Sightseeing Holiday - 4.5 miles, Friday to Friday.
Walking with Sightseeing Holiday - 4.5 miles, Friday to Friday.
The regular three grades of guided walks run on the weekend. And self-guided walking ran the whole week; the houses all have a good selection of maps and guides that can be borrowed. The house was not full from Monday to Friday.
Photos taken using an iPhone 7 or Canon IXUS 60. They are at least as sharp handheld as my Nikon EM or Canon AE-1 SLR film cameras. The film cameras, including my Agfa Silette II, all produced better pictures but with more work because of their better manual controls. With SLRs, you often don't get good pictures, though, because they need a tripod and you can't help posing, so you have to talk to people to get them to relax and be natural.
The air quality is always much better than living in any town on these holidays, so my walking improves without so much effort as needed when I'm home. The mileages are all day; straight away is better than what I can do at home.
Arrived in Skipton, then took a taxi (included) to Newfield Hall, Malham, Yorkshire Dales which has been altered since I visited 30 years ago.
The hanging pictures are prints of paintings, but on my first visit to HF in 1988 to another house, I was told some were valuable paintings.
I had had enough of walking around with my big rucksack, so I returned at the station and waited for the ride to the house.
Friday – the train ride was easy from home. I used an advanced rail ticket and picked fairly early trains that were not too busy, fortunately. As I have found before, some of the main rooms are very echoey, so they are difficult if your hearing is poor. Otherwise, HF runs excellent holidays, and the staff are comfortable in their employment and helpful, which reflects in your tension-free stay.
In addition to always offering a vegetarian option, now vegan and gluten-free are offered and all allergies are accommodated. All the dormitory accommodation went decades ago from this type of holiday. All rooms have locks, the houses do not have a room set aside as a chapel, and there are no prayers before meals. These changes started occurring in the late 1980s. The cooperative offers 4* plus holidays with a bar, TV in the ensuite rooms, Wi-Fi, USB power and power; 3-day, 4-day, and 7-day holiday plans are the way of these holidays. It is now uncommon for visitors to bring music, talks and games to share with everyone. Although some of those things are offered by anyone, the house managers now manage.
The scones could all be vegan, but I think the alternatives offered are gluten-free and vegan. VegVentures holidays will remain the best when they are running; otherwise, that company offered a nonreligious variation of what HF and CHA used to offer, which was vegan with a vegetarian option.
Food requirement mistakes and bad options are very unlikely now with the menus set by the head office. Although vegetables are served overcooked, which, unfortunately, is common everywhere.
2. Settle and train ride to Ribblehead. I'm trying to lose weight as well, but I found something to eat when out today. There is not much vegan food available, which is surprising, as these places have lots of tourists. The Midlands of England traditionally did not eat much fruit and vegetables.
I also came across a few tourist places selling vegan ice cream or sorbet. A bicycle shop with a cafe in Settle and some vegan pastries. Glass-top table with items to look at beneath.
Little variation to the walk for a nice picnic lunch stop with a nice view.
Saturday - Coach to Settle train ride to Ribblehead, then walk in the vicinity of the viaduct; nice picnic lunch stop with a view of the viaduct. We visited Settle, and then the coach that brought us took us back. About 7.5 miles today with the variation for a nice lunch stop.
3.
Sunday – Saltaire turned out to be 7.5 miles, with time spent wandering around Saltaire. I needed to sit for a while, so I did not see all, but I did see enough.
The walk along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal towpath, the Five Rise Locks and the three-rise locks was nice. And walking around Saltaire, which is a town built on alpaca wool milling. 30% of the children were dying soon after their 14th birthday, and the government health department was concerned, so various acts were enforced gradually. The town was built, and people paid rent and were bound by rules governing rent payments, curfews, and temperance. The workers' urine was collected and sold to make lanolin.
Milling occurred from 1837 to 1986, and then the mill was turned into the David Hockney art museum and World Heritage site. That is, it was not Victorian philanthropy but profit and the law that brought Sir Titus Salt to have the town built.
My ankle got sore, so I did not see many of the things that could be seen.
We watched a similar video one evening.
4.
Monday, the free day – A return bus to Skipton was offered, but no lead walks. Skipton Castle would have been a nice place to visit.
I needed to rest this day, though. By now, my breathing with the better air quality improved, as it does when I get away from home, so my walking strength improved too.
5.
Different types of stone are used; see the fossils in one.
The garden is a rare traditional, but as you walk away from the Abby you move into a modern Capability Brown era garden. Our guide called the straight river in the traditional garden 'canalling' as opposed to how it would have been naturally 'meandering'. We came in from the back and walked away from the entrance direction.
A little stone shelter.
There were a modest number of ancient stile-stone shelters and statues.
This 19th-century church is made in the style of much earlier churches with pictures painted on the walls but is a showing off of wealth with gold and the grand straight ride to it.
Many of the plants and bushes were hand-managed rather than machine-managed. That is gardeners walking among them to clip them.
Malcolm identified many flowers, such as this green-petalled orchid.
Below, an unusual twisted-bark yew tree.
Tuesday – total today: 7.5 miles. The air is cleaner, and my breathing is easier for it. A long coach ride to Fountains Abbey, and then a National Trust guide told us about the abbey, the gardens and the landscaping. The land further away is the entrance, and though it is not Capability Brown, it is of that era. It was designed by the owner who had been an MP discredited in the South Sea Bubble.
A lot to see: the Cistercian Abbey was built over a long period, the method of building changed during the construction, and a mixture of local stone was used.
I did not get to Fountains Mill, but we had a lot of time, but it would take a few days to see it all. Abby is owned by English Nature and the land by the National Trust.
6.
vegan lemon sorbet in Grassington after our visit to Linton (pictures left and above).
A gargoyle on Bolton's church.
Wednesday – total today: 8.5 miles, Linton the falls, watermill and five bridges crossing the stream. Fontaine's Hospital and the Inn.
Grassington museum and plenty of tourist shops, the film crew was there for a TV series.
Bolton Abby and the lovely walk along the river there
Bolton Priory Church. Stepping stones, and one of our group fell in the water whilst the rest of us used the bridge.
7.
Roz - our walk leader.
Thursday - Malham, 5.5 miles. I did not complete the walk; it was wet, and the dampness was making my back ache.
Jane's Foss walk is through trees by the stream and waterfall, with a little cave that can be seen.
Gordale Scar was beautiful.
Malham Cove, from a distance – I did not complete that part of the walk, but you can see the cove in the picture above before I turned back.
One of the lovely tea shops, pubs and the national park visitor centre was where we sat out of the rain.
8. The starter and dessert options are now not just soup and mostly fruit salad. When I got home, the patched hole in the next road, every three months for two years now, seemed to be being fixed properly.
Friday – bus to Skipton, then a super off-peak single train ride home. It would have worked out well but for the accumulation of delays, meaning I got a later train. But the journey was easy anyway.
The bus to and from the Skipton rail station was included in the very well-priced holiday as well as another on the free day. That also was a discounted member offer.
The soups are (a bit too salty one day) but good, but there are other starters some days.
Deserts were plain fruit salad or nice cheesecake (not cheese, obviously).
HF Holidays says:
Newfield Hall
Looking every inch the baronial mansion, Newfield Hall sits in two acres of grounds near the village of Malham at the southern base of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Given it was this very landscape which inspired Wordsworth to write a sonnet and Charles Kingsley to pen The Water Babies, the countryside views are as gorgeous as you’d imagine. You’ll also have plenty of sightseeing greats within easy travelling distance, most notably Malham Tarn, Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar, Malham Cove, and the Dry Valley of the Watlowes. And then, of course, there’s Yorkshire’s famous trio of summits: Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough, collectively known as the three peaks. Stay at Newfield Hall and experience the exceptional service of a Visit England ROSE Award winner. Find out more about the latest accolade awarded to our country house in the Southern Yorkshire Dales by reading our latest blog.
info@hfholidays.co.uk Tel: +44(0) 20 3974 8865
www.hfholidays.co.uk
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