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Cotswold or Yorkshire Dale in 7 days?

mismirr

10+ Posts
Hi, my (adult) daughter and I are planning a couple weeks in England, with one of those weeks in either the Cotswolds or Yorkshire Dales. We were thinking of inn to inn, but I'm having a hard time deciding how to do that without feeling too pressured by time. Two questions: would one area or the other work better for just a week? And no matter the Cotswolds or the Dales, instead of inn to inn, should we just base ourselves in a couple places and do walks from each of them? (we're hoping not to need a car). Thanks!
 
Both would be fine for a week. You certainly could do absolutely fine with a single location, but surfing the B&Bs is viable as well. Very much a personal preference of whether simply visiting a place brings joy, or if you prefer staying there to get a full feel for it.

If going for more than one place, I'd be tempted to factor in one stop being in easy reach of Bath or Harrogate, as it will give a contrast to the rest of the stay, but also context as the nearby historic population centre.

I just noticed the no car thing, and that's a factor. Definitely check public transport for each area, and see what the frequency is / what transfers might look like. My gut feel is it may point to 2 bases for the week, as a balance of seeing plenty in each, but also getting a change of base to open more up. More bases and it might feel too much of a drudge.
 
There are companies that will organise the Inn to Inn walking for you. I know Andrew who runs Cotswold Walks for that area.


They book the inns and give you detailed route notes. I lived in the Cotswolds and hiked the Cotswold Way a few times, from a base instead of inn to inn. It is a fabulous walk but would have been less complicated if we had done inn to inn.

I’ve done trips to the Cotswolds where we rented a cottage for a week and did hikes each day. We had a car. If you don’t want to rent a car choose a base with several walks from the town and bus service so you can go out to other areas. Chipping Campden, Broadway or Winchcombe would be good for this.

We have some notes about the Cotswolds in the travel articles section. Here is a list of them:

 
What sort of distances are you thinking of walking each day?

My preference is always for the Dales over the Cotswolds, but then I'm a northerner!

Somewhere like Settle would make a good base for a week. It has a railway station (gives access to places like Horton in Ribblesday, Ribblehead, Dent ...) and you can also use the bus to reach places like Skipton or Ingleton.

There are lots of places you can walk to from Settle itself - it is great walking country, and there are always pubs for lunch! Doing a google search for Walking from Settle throws up several websites with loads of ideas.
 
Thanks for all these great tips. We were thinking of about 7 miles a day (which I know are relatively short inn to inn distances) so that we wouldn't be rushing from place to place.
 
There would be lots of good walks of around that length you could do from a base in Settle. Saves having to carry all your gear everyday too...
 
I don't have much to add but wanted to say what a great trip for you and your daughter! I've been to Chipping Campden 3 times and adore it there (would move there in a heartbeat if it were possible and I won the lottery). I can recommend a driver though who is located in the Cotswolds. His name is Tim Hall. "COTSWOLD PREMIER CAR TOURS" Tim@cotswoldcartours.co.uk Moblie 0787 311 7445 . He drove myself and 2 friends to the Hilton Terminal 5 (Heathrow). We had such a blast with him. He knows so much about the area!
Have fun planning your adventure. :) :dancingcow:
 
Thank you! We have decided on the Cotswolds because we think it will be easier inn-to-inn with the less than ambitious amount of walking we plan to do each day. As you can see from another post, we're now deciding where to start and stop since we only have 5 nights, and we'd like to stay at least one place (haven't figured out which yet!) for a couple nights and do some wandering loops around there. Any additional suggestions welcome :).
 
Well I'm partial to the fabulous Lygon Arms in Chipping Campden. (not to be confused with the Lygon Arms in Broadway) They are like family to me! Excellent food, the friendliest staff and a wonderful location. Lygon Arms
I'll go check out your other post. I'm so excited for you!

Mindy
 

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